I Stepped on Shit in San Francisco
An Open Letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed
London Breed is the 45th Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. Hopefully she will be the one to clean up the city of its growing homelessness problem. Photo credit: ABC7
Dear Mayor London Breed,
What are you and our City’s leaders doing to address the homelessness problem here in San Francisco? It seems to me that the problem keeps getting increasingly worse. I think a lot of City residents are becoming increasingly concerned and dissatisfied with the City’s leadership regarding this matter. I know I definitely am. We need the city to be cleaned up of all the homeless people visibly everywhere – specifically in SoMa (the South of Market District), where I live and work. They are causing way too many problems for residents and they are making it increasingly unpleasant to live here. Just yesterday, I stepped on human shit as I was exiting the Peet’s Coffee on the corner of Mission Street and 10th Street. I know it had to be human shit because I don’t think a dog would shit right in front of an entry/exit way and dog owners are typically courteous enough to pick up after their dogs. What was even more frustrating was having to walk to work as I could smell the shit on my shoe, then go into work, and try to clean off the shit from my shoe in the bathroom, and having to smell that disgusting, pungent shit smell first thing in the morning – it was extremely frustrating – it was not the first time this happened to me however I hope something can be done to prevent this from happening to me again as well as other fellow San Franciscans and hopefully make things better overall for everyone.
My name is Juan. I’ve been a San Francisco resident for 13 years, since 2005. I’ve lived in the South of Market District for nine years, since 2009, on Clementina Street near 5th Street. In the time I’ve been here, I seen this area change significantly, for better and for worse. I’ve seen several beautiful new luxury condo buildings completed very quickly – and development continues with so many construction sites currently in progress. I’ve also seen a disturbing increase in the number of homeless people on the streets, living on the sidewalks, some in tents, some just laying on top of card board – on a regular basis I see homeless people, sleeping, urinating, defecating, vomiting, having sexual intercourse and digging through garbage dumpsters on the sidewalk – I see this every day on my way to work, on my way back home from work. They are even in the BART / MUNI stations sleeping on the floor. When riding MUNI, I also frequently see mentally disturbed homeless people doing all kinds of crazy things, most commonly yelling at everyone on the bus at the top of their lungs, and I just can’t help it think, Oh My God... These people really need help – serious help.
I think that the increasing number of homeless people on our streets is also affecting how people choose to get around the city – making the city less walkable and making people increasingly use ride share services like Uber and Lyft, instead of having to deal with crazy homeless people on MUNI. Just a few days ago a friend came to visit me who lives only four blocks away. Upon arriving he said, “I regret walking here. I should have taken an Uber. Why are there so many f***ing homeless people everywhere?!” He went into this total depressive episode and I had to try to comfort him saying, “Most of those people are homeless by choice. Don’t worry about them. Let’s have some vodka and everything will be just fine…” After hanging out, I kept thinking about the homeless people here in SoMa, and about my friend, and about how is it that we turn to alcoholism to cope with the emotional trauma of having to constantly look at homeless people on our sidewalks. We seriously need a greater effort dedicated to addressing this problem.
Since November of last year, 2017, in front of my own garage entrance, a homeless man routinely sleeps right in front of it and he often times refuses to leave, saying that is his home. I’ve called SFPD several times. Sometimes they come and tell him to move along, if they come at all. I’ve also reported him several times using the San Francisco 311 Ap, and I don’t think they ever do anything. It has become extremely frustrating, especially when he calls me all sorts of expletives – it has really taken a toll on my emotional / mental wellbeing and I’m seriously tired of it.
You’ll notice that most of my pictures below are of homeless people sleeping. This is because I only feel comfortable taking pictures of people who are harmlessly sleeping and unaware that I’m taking their picture because I’m afraid if they know I’m taking their picture, they will attack me. Just today, this morning on MUNI, I was riding the 14-Mission, I witnessed a crazy homeless woman acting out all crazy, and she attacked a girl who was taking a video of her. She pulled her hair, took her phone. The driver stopped the bus and locked the doors, however the crazy woman broke the emergency exit glass and was able to open the doors manually and got away. It’s especially people like this who need help – they should be locked up in a mental health facility instead of running free in the city causing all kinds of problems, including serious delays in our transit system.
Mayor London Breed, you were recently quoted in the Washington Post saying, “I want people to walk around this city and think, ‘Wow, it’s so clean here.’” I would like to echo that, however as a San Francisco resident, I really can’t say that now. What is it going to take to really clean up the city of all these homeless people? What efforts are currently in place to clean up the city’s homeless people? We need a much greater effort. This city’s budget has ballooned to $11.05 billion for the current fiscal year. I’m sure that we can set an example for the nation in addressing our homeless problem in a humane way that is in line with our values as a City.
Thank you and best regards,
Juan
A homeless man who frequently sleeps in front of my garage entry way in SoMa.
Homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk in SoMa one early morning.
A homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk in SoMa.
A homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk in SoMa.
A homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk in SoMa.
A disabled homeless man sleeping on the floor at the Powell BART / MUNI Station.
A homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk in SoMa.
A homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk in SoMa.
A homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk in SoMa.
A homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk in SoMa.
A homeless man sleeping at a MUNI shelter in SoMa.
Homeless people living in tents is becoming a growing problem in SoMa.
Another tent close to the corner of Clementina Street and 6th Street.
Above is a picture of a public toilet in Shanghai. There was a uniformed attendant cleaning when my friend and I passed by. Perhaps we need restrooms such as these here in San Francisco to help keep homeless people from shitting on the sidewalk.
