San Francisco’s streets are now, effectively, a public toilet. Quality of life offenses are being ignored, a situation that many feel was already the case. Critics argue this isn’t compassion for the homeless, but rather condemning them to the consequences of squalor.
The newly elected district attorney, Chesa Boudin, has pledged not to prosecute public urination and other quality-of-life crimes that have plagued the Bay Area amid a homelessness crisis affecting urban communities across California. In response to an American Civil Liberties Union questionnaire reported by The San Francisco Chronicle, Boudin stated that such crimes should not be prosecuted.
“We will not prosecute cases involving quality-of-life crimes,” he said. “Crimes such as public camping, offering or soliciting sex, public urination, blocking a sidewalk, etc., should not and will not be prosecuted. Many of these crimes are still being prosecuted; we have a long way to go to decriminalize poverty and homelessness.”
Boudin, a progressive attorney and former public defender, defeated the city’s top prosecutor after promising sweeping criminal justice reforms. He was one of several progressive candidates elected to district attorney offices across the country in recent years—a strategy routinely funded by George Soros. Critics argue that ignoring quality of life crime begets more of the same.
The California welfare system is viewed by some as a public trough, and now the streets of San Francisco will officially become a public toilet, brothel, “shooting gallery” for drugs, and campsite. The concern is that someone groomed in the public defender’s office will make policy decisions for their prosecutors.
Some wonder how conditions can worsen, given the documented human waste on the streets and sidewalks. The “Snapcrap app” has highlighted this issue. This situation contributes to why retired cops are fleeing the state in large numbers.
One Southern Californian, who relocated to Texas upon retirement from law enforcement, recounted a personal experience: “I have family members who live in the Bay Area, so we’d frequently visit San Francisco. However, a few years ago I said I’d had enough after the overly aggressive panhandlers spoiled a sightseeing day at Fisherman’s Wharf. Yet the coup de grace for me was entering a public restroom near the BART station and witnessing a vagrant—high on heroin—taking a crap in the sink—when public stalls were available. ‘I’m done with this city,’ I declared when I returned to my waiting family.”
The perception that public officials are unconcerned by this behavior sends a message to some: STAY AWAY, we don’t need your patronage!
Boudin is the son of parents who were members of the radical left-wing Weather Underground. He grew up with his parents incarcerated for their roles in an armed robbery that left three men dead, Fox News reported. “There can be no justice when we utilize prison and jail as the solution to all of our problems,” he said after Interim DA Suzy Loftus conceded the race. “We must think differently.”
To illustrate the kind of allies Boudin has, consider his victory party. San Francisco Board of Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer stepped to the microphone and unleashed a tirade against the city’s nearly 2,000-member police union: “F*** the POA! F*** the POA! F*** the POA!” The profane chant about the city’s Police Officers Association spread on social media as witnesses documented the outburst in which Fewer raised her middle fingers while flanked by some of the city’s notable progressive leaders.
San Francisco has grappled with quality-of-life issues as the area’s homeless population has surged. Residents have complained of homeless encampments blocking sidewalks and contributing to crime, public urination, and feces on the street. Giving the green light to these issues will not solve the problem; it will simply encourage more of the same. Some argue that adults should not be allowed to do in public what children are prohibited from doing in our homes.
Last year, the city assigned six workers to a “Poop Patrol” detail to rid the streets of human waste. San Francisco received 27,000 requests to pick up excrement last year. Twenty-five restrooms were added—at a cost of $200,000 each—to help alleviate the problem. However, most of the homeless living on the streets will continue to relieve themselves wherever they are.
So, the next time you’re visiting the Embarcadero, Alcatraz, or Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Wharf—all iconic tourist attractions—be aware that you’re walking through streets that have become a urinal, brothel, “shooting gallery” (drug use), and campsite, thanks to the new district attorney. (Perhaps he should be called the district-defense attorney?)
WARNING TO TOURISTS: Just because these offenses have been decriminalized in San Francisco, don’t think you can use a plastic straw when drinking a beverage. This act became illegal in July of this year. Nevertheless, if you’d like a needle to “shoot” heroin, they will provide one for you.
What would happen if a homeless person used a cut, two-inch plastic straw to snort meth or cocaine? What a dilemma that would be for the newly minted prosecutor.
Policies being implemented in San Francisco are not compassionate. They enable more homelessness, drug use, and create a public health crisis affecting everyone. Embracing quality of life issues will benefit citizens as well as offenders. Regardless of your perspective, no one wants these problems on their doorstep. Yet that’s exactly what public policy in San Francisco is endorsing, thus abdicating their responsibility. If they really had compassion for the homeless, they’d encourage and implement programs that would help the downtrodden get clean, sober, and employable. That is compassion, not promoting a lack of self-control, which has people looking up from the bottom of a toilet bowl.
– Jim McNeff