Bluoz

Munibike was feeling adventurous today, and climbed aboard the 33 Ashbury on Arguello and went all the way to near Dolores Park. Considered one of the best bus rides in the city because of the views, Munibike was a happy bike today

Bonus if you can guess the formerly famous San Francisco 60's rock band house (white house with pillars) at 1:29

also goes through half the Haight Ashbury

Brand new concept, and this is something I'm sure people have been dying to know for a very very long time

what exactly is it like to BE a bike on the front rack of a MUNI bus? This is from 7th and Market to GG Park



rediscovering humans ability to sympathize with inanimate objects

kind of like a mini tour, huh?

I'm not sure if people know this, but all that stuff in the Chronicle yesterday and today about the homless in Golden Gate Park. They mentioned a DPH tent set up.

well, they're already taking that down as of this morning



also took an informal survey of the park workers, and those are the people who really know. I myself knew people who lived in the park for 20 years and remember what it was like in the 80's. The fact is, it was worse back in the 80's compared to today. You can't hear much in the video because of the traffic, but I'm asking park staff about this. There's not thousands of needles, maybe a couple hundred in the whole park

this is something that's been going on for over 30 years now, and never really went away. It just gets periodically more noticeable, more press, then there's sweeps, the tent goes up for a couple days, etc etc

I think the pigeons are moving furniture in now. The scaffolding has been up for so long, they finished the work months ago and the scaffolding just sits there. Meanwhile some lady below is tossing food out the window. and there's people climbing all over it at 3am

it's looking ominous. like the last scene from The Birds




how long has this brick facade project been going on? see for yourself when the permit was applied for, in 2004. THC isn't paying for this and neither is the owner. YOU are paying for this



see below in the THC section about recent applications via the DPH

with the toe tapping number "Rosy Cheek Redux"



Poverty Pimps? here? In the news again today with piles 'o' comments

viking116 wrote:

I forgot to mention the poverty pimps who make money on endless services for these losers without any accountability as to improvement in the situation. Once I went to a meeting where an addict said that he wanted treatment on demand if and when he wanted it--but for now he loved his addiction and that the social workers work for him. NO THEY DON'T. They work for the taxpayers. And "Repo Violence"???? Doesn't that speak volumes about someone you DON'T want in your city with your wife and kids? Or even your dog?

noooooooo. You don't mean this guy, do you?

update > here some more comments from the Chronicle news story as it relates to SRO's and by extension, Tenderloin Housing Clinic, because as of now, this is the next step after the park. Apologies to the Chron, but this is important to save. Again, the comments came from here

pakasaw wrote:

I think the mayor should Make the single room occupancy owners More

accountable for its places And its practices and abuses I challenge

this newspaper 1 ) follow these people threw this process how long

will people stay in these shelters and single room occupancys (one

person refused to stay a night a sro given to him ) other then a

shower Ive given up on these shelters to help me (if I want to be

abused Ill hire some one to do it ) 2 ) embed with these homeless and

get a real story as to what is happening the homeless all over town is

like a ocean some people stay some move on some come and go each has

different stories some are strung out some are starting their own

business some have ambition but need to be pointed in the right

direction some are trying to work but get caught up with all these

shelter rules I believe some of shelter staff just want some one to

abuse And the checks and balance system is another step on the

homeless neck

Posted 8/2/2007 6:22:07 AM
----------

pakasaw wrote:

Evicting the homeless from the park The mayor has better luck jumping

the bay and pushing out all the water Trent Rhorer Acts like the city

is not accountable for what the shelters do when you step into the

shelters you lose lots of your rights as a human you surrender them to

some one that has been in prison and or just got of rehab the sro

system is horrible people stuff gets stolen rat roach blood sucking

bugs infested rooms many health and fire code violations the

tenderloin housing clinic has created a monopoly of the master lease

housing and you expect people to pay for this even the homeless have

better since

Posted 8/2/2007 6:45:28 AM
-------------------
ramon366 wrote:

"The tent was erected eight days after The Chronicle reported that the

park was riddled with homeless encampments and hypodermic

needles......." No - the people reported on the situation in the park;

The Chronicle found itself in the position of no longer being able to

ignore this and print its usual fluff. If the newspaper is

civic-minded, it'll devote time and EFFORT to discovering the other

elements to this issue, namely the condition of SROs and why they can

take what amounts to public money, yet not provide even adequate

safety (violations?) to the people that populate them. The Chron can

also do some genuine reporting on the agencies, not simply copy/paste

"news" from other sources. In other words, leave YOUR encampment and

hit the pavement - follow the news. There's more to this city than

rich old dowagers dressing for lunch and steroided fake athletes going

for the record books. Pay your people the incentive to be reporters;

you make plenty from Macy's advertisements.

-------------------

viking116 wrote:

I forgot to mention the poverty pimps who make money on endless

services for these losers without any accountability as to improvement

in the situation. Once I went to a meeting where an addict said that

he wanted treatment on demand if and when he wanted it--but for now he

loved his addiction and that the social workers work for him. NO THEY

DON'T. They work for the taxpayers. And "Repo Violence"???? Doesn't

that speak volumes about someone you DON'T want in your city with your

wife and kids? Or even your dog?

Posted 8/2/2007 7:20:16 AM

----------------------------

omn1verous wrote:

It never ceases to amaze me how people can believe that somehow SF

isn't doing enough to help the unfortunate. I have lived here for 23

years now and have seen the budgets for homeless programs go up and up

and up. If I'm not mistaken, the total amount now being spent on

direct services is somewhere around $120 million per year and another

$80 in indirect services (emergency room care, etc.) That's between

$13,000 and $20,000 PER case (depending on whose homeless count you

believe.) Once again, let's ask ourselves if we're getting our money's

worth. I think not. The problem is as bad as ever.

Posted 8/2/2007 12:08:09 PM
Recommend (7)

------------------------------------

starcade wrote:

j___: Part of the reason is that the only places I can afford (the

SRO's) are less safe than the streets. I mean this seriously. I used

to live at the Civic Center Hotel (and this used to be one of the

better places before new ownership came in), and I can tell you that

it was dangerous, sometimes, to leave the hotel during the day. I even

got jumped on Christmas night outside the hotel. And that's to say

nothing of the people INSIDE it. I'm not going to live in a crack

house just to satisfy Gavin Newsom. I've said for years that they

can't give me the mental health stuff that I need -- what I said to

the other poster is correct. I'll state openly that not only do I

belong in an institution, but if you walked with me on the streets for

30 minutes, I could give you 10 people who similarly need it openly.

I'll tell you this, j___: If that last part (employment away from the

public) were to be implemented, I'd be interested.

-------------------------------

starcade wrote:

j___: Part of the reason is that the only places I can afford (the

SRO's) are less safe than the streets. I mean this seriously. I used

to live at the Civic Center Hotel (and this used to be one of the

better places before new ownership came in), and I can tell you that

it was dangerous, sometimes, to leave the hotel during the day. I even

got jumped on Christmas night outside the hotel. And that's to say

nothing of the people INSIDE it. I'm not going to live in a crack

house just to satisfy Gavin Newsom. I've said for years that they

can't give me the mental health stuff that I need -- what I said to

the other poster is correct. I'll state openly that not only do I

belong in an institution, but if you walked with me on the streets for

30 minutes, I could give you 10 people who similarly need it openly.

I'll tell you this, j___: If that last part (employment away from the

public) were to be implemented, I'd be interested.

With the new hit song "Fuzzy Wuzzy Math"

no idea what's going on with the main website, but this article is still up

Data Reveals San Francisco Care Not Cash Program for the Homeless Does Not Add Up

Published: Fri, 06 May 2005, 11:50:00 GMT
Edited by Beverly West


SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - May 6 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- In his article "Snake Oil in San Francisco, the Significance of Doing the Math of Care Not Cash" (www.sfsnakeoil.info), Dr. Eugene Dong reveals that San Francisco's Care not Cash program did not reduce homelessness or provide ongoing services to this population as promised. Instead, the bulk of the 14 million dollars taken from the county welfare fund under this Program has been used to line the pockets of San Francisco property owners.

The Care not Cash Program proposed to divert funds previously used for cash payments to homeless individuals into services such as access to housing, drug and alcohol treatment and mental health care. Welfare payments to single homeless people therefore, were cut from $410 a month to just $59. But rather than providing services to the homeless, the 14 million dollars taken from the county welfare fund last year paid for leasing and restoring hotels, including 12 buildings in a poor and crime ridden section of San Francisco called the Tenderloin.

"When I did the math using San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's figures televised on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer on April 8, 2005, it became apparent that this program just does not add up," said Dr. Dong. "The City claims to have used $14,000,000 to house only 1,000 people. Simple math tell us that the city has therefore spent $14,000.00 per housed recipient per year. Divide that by 12 and you get $1,226.00 per month, not $410.00, which was the maximum monthly benefit. That difference went directly to the hotel owners in the form of cash payments and capital improvements that they would not otherwise have received. The calculations in my article indicate that this amounted to 70 percent of the county welfare fund."

Dong further points out that despite Mayor Newsom's claim this Program has resulted in a miraculous decrease in the numbers of the homeless, in the same year, the numbers of the homeless swelled commensurately in the surrounding communities, so the Program has not really decreased the ranks of the homeless at all, but rather, just relocated them into smaller communities in the Bay Area.

Eugene Dong MD, JD is an Associate Professor of Cardiac Surgery Emeritus, Stanford University, and a lawyer admitted to the bars of the California State Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.

The complete text of Dr. Eugene Dong's article can be found at www.sfsnakeoil.info.

NEWS SOURCE: Eugene Dong, MD, JD