San Francisco, CA
San Francisco ‘doom loop’ canned, but even opposition group’s ‘positive walk’ can’t dodge open drug use, homeless
The sold-out planned ‘‘doom loop” tour of drug-infested San Francisco was canceled, and community leaders tried to hold a “positive walk” instead — only to still stroll past addicts getting high and homeless camps.
Curious tourists and locals had shelled out $30 a pop on Eventbrite for a weekend tour promising an up-close-and-personal experience with San Francisco, “the model of urban decay” — complete with walks past its “open-air drug markets and vacant office and retail spaces.
But the tour’s guide, only listed as “SF Anonymous Insider,” failed to show at Saturday’s event, claiming he was afraid to carry it out because of all the controversy around it.
“Unfortunately, the substantial media interest means that it is not possible to preserve my anonymity while publicly posting the tour’s time and meeting location,” he wrote in a message to customers, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Community activist Del Seymour and others with the nonprofit Code Tenderloin — who had gathered at the tour’s designated starting point to protest the event — then led about 70 people on an nearly 2-mile “anti-doom loop tour” through areas such as City Hall, Union Square, Mid-Market and the Tenderloin District.
One of their stops, the Civic Center district, was eerily empty except for half-baked drug addicts bent over after taking a hit on fentanyl and other drugs.
As the tour group walked past shuttered stores such as the Whole Foods grocery store on Market Street, drug deals were happening in broad daylight.
A homeless man yelled at some in the group as they passed by the encampments.
As Seymour took the group to the Glide Memorial Church and a nightclub called the Power Exchange in the Tenderloin neighborhood, participants passed by rows of tents, many with homeless addicts passed out inside.
In the corners, men exchanged crumpled up money for balls of foil.
Some openly smoked fentanyl and other drugs as the tour group walked past them.
The stench of urine mixed with human and animal feces was at times overwhelming as Seymour quickly walked the group past the notorious corner of Hyde and Turk streets, where drug deals run rampant especially “once the sun goes down,” a local told The Post.
Some of the homeless men and women laying on the street corners looked up in confusion as the tour group walked past them.
Serena, a group member who brought snacks and water in her bag, stopped to give some of the homeless men and a woman some of her food.
The woman, who was passed out on the ground, was so high on drugs that she couldn’t even lift her head to say thank you.
Another man took a long deep breath out of a pipe and blew smoke into the air.
He grabbed one of the snacks Serena offered.
“It’s hard because housing here has turned into a crisis,” Serena told The Post. “It feels like City Hall isn’t listening to the community and this is the fall out of the broken systems that we are seeing.”
During the two-hour tour, Seymour talked about various programs available in the Tenderloin, including subsidized low-income housing where families pay only $400 for a three-bedroom apartment that normally would rent for $5,000 to $8,000 a month.
Seymour also pointed to the various services available to the homeless in the area, including free meals and housing, but also told The Post part of the struggle involves getting those who need help to recognize they need it.
“If I’m unhoused and have mental challenges, you can’t just spend 30 seconds and then walk away after I say no,” he said. “You need to sit down with me and talk to me in a gentlemanly manner. It might take an hour, it may take two, but you have to give me that time and build that trust with me so we can make some sort of compromise.”
As for the “doom loop” tour, the activist said, “I fell out of the chair laughing because of the meanness that people in San Francisco have to even suggest something like this.
“This is not healthy or helpful at all for our people,” he said. “We don’t want to live in the situation we are living in. We want to do something about it, but you can’t do something about it when people beat you down.”
Dany Vallerand said she initially wanted to take the advertised “doom loop” tour because she usually didn’t feel comfortable going through the area on her own.
“I just thought it would be very interesting, and I hoped the money would go to a good cause, like some charity,” she told The Post. “I was hoping to explore the Tenderloin in a way that I normally wouldn’t feel comfortable doing on my own and accompanied by other people with a different point of view.”
Vallerand said that while she was “perfectly happy” to take the anti-doom loop tour instead, she noted the economic downtown of San Francisco has affected many residents such as herself, as flagship businesses have left the area and property value going down.
Vallerand said she recently sold her condo $150,000 below her asking price.
“It is very hard to see it happening here,” she said.
More than 20 businesses, including Nordstrom, Whole Foods and Old Navy, have left the area since January 2022.
While locals such as Vallerand decided to take the opposition tour, others who signed up for the original “doom loop” version were disappointed they didn’t get what they paid for and left.
But Serena said she decided to participate in the “positive” tour because the initial Eventbrite listing offended her.
“They wanted to showcase the doom of the Tenderloin, and to me, it sounded very f–ked up,” said Serena, who did not want to provide her last name. “I can’t believe it sold out.”
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Giants Trade Idea Swaps Slugger For High-Risk, High-Reward Ace
The San Francisco Giants need more pitching and seem to want to trade one of their sluggers — and they may be able to accomplish two tasks with one move.
With Buster Posey seemingly wanting to move on from LaMonte Wade Jr. while he still holds a bit of trade value, he will need to consider what they to get back in return.
One team that could be desperate to bring Wade in is the Houston Astros, long plagued by poor play at the plate from their first basemen. While most of their pitchers were injured last season, they do have a slight surplus of starting caliber players on their roster. They might just be the perfect trade partner.
A potential deal between the two squads could see the Giants ship Wade off to the Astros in exchange for right-handed starter J.P. France and pitching prospect Jackson Nezuh.
France is an interesting case, and would certainly be a risk, but does have the potential to be an impactful arm in the backend for the rotation.
He is a long way from someone that could replace Blake Snell, but could be an interesting innings eating starter or long-reliever depending on how he comes back from injury.
That is something that San Francisco wished they had last year during their flurry of pitching injuries.
The Houston righty struggled last year, but it was just a small sample size of five starts. The Giants would need him to find a way back to his surprisingly solid rookie campaign.
In 2023, he made 24 appearances (23 starts) and finished with a 3.83 ERA across 136.1 innings pitched.
France has a great breaking balls that helped him soar in the minor leagues. HIs changeup is especially effective.
Given that he is coming off of a shoulder injury, though, the Astros could need to add a mid-tier prospect as a bit of insurance.
Nezuh was a 14th-round selection in the 2023 MLB draft out of the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns.
He has always been more of potential guy than actual results, but he had a great first year in the Houston farm system. He had a 3.89 ERA with 11.3 K/9 across Single and High-A.
Wade was red-hot to start last season, but fell off hard. As he enters the final year of his career, Posey could be looking to maximize his trade value and help the roster out in a bigger spot of need.
San Francisco, CA
Hayes Valley Quadruple Murder Suspect Convicted on All Counts
Lee Farley, 36, was convicted Friday of shooting and killing four men in the Hayes Valley neighborhood in 2015.
In a statement, prosecutors said that Farley was found guilty of using a rental car from Walnut Creek to perform a drive-by shooting on an idle Honda Civic, firing 18 shots into the vehicle before fleeing.
All four victims died on the scene.
Farley, who initially plead not guilty, was serving time for unrelated charges in 2016 when authorities connected him to the shootings, according to reporting from SFGATE.
“Our strong legal team fought hard, understanding that while nothing we do can bring back their loved ones, that hopefully this verdict brings them some comfort,” said District Attroney Brooke Jenkins in the statement.
Farley is set to be sentenced on Dec. 16.
Photo via X
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Giants Predicted to Spend This Offseason in Free Agency
The San Francisco Giants are heading into free agency and the offseason as a very interesting team to watch.
It was another disappointing season for the Giants in 2024, as they finished under .500 once again and missed the playoffs for the third straight year.
The struggles in San Francisco resulted in a change in the front office, as Buster Posey took over as the President of Baseball Operations.
With the decision to add Posey to the front office, the hope is that he will be able to lure in some of the top caliber free agents that they have been missing out on in recent years.
The Giants haven’t been shy about spending money, but that money hasn’t always went to the right places.
Recently, Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report ranked teams in different tiers based on what they will spend this offseason. For San Francisco, he placed them in the tier that will be spending this winter.
“Perhaps the most interesting team on this list is the Giants, with former NL MVP Buster Posey now serving as their president of baseball operations. He’s talked about wanting to figure the shortstop position out, which is why we’ve projected the Giants as the landing spot for Adames. But San Francisco has had a hard time getting star players to sign on the dotted line in recent years, probably due in large part to Oracle Park being seen as a bad place to hit at 81 times a season.”
While the Giants have the desire to sign a superstar and the next face of the franchise, there have been some indications that they might not break the bank this offseason. However, at the same time, they have been linked to some of the top free agents this winter.
Currently, the biggest need for San Francisco is in their lineup. While Juan Soto would be a great addition, him going to the Bay Area seems unlikely. However, a player like Willy Adames or Alex Bregman might be a more realistic target. Neither one of those players would be cheap, but both would instantly upgrade the lineup.
In addition to trying to upgrade the lineup, the Giants also saw Blake Snell decline his player option to become a free agent. Considering how good Snell was in the second half of the season, it will be interesting to see what the plan is to either bring him back or replace him.
While San Francisco will certainly be spending this offseason, the real question will be how much the organization is willing to invest.
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