San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Mayor London Breed slams activists for handing out tents, encouraging homeless to stay on streets
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has sensationally blasted homeless activists in the city, complaining they are keeping people on the streets and enabling them.
She claimed advocates get in the way of city workers and discourage those most in need from going into shelters and getting help.
“These activists are the same people who hand out tents to keep people on the street instead of working to bring them indoors, as we are trying to do,” Breed wrote on the online platform Medium.
“And they are the same people instructing and encouraging people to refuse shelter — to remain on the street instead of going indoors. Their agenda is clear.”
For the past year, San Francisco has been embroiled in a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Coalition on Homelessness, which claimed the city violated state and federal laws by clearing encampments and destroying belongings of the homeless without offering shelter.
An appeals court on Monday ruled individuals who have access to shelter but decline it are “not involuntarily homeless,” opening a way for the city to restart clearing the mass of tents, trash and discarded needles which have taken over city sidewalks in neighborhoods such as the Tenderloin and Union Square.
San Francisco’s homeless population is estimated to be around 8,000, with half refusing to accept services and shelter when it is offered to them, according to TV station Kron4.
The city’s Healthy Streets Operation Center approached 2,344 homeless people living on the streets, but 1,278 people— or 54%— refused to accept shelter, according the latest data collected by the organization.
Breed said she expects members of the Coalition will keep the lawsuit going, and could even try to block city workers from executing the latest court order.
“Unfortunately, the plaintiffs in this case will still be out interfering with [our] work,” Breed said. “They will film our city workers. They will try to tell our workers what they can and cannot do.”
The mayor said city staff will be trained over the next few weeks to go over the appellate court’s instructions on what they can and can’t clear under the latest court order, which Breed called was “a step in the right direction.”
The Post has reached out to attorneys representing the Coalition on Homelessness.
In their proposed settlement, the Coalition listed their demands of the city, including filling all vacant shelter units within 30 days.
They also want the city to maintain a waitlist to track all available beds and provide an “emergency stop gap measure” that leads to permanent housing. They also demanded better trash disposal and sidewalk cleanings around encampments.
“Everyone, including unhoused people, want streets free of trash and debris,” the Coalition wrote. “Such cleaning schedules must follow postage signage and should not be conducted between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. when unhoused residents are trying to sleep.
“The city cannot use street cleanings as a pretext to harass unhoused residents instead of appropriately cleaning the area.”
San Francisco has experienced an exodus of businesses and residents since the COVID-19 pandemic, sending the City by the Bay into a so-called “doom loop” where open drug is happening on federal property.
A tour last month through the city’s Tenderloin district had hoped to counter that “doom” narrative, but only showed the increasing need for services and shelter as tour participants encountered tent after tent blocking sidewalks and piles of trash in the neighborhood.
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.
San Francisco, CA
Atmospheric river storm causes minor flooding in San Francisco
Some San Francisco roadways and neighborhoods experienced minor flooding Friday as the atmospheric river dumped heavy rain on the city.
Matthew Coric said he was inside his restaurant when all the sudden he noticed water rising outside.
“Water was coming over the curb already and Rainbow Grocery closed for the day because they flooded or started to flood, and the next two restaurants had water in their restaurant already,” said Coric.
Two years ago during another big storm, the entire block flooded with several feet of water.
Coric told KPIX he was determined to not let that happen again, so he and some of his employees grabbed brooms and anything else they could get their hands on and ran towards the flooding.
“These two drains right here on either side of the street, we literally couldn’t see them. This was up above the curb. We were just blindly scraping trying to get it unclogged until we could see the little tornado start,” said Coric.
He said they were able to unclog the drain just in time to stop the water from flooding his restaurant, and that it took about 30 minutes for the water to fully recede.
While he is happy they were able to avoid another crisis, he said he wishes the city would have been monitoring the area so that he and his employees didn’t have to fix it on their own.
“It flooded two years ago, and then last year the city was like high alert. They would park their trucks out here and make sure nothing happened. But now it’s been two years, they forgot about us again and same thing happened,” said Coric.
He said, from now on when it rains, he’s going to monitor the drains himself and step in anytime he sees them getting clogged.
He recommends that others in areas where flooding happens do the same.
“If you’re out on the street, anybody right, and you see the drain overflowing, I know if you can wait for the city that’s great, but it might not come. Just clean it yourself or get somebody that can just to save everybody a bunch of headaches,” said Coric.
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