Politics California: news, discussions, and rants

[HisRoyalHighness]

Allowing large numbers of people to sleep, eat, and defecate outside of designated campgrounds is not safe and robs them of their dignity. Homeless encampments overflow with dirty needles, feces, and rats, making them breeding grounds for diseases including typhus, tuberculosis, and hepatitis A.


The crisis is worsening. The number of homeless people in LA increased from 52,765 in 2018 to 58,936. Homelessness increased by 43% in Alameda County, which includes Oakland, and 17% in San Francisco. Deaths on the street rose 76% in LA and 75% in Sacramento over the last five years. Murders and rapes involving the homeless increased by 13% and 61% between 2017 and 2018. And 2019 data show that both deaths and homicides are continuing to rise rapidly.

Homelessness is far deadlier than natural disasters. Ten times more people will die on LA’s street in 2019 (~1,000) than died in the deadly 2018 forest fires (103). Over a three year period, more people will die on the streets of LA than died in San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake.


Assaults on the homeless are rising. On August 7, three men beat a 59-year-old man to death with a pipe for no apparent reason. On August 26, somebody burned a homeless musician to death by setting his tent on fire. And one day earlier, two men set fire to a homeless encampment that then raged out of control.


Assaults by the homeless are rising. Most are random and impulsive. In April, a man stabbed a 35-year-old father in the neck who was holding his five-year-old daughter on his lap. In May, a man beat a 62-year-old woman to death with an electric scooter in broad daylight, with no apparent motive. In July, a man sexually assaulted a disabled 87-year-old grandmother.


Social scientists believe the extreme stress of homelessness and drug addiction is making otherwise nonviolent people violent. Of the 12 homeless individuals suspected of violent crime in Los Angeles, CBS found that none had criminal pasts. “A squabble over space for a tent can escalate into assault with a deadly weapon,” said the head of homeless outreach for the LA police.

In Los Angeles and San Francisco, a growing number of residents are afraid to leave their homes and simply walk past homeless encampments. “The longer we leave people on the streets the more danger all of us are in,” says Rev. Andy Bales, who runs Union Rescue Mission. Bales lost his lower leg to flesh-eating bacterial infection resulting from his work for the homeless on Skid Row.


Homelessness has become a human rights crisis. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights last year condemned California’s response to homelessness as “cruel and inhuman.”


The problem is that, so long as there is no temporary or permanent shelter available to homeless people, it is unethical and, in many circumstances, illegal to prevent people from sleeping outdoors, even when doing so poses a threat to themselves and to others. As a result, LA alone wastes roughly $40 million per year on clean up operations that only last a few hours and fail to clean up human waste.

Why California Must Declare A State Of Emergency On Homelessness -- Or Get A Governor Who Will

The time for half measures has passed. The growing number of people without shelter in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, San Diego, and other cities threatens public health and safety.

www.forbes.com

At this point, the federal government should quarantine California for both disease and general degeneracy.

 

[Ivan le Fou]

Big Californian cities do have a HUGE homelessness problem.

It is mind-boggling that such cities like LA, SF, San Diego, etc... are literally suffocating under such an issue.

 

[Mordoror]

Big Californian cities do have a HUGE homelessness problem.

It is mind-boggling that such cities like LA, SF, San Diego, etc... are literally suffocating under such an issue.

Housing price; high : check
Wages not following : check
Attractive economy (but for how long) attracting people from everywhere else : check

California is like Europe; it attracts poor people that expect a job.
Pile on that gangs, drug issues, a border with an almost failed state (i am not speaking about Canada ) and limited possible housing surface outside big cities (California is NOT for most of it, inhabitable) and you get the result.

Question is : is this really limited to California ? What about Michigan (Detroit) and Illinois (Chicago)

 

[Ivan le Fou]

I don't know of any city in Europe that is currently facing the same sanitary conditions as LA or SF.

And though cities like NYC, Baltimore, Chicago or Detroit may have it bad as well, they are still reasonnably far from facing the same issues as the main cities of California.

 

[Mordoror]

I don't know of any city in Europe that is currently facing the same sanitary conditions as LA or SF.

And though cities like NYC, Baltimore, Chicago or Detroit may have it bad as well, they are still reasonnably far from facing the same issues as the main cities of California.

Don't step a foot at Porte de Bagnolet, Saint Ouen and such then (half joking only, unfortunately)
Of course Chicago, Detroit etc don't have as bad as California. California is a warm weather area. Sunny and warm attracts more than sub zero artic area. I know it well, Montpellier, here, is turning itself into a LA lite with all the social cases, hobos, punks with dogs and isolate youngesters coming from the North.

To be clearer, when i was comparing California to Europe, it was as a whole. You have a rich State (or region) surrounded by poorer areas. People will move toward the sun and the wealth (or perceived wealth) increasing demographic pressure. That's the case for Europe (with external migrants), that's the case for California (with external -Mexico and South America- and internal -economical dreamers- migrants)

 

[Ivan le Fou]

I lived in Montreuil for a few years, I know.

And I can say that SF, much more than LA, is much worse than anything we have in France.

 

[Mordoror]

I lived in Montreuil for a few years, I know.

And I can say that SF, much more than LA, is much worse than anything we have in France.

Yes
A pity, given how SF is (was) generally a nice city both from architectural and way of life pov.

 

[berkut76]

As a San Francisco resident of 27 years, I think I can share my prescriptive. At least in SF, the current homelessness crisis has been caused by a ... tech boom. Under previous city leadership the tech companies moved into the city without any planning whatsoever and at a fast and furious pace. The so-called development of the SOMA (south of market street) area. Basically, new skyscrapers have being built and every piece of rental property has been scooped by techies, even in the very seedy neighborhoods. At the same time, the boom didn't benefit the locals one bit as the companies began to draw high skilled workers from all over the world into San Francisco displacing local population and contributing to homelessness even further. In short, going by the past economic cycles, it would take a serious recession (like the one from a decade ago) to balance things out.

 

[Ivan le Fou]

As a San Francisco resident of 27 years, I think I can share my prescriptive. At least in SF, the current homelessness crisis has been caused by a ... tech boom. Under previous city leadership the tech companies moved into the city without any planning whatsoever and at a fast and furious pace. The so-called development of the SOMA (south of market street) area. Basically, new skyscrapers being built and every piece of rental property has been scooped by techies, even in very seedy neighborhoods. At the same time, the boom didn't benefit the locals one bit as the companies began to draw high skilled workers from all over the world into San Francisco displacing local population and contributing to homelessness even further. In short, going by past economic cycles, it would take a serious recession (like the one from a decade ago) to balance things out.

That's something that really shocked me, how, even around and within Market Street, you could switch from wealthy, fancy (with big companies HQs, luxury retailers, etc...) to... shockingly poor.

 

[berkut76]

That's something that really shocked me, how, even around and within Market Street, you could switch from wealthy, fancy (with big companies HQs, luxury retailers, etc...) to... shockingly poor.

Because the homeless have been pushed out from their habitat so to speak, and the total number has increased.

 

[HisRoyalHighness]

As a San Francisco resident of 27 years, I think I can share my prescriptive. At least in SF, the current homelessness crisis has been caused by a ... tech boom. Under previous city leadership the tech companies moved into the city without any planning whatsoever and at a fast and furious pace. The so-called development of the SOMA (south of market street) area. Basically, new skyscrapers being built and every piece of rental property has been scooped by techies, even in very seedy neighborhoods. At the same time, the boom didn't benefit the locals one bit as the companies began to draw high skilled workers from all over the world into San Francisco displacing local population and contributing to homelessness even further. In short, going by past economic cycles, it would take a serious recession (like the one from a decade ago) to balance things out.

That sounds like the foundation for a dystopia.

 

[colin traveller]

As a San Francisco resident of 27 years, I think I can share my prescriptive. At least in SF, the current homelessness crisis has been caused by a ... tech boom. Under previous city leadership the tech companies moved into the city without any planning whatsoever and at a fast and furious pace. The so-called development of the SOMA (south of market street) area. Basically, new skyscrapers have being built and every piece of rental property has been scooped by techies, even in the very seedy neighborhoods. At the same time, the boom didn't benefit the locals one bit as the companies began to draw high skilled workers from all over the world into San Francisco displacing local population and contributing to homelessness even further. In short, going by the past economic cycles, it would take a serious recession (like the one from a decade ago) to balance things out.

The Senators .. such as Maxine waters , Kamala Harris and Pelosi .. should all shoulder some of the blame or there clear lack of inaction whereby they cared more for Illegals than actual Americans . And even more whackado is the Gov has signed a bill that barrs schools from suspending kids who are just unruly ..

IMO The Senators and all those in local Gov .. should all be arrested because there care more about illegal votes than American citizens ... and the person who murdered that woman , had his Gun charge dropped .

Criminals who aren't citizens get a pass

 

[Euroamerican]

It's like they've developed an almost suicidal disregard for their society, these progressives, while fueling the Charles Manson style of "bring it all down, Man" fire/crisis going on.

 

[Mordoror]

That sounds like the foundation for a dystopia.

It has nothing to do with a dystopian thing... because it is a worldwide reality
It's over-gentrification of some cities where square meters have skyrocketted because they are/were attractive economicaly.
Leaving a whole set of the population in dismay
And that's true on the 5 continents ....
SF, LA, NYC, Lagos, Luanda, Shanghai, Beijin, Hong Kong, Paris, London..... Those with low income are from at the periphery, those with lesser than few income are thrown on the streets ....

 

[HisRoyalHighness]

Doctor Warns Of Leprosy In Los Angeles

Doctor Warns Of Leprosy In Los Angeles

Trump threatens San Francisco with EPA violation because of city's homeless

President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to have the Environmental Protection Agency issue a "notice" to San Francisco over the city's homeless issue, comments that were criticized by local officials.
From Air Force One, Trump, who had been in California for a two-day fundraising trip, blamed the homeless population for environmental issues. "There's tremendous pollution being put into the ocean," he said, noting "there are needles, there are other things."


"We're going to be giving San Francisco — they're in total violation — we’re going to be giving them the notice very soon," Trump said.
"The EPA is going to be putting out a notice and you know they're in serious violation and this is environmental, very environmental," Trump said. "And they have to clean it up. We can’t have our cities going to hell."

Trump threatens San Francisco with EPA violation because of city's homeless

San Francisco's mayor said the city is working on solutions, "not throwing off ridiculous assertions as we board an airplane to leave the state."

www.nbcnews.com

 

[NebrHogger]

How long before an epidemic of bubonic plague begins? I say it's a real possibility.

 

[berkut76]

How long before an epidemic of bubonic plague begins? I say it's a real possibility.

..and I think the homeless will survive. I think the big pharma is hiding something from us. In the last 5 years working early shift at work, I have seen only 3 corpses being hauled away by Coroner vehicles.

 

[bdpopeye]

Big Californian cities do have a HUGE homelessness problem.

It is mind-boggling that such cities like LA, SF, San Diego, etc... are literally suffocating under such an issue.

I lived in San Diego for 26 years..'77 to '04. Suffocating? Not really. I was just there in June 2019 and the homeless population still congregates in the same areas. YES it is a BIG issue. But suffocating? nope...

 

[berkut76]

I lived in San Diego for 26 years..'77 to '04. Suffocating? Not really. I was just there in June 2019 and the homeless population still congregates in the same areas. YES it is a BIG issue. But suffocating? nope...

Absolutely has gotten much worse in LA and SF, and also in Portland and Seattle.

 

[bdpopeye]

Absolutely has gotten much worse in LA and SF, and also in Portland and Seattle.

I'm not doubting that it has. This homeless problem in California has been ongoing for many ,many years.