Dec 8, 2022 09:20 AM
San Francisco's Tenderloin Center closes - did it do any good?
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2022/12/06/s...od-n516139
EXCERPTS: Earlier this year San Francisco declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin district. Part of that effort involved the creation of a new “linkage center” so named because it was intended to link the homeless and drug addicts on the streets to needed services...
[...] Shortly after it was set up, Michael Shellenberger wrote that the Linkage Center had become the city’s leading open-air drug market...
[...] By June, Mayor London Breed announced that the linkage center would be closing...
[...] The center’s last day was Sunday. So did it accomplish anything? The San Francisco Chronicle reports the answer is that it was a mixed bag at best. It may have helped a few hundred homeless people get through the day but there’s not much evidence it had an impact on homelessness overall...
[...] The city spent $22 million on this experiment for one year but helping out 400 people is just a tiny drop in the bucket in San Francisco where the homeless population is estimated to be around 20,000. I guess Breed deserves some credit for trying but there’s really not a great solution for dealing with thousands of people whose chief aim in life is to get high every day for as long as they live... (MORE - missing details)
What’s worse is admitting I feel unsafe in Philadelphia
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...iladelphia
EXCERPT: . . . You think admitting I pepper-sprayed myself is embarrassing?
As a proud progressive, admitting that I feel unsafe in Philadelphia feels way more embarrassing. Rightwingers in the US are obsessed with the narrative that Democrat-led cities such as Philadelphia are dystopian hellscapes where you will almost certainly be killed if you step out of your house.
While the right cynically politicises crime (Fox News slashed its crime coverage in half after the midterm elections), they’re not entirely wrong about the problem. Shootings have surged in Philadelphia since the pandemic. By early August, more than 1,400 people had been shot in the city this year. Gun violence is out of control.
The right blames this violence on liberals and the movement to defund the police: Philadelphia has a famously progressive district attorney who, they argue, is too easy on criminals. The real reason for all this violence, however, is that Philadelphia has high rates of poverty and easy access to guns. That’s not a winning combination.
The antidote for all this violence isn’t rocket science. You increase social safety nets; you decrease poverty; you decrease access to guns. Unfortunately, there seems to be zero will in the US to do any of this... (MORE - missing details)
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2022/12/06/s...od-n516139
EXCERPTS: Earlier this year San Francisco declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin district. Part of that effort involved the creation of a new “linkage center” so named because it was intended to link the homeless and drug addicts on the streets to needed services...
[...] Shortly after it was set up, Michael Shellenberger wrote that the Linkage Center had become the city’s leading open-air drug market...
[...] By June, Mayor London Breed announced that the linkage center would be closing...
[...] The center’s last day was Sunday. So did it accomplish anything? The San Francisco Chronicle reports the answer is that it was a mixed bag at best. It may have helped a few hundred homeless people get through the day but there’s not much evidence it had an impact on homelessness overall...
[...] The city spent $22 million on this experiment for one year but helping out 400 people is just a tiny drop in the bucket in San Francisco where the homeless population is estimated to be around 20,000. I guess Breed deserves some credit for trying but there’s really not a great solution for dealing with thousands of people whose chief aim in life is to get high every day for as long as they live... (MORE - missing details)
What’s worse is admitting I feel unsafe in Philadelphia
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...iladelphia
EXCERPT: . . . You think admitting I pepper-sprayed myself is embarrassing?
As a proud progressive, admitting that I feel unsafe in Philadelphia feels way more embarrassing. Rightwingers in the US are obsessed with the narrative that Democrat-led cities such as Philadelphia are dystopian hellscapes where you will almost certainly be killed if you step out of your house.
While the right cynically politicises crime (Fox News slashed its crime coverage in half after the midterm elections), they’re not entirely wrong about the problem. Shootings have surged in Philadelphia since the pandemic. By early August, more than 1,400 people had been shot in the city this year. Gun violence is out of control.
The right blames this violence on liberals and the movement to defund the police: Philadelphia has a famously progressive district attorney who, they argue, is too easy on criminals. The real reason for all this violence, however, is that Philadelphia has high rates of poverty and easy access to guns. That’s not a winning combination.
The antidote for all this violence isn’t rocket science. You increase social safety nets; you decrease poverty; you decrease access to guns. Unfortunately, there seems to be zero will in the US to do any of this... (MORE - missing details)