San Francisco: Even Grading on a Curve It's Still Bad

Chronicle columnist Heather Knight asked travelers from San Francisco to compare other cities with their own. SF resident Terry Hemphill:

BART worker's regular duty: pick up syringes (Chron)

The European cities Hemphill visited featured mostly clean sidewalks without needles, poop or heaps of trash. He felt safe working on his laptop in parks or cafes without worrying that someone would snatch the device. The public transportation was efficient and tidy. He didn’t encounter people who seemed clearly out of their minds because of drugs or untreated mental illness.

There was some graffiti and litter, yes. And a few homeless people begging for spare change. But nothing like San Francisco....

But when he arrived at his South of Market condo on Clara Street, he couldn’t get in his own front door. A man who appeared homeless had dropped his pants to urinate against the entryway. When Hemphill asked him to move, the man shouted “F— off!” and continued using the door as a toilet.

Sometimes frustrated citizens spend time and money trying to fix the problems themselves. There are encouraging stories like the Bernal Heights staircase to motivate others. However, the ending isn't always happy:

[Hemphill's] alley got a little cleaner and friendlier for a while thanks to the diligence of a neighbor, Brian Egg, who cleaned the sidewalks, watered trees and chatted with other residents while out walking his dog. That was before Egg’s headless body was found last year decomposed in a fish tank. The case is still under investigation.

Some readers think the solution is "offering universal health care and a far more robust social safety net" while others opine that it's "higher expectations for decency and civility elsewhere".

Before we think the solutions involve making massive changes to American culture, institutions, and government, however, we should ask ourselves why it's only some states that have the worst problems.

The two States, California and Hawaii, where I spend all my time, seem helpless to stem the tide.

The solution is always more money, and yet the numbers keep growing. Other States, including those with warm weather, don't seem to have as great a problem. The answers are out there, but they involve single-minded dedication and reliable funding over a long-period of time

The readers' solutions sound half-hearted because, even if they work ("universal health care", "civility") they will take years to implement. Meanwhile in the once-beautiful City by the Bay homelessness is rising, residents are fleeing, and high taxes will rise higher.

Something's gotta give.