San Francisco to Humboldt: SHUT UP!

I've been hearing about the flap that Humboldt County has given San Francisco over its homeless busing program over the last few days now and I also read the Op-Ed piece by Ken Garcia in the San Francisco Examiner.

From what information I've gathered, the folks up north are indignant because they feel like they're a "dumping ground" for homeless people. Well, here's a reality check: YOUR people (for those who are current and former Humboldt County residents) are coming to San Francisco because they feel that they can get a free ride from the City's General Assistance programs.

Ever since Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed and implemented the Care Not Cash program, there has been less handed out in freebies and more handed out in REAL services (shelter, food, vouchers). This was a good thing. I voted for Care Not Cash because it made sense. San Francisco businesses and property owners were behind it because they felt that it would reduce the amount of aggressive panhandling and perpetuation of the cycle of poverty because the homeless were wasting their money on alcohol and drugs. Also, as people who have a lot at stake in the city (they are the ones paying business and property taxes and NOT the freeloaders), they tend to take the biggest hit when the liberal Democraps on the Board of Stupidvisors always float bonds to the populace to pay for additional programs that are duplicates of others already in place. The people who were against it were those who claim they help the homeless such as stupidvisors Tom Ammiano, Jake Goldrick, Matt Gonzalez and most of the non-profits that serve the homeless population like the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco.

In fact, a Google search produced the following hits which I am excerpting from:

Here is an article taken from the San Francisco Bay Guardian's sfbg.com website via Google search results.

In summary, Jennifer Friedenbach is totally against Prop. N (Care Not Cash) because she fears that it will cut the money that her organization will receive for referring homeless people for services. The language she uses in her opinion piece is alarmist and completely reactionary. She gives no real basis for her arguments except that she's against it. Even today, she feels that Care Not Cash is no good and has not worked. Oh, really? So, we should just continue to throw free money to people who really could work but choose not to?

Since the statistics show that more people have gone into permanent housing (1,450 with another 200 waiting for more openings) and are weaning themselves off of public assistance, isn't that a good thing? Isn't that what the Coalition on Homelessness is supposed to do, help the homeless become part of the regular mainstream population? Or are they actually trying to perpetuate the cycle of poverty so that they have a reason to exist and get more gee-golly money for themselves?

When she states that there are those who have fallen off the public assistance rolls and have refused shelter or permanent housing, who does she blame? The mayor! While I do not always agree with what the mayor does, this is one of the few things which I do agree with him about and I think that Friedenbach is off base. First of all, nobody is FORCED into anything. If they choose to not move into transitional housing and on to permanent housing, whose fault is that? It's the individual's fault, not the mayor's! If people have "fallen off the roll" because their cash handouts have been reduced from $442 down to $64 per month, wouldn't this give a person more of an incentive to get themselves out of their current situation into one where they can stand on their own two feet?

I mean, ANY job is better than NO job, even if it is minimum wage. They are earning money which they can put towards their own future and get themselves out of poverty. I believe that if a person is able-bodied and does not suffer from any mental or medical disorders, then they should be able to get themselves cleaned up, retrained and finish up an education to help further themselves.

In a San Francisco neighborhood newspaper, The Noe Valley Voice ran an article that sounded more cynical than anything else before Care Not Cash was even implemented. Plus, to show how BIASED they were, they only spoke to homeless people and didn't even include anybody else to balance out the story. You call this unbiased journalism? Puhleeeeze!

Additionally, a previous article in the San Francisco Examiner also provides some information on the issue at hand.

Now, back to Humboldt County and their whiners...

Because 13 identified homeless people were found to have used San Francisco's "Homeward Bound" program to go to their county, they are all bent out of shape. My god, THIRTEEN HOMELESS PEOPLE ARE ON THE STREETS IN HUMBOLDT COUNTY!!! STOP THE PRESSES!!! GET THE NATIONAL GUARD!!! WE HAVE A MAJOR CRISIS ON OUR HANDS!!!

To them, I say: "GET A LIFE!" If they had even an inkling of what our city has to deal with here, they would do well to shut the hell up. I don't think they've even come down here and walked the streets of San Francisco to see what it is that the city faces on a daily basis. But, I don't want to rehash what Ken Garcia has spoken about in his article. Garcia actually did a good job of outlining what is happening and given a sound response.

Therefore, I feel that the "officials" in Humboldt County have no basis for their complaint. Maybe we should try sending some of our homeless up there and see how they like it. After all, turnabout's fair play, right?

So, should we continue to be a dumping ground for the rest of the state's homeless population? Hell no! If they're your residents, YOU take care of them! If they choose to come here because they think they can get free money so they can go squander it on something else, then they deserve to be sent back from whence they came. Just be glad we're not sending you the bill for services rendered during their stay in San Francisco.

Let's see how much you'll holler when we start doing that...