An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin • Hacker News Board

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#21

Post by namank » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 5:17 AM UTC

akaru wrote: post #3

I've been homeless. No one in SF is hungry. In a span of a few blocks a person could eat for free 5 or 6 times a day. Money is used for drugs or McDonald's. My advice: don't give anyone money or food. If you want to help, give your time.

In a span of a few blocks a person could eat for free 5 or 6 times a day.

Care to expand?

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#22

Post by twakefield » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 5:17 AM UTC

I'm relatively new to San Francisco and to a newcomer, the contrast between neighborhoods is shocking. I came from New York so I was used to micro-neighborhoods but SF takes it to a different level.

It seems that SF has decided to herd all of the criminal activity and destitute people into certain neighborhoods and just contain it versus solution based approaches. I have no idea if this is the actual strategy but it sure seems like it.

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#23

Post by iamwil » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 5:17 AM UTC

akaru wrote: post #3

I've been homeless. No one in SF is hungry. In a span of a few blocks a person could eat for free 5 or 6 times a day. Money is used for drugs or McDonald's. My advice: don't give anyone money or food. If you want to help, give your time.

Is it because the homeless shelters provide food? Where do you get food from?

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#24

Post by phatmann » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 5:18 AM UTC

I at one time carried around some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches which i offered to street people when asked for a handout. I got about a 50% acceptance rate and on the sandwiches. so, i think it's not all for drugs. If I missed a couple of paychecks, it could be me on the street end

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#25

Post by kjackson2012 » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 5:18 AM UTC

At the Safeway where I live, there are nuns that stand outside with a grocery list of food they ask people to donate for them. I didn't know if they were really nuns so I asked the cashier, and they confirmed it, so it made it a lot easier for me to go ahead and donate food. They make food for the homeless and the donation goes straight into feeding these poor people so it's a lot better than giving food or money directly to the person, who will likely use it for drugs, etc.

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#26

Post by dsrguru » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 5:18 AM UTC

akaru wrote: post #3

I've been homeless. No one in SF is hungry. In a span of a few blocks a person could eat for free 5 or 6 times a day. Money is used for drugs or McDonald's. My advice: don't give anyone money or food. If you want to help, give your time.

As someone who hasn't spent much time in SF but plans to move there very soon and doesn't want to live off of ramen, I genuinely want to know: where does one get those free meals?

Edit: namank and iamwill beat me to it.

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#27

Post by thinker » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 5:19 AM UTC

akaru wrote: post #3

I've been homeless. No one in SF is hungry. In a span of a few blocks a person could eat for free 5 or 6 times a day. Money is used for drugs or McDonald's. My advice: don't give anyone money or food. If you want to help, give your time.

Just curious but by free are you referring to food shelters?

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#28

Post by mjallday » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 5:20 AM UTC

Is SF atypical in the number of mentally unstable homeless people? I moved to the US a year ago and am still blown away by the shear number of drugged up or crazy people living in the middle of the city. I've seen plenty of homeless people on my travels around the world but usually they are poor, not mentally unstable (to my knowledge).

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#29

Post by rdouble » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 5:21 AM UTC

mjallday wrote: post #28

Is SF atypical in the number of mentally unstable homeless people? I moved to the US a year ago and am still blown away by the shear number of drugged up or crazy people living in the middle of the city. I've seen plenty of homeless people on my travels around the world but usually they are poor, not mentally unstable (to my knowledge).

Yes.

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#30

Post by djmdjm » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 5:21 AM UTC

What's remarkable about this is how the poster finds these casual encounters with homelessness "unremarkable". No other western city that I have visited has the massive, in-your-face homelessness as SF.

I don't know enough about the causes of this phenomenon in SF to suggest what can be done about it; I'm sure they are complex, multi-factorial and politically fraught, but the level of homelessness in SF and (almost) everyone's blase acceptance of it shocks me every time I visit.