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SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

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Re: SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

#331

Post by aidenn0 »

mmmlll wrote: post #76
sandworm101 wrote: post #31

The shame is that this individual is far from unique, and not just in SF. I run into people daily who speak of homelessness as a conscious lifestyle choice. I know of one SF attorney who constantly rants about how the homeless there all earn 50k a year. They build up these fantasy worlds to justify their perception of themselves as moral millionaires. They believe wealth to be the inevitable result of a heightened mo…

Your attorney friend is talking about trustafarians in the park on the other side of the city, and gravitate to Upper Haight, not the homeless populations that center around downtown in close proximity to the TLoin. Johnny5SF isn't complaining about the former, because they're not really situated to be a daily part of any rich tech bro's commute.

I've only been to SF once, and the difference in culture between the homeless in Tenderloin and Haight was immediately noticable.

Re: SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

#332

Post by flog »

randomname2 wrote: post #30

What is a "SF tech bro"? In this context it seems to be intended as some kind of slur, or there is at least some negative connotation here. It's a man who works in tech who... what exactly?

It's the acceptable-because-it's-male-and-white version of "blond bimbo"

Re: SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

#333

Post by SeoxyS »

vinhboy wrote: post #260
joeguilmette wrote: post #140

I was in Chinatown talking to my grandmother on my cellphone. A homeless person walked up and punched me in the face. SF has the worst homeless problem I've ever seen in the first world, and it rivals the worst of what I've seen in the third world. It's a disgrace and it sucks and I don't have to like it. Whatever the local/state government is doing isn't working. And sure, maybe a lot of the homeless are just normal…

My friend got punched in the face by a homeless person. Unprovoked, for no apparent reason.

Me too. It really is a huge problem.

Re: SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

#334

Post by kweks »

1024core wrote: post #301
kweks wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The subject is more nuanced than this. Firstly, you need to examine the reason why people are on the streets. Generally, it falls into three categories: 1. 'Normal' People with mental illness, and no support network 2. 'Normal' People who have lost their financial stability. 3. Rest (Choice, Addiction, etc. by far the smallest group) The key thing to note here is that with very, very few exceptions, everyone living o…

> The key thing to note here is that with very, very few exceptions, everyone living on the street was a 'normal' person. That is where you are dead wrong. I would highly recommend you walk down 13th street (aka Duboce or Division, can't remember) and talk to the people living in the tent colony lining it. I have; it used to be my way to work till the hassle became too much and I started taking a detour. I would posi…

I've not worked with the homeless in SF, but I have seen it first hand.

Noone is contesting the infiltration of alcoholism, drugs, etc that is a huge part of the homeless puzzle.

However, it's important to consider that the abuse comes as a result of being on the streets, and the desire to numb against the hardship, or if it was the catalyst that placed the people in that situation. My experience is that it's more the former than the latter.

Call it holier-than-thou, but I've been working with homeless for over 5 years, 2 nights per week. I am sure that SF's situation has its nuances, but I'd be surprised if it was totally different.

Re: SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

#335

Post by whybroke »

From the posts here I can see that Justin's mentality is not remotely unique.

Anyone thinking of moving to SF should simply be shown this thread so they can see what kind of people they will be around all day.

Hey Washington Post, why not write an article about this site. Start with this thread.

Here's a winner https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11127645 (I hope I'm not oppressing him by linking to it)

Re: SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

#336

Post by gregp4 »

anoonmoose wrote: post #12

>> "Move over Martin Shkreli. You now have competition for the title of America’s most reviled millennial." That seems unfair. Shkreli made the news for doing things that would have a tangible effect on peoples lives, and doing those things with a smile. Let's compare Shkreli raising the prices on life-saving drugs to the first paragraph of Keller's blog post: >> "I am writing today, to voice my concern and outrage o…

> That seems unfair. Shkreli made the news for doing things that would have a tangible effect on peoples lives, and doing those things with a smile.

As I said in my post in this thread, journalists (keypressers) have it in for us. That's why we're "coders," "techies," and now "tech bros" in their articles. They probably resent the fact that low social status geeks are making more money than them, even if few us are actually rich.

To hell with these keypressers. Never, ever lift a finger to help them. They are our enemy.

Re: SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

#337

Post by return0 »

coldtea wrote: post #54
Afforess wrote: post #9

To play devil's advocate, he's right. He shouldn't have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless - the city government should be providing affordable housing and shelters for the homeless. That it hasn't is a failure of the local government, and should be addressed. Much of the reason that affordable housing is out of reach of many in San Francisco is due to government regulation, not market capitalism. Ext…

> To play devil's advocate, he's right. He shouldn't have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless - the city government should be providing affordable housing and shelters for the homeless. Only if people agree, offer their solidarity, and approve the city government of doing so (with their taxes etc too). Which is exactly what people like him don't allow.

> Which is exactly what people like him don't allow.

How did you come to that conclusion?

Re: SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

#338

Post by VonGuard »

While this guy maybe went about saying it wrong, he has a point. There really is no other place on Earth that puts up with the level of homelessness we see here in the Bay Area. New York, Boston, Chicago, none have anywhere near this many homeless people. All over Europe, there are few homeless people.

It's really a specifically Bay Area, or maybe a West Coast problem. It's utterly out of control. It's complex, it's hard to solve, it involves many many factors. But at the end of the day, it's still true that Bay Area natives are completely oblivious to just how ridiculous the homeless problem is, here. It's the first thing EVERYONE notices when they visit here, and we all just ignore it like it's normal.

I'm sick of it too, though I hope for a compassionate solution, on the other side of it, if I had run out of money and was living on the streets, I would most likely leave the Bay Area on foot and head for some place that isn't the most expensive city in the fucking country. I mean, is it surprising people can't afford places to live, here?

I don't know what the solution is, but after living here for 18 years and seeing the problem only get worse, not better, I completely agree something has to change, here.

Re: SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

#339

Post by dsaint-pierre »

knughit wrote: post #319
dsaint-pierre wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, repealing the Ellis Act, for one. You (and he) are looking at this as if the homeless spontaneously came to exist as NPCs in the RPG that is his wonderful techie San Francisco existence rather than identifying the things that led them to this place in life like the Ellis Act, skyrocketing inflation, lack of lower-middle income jobs, etc.

What? The homeless are here because the city attracts more people than there are room for (development reasons) and because SF spends huge sums to care for homeless immigrants

No. 71% of San Francisco's homeless population once lived in the city: http://sfist.com/2016/02/11/71_of_sf_homeless_once_had_homes...

"Seventy-one percent (71%) of respondents reported they were living in San Francisco at the time they most recently became homeless, an increase from 61% in 2013. Of those, nearly half (49%) had lived in San Francisco for 10 years or more. Eleven percent (11%) had lived in San Francisco for less than one year."

What are these "development reasons?" Airbnb? Property owners have had no issue knocking down buildings in places like the Mission to build high-rent properties in their place. There is ample opportunity to satisfy demand for low-to-middle income housing by building upwards which developers choose to ignore in favor of satisfying the rich.

Re: SF tech bro: ‘I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, despair of homeless’

#340

Post by foldr »

discardorama wrote: post #35

I think he does have a point... but he could have put it better. I live in SF too; for ~10 years. I have never seen it this bad. The City passed a "sit/lie" law a couple of years ago.. but it's never enforced. The City is spending $1M/month ... for housing 225 people[1]. Do the math, and you'll see how ridiculous is that. At that rate, how much do you think the City can spend on the homeless? It has 7000 homeless, an…

>Do the math, and you'll see how ridiculous is that.

It's $4444 per person per month. Why is that ridiculous? They need to employ people to manage the program as well as run shelters, pay rents, etc. $4444 is not so high that it's obviously too much.

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