By Frank Noakes
SAN FRANCISCO — Cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge and sunshine are the images conjured up by the mention of this city's rhythmic name. Less part of the image is the cold fog that regularly descends during the summer months, making the carrying of extra clothing advisable even on the hottest of days.
The political climate is growing to resemble the atmospheric conditions: a warmed over liberalism is being chilled by an ill wind of intolerance blowing from City Hall.
A former police chief, Mayor Frank Jordan chose the dying weeks of the northern summer to declare open season on the homeless. His program, cynically titled "Quality of Life Enforcement", aims to drive the homeless off city streets.
Homelessness is considered unaesthetic where the tourist dollar rules. A special police unit has been formed to deal with these "quality of life offences", issuing $100 fines for such crimes as sleeping in the park. Failure to pay gets you bed and board in the nearest jail.
"I want people to know we have a good quality of life here, and that our city is safe and secure", says Jordan, busily trying to conceal, rather than house, homeless residents.
The campaign is having some success, and business is pleased. "There are a touch fewer street people and homeless", comments an art gallery owner. No, they haven't found a roof: 15,000 are routinely turned away from shelters each month. They've simply moved out of the city centre and under bridges.
But the homeless are mobile in this city. They creatively use shopping carts (trolleys) to transport their meagre belongings and to collect and recycle cans to survive. So Jordan and the business community want the cops to confiscate these carts and offer brightly coloured duffel bags (freely donated by merchants) to replace them. However, this move has wounded the city's liberal sensibilities, forcing Jordan to back off for the moment.
Writing in the September issue of Street Sheet, Greg Winter says the city administration's plan, in an unapologetic manner, "punishes homeless people for manifesting the full extent and persistence of homelessness in our society. Instead of focusing on the roots of the problem — the lack of affordable housing, the decline of our job market, and the inadequacy of our social services that create homelessness — the Quality of Life Enforcement penalises those who demonstrate the problem most clearly. It is a quintessential 'blame the victim' policy that patches up the aesthetics of the city by beating back its realities. It is the perfect performance for gawking tourists."