Rather than the old routine of blame and argue, which has paralyzed discussion for 20 years or more

No one does more for that game than C.W. Nevius. That guy is a major homeless-hating asshole. (Oops, guess I'm playing some blame and argue myself.)

When I first moved here last year, he was penning a long series of reports about (*gasp*) homeless people sleeping in Golden Gate Park. Newsom jumped into "action" and essentially forced them all out. So of course they just ended up sleeping in front of people's houses in the Sunset and Richmond neighborhoods that surround the park. Smart. Eventually Nevius moved on to other annoying topics and the homeless went back to the park.

I don't trust Newsom to do anything useful about the problem at all. He's not a terrible mayor, all things considered, but a city as liberal as SF certainly deserves better. He pretty much coasts by because people that don't pay attention only remember his support for same-sex marriage and overlook everything else he does. And now that he's essentially campaigning for governor, he's only getting worse. For example, ignoring many of the city's very strong voter-supported pro-immigrant laws, even ones that he's on record as supporting, because he knows they won't fly in the rest of the state.

Oh that first line was a quote from Nevius' column . I always put quotes in italics, but the new Merc comments don't allow italics. It makes me so sad.

Actually, a sit/lie ordinance for San Francisco is definitely in the works. Nevius didn't mention it, but as I reported on the last meeting of this work group:

"According to the description on the meeting agenda, VIP zones would be established around downtown, the Yerba Buena center, Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, and Union Square as areas subject to 'special enforcement of drug laws, aggressive panhandling, sitting/lying on sidewalks' and other 'quality of life crimes.'"

You can read the entire story here:
http://www.sfbayguardian.com/entry.php?entry_id=7121&catid=&volume_id=317&issue_id=396&volume_num=42&issue_num=51

Cheers,
Amanda Witherell
Reporter
San Francisco Bay Guardian

Thanks, Amanda. Give me a call...I'd love to talk about the progress of the group. 503 294 0840.