Many San Franciscans believe the normalization of criminal activity and antisocial behavior has diminished the quality of life in the city to unacceptable levels. Laws and minimum standards of public behavior have gone unenforced bringing to our communities filth, rot, stench, contaminated needles, garbage, human feces and urine; as well as very disturbing and sometimes accosting behavior.
In addition to the intolerable conditions on the streets, for the last few years San Francisco has had the highest rate of property crimes (from shoplifting to auto break-ins to vandalism) among all American major cities.
What isn't working?
With a 2017-18 budget over $10.1 billion, San Francisco spends more per citizen than 95% of the largest US cities, including over $660 million annually on homelessness & behavior health services in 2019. Yet the number of homeless people has risen 17% and the city has few results when it comes to finding permanent solutions for the city’s sickest, most vulnerable people. There is a painfully obvious increase in people living on city streets, along with unacceptably high rates of property crime.
Your neighborhood associations (Cow Hollow Assn and Marina Community Assn) held public meetings with residents and city leaders including Supervisor Catherine Stefani, SFPD captains and San Francisco's City Assessor. The frustration and tension were high, as might be expected, as community members expressed their concern over what is happening to San Francisco.
During the meeting, it was recommended that we watch the Seattle KOMO NEWS documentary, "
Seattle is Dying
" and while watching it, replace “Seattle” with "San Francisco”. Since then, many of us have watched it, as have over 9.3 million people to date. We found it educational, compelling, shocking and very applicable to San Francisco. Several months after the documentary aired, Seattle KOMO NEWS presented a follow-up report “
A Tale of 3 Cities
” that also included more details on the problems impacting San Francisco and Los Angeles.
What can be done?
At the state level, there are ballot initiatives such as the California Compassionate Intervention Act (
CCIA
) that recognize some of these aspects of our deteriorated quality of life and suggest more direct methods for solving the core problems (
article from the ballot initiative's author).
At the local level, our
neighborhood newspaper,
Marina Times, is sounding the alarm. Meanwhile San Francisco's leaders are divided on what to do. The good news is that we have both a strong local economy and examples of large cities that have restored troubled streets to vibrant, safe communities. Those at the meeting decided it is time to stop complaining and do something, and that is why we are reaching out to you.
You live here, you work here, and you want to thrive here.
Now is the time to do something...
Learn more by watching the videos and
let us know your thoughts by taking the short survey.
