Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
Oh, that’s sad to hear, it used to be one of my favorite vacation spots but I haven’t visited in over 5 years because of the homeless situation.what hustle and bustle of SF?It's literally abandoned.
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Disney Irish
Premium Member
I wouldn't call it abandoned, but its not the same crowded city pre-Covid.what hustle and bustle of SF?
Dear Prudence
Well-Known Member
I live right outside of SF and work there. I go through it every single day. Every business I walk by is closed. There's maybe a small handful of people out during the day. It's not Every remotely crowded. It's definitely not the ghost town it was in March-April 2020, which I am grateful for, but it's still basically abandoned. It's very sad.
Dear Prudence
Well-Known Member
Honestly, the tech industry gutted and ruined SF, and the pandemic killed what was left. My family has been here over 150 years. I used to love going into the City, even on my days off. Now it's too dangerous, even Covid aside.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
This opens up a completely separate conversation about the topic of diversity that I just know we cannot get into.
And I say this as a Black gay man from Los Angeles.
- Racial groups and political factions are not monoliths. To the latter point, research has shown liberalism to be much more individualistic in ideals than conservatism, which tends to be more collectivist in thinking.
- TP2000's story reflects one of the hottest talking points regarding diversity: who is leading the conversation. In pockets like Seattle, San Francisco, and even Silver Lake, within liberal circles there's been a whitewashing of the conversation around diversity. Meaning calls for diversity are largely not being made by the demographics that are being the most impacted. I call it the colonization of representation but that's just me being trite.
- What this means is yes, in a place that leans more left but skews more white, you're going to experience this troubling dissonant conversation where lily white coastal elites heavily lean into liberal cliche behaviors and talking points, policing language and other performative actions, not because they believe it's actually making a difference (or maybe they do, I don't know), but because it makes them feel better and that they accomplished something. Meanwhile, minority groups across race and gender identity are left trying to identify true actionable steps which typically involve something greater than saying "Latinx."
The Seattle wedding was a duty to one of the brides who is a lifelong dear friend, and I knew going in that I would be holding my tongue quite a bit with some of her very liberal Seattle friends. It was also a noticeably later-in-life wedding, and yet my dear friend's first wedding, so there was no way I was going to miss it. I was honored to be included in the family barbecue to kickoff the wedding weekend. (A fresh salmon feast on the beach, no less!)
Gays and Lesbians of an, ahem, certain age know how precious the ability to finally get married is, and this one I wasn't going to miss for anything.
But the reception after the ceremony was hilariously memorable! Like a combination of a hysterical episode of Portlandia and a humorless lecture in the faculty lounge on "Inclusion". It was also memorable because it was the first time I ever heard the world "Latinx" spoken aloud, and I laughed at myself because I'd been seeing it in print lately but I had been pronouncing in my head as "Lahteenks" (seriously). I had no idea it was pronounced as bluntly as it's spelled. No wonder native Spanish speakers refuse to use it.
It probably didn't help that the Seattle mayor was in attendance at the reception, as one of the brides is fairly influential in King County politics. Everyone was on their best PC behavior and the buzzwords and hip topics were flying! My head spun from all those lilly white people talking badly about white people in the rest of the country, while the only people with any melanin were the workers clearing plates and serving drinks. One of the women at my table kept insisting on switching to her PBS Spanish anytime she spoke with our waiter. You could tell he was dying from laughter inside, and he spoke perfect English.
What's sad is that they don't see how funny they are. They are truly hilarious! But those types so rarely laugh about anything now, so they certainly aren't going to start laughing at themselves. But I sure did.
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Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
That’s just sad, I used to love that I could walk all over SF (at least the marina area) and never feel uncomfortable, I’d stay on Chestnut and walk everywhere between the Presidio and Fishermans wharf without ever giving safety much thought, my last trip I was walking through the park by Fort Mason during the day and it was terrifying, what used to be families playing was a homeless camp and I suddenly felt very unsafe, something I’d never felt in SF before, I haven’t been back since, it’s amazing how one really bad experience can have such lingering affects.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
A few weeks ago I saw some of the photos of Union Square during all the lootings and smash-and-grabs at the fancy stores there. I was stunned at everything boarded up and closed, which the stores have to do because the windows have been smashed so often now.
It's just... stunning. I haven't been to San Francisco in years, and now that Beach Blanket Babylon is no more about the only thing that could get me to go is some major new addition to the Walt Disney Family Museum. I do, on occasion, still find myself humming the silly theme song to "Phyllis", the Cloris Leachman sitcom from San Francisco.
What has been allowed to happen to what was once one of America's greatest and most beautiful cities is absolutely criminal.
Photos show San Francisco stores' boarded-up windows after wave of smash-and-grab robberies
Some residents say the city needs to be harder on crime — others argue poverty levels must be addressed first.
www.businessinsider.com
Dear Prudence
Well-Known Member
Yeah, it's pretty foul. One of the issues that I have been seeing is that SF has never been the SF of Full House or Mrs. Doubtfire (which some Z-list Broadway-er whined about in a novel no one asked for), and people are shocked that it's as bad as it is. For as terrible as Interview with a Vampire is, it didn't hold back on how bad that part of town is (and always has been). To be perfectly honest, I care less about Louis Vuitton loser merchandise (because they're insured to Kingdom Come) and more worried about the safety of the employees. Since the start of the pandemic in March of 2020, I've been attacked 7-8 times. The first time I was attacked was in front of a cop car in broad daylight, in which the officers sat in their car and did nothing. A security guard from the bank I was in front of (who quit a couple of weeks later) had to come out and save me. I have been grabbed multiple times, flashed, and had someone attempt to urinate on me. Most of 2020, I was being stalked or followed every single day to work by a different person--which has thankfully abided since now there are more people out there on the street. It's one of the reasons why I am completely content with California keeping any and all mask mandates for the time being--one for safety against the virus and one for safety of not being recognized.A few weeks ago I saw some of the photos of Union Square during all the lootings and smash-and-grabs at the fancy stores there. I was stunned at everything boarded up and closed, which the stores have to do because the windows have been smashed so often now.
It's just... stunning. I haven't been to San Francisco in years, and now that Beach Blanket Babylon is no more about the only thing that could get me to go is some major new addition to the Walt Disney Family Museum. I do, on occasion, still find myself humming the silly theme song to "Phyllis", the Cloris Leachman sitcom from San Francisco.
What has been allowed to happen to what was once one of America's greatest and most beautiful cities is absolutely criminal.
Photos show San Francisco stores' boarded-up windows after wave of smash-and-grab robberies
Some residents say the city needs to be harder on crime — others argue poverty levels must be addressed first.
Dear Prudence
Well-Known Member
And, for the record, I think that the unhoused don't need hand washing stations or navigation centers. They need housing. The fact that there are cities of the unhoused within cities like Oakland or SF is only adding to the health crisis of the pandemic. This is the 5th largest economy in the world, this is just unacceptable.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
That kind of shocking news breaks my heart.
I don't even know how to respond to it. I want to adopt you and have you move into the guest room here in safe and sane OC.
I do agree with you about the merchandise. I could care less about the stealing of the purses from Louis Vuitton or the stealing of the cosmetics and cough syrup from Walgreens. Those stores will all be permanently closed soon and abandoned, if they aren't already. It's the danger and violence aimed at the employees that is troubling.
When that violent smash and grab crew raided the Nordstrom across the bay last month, they attacked and injured and pepper-sprayed multiple Nordstrom employees who were unlucky enough to be working for a living at the time. And the District Attorney and politicians in Sacramento and San Francisco don't seem to care.
Imagine a group of smash and grab looters raiding The Emporium at Disneyland, kicking and hitting CM's and pepper-spraying the older lady CM at the hat writing station. And then the OC District Attorney awards zero cash bail for the criminals and barely charges it as a misdemeanor, and then "experts" and politicians go on TV to say that it's not the criminal's fault and it's just "reparations" or some such drivel. The mind boggles at how we have let our society sink to these depths.
Dozens Of Looters Storm A California Nordstrom; Employees Pepper-Sprayed, Physically Assaulted
Dozens of looters raced in and out of a Walnut Creek, California, Nordstrom store Saturday night, stealing an unknown amount of merchandise. NBC News reported that, according to a police spokesperson, about “80 people rushed into the store in the city’s Broadway Plaza.” One employee was...
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Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
The problem with the theft is after everything closes it becomes a new food desert, I’ll never forget the news interviewing an older black lady who was crying during a BLM riot that had burnt down and looted all the stores in her neighborhood, she didn’t drive and now had nowhere to go to grocery shop and get her medications. Losing a LV may not be a huge deal for the neighbors but losing a Walgreens can be devastating to those in that community.
Getting rid of bail and making a $1000 theft a misdemeanor has been a disaster, just the other day I read an article about a guy who’d been arrested dozens of times in a few months and has been released every time on no bail because they’re all misdemeanors. It’s madness!
TP2000
Well-Known Member
It seems like all the "experts" and politicians realized that too late for San Francisco. It's gone over the cliff. The stores are all closing, the pedestrian traffic dries up, and then the restaurants and mom-n-pops close too. You're left with a city core that looks like this and is only populated by drugged out zombies peeing on themselves.
I just Googled. I was shocked, and yet I shouldn't be, to learn that The Gap has permanently closed its San Francisco stores. Including the corporate flagship store on Market Street. The Gap is hurting nationwide, but San Francisco is their corporate headquarters.
Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harris both left Disneyland to move up to San Francisco to be execs at The Gap.
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Mac Tonight
Well-Known Member
I propose they get the Walt Disney Family Museum out of the San Fran cesspool and move it into 1401 Flower St.
Then I might actually go to it.
Then I might actually go to it.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
I'm sure at least The Presidio has been saved and not turned into a homeless encampment. Maybe @Dear Prudence can tell us what the social-safety status of the Presidio is currently?
I also can't imagine the areas around the Legion of Honor or the de Young being allowed to devolve into a homeless camp either, but then again I was shocked to see The Gap abandon downtown San Francisco permanently. So who knows?
But the location in San Francisco has always been kind of... odd. Walt never lived there. He never created anything there. I get it, the Millers moved to the Bay Area after retiring from Disney and the Eisner era. But for Walt Disney fans? It's always kind of been an odd placement, as lovely as the Presidio is and as well done as the museum is.
Your 1401 Flower Street idea makes me go "hmm...".
But then, there's nothing preventing Glendale from going the way of San Francisco either. The decay and thousands of homeless druggies camped all over the streets of Los Angeles is just a few miles south of Glendale, and the problem only gets worse every year and with every few Billion the politicians throw at it for "houselessness".
Beautiful Downtown Lxs Angelxs! Gateway To Dreams!
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Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
I'm sure at least The Presidio has been saved and not turned into a homeless encampment. Maybe @Dear Prudence can tell us what the social-safety status of the Presidio is currently?
I also can't imagine the areas around the Legion of Honor or the de Young being allowed to devolve into a homeless camp either, but then again I was shocked to see The Gap abandon downtown San Francisco permanently. So who knows?
But the location in San Francisco has always been kind of... odd. Walt never lived there. He never created anything there. I get it, the Millers moved to the Bay Area after retiring from Disney and the Eisner era. But for Walt Disney fans? It's always kind of been an odd placement, as lovely as the Presidio is and as well done as the museum is.
Your 1401 Flower Street idea makes me go "hmm...".
But then, there's nothing preventing Glendale from going the way of San Francisco either. The decay and thousands of homeless druggies camped all over the streets of Los Angeles is just a few miles south of Glendale, and the problem only gets worse every year and with every few Billion the politicians throw at it for "houselessness".
Beautiful Downtown Lxs Angelxs! Gateway To Dreams!
What ever happened to the massive homeless camp that was by angels stadium along the river? We used to run along it for runDisney and it went from a couple tents under the bridges to mile after mile of tents all along the trail in less than a year. Then it was just gone one trip. Did they just bring in dump trucks and run them out of town? It had to have been a thousand people so I can’t imagine they found shelters for them all.
Last year we were on a morning run along Ball (just north of DL) and were surprised by a small homeless camp in that small area between the overpass sidewalk and Disney employee parking. On Disney property was the last place I expected to see homeless people camped out but they were there tucked back in the trees.
I know the projects of the 70s became crime hotspots but I’m starting to think a couple high rises with police substations in the ground floor has to be a better solution than just having tent cities everywhere.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
It was cleared out, thank God. It had to work it's way through the courts, but the local politicians in Anaheim, the city of Orange, and the County of Orange stuck to it for over a year and dogged it until the courts allowed them to clean it up.
Right now, the city of Orange (on the other side of the river from Anaheim) is involved in a similar court battle trying to evict a longtime "soup kitchen" from city owned property. The problem is that it's no longer down-on-their-luck old winos and hobos and bag ladies. It's now a younger, meaner, more crime-riddled crowd who descend daily on the "soup kitchen" for free meals, free laundry, free showers, and a handout or three before they head back out to do drugs and steal and cause general mayhem.
God willing, the city of Orange will prevail and that "soup kitchen" near Angel Stadium will be closed permanently. There are several county run homeless shelters with huge government budgets and extensive return-to-society programs available within a few miles of Disneyland, but they require you to not do drugs or get drunk to partake of their generous services.
It's a problem. You can't ignore a single tent, because if you do one tent becomes four tents, and then four tents becomes a dozen. Then you've got human sex traficking, rampant drugs, rape, assault, and other crimes all happening in those tent cities. If you see one single tent, you have to act fast.
I'm afraid the pandemic destruction of the Resort District allowed too many tents and camps to pop up. It's not going to be easy to get back to normal, but it must be done or else people stop bringing their kids to Disneyland.
A photo I took on Katella in the "Anaheim Resort District" (world-class!) in November, 2020.... Anaheim had to remove the benches in the bus shelters a few years ago, because the homeless were turning them into forts.
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CaptinEO
Well-Known Member
There was an article about the anaheim cleanup a couple of years ago. Anaheim provided the homeless with a hotel room, food, counselors, doctors, and an employment office person. The idea was to get them on their feet and give them a job.
However after one month they said 95% of the homeless people had left and weren't heard from.
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
I don't think that has ever been a problem. Disneyland could exist in Compton and people would keep coming.
Dear Prudence
Well-Known Member
omg, people would go to Def-Con 4 if anyone touched their precious Disneyland
TP2000
Well-Known Member
These aren't just people who can't afford rent, they are people with severe drug abuse problems and mental health problems. The illegal fentanyl pouring over our souther border has created a zombie generation.
The tent city that was next to Anaheim Stadium, and any other of the tent cities still in other cities (LA, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, notice a trend?) are just major crime zones where laws and rules don't apply.
It's why the nearby city of Orange is trying desperately in the courts to shut down the 20 year old "soup kitchen" that is housed on city property about 10 blocks east of Anaheim Stadium. That soup kitchen gives out free meals, free showers, free laundry services, free clothes and supplies to anyone who wanders up each day. There is no follow up on mental health or rules about obeying laws, it's just a free place for young homeless guys to load up on free food and get cleaned up before their next 3 day drug bender and community destruction.
Even though the soup kitchen operates on city property and the city wants to end the lease, the homeless industrial complex got their lawyers involved and are suing the city of Orange to force them to allow the soup kitchen to operate on their property. It's winding through the courts now, and the homeless industrial complex isn't making it easy.
Orange County now has multiple homeless shelters that are run professionally by the county, which the courts mandated in order for OC cities to be able clear out the homeless camps. To get in to the OC shelters and use their endless services that allow you to get counseling, training, a job, an apartment, etc. you have to be sober and law-abiding. Which is sadly why so few homeless people use the services offered there.
Shelter Programs | Orange County California - Health Care Agency
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