KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 3 months, 2018–2021
2:22 · 637K views · Apr 26, 2018
A 2018 local news report showing people using drugs openly in the corridors of San Francisco's Civic Center BART station.
Used by commenters as illustrative evidence in critical discussions about San Francisco's drug and homelessness problems.
4 comments from Hacker News
I do agree that the political leadership has squandered a fortune, but if there is a root cause, it ultimately comes down to the voters. It is the voters who repeatedly vote for the same leaders who implement the same policies emphasizing the same values with the same outcomes over and over. And when confronted with those problems, the response from voters is to shame dissenting voices for a lack of empathy instead of recognizing the reality around them and applying common sense. SF shows problems on almost every facet of city governance from businesses unable to set up shop ( [LINK] ) to feces on the streets ( [LINK] ) to BART subway stations that are open drug markets ( this video ) to mismanagement of massive budgets ( [LINK] ) to rampant property crime ( [LINK] ) to the city worsening the used needles problem ( [LINK] )... I could go on, but if I had to pick a few basic things that are broken and need attention: - Unequal enforcement of the law. Residents who follow the rules and care about their city are subject to the law. If they break the law, for instance by littering or not paying for parking or not being properly permitted for something, they'll be subject to fines or other penalties. But drug addicted homeless vagrants can break every last law with impunity, and face no consequence for it. - Incredible bloat in governance, with massive public agencies that are really just job creation schemes for those who are looking to lazily coast through a 'career'. We see the sa
While I was a BART commuter, I walked a gauntlet of slumped-over hard drug users, sprawled-out homeless people, human urine, and feces every day. Fortunately, I've only seen people drop their pants and take a shit on the sidewalk in front of me twice. Missed a random stabbing on the stairwell into my station by about 5 minutes. This is Civic Center Station, which serves Twitter, Uber, and Square. No amount of tech worker foot traffic is going to clean up an area if the government isn't willing to police it. Video doesn't even show the worst part, but helps to illustrate: this video
Maybe office workers prefer not to have to run the gauntlet of feces and hypodermic needles, just to buy a sandwich. "San Francisco Man Steps on Hydodermic Needle, Demands Action" [LINK] "Junkies Take Over Corridors Of San Francisco Civic Center BART Station" this video "SF Crime, Squalor Scares Away $40 Million Medical Convention" [LINK] SF Mayor: 'There's More Feces ... Than I've Ever Seen' [LINK]
For an article that doesn't focus on SF, that's an odd headline, and not a big surprise for anyone who's seen the Civic Center Bart station: this video SF is an oddity because of its homeless problem, open-air drug market, not being too concerned with either, but being incredibly concerned over covid, so this outcome isn't surprising.