Small towns with residents that are able to work or have some money are still okay. But the ones whose local industries have been hollowed out have been left with rotting infrastructure and widespread methamphetamine addiction.
I don’t know how it happened, but I talk to people in the trades like electricians and general contractors, and they’re quitting in frustration because they can’t find or retain reliable workers. Among the chief issues is meth usage.
If history repeats itself, after the European Black Death's first waves, suddenly peasants and serfs tied to lands controlled by aristocrats and churches got a lot more time off, pay and rights since there was such a scarcity of workers. Ditto more European towns got royal charters for more self-government and trade guilds arose. I await the present day population data trends as the mRNA jabs' lethal and sterilization numbers roll in while crossing my fingers for some old and new "miracle" cures and treatments. Ditto better ways to help all addicted to the super addictive modern opiates and thus stop all opiate abuse which must include some very effective tough love methods including all no-vagrancy laws enforced. As best I've seen in SF, only the Salvation Army downtown seems to have a useful non-recidivism rate for the substance abusers it helps who must be on a real path to sobriety to get continued SA help.
Here's where it's gotten to out of desperation near me. At the corner of the building, outside the ER where I work we now have a dispensing box for intranasal Narcan. It looks a lot like an old newspaper vending machine. Stocked up with dozens of boxes, each a two dose pack. Just open it up and grab some. It's free. No strings attached. You just might save somebody's life with this stuff. You see someone passed out OD'd but still breathing, just spray a puff in their nose. Then jump back because they could wake up pissed you ruined their high. But hey, they're alive.
If you have friends that use, or are the type to intervene when shit gets real it's a free tool to put in your belt.
But it is a little startling the first time you see it walking in out of the parking lot at 6:30 in the morning.
I walked past that alley (twixt M-16-V?) when I was there last week, and it truly was a desperate sight. I thought, however, that Fentyoga might be a practice that I should undertake, as such incredibly deep relaxation AND balance is displayed by what appear to be relatively undisciplined practitioners.
Yes, that’s the one. Fentyoga! I always wonder what is happening to their body that causes them to double over… Is it a total relaxation of the lumbar spine?
Not only relaxation of the spine, but much more difficult to attain, of the breath. It would make an incredible scientific study. Under the former admin, you may have been able to get a grant!
Oh dear. I can’t even imagine what it does to the psyche of empathic people who experience this everyday. Because I know the only thing you can do is turn your head. It’s beyond repair on a layman’s terms. It’s dangerous to even try. When I was in San Francisco in 2006, I used to say that I’d never seen people smoke crack so casually in the middle of the streets, but it doesn’t even compare to the zombie camps that are littered throughout town now. It’s a shame for such a (once) beautiful city. 😢
😒 While there are some camp towns in Chicago, it's just regular homeless people, you don't see many drugged out folks, and if you come across someone tweaking, it's pretty rare to see clumps of people doing so. I wouldn't say there's a "fenty community." There is no infrastructure for drug users, the way there is in Cali. And it gets pretty cold in Chi so you gotta be pretty hardcore to last outside in sub-zero temps.
As a small kid and highly empathetic, I learned how to deal with the newly out of work stevedores in downtown SF right after the Oakland container cargo port opened up. They were mostly "winos" with their brown paper bags of hard liquor sitting on corners and vacant building doorways often panhandling or passed out. Parents taught me never to give them any cash they use for their next bottle and instead donate to the Salvation Army which helps those wanting off the streets get decent housing and do new jobs as well as plug into numerous government welfare programs. Same routine for the returning Vietnam War vets and "hippies" overdosing on "recreational" drugs whom I'd see often panhandling around SF's Union Square.
I'd only give Narcan to people overdosed in a place like an ER or a shelter with tough love programs otherwise I'd feel like a co-dependent enabler of their addiction, the very same as giving cash to a wino with a brown paper bag in hand reeking of cheap apple brandy and facial skin showing terminal liver scarring. Tough love is very hard to do.
I have some folks in my family who go after the bottle hard. I tell my family members not to enable the behavior but they’re afraid of what people might say if they see their relative out on the street. To that I say that they’re contributing to putting the nails in the coffin. It’s hard. If it was my own son, I’d stop whatever I am doing and make it my sole focus to sober him up. But easier said looking in from the outside. I wish our society had better coping mechanisms.
I used to have a lot of empathy and wondered how I could personally help. Now I have sympathy and an aversion to getting involved. The problem is so huge and has been created by our officials. I’m a petite woman, the groups of addicts are scary looking and it is difficult to feel safe around them. However if I can help one person without endangering myself, I will.
That earlier post of yours explained the bent-over position of Fentanyl users. I have lived under a rock so have not seen this myself. I would feel helpless if I had.
Kinda-sorta related to this was my experience taking care of my dying friend recently. She was in so much pain that she was on three different pain-killers: a fentanyl dermal patch, oxycodone, and morphine sulfate. That was the only way she could make it through the day.
This can be seen everywhere throughout the city. Even out in the avenues. I saw a guy the other day behind Shoreline Plaza (Outer Sunset) doing the fetty fold. Not the first time either.
Right, I worked in SF for more than 20 years and saw things like that all the time, but much more lately. The Tenderloin and City Hall areas are like a zombie apocalypse. Fortunately, the zombies can't move very fast because they are so messed up on drugs.
There is a HUGE industry of "non-profits" in SF to supposedly deal with the problem, but in reality they exist only to pay themselves salaries, to perpetuate the Democratic Machine, and to never solve the problem. Were the problem to go away, so would their salaries.
Spot on. I spent two winters on Saturday mornings pre-covid by SF City Hall promoting a winter ice rink across the street at the Civic Center Plaza. Early every morning, City workers power-washed the plaza and cleared off its lawns the homeless encampments. Ditto, power washed the Plaza's underground parking elevators. A brand new children's playground had also just opened on the Plaza right next to the ice rink. Watched Bi-Rite install a nice pop-up cafe in the Plaza's SE corner. It and the rink failed at the same time because too many locals and tourists were scared off by the druggies and homeless as each late morning they recolonized the Plaza after getting a free breakfast at one of the many nearby Tenderloin and church feeding sites.
I've watched SF devolve into an insane hell of delusions destroying businesses and safety on downtown streets emanating from City Hall in collusion with the multi-faced victim-biz profiteers for over 60 years. But the corruption and victim- virtue signaling such as the Tenderloin SRO disaster goes back to well before the 1906 quake. For fun, note the stone carving in the foyer of the Asian Art Museum about Carnegie's massive bribe to SF's political PTB here: https://ajvalleyheartsdelight.substack.com/p/pandas-and-ping-pong
What a synchronicity! (I've seen such scenes, too. It's gobsmacking what has happened, and is still happening.)
Gobsmackingly awful!
Re synchronicity… Did you just see some in your city right now?
Nope, not today. I meant, what a a synchronity that you saw that guy, and right next to that the sign, Life is Short.
Ah, of course.
I volunteer in that garden sometimes, and unfortunately I encounter people in this condition every time. Such a contrast.
Beauty and human degradation, side by side in this city, and in most cities.
Sadly all too common in the blue cities despite all that "compassion."
💯
Born a city kid, but old enough to realize that this is not the place I grew up in.
And I'm talking about Toronto, Ontario.
Absolute shithole now, fast catching up with SF.
Sad, but true...
Get out to save your sanity.
I did, and will never regret it.
I do think about it sometimes, especially because I struggle to pay my rent. But a) I don’t feel ready to leave b) not sure where to go.
b. I have traveled to or through 35 states...
Some incredibly beautiful places.
Retired, I prefer small towns.
Last time I visited NYC was some 20 years ago.
And I won't go back.
I have a bad feeling about NYC too, especially after events of 2020.
Small towns with residents that are able to work or have some money are still okay. But the ones whose local industries have been hollowed out have been left with rotting infrastructure and widespread methamphetamine addiction.
I don’t know how it happened, but I talk to people in the trades like electricians and general contractors, and they’re quitting in frustration because they can’t find or retain reliable workers. Among the chief issues is meth usage.
I agree with your assessment.
I have seen some of this, the crystal meth/heroine/and fentanyl, which have devastating effects.
I don't profess to know how to fix any of this, if even possible.
In Canada, the free injection sites have only exacerbated an existing problem.
What happens if those get shut down?
If history repeats itself, after the European Black Death's first waves, suddenly peasants and serfs tied to lands controlled by aristocrats and churches got a lot more time off, pay and rights since there was such a scarcity of workers. Ditto more European towns got royal charters for more self-government and trade guilds arose. I await the present day population data trends as the mRNA jabs' lethal and sterilization numbers roll in while crossing my fingers for some old and new "miracle" cures and treatments. Ditto better ways to help all addicted to the super addictive modern opiates and thus stop all opiate abuse which must include some very effective tough love methods including all no-vagrancy laws enforced. As best I've seen in SF, only the Salvation Army downtown seems to have a useful non-recidivism rate for the substance abusers it helps who must be on a real path to sobriety to get continued SA help.
FWIW:
https://vigilantnews.com/post/the-miracle-drug-for-ptsd-that-youve-never-heard-of/
Details on the drug's impact on and apparent resetting of dopamine levels after opiate overuse is around minutes 45-51
As to b) do not put Seattle on your list
Ha, that's fershure!
Here's where it's gotten to out of desperation near me. At the corner of the building, outside the ER where I work we now have a dispensing box for intranasal Narcan. It looks a lot like an old newspaper vending machine. Stocked up with dozens of boxes, each a two dose pack. Just open it up and grab some. It's free. No strings attached. You just might save somebody's life with this stuff. You see someone passed out OD'd but still breathing, just spray a puff in their nose. Then jump back because they could wake up pissed you ruined their high. But hey, they're alive.
If you have friends that use, or are the type to intervene when shit gets real it's a free tool to put in your belt.
But it is a little startling the first time you see it walking in out of the parking lot at 6:30 in the morning.
Wow, I didn’t know one could do that. Really glad to learn of it. I wonder if they have that available here.
I would be surprised if they don't .
Just found this:
https://www.sf.gov/information--overdose-prevention-resources
Thank you! 🙏🏽
I walked past that alley (twixt M-16-V?) when I was there last week, and it truly was a desperate sight. I thought, however, that Fentyoga might be a practice that I should undertake, as such incredibly deep relaxation AND balance is displayed by what appear to be relatively undisciplined practitioners.
Yes, that’s the one. Fentyoga! I always wonder what is happening to their body that causes them to double over… Is it a total relaxation of the lumbar spine?
Not only relaxation of the spine, but much more difficult to attain, of the breath. It would make an incredible scientific study. Under the former admin, you may have been able to get a grant!
Relaxation of the spine and breath… written like that, it sounds like a delightful state to be in.
Oh dear. I can’t even imagine what it does to the psyche of empathic people who experience this everyday. Because I know the only thing you can do is turn your head. It’s beyond repair on a layman’s terms. It’s dangerous to even try. When I was in San Francisco in 2006, I used to say that I’d never seen people smoke crack so casually in the middle of the streets, but it doesn’t even compare to the zombie camps that are littered throughout town now. It’s a shame for such a (once) beautiful city. 😢
It’s not something you ever get used to. It’s so awful to witness this on the daily, what humanity has been led to. What’s it like in Chicago?
😒 While there are some camp towns in Chicago, it's just regular homeless people, you don't see many drugged out folks, and if you come across someone tweaking, it's pretty rare to see clumps of people doing so. I wouldn't say there's a "fenty community." There is no infrastructure for drug users, the way there is in Cali. And it gets pretty cold in Chi so you gotta be pretty hardcore to last outside in sub-zero temps.
True! 🥶
As a small kid and highly empathetic, I learned how to deal with the newly out of work stevedores in downtown SF right after the Oakland container cargo port opened up. They were mostly "winos" with their brown paper bags of hard liquor sitting on corners and vacant building doorways often panhandling or passed out. Parents taught me never to give them any cash they use for their next bottle and instead donate to the Salvation Army which helps those wanting off the streets get decent housing and do new jobs as well as plug into numerous government welfare programs. Same routine for the returning Vietnam War vets and "hippies" overdosing on "recreational" drugs whom I'd see often panhandling around SF's Union Square.
I'd only give Narcan to people overdosed in a place like an ER or a shelter with tough love programs otherwise I'd feel like a co-dependent enabler of their addiction, the very same as giving cash to a wino with a brown paper bag in hand reeking of cheap apple brandy and facial skin showing terminal liver scarring. Tough love is very hard to do.
I have some folks in my family who go after the bottle hard. I tell my family members not to enable the behavior but they’re afraid of what people might say if they see their relative out on the street. To that I say that they’re contributing to putting the nails in the coffin. It’s hard. If it was my own son, I’d stop whatever I am doing and make it my sole focus to sober him up. But easier said looking in from the outside. I wish our society had better coping mechanisms.
I used to have a lot of empathy and wondered how I could personally help. Now I have sympathy and an aversion to getting involved. The problem is so huge and has been created by our officials. I’m a petite woman, the groups of addicts are scary looking and it is difficult to feel safe around them. However if I can help one person without endangering myself, I will.
That earlier post of yours explained the bent-over position of Fentanyl users. I have lived under a rock so have not seen this myself. I would feel helpless if I had.
Kinda-sorta related to this was my experience taking care of my dying friend recently. She was in so much pain that she was on three different pain-killers: a fentanyl dermal patch, oxycodone, and morphine sulfate. That was the only way she could make it through the day.
It’s really shocking to see, and sometimes on a larger scale. So sorry about the suffering of your friend, Mark.
That kind of pain is unbearable.
I cannot imagine...
This can be seen everywhere throughout the city. Even out in the avenues. I saw a guy the other day behind Shoreline Plaza (Outer Sunset) doing the fetty fold. Not the first time either.
Yes, it’s now a standard feature.
I will say it has become less frequent than it used to be, but it still happens, whereas I never saw this kind of thing in certain areas 15 years ago.
Right, I worked in SF for more than 20 years and saw things like that all the time, but much more lately. The Tenderloin and City Hall areas are like a zombie apocalypse. Fortunately, the zombies can't move very fast because they are so messed up on drugs.
There is a HUGE industry of "non-profits" in SF to supposedly deal with the problem, but in reality they exist only to pay themselves salaries, to perpetuate the Democratic Machine, and to never solve the problem. Were the problem to go away, so would their salaries.
You are 100% correct re the non-profit industrial complex. Yep the TL and City Hall are awful. I have tons of footage I shot of those neighborhoods.
Spot on. I spent two winters on Saturday mornings pre-covid by SF City Hall promoting a winter ice rink across the street at the Civic Center Plaza. Early every morning, City workers power-washed the plaza and cleared off its lawns the homeless encampments. Ditto, power washed the Plaza's underground parking elevators. A brand new children's playground had also just opened on the Plaza right next to the ice rink. Watched Bi-Rite install a nice pop-up cafe in the Plaza's SE corner. It and the rink failed at the same time because too many locals and tourists were scared off by the druggies and homeless as each late morning they recolonized the Plaza after getting a free breakfast at one of the many nearby Tenderloin and church feeding sites.
Oh dear. I've seen a few similar videos. This is really so bad.
I've watched SF devolve into an insane hell of delusions destroying businesses and safety on downtown streets emanating from City Hall in collusion with the multi-faced victim-biz profiteers for over 60 years. But the corruption and victim- virtue signaling such as the Tenderloin SRO disaster goes back to well before the 1906 quake. For fun, note the stone carving in the foyer of the Asian Art Museum about Carnegie's massive bribe to SF's political PTB here: https://ajvalleyheartsdelight.substack.com/p/pandas-and-ping-pong