Why don't they get rid of San Francisco street beggars?

Question

these stupid ***** are scaring off the tourist, i swear theres one like every 5 steps

Answer 1

I've been many times in SF and never ever bothered about homeless. If you don't care about them, they even don't notice you're around.  I just feel shame of some of them sometimes because we don't know if there were an artist, a professional, etc...behind  those homeless. When I went to SF on June, I was fascinated hearing a homeless playing piano outside Powell St Bart station. He was doing it good!

So I wouldn't said tourist run away for that. As tonalc2 said tourism is strong in there.

Answer 2

San Francisco makes it too easy to be homeless there. They have many free things for the bums, like free food, free medical,a lift to a shelter, even free clothes. So therefore bums come by choice to the city and some make a pretty good living begging, believe it or not. This is what happens when the city is run by a very liberal mayor and city council. Oh, they have scooted off the bums for short periods of time like if a VIP was in town, then the VIP leaves and the bums come back.

Answer 3

Don't mess with the street beggars.  Many are undercover cops keeping you safe.  

The reason why they are in your face so much is to see your eye's.  A person using dope will have a tell-tale eye movement a cop is trained to look for.

Answer 4

I was in SF three weeks ago and wasn't offended at all by the "beggars."  They're not so "in your face" like other cities.

Answer 5

It is one of the reasons I go to there and other downtown areas. It is part of the culture. Doesn't scare me at all.

Right now I am the only one pulling in income for the family (Wifes in school). We are only one unexcpected costly emergency and/or a few paychecks from being one of those beggers.....not that it makes it a good thing but so are half of Americans.

Answer 6

where do you live in the tenerlion? lol

soma is pretty bad in that way i'll agree..and i dont much care for the homeless (i was born and raised in san jose but my family moved to sf when i was young and now I live in spain but i still go to the bay often).

Now i'm no republican i'm hard core liberal but I will agree with you that in some respects the city needs to take the homeless and dump them into the bay. There's nothing worse then turning the corner to find a homeless person taking a c**p between the cars in the middle of the street.

no respect.

but hey not all are like this. but the majority are

Answer 7

The City has tried various methods of dealing with them.  Newsom's well-meaning but ultimately failed Care Not Cash program has put more people on the street (though the total number of homeless has decreased in the past years).  

There are laws against aggressive panhandling, standing on median strips to panhandle, etc., but enforcement is almost impossible.  

And while tourists may be briefly inconvenienced by being panhandled, they're not being "scared off;" tourism is going strong in the city.  

Answer 8

I was in San Francisco last month and was not approached by any beggars.  I did see a couple of homeless men around Pier 39.  They didn't bother anyone.  I also saw a couple of street performers - one was a young boy playing a drum with a container in front of him for money.   I wasn't sure if these street performers are licensed as a business or just people trying to make a buck.  As a tourist in the city, I was never frightened of anyone and would love to go back to San Francisco.