The Streets Of San Francisco

Sometimes, I try and tell people how bad the homeless situation's here in San Francisco and I kind of get the feeling that they think I'm... exaggerating. This is particularly true of friends I know who lived in pre-gentrified New York, when President Ford told New York to drop dead. We had all noticed the ever increasing numbers of: beggars, bums, bag ladies and run aways, those that would collectively come to be known as the "homeless," throughout the city streets- hell, not a helluva lot we hadn't seen. 

But big money came in, and NY being as big as it is, managed to scatter the homeless about so they didn't clutter and collect too much in any one place at any one time. San Francisco doesn't have that luxury of deceit, it doesn't have four other boroughs to send them packing to; in fact, some adjoining cities make it a point to send their homeless here with a free one way bus ticket in hand. So when visitors do come here, and feel the filth sticking to their shoes, smell the stench and see the squalor of the streets downtown, the blatant, mid day, hard drug usage, the tent cities that pop up wherever, whenever like a 24/7 whack a mole game set- many are indeed aghast to realize just how off the hook the whole problem really is. It was pretty damn bad when I got here turn of the century, and now with all the additional tech revenue and prolific building construction that's been pouring in and occurring all over the city- it's goddamn worse than ever! 

Photos: © S. Banos

I certainly don't enjoy taking pictures of it, no one enjoys photographing people when they're down. But you can't close your eyes to it, with or without your camera; many of us half paralyzed with the knowledge and fear that we are but a paycheck or two from sharing these very same streets. This is  a massive problem in need of a massive initiative of: therapy, programs, housing and employment. And all that's ever presented year after goddamn year, rich ass mayor after rich ass mayor, is a constant diet of band aids, promises and excuses...