As some of you may recall, I started working in San Francisco in May this year. I’d been to S.F. often growing up in Marin and Sonoma counties, but this was the first time I’d ever spent any significant amount of time in the city, especially near downtown (I work near Market St. in the SOMA area).

Let me tell you, the notion that San Francisco is some kind of liberal paradise where people are free to do whatever, man, is bunk. Yes, anything goes, and usually does, and in the process we have one of the worst homeless problems of any city in America. There are homeless people, dirty, smelly, passed out, and totally messed up, all over the freaking place. I’ve actually gotten to know a couple of them. One guy I think is a professional beggar and seems to be in one piece for the most part. The other person is a gal who seems about my age, and she is not doing so hot. She says she has been recently baptized as a Christian and got off drugs, but in the last few days I’ve discovered she’s relapsed, and her search for work has proven to be fruitless. She’s at a homeless shelter, but so far it doesn’t seem to me like that’s done anything for her. Oh, and she just got attacked and almost raped (thankfully she’s OK), and she claims the police didn’t do anything about it. That’s nice.

I’ve read that Mayor Gavin Newsom has all these programs in place to help resolve this crisis, and they’re actually not in the leftist political camp either. Maybe that will have some effect long term, but so far I’m certainly not impressed. These people need serious medical attention, counseling, education, and, most importantly, real honest-to-God work. Is that happening? I don’t know. As a conservative, I’m all for limited government and telling people to take care of themselves, but when you have a systematic breakdown in societal stability, drastic (and sensible) actions need to be taken. I can’t say I understand what needs to be done in San Francisco, but whatever is currently being done just ain’t working.