Have you seen the multi-colored yard signs that declare “All are welcome in this neighborhood!” and then list off a series of marginalized groups in case the word “all” wasn’t clear? I’m sure you have. I know I have; they’re all over my neighborhood. Anyway, I thought of those signs while reading the GoFundMe page of a group of rich leftists who are trying to block a homeless shelter from being built in their posh San Francisco neighborhood.
After Mayor London Breed put forward her proposal earlier this month to build a homeless shelter in the Embarcadero neighborhood, angry and worried residents sprang into action. The GoFundMe page is attempting to raise $100,000 to help cover legal fees in their battle to block the proposed shelter. As of the writing of this article, just under $73,000 has been raised in only 9 days.
Called “Safe Embarcadero for All,” the GoFundMe campaign’s first couple of paragraphs are unintentionally funny. Shakespeare’s “methinks thou dost protest too much” would make a good subtitle.
We all want to help the homeless and fully support efforts to eliminate the causes of homelessness, but the Mayor has put expediency over safety in choosing this location for the city’s largest-ever Navigation Center.
The community is fully supportive of efforts to end homelessness. South Beach is home to the Delancey Street Foundation, a residential facility helping former drug users recover from their addictions and others facing difficult situations, including the formerly homeless. The East Cut is home to Rene Cazenave, which provides housing for the formerly homeless, as well as most of the new affordable housing in the City.
After establishing their “we welcome all” leftist credentials, the page gets down to the nuts and bolts, explaining why it’s a bad idea to build a homeless shelter in their neighborhood.
The rushed process the Mayor is following to build the homeless shelter by the end of the summer is concerning to the community. We are worried that the rushed process puts the political goal of building a large Navigation Center ahead of legitimate concerns about public safety, drug use, and other problems that a large shelter may bring to the community. According to the city’s own data, a third of the homeless are drug users and some are sex offenders. The Navigation Center will not allow drug use inside, meaning that about 75 drug users will be forced into the surrounding family neighborhood to use drugs. The community is also concerned about the environmental effects of building on a site that is known to have toxic materials beneath.
Here’s the thing, if building a homeless shelter does bring those assorted problems, why are these rich leftists asking other communities to bear the burden? I mean, surely they want homeless shelters built in San Francisco? Of course, they do. They said as much in their GoFundMe campaign’s opening paragraphs. So, again, why are they willing to ask other neighborhoods to carry burdens that they are unwilling to carry? The are wealthy, after all. The $100K they will undoubtedly raise (unless the negative press they’re receiving causes them to scrap the campaign and issue an apology) could be used to hire private street cleaners and security guards. The neighborhoods in which these leftists would place the homeless shelter probably already have their fair share of problems. Shouldn’t the leftists be willing to carry their fair share of society’s ills?
While stunningly beautiful to behold, the hypocrisy displayed by these rich San Francisco leftists is not surprising. Ironically, leftist hypocrisy may be one of the things acting as a brake helping keep our society from turning into Venezuela.
This whole thing hits close to home. Literally.
My wealthy Arlington, Va. neighborhood that’s filled with “we welcome all” signs protested the building of a Section 8 apartment complex beside the neighborhood. I won’t bore you will all the local politics of the matter; just know that those of us who live in South Arlington are rich-yet-not-as-rich as those who live in North Arlington. The northern half of this incredibly leftist county wants to help the poor, they just don’t want to have to look at the poor or deal with them or get their hands dirty. So, being the wealthier side of a wealthy county, they force the not-quite-as-rich leftists in South Arlington to put up with what they won’t. Me? I think the whole thing is funny and would make for a great Harold Pinter play.
Some enterprising and creative conservative should start a web-series satirizing the hypocrisy of leftists.
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