It may be a case of too little, too late for the Bidet by the Bay. San Francisco has apparently decided, at least ostensibly, to clean up its streets and its act, although it is fairly obvious to the most casual of observers that its zoning laws will soon be classified under "hellscape" and "projected hellscape." It is a city described by San Francisco Republican Hay Donde to Ryan Mills in a piece at National Review as "a city that increasingly works for only two kinds of people: those who drive Teslas and those who break into Teslas."
It isn't just San Francisco, of course. I occasionally have business in Salt Lake City, and I pass a median there that has become an epicenter for one of the homeless sectors in the city. At one point, at least one more was set up outside of The Leonardo, a museum/exhibit center that in the past has hosted events on the human body, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Pompeii eruption.
The last time we were at The Leonardo, the line of tents rippled in the wind like a sea of flags. Their inhabitants scurried about, and one old woman stood in front of her tent brandishing a pair of scissors. It was enough to make me swear off any future visits, and I am sure other families, particularly those with children, were similarly deterred.
During a recent visit to my local library, I saw a homeless man in the lobby charging his cell phone. As I walked in, he was hunched over, mumbling and jerking his arm up and down, while a young girl walked past, looking simultaneously mystified and frightened.
This sort of thing is part and parcel of life in San Francisco, and the situation there and in other California cities have no doubt contributed to the Great Egress from the Golden State. And it appears the situation will continue unabated.
The Post Millennial notes that last week, a three-judge panel in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Coalition on Homeless, which the ACLU represented in court. The judges decided that San Francisco could not enforce any laws that would prevent the homeless from "sleeping, lodging, or camping on public property.”
In the majority opinion, Biden-appointed Judges Lucy H. Koh and Roopali H. Desai said that preventing the homeless from sleeping wherever they wished would be cruel and unusual punishment and, according to the article, stretched the 8th Amendment to its breaking point, citing the dangers of excessive bail, fines, and "cruel and unusual punishment." In the dissenting opinion, Judge Patrick J. Bumatay, a Trump appointee, wrote:
...(it) cannot be cruel and unusual to prohibit homeless persons from sleeping, camping, and lodging wherever they want, whenever they want. While they are entitled to the utmost respect and compassion, homeless persons are not immune from our laws.
The Ninth Circuit opted not to hear arguments from other cities in the state under the auspices that those arguments had not been "raised correctly or substantiated with facts." It is worth noting that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear appeals from cities coping with the same problem, which includes Phoenix, L.A., and yes, San Francisco.
The Ninth Circuit judges said that the ruling would apply only to those who are involuntarily homeless or to whom the city has not offered shelter. One may assume that at this point, the city is far enough behind the proverbial eight ball that this part of the ruling will have little effect.
The court's ruling should surprise no one. Other writers have talked about how homelessness and poverty are big businesses for government employees and advocacy groups. They have become cash factories for people who profit from allegedly combating a situation with no intention of succeeding.
Moreover, judges make bank, and I am certain that the judges on the Ninth Circuit do well for themselves. As such, they are far removed from the hazards that ordinary San Franciscans must deal with. These judges and other well-heeled progressives do not have to cope with sidewalks covered with feces, needles, trash, shuttered businesses, and omnipresent danger. Koh and Desai can feel pleased with themselves for their generosity, kindness, and tolerance since those things will never be demanded of them.
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