As someone who uses Civic Center, it’s fine-ish. You’re not going to die. You’ll see people with needles in them, lots of trash, maybe some belligerent folks (don’t make eye contact, try to avoid being within spitting distance, and wear your earbuds), and maybe some pee or poo. Ok, you’ll definitely see pee.
Stick to the middle BART cars if you’re traveling past 6pm, even if it is crowded.
Happy travels!
Yah, I just don’t need that. Thanks.
No one sees this as problematic? That’s the new normal for SF? Just step around the piles of 
and the crazy druggies shooting up who might spit on you?
As those are actual people who have addictions, mental illness and no place to use a bathroom, yeah, it’s a problem. It’s a giant problem for the people who have no choice but to live in the neighborhoods that struggle with our societal ills. It’s been a struggle for a long time in the City - here’s a link from 1996: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/20/us/homeless-in-san-francisco-a-new-policy.html?unlocked_article_code=l5koEU6EFDspHML8QtNLhV0O8HE2rjn0sD3GHcVcP7M2jC43krKJGiahaZcns_4eyg_1uJn6eVTAB3hllu4-5RCWYNj3z-45MBBuGvknAUTvo7aVOKxYAUHJW13rjBX5W2otRAu7KcjATqph5dr4eaNeKCbO0x9r4F8GvXkNE042UyLjh0hU52CmUfS9vlIpazuervjT_1j7ONfCI6EUkXEo2_uVIFSujPH_LtU-Wm85SAE_cX88VKR_M3r404BT2OaBwm4y3zcWaRpfOd-3OMs2hU0HW8c1Aul5OyIwuv6N1_QFqRi1IJdIHziKCctntjMZR4KnG1x3-NF1xObhKo36Ii8ghg8nKf8f&giftCopy=0_NoCopy&smid=url-share
For students coming to UCSF, USFCA or SF State, the neighborhoods by those schools are not sketchy. Enrolled at the UC Law (formerly Hastings) though, don’t rent an apartment in the Tenderloin or around 6th and Mission if you want to avoid the worst of it.
For tourists - don’t leave things in your car, keep some awareness of your surroundings, and avoid the areas where it is a problem. The tents can be shocking if you aren’t used to it, but the encampments seem to be springing up from big cities to little towns - I have seen quite a few on our college trips and people addicted to drugs seem to be all over this country.
Of course homelessness is a problem. Solutions are a problem too. As an aside, one can already take driverless vehicles/taxis in parts of SF and Phoenix. LA is coming soon. Sign up!! https://waymo.com/
Homelessness doesn’t seem to be a standalone problem. It seems to correlate highly with drug use and mental health issues, which make the homelessness problem much more intractable.
That is true as they are often interwoven (people with SA and MH issues are often homeless). But this isn’t specific to SF.
Actually, I agree with most of this with the exception of the ear buds- most women don’t wear earbuds in dangerous places so they can hear if they are about to be attacked. Of course, then one has to tolerate the verbal abuse endemic to the situation, but that is preferable to a surprise physical assault.
Given that description of civic center, which we can agree upon, I find the crime ( open drug use, disorderly conduct, and the constant menacing threat of violence) levels unacceptably high. One doesn’t need reported murders to sense an environment of lawlessness. Per the post by @classicmom98, above, many women are understandably and rationally afraid.
What “constant menacing threat of violence”? The poor homeless are usually getting high and minding their own business.
Where the money is going to come from?
The 9th Circuit Court ruling in Martin v. Boise, upheld by the Supreme Court, forbidding municipalities from punishing public camping poured gas on the fire. They essentially said sleeping is a right, and adding punitive measures to homelessnesses constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Maybe that was their intent, that you can’t just sweep the whole problem under the rug. It’s a large reason as to why the local authorities hands are tied. Now it’s not just an issue in SF, but everywhere.
Yes! My DD has been taking them for months. Very nice but they don’t drive downtown or freeways. They are free for now but eventually will be more expensive then Uber or Lyft because they are luxury rides and you don’t have to deal with strangers drivers
I live in Socal and there are no tents in my neighborhood. Occasionlly, we see a homeless guy on a corner holding up a sign or sitting near a freeway onramp. We also do see some tents under the bridge near the freeways, but not in our neighborhood.
I was thinking the same thing. It really is too bad. I’ve been to San Francisco recently and I never felt unsafe. Then again, I’m careful and I stay out of areas that could be unsafe.
Exactly! I’ve gotten the same thing from out of state friends and family, who act like San Francisco is a war zone. They also seem to act like the cities they live in have no problems, which isn’t true. One of these friends is from West Virginia…that’s a state that has it’s problems too…
I don’t think it was a random attack. It sounds targeted to me. Also, this kind of thing can happen anywhere.
When I was in New Orleans a few years ago (pre-covid), I was shocked by the number of homeless I saw there. I also thought that New Orleans, while fun, was not a very clean city.
I respectfully disagree, San Francisco is not lawless. There aren’t shootouts on the street. It isn’t a favela in Brazil. It’s probably even safer then Mexico. I have a friend who is too afraid to go to San Francisco, but will go on a mission trip to a dangerous part of Mexico…
Here was a good idea as a place to start, but of course the bill didn’t get passed. Big surprise.(https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/images/grassroots-center/0619WLPDF4.pdf)
well said!
I think this forum is going to turn into an agree to disagree one. If people are afraid to go to San Francisco, then they don’t have to. That’s their loss…
Whole Foods opened a store there as part of a huge, new apartment complex that was supposed to be filled with rich techies. It had very little to do with assisting underserved communities. If Whole Foods cared about those, they’d have been going into the many other food deserts that exist in the Bay Area, but they haven’t. Things obviously didn’t turn out as Whole Foods, and especially the apartment developer, hoped.
I live on the San Mateo County Coast, 20 minutes from downtown SF, and worked in SF for years. Even when I hated my job, I still enjoyed going into the city because it was such a fun and exciting place. Now I can’t stand going downtown because I get both angry and depressed to see what the city’s become.
Does the city give $500 a month to every homeless people?
Some are mentally ill and come off as quite threatening. If you ignore them they probably won’t do anything, but still, it’s unpleasant having some crazy person screaming at you as you walk down the street. I can see how people feel menaced by the threat of violence.
Not to nitpick, but very very few people who are “mentally ill” are violent. Those who are delusional may be yelling in general or at some imagined threat. Yes it’s very unsettling. Many who are irrational are high on something. Doesn’t make any of this any better, but just like to avoid the stigma of mental illness as a threat.
I saw a few folks wander into mission st, yelling randomly. Some on Valencia were having a loud conversation with themselves. But they were not confrontational. Sad folks. I often looked at them and thought “that’s someone’s child”.
