New in PJ Media:
San Francisco, with its steep hills and streetcars and glorious vistas, was once a gorgeous little jewel of a city, but that was a long time ago. Leftist politicians, including but by no means limited to Nancy Pelosi, made it Exhibit A of how far-Left policies can destroy what was once a beautiful place to live. But there is hope for the City of Fog yet, and not even just for those of its citizens who are black or homeless and mentally ill. The Paris of the West, where people die of drug overdoses on the street virtually every day and out-of-control theft is now dismissed as a “basic city experience,” is finally getting tough. No, authorities aren’t cleansing the city of the scourges of drugs or tent cities or skyrocketing crime, but they are making sure San Franciscans are safe from the danger of a Little Free Library.
As odd and out of focus as it may initially seem, this actually makes sense. Leftists, after all, don’t want people reading and thinking for themselves. They want indoctrinated bots mindlessly repeating their cynical and manipulative slogans (“Black Lives Matter” is the most notorious example; assent to what is an obvious truth and suddenly you’re expressing support for a violent Marxist group), not critical thinkers who are able to see through their deceptions. So even the smallest possibility of people thinking on their own must be stamped out, as San Francisco residents Joe and Susan Meyers found out the hard way.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the city sent Joe and Susan a notice: “Remove unpermitted encroachments from public right of way,” or obtain, within 30 days, a $1,402 “Minor Sidewalk Encroachment Permit” for a minuscule, two-shelf Little Free Library, which holds around twenty books, and a bench in front of their home. This notice was sent, according to the Journal, because of “a single anonymous complaint,” and despite the fact that all over San Francisco there are tent cities that encroach upon sidewalk access in a major, not a minor way, and yet no one is sending the homeless drug addicts any notices to remove “unpermitted encroachments from public right of way” or pay a fine.
The Journal notes that the Meyerses set up their little library ten years ago, and “stock it with a revolving catalog ranging from ‘It’s Fun to Make Things From Scrap Materials’ to ‘Breaking Free From Compulsive Eating.’” People can take or leave books as they wish, for free, all on the honor system. The amateur librarians also keep “dog biscuits next to the bin and festoon a nearby tree with seasonal decorations.” Yeah, you’d think this was just the sort of couple that city officials ought to be presenting with civic awards and celebrating with happy little ceremonies at city hall, but come on, man! It’s not 1953 anymore!
There is more. Read the rest here.
Kesselman says
The aggressive leftist encroachment of a once beautiful American city have accelerated within a decade. It’s been 15 yrs ago since I last time visited Frisco and the city was still a visit worth it. Today the leftist-imprinted presence in the city is obvious: chaos in civic administration and behavior towards otherwise obedient citizens. The only solution is to vote for the right politicians by seeing through the socialist divisive agenda which only has one goal: to deteriorate!
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I used to live in Santa Clara county, when Silicon Valley companies were not so woke: companies like Intuit, Sun Microsystems & others had at least Libertarian, if not Conservative, CEOs and board leaders. Always hated both San Francisco and Berkeley, but had to go there b’cos that was where some of my friends lived
James Lincoln says
The misplaced priorities of the San Francisco “leaders” on full display.
GreekEmpress says
I grew up there and saw the handwriting on the wall and bailed.
San Francisco is the only city that can arrest a guy over eating a sandwich on a BART platform, but defecating or shooting up on it is no biggie.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/bart-police-officer-detains-man-for-eating-sandwich-on-pleasant-hill-train-platform.amp
PS We have those little libraries all over where I live now and there’s no fuss.
gravenimage says
Yes–just nuts.
Michael Canning says
I went through Cali a few years ago. It felt like I wasn’t in America anymore. It was a waking nightmare with human feces and drugged out zombies everywhere. Such a shame!
Rob Anderson says
I’ve lived in SF for years, but I haven’t noticed the “chaos.”
gravenimage says
It depends on where you are, Rob.
Many parts of the city are much cleaner than they were fifty years ago. There used to be a lot of littler, large dumped items like sofas and sinks, and dog feces everywhere. Now even in modest neighborhoods this sort of thing is rare, and most people pick up after their dogs.
That’s the good news.
But the bad news is that homelessness and mental illness are completely out of control. Places like the Tenderloin were always bad, but now the entire area around Civic Center and many neighborhoods South of Market have huge homeless encampments entirely blocking sidewalks and even streets sometimes, and incidents of public drug use–including shooting up–are rife, even on public transit like BART.
gravenimage says
San Francisco Gets Tough on Crime
………………………………
This little library sounds charming, and has been there *for ten years*, but a single anonymous complainer, backed by the power of the city, may well destroy it. We have several little libraries neat us across the bay, and we regularly use and contribute to them.
And meanwhile. as noted, many parts of the city are mired in filth, with full tent cities entirely blocking the sidewalk, but no one touches these. Just madness.
OLD GUY says
It appears San Fransisco’s government leaders have to go after the good citizens who pay the taxes as those living on the street have nothing to lose.