San Francisco’s wealthy residents filed a lawsuit against the city and the California State Lands Commission this week; saying more environmental studies are needed before construction can begin on a new, massive homeless shelter along the waterfront.
“The wealthy San Francisco residents who launched a crowdfunding campaign to block construction of a new homeless shelter in their waterfront neighborhood are employing a new tactic: arguing that homeless people are bad for the environment,” reports the Guardian. “In a lawsuit filed against the city of San Francisco and the California State Lands Commission, the residents called for the project to undergo an environmental review before breaking ground.”
“This project will have a significant effect on the environment due to these unusual circumstances, including by attracting additional homeless persons, open drug and alcohol use, crime, daily emergency calls, public urination and defecation, and other nuisances,” the lawsuit states.
San Francisco and other California cities are struggling to cope with a massive influx of homeless people; creating unsafe conditions throughout previously wealthy neighborhoods.
Despite the region’s escalating homeless crisis, rampant drug use, skyrocketing rents, and illegal immigration, San Francisco set its sights on the biggest scourge facing the city: E-Cigarettes.
San Francisco became the first city in the US to ban the sale of E-Cigarettes this week; making it illegal for vendors to sell any product that vaporizes nicotine.
BREAKING: San Francisco has banned the sale of Juuls and other e-cigarettes, becoming the first U.S. city to do so https://t.co/IRENFT5GBV pic.twitter.com/wpKMYahkqM
— Bloomberg (@business) June 25, 2019
“The city voted Tuesday to ban sales of e-cigarettes, making it illegal to sell nicotine vaporizer products in stores or for online retailers to ship the goods to San Francisco addresses. The ban will be the first of its kind to go into effect in the U.S. The ordinance will now go to the mayor to sign into law. Cigarettes and other tobacco products will remain legal in the city, along with recreational marijuana,” reports Bloomberg.
“This is groundbreaking legislation that shows local governments are prepared to step up,” [City Attorney Dennis Herrera] said. “What you will see in the aftermath of this legislation is other jurisdictions looking at what they might be prepared to do to protect their young people.”
California’s escalating homeless crisis took a turn for the worse last month, with local reporters finding San Francisco’s transient population living in makeshift tree houses across the Bay Area.
“The occupants of five to six ramshackle tree houses built in a private industrial park near Stevenson Boulevard and I-880 in Fremont are facing eviction,” reports CBS San Francisco.
“Crews equipped with chainsaws and handsaws have begun clearing out the structures and cutting off limbs in order to make it harder to reoccupy and easier to spot the homeless who are taking refuge in the trees. They are about halfway through the long line of more than 60 eucalyptus trees,” adds the local news channel.
“I think it’s a good idea actually, I think it’s actually something that people would benefit from if we had the right knowledge of trees,” said one homeless man.
“There’s a lot of us women who work here late … so I’m worried that I could be in danger,” added a female worker employed in the industrial park.
Read the full report at the Guardian.
'BREAKDOWN OF CIVILIZATION': LA Times SLAMS City Officials over Homeless Crisis, Rat Invasion, Garbage Piles
A columnist with the Los Angeles Times unloaded on city officials this week over the region’s escalating homeless crisis, ongoing invasion of rodents, and “sky-high” garbage piles taking over the streets.
“Los Angeles looks as if it’s digging out from a hurricane, with hordes on the streets, tents everywhere and armies of rodents on the march, inciting fears of disease.,” Steve Lopez wrote in his column, which appeared online Saturday night.
“I could give you a hundred breakdowns of what happened and what it all means, but it comes down to this: We’re in troubled waters on a ship without a captain, and though there might be a few pretenders on the bridge, nobody trusts them,” adds Lopez.
“We found out on Tuesday that although the city and county spent $600 million last year to chip away at the number of homeless people, the total increased by 16% to nearly 60,000,” adds the author.
“I naively invited readers last week to email me photos of trash heaps and encampments in their neighborhoods, and my inbox is about to explode,” he wrote. “I’ve got photos of half-clothed people passed out on pavement, sidewalks blocked by tents, bulky items, piles of poop and enough trash to fill the Grand Canyon.”
The current rat invasion sweeping across Los Angeles extended into an unlikely place last week: City Hall. Experts are now blaming the infestation on “homeless camps” circling the public property.
“When faced with complaints earlier this year from city workers about rats infesting L.A. City Hall, most city officials said little about whether the problem was connected to several homeless camps right outside,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
“But a newly uncovered report from a pest control company hired by the city has raised fresh questions about whether officials wrongly downplayed that possibility during discussions at City Council meetings,” adds the newspaper.
According to the pest control company hired to clear city hall, workers found “poor sanitary conditions” including human waste, food, and needles throughout the property.
“The homeless are using the grated areas above the pits as their bathroom and relieving themselves,” wrote David Costa, building construction and maintenance superintendent. “This is also attracting the rats. Custodial will need to do some hazmat cleaning of the grates and the pits. There are even hypodermic needles being tossed in the pits along with human waste and other garbage.”
The invasion comes after two LAPD officers were diagnosed with Typhus and other serious diseases related to the city’s rat population.
Read the full story at Fox News.
CALIFORNIA CHAOS: 53% Consider ‘FLEEING’ the State Due to Crime, Homeless, Taxes, MORE
A stunning new survey published this week shows just how difficult life’s become for the average California resident; revealing a shocking 53% of those asked said they are considering “fleeing” the region over crime, housing, and high taxes.
“Fifty-three percent of Californians surveyed are considering fleeing, representing a jump over the 49 percent polled a year ago,” writes CNBC.
“There’s no doubt that California’s economy, for all of its strengths when it comes to innovation and creating these industries that people want to be part of, is struggling with high costs,” said a leading economist. “Costs have gotten way ahead of incomes in California, and that’s making a lot of people think about whether it’s worth the hurdles.”
“California just doesn’t strike them as reasonable,” he added.
Read the full report here.
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