Item — HN Reader

I live in the sunset district- there are a bunch of vandwellers who do this in our hood and it's frankly disgusting. They urinate out the side of their van in the gutter and leave their feces in the gutter. Perhaps YOU are clean but there are plenty of people who do it as well who are not as conscientious. It's making the neighborhood pretty disgusting.

You're telling me in the middle of the night if you wake up and have to pee, you're really going out to a bar and finding a restroom? I think not. At worst you're peeing onto the sidewalk or into a bush and at best you're peeing into a bottle in your van and then dumping it out on the street.

I report anyone I can tell living in a van on our streets to the non-emergency PD line, and they come out and they make them move.

2 comments

I think this is much more than a local Silicon Valley thing.

I have noticed similar things in Europe and Australia.

As I see it this is a symptom of housing becoming too expensive. By a perverse logic the only thing the powers that be do is to make sure that housing becomes even more expensive. In that way people buying too expensive houses are saved by house price appreciation.

How this will end is no longer obvious too me, however people in top paying jobs living out of hostels or vans for me is a sign of erroding real wealth in our society.

I think we just have to build much more housing. The housing prices are too high and simply must go down. It will suck a lot for all those people who bought houses in the past 20 years, but it’s the only option that is good for society.

The political will is a big problem. Homeowners are much more likely to vote than people like me. In San Francisco, the latest new regulation/roadblock is that any increases in waterfront height limits have to be approved by voter proposition. That regulation was passed by simple majority, 8.5% of San Francisco residents voting in favor. This is pathetic. We need to be involved in reforming our neighborhoods.

I pee at the bar before I go to bed. Bars close at 2 am. Coffee opens at 6:30 pm. I have never peed outside. I keep no food in my van. I sleep there and that's it. You wouldn't know I was there.

Are you an alcoholic?