Item — HN Reader

It's unfortunate that such a callous performance has to become the icon for his case.

Living in SF, I agree there is a problem. In fact there are two.

1) There are the schizophrenics who need some help (but nobody knows exactly what or how).

2) And there is the unfortunate reality of downtown: - smells of piss - no public bathrooms (because they become campsites) - escalators break on public transportation often because people excrement on them - trashcans get dumped out so people can find cans for recycling - people walking across certain busy streets ignoring traffic - various campsites especially in soma

I don't think this has to be an either-or issue. Helping the homeless is not an opposite of keeping downtown clean. I seem to notice people giving up on the latter though because they assume that the only way to do so is to blame the former, which is a no-no.

3) SF has spent more than 30k per homeless person per year in the city to do 'something' about it. It's typically unaccounted for money and an area ripe/putrid for corruption.

Maybe put that $30K into a cheap dwelling for said homeless person and problem solved, no longer homeless.

don't disagree at all. I admire what salt lake city is doing and think it should be a model for SF