The view from the Tenderloin
The View from the Tenderloin:
A fine morning, the fluffy white clouds, blue skies and clean light giving an air of optimism and renewal. Without hundreds of thousands of commuters coming into the City these streets belong to the residents now, and they are coming out. Cautiously, many gloved and masked, but coming out they are. The frantic pace of new construction continues, I had one worker wave me to the other side of Market street, when I looked up I saw why. They were setting a platform on the edge of some new construction, and he wanted me out of harms way if something went wrong.
As I walked in front of a Walgreens, I saw a heroin addict bent over at the waste, as you often see happen. There was a very straight young white guy standing and watching, I stopped to chat, said it's heroin, and he replied that he knew. He said he was a police officer, waiting to go to work at the Walgreens when they opened. I talked a bit about how the homeless situation was exacerbated by those who should be institutionalized instead of wandering the streets. I talked briefly about my buddy with the pervasive personality disorder, how I had been advocating for him for four years now, and that he was currently out here. He thanked me for my efforts. He replied that the City Council did not agree with me, that they felt taking those people off the streets would violate their rights. It pains me that they feel that way, if, for no other reason than it puts both them and us in danger. I may be a fool, and an old fool at that, but I don't go out unarmed. I don't carry a gun, there are other ways, but I do it specifically for that reason. The hookers pimps and street dealers are all quite evident. The formal economy may be shutting down, but the underground economy is thriving. The pot clubs have cut their prices and are doing free deliveries. Same for the restaurants, the ones that haven't shuttered. Life goes on.
Keep those you hold dear close
God save the Republic.
