A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Morgan Zo Callahan 6-18-18
(June 25,1956 NYC to June 8, 2018 Strasbourg, France)
For viewers of the award-winning series “Parts UInknown” and for curious seekers of parts unknown, anywhere, everywhere, here’s a short poem, a tribute to Anthony Bourdain, (creator and presenter of “Parts Unknown”) who died tragically on June 8, 2018:
Gift given, passing to Mystery
your soul’s next curiosity
Bye Adios Shalom Warm Abrazos Grazie
Hello,
by Dortell Williams (incarcerated at LA County California State Prison)
How is it, my dear
a misguided youth of 10-12 years
can be corrupted by adults or his peers?
In that short span of say, 2 years;
an urban generational fate
from the playground to the police
and then prison the gate.
Tossed away with an eternal date;
warehoused for perpetual profit
in the bloodied hands of the state.
At a recent December community meeting hosted by District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen in San Francisco’s Portola neighborhood, the shouting from the audience began before Supervisor Ronen was able to begin her opening remarks. The angry outbursts continued to interrupt the 90 minute meeting, which included comments from the heads of SF’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, Municipal Transportation Agency, and Bayview Station police.
‘Let them go to Pacific Heights!,’ one angry neighborhood resident yelled.
“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”
The opening line from Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” has become a well-worn intro that journalists and pundits use for year-end retrospectives. Developments in how San Francisco approaches homelessness in 2018 make the Dickensian reference an apt descriptor.
Readers of Street Sheet and followers of homeless policy can point to two events supporting this binary: The sweeps of homeless encampments and the passage of Proposition C.
Originally published in 48Hills
Shortened for print in the Street Sheet. Read the full version online here.
This was to be a banner year for San Francisco Yimbys at the polls. The group is the social-media focused, bright young face of the pro-development lobby. At the start of 2018, they were poised to both define the political agenda of the coming campaign and field a slate of candidates for supervisor that would place them and their allies in complete command of City Hall in San Francisco.
If nothing is more American than squeaky-tight concentrations of wealth and opportunity, then hip-hop is a uniquely American art form. Rappers in the vast middle of the country have a stingy support system and are less likely to gain traction, but OMB Peezy, a 21-year-old rapper who splits his time between Mobile, Alabama and the Bay Area, has had a momentous 2018 — no thanks to his obscure, unhelpful ZIP code and the skeletally hobbled infrastructure therein.
“What do you have to say to my daughter?” Needa Bee screamed at Oakland Department of Public Works employees, who were tearing her home to the ground. “What do you have to say to my child? Where is she going to go?”
This devastating scene unfolded on December 6, after Oakland Police officers stormed Housing and Dignity Village—a homeless encampment for women of color and their children in East Oakland—and evicted the residents who lived there.
On the morning the Camp Fire started, Robert Talk was on his way back from a job in the next town. He got home just in time to run in to his mobile home and grab the important stuff. He remembers having to drive past walls of flames just to get out of Paradise.
Now Talk is staying at Wallywood, the informal name for the informal encampment that has popped up outside of Wal-Mart.
Originally published in the LA Times
Los Angeles homelessness has increased significantly over the last several years. (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
Two men who slept on downtown Los Angeles sidewalks were beaten to death with a bat last month. In Santa Monica, four other men were attacked while sleeping outside, allegedly by the same assailant, two fatally. In Mission Hills, in the north San Fernando Valley,
originally published in the Street Spirit
Robin Silver first noticed the smoke from the Camp Fire early on Friday, November 9—the morning after the blaze broke out in Butte County. “I have asthma. I’ve had to use my inhalers twice as much as normal” said Silver, who has lived at First They Came For The Homeless—the homeless encampment on Adeline Street—since January.
But Friday morning was just the beginning of the smoke that settled over the Bay Area in late November,
