SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — On a frosty December morning, Victoria Solomon recounted how San Francisco police had rousted her awake hours earlier, and threatened to take her to jail if she didn’t clear out within 10 minutes.

They tried to force her out of a public area without offering a shelter bed as required by law, Solomon said. At least this time city workers didn’t trash their belongings, she said. This would have forced her to find a new tent, bedding and clothes — not to mention new identification and Social Security cards, as well as a cell phone.

“You can be as tough as you want on people, that’s not going to magically create a house for them. And they don’t have disappearing powers,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco.

In September, the organization and seven individuals who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless again south San Francisco for violating the city’s own policies regarding providing shelter beds. They also said that city workers have thrown out peoples’ personal belongings such as medication, wheelchairs, prosthetics, laptops and cellphones, against city policy.

Solomon is among an estimated 7,800 people without a home in San Francisco, a city that has come to be seen as an emblem of California’s staggering inability to counter the homeless crisis. Homeowners, businesses and local leaders in San Francisco are frustrated with visible signs of homelessness — which includes public streets blocked by sprawling tents and trash.

Solomon is frustrated too. “Who says I’m not part of the community just because I’m homeless?” she said.

Two of the sweeps she experienced this year happened in the Castro neighborhood, where she noted that civil rights activists once stood up for marginalized peoples’ rights. Now, residents and nearby businesses call the police on her.

The 34-year-old has been homeless for about a decade. Solomon said she is bipolar and struggles with drug addiction, as well as grief from the deaths of her son and mother a year apart.

She travels lightly — a rolling suitcase, tent, dog food and two dogs — and is afraid to leave her belongings unattended. Law enforcement has threatened to take her to jail on an arrest warrant from another county — which she said was for minor drug possession.

Amid rising rents and a national shortage of affordable housing, more than 100,000 people are living on California’s streets. Hawaii, Oregon, and Arizona are among other western states where more homeless people live outside in cars and tents than indoors in shelters, despite billions spent to curb homelessness, including San Francisco’s $672 million annual budget.

Increasingly, advocates for people without housing are fighting back in court — as in the lawsuit filed in San Francisco, where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom is $3,000.

Attorneys for the city deny that workers illegally force people to move or throw out personal items, saying there are strict policies that balance individual rights with the need to clean public spaces.

During a virtual hearing last week, Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu questioned the city’s tactics, given the overwhelming amount of data and eyewitness accounts provided by the coalition. Last week, she temporarily banned San Francisco from clearing homeless encampments.

Across the country, frustration over the crisis has unified Democratic and Republican leaders in embracing tough-on-homelessness tactics, much to the dismay of homeless advocates and even Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, which has warned against hastily executed encampment closures.

This year Tennessee made outdoor camping on public land a felony and in Portland, Oregon, the city council voted to create at least three large campsites and to ban all other tent encampments.

In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a plan to provide medical care to homeless people with untreated psychosis, even against their will — and he has literally rolled up his shirt sleeves to join encampment cleanups. Under the program, people struggling with alcohol and opioid addiction won’t qualify for treatment unless they have a diagnosed psychiatric disorder.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, which houses the Healthy Streets Operations Center that coordinates encampment cleanups, said in a statement that outreach workers talk to unhoused residents beforehand to explain the process and offer services, including shelter.

From June 2020 to September 2022, San Francisco carried out 1,200 formal encampment cleanups and outreach workers encountered more than 10,000 people, according to the emergency management department.

There are also informal requests for homeless people to move, like the one Solomon encountered, so it’s not possible to know the full scale of enforcement actions taken, or threatened to be taken, against people who are homeless.

Business owners are fed up, not necessarily with people who are unhoused but the city that ignores them, said Ryen Motzek, president of the Mission Merchants Association. “It’s a general issue of cleanliness and safety, that’s the No. 1 problem the city faces,” he said.

But Toro Castaño, one of the seven individual plaintiffs, said that without affordable housing, people who are unhoused like him are forced to move from place to place. “We’ll literally move across the street — in the other direction,” he said. “In a week we might move 14 times. Just from corner to corner to corner.”

In a court declaration, he said that in August 2020, he was given two hours to leave his tent, but the incident commander declared everything a fire hazard so city workers tossed all of his belongings into a dump truck. He lost his deceased mother’s wedding kimono, MacBook Pro laptop, a battery-powered heater and a bike worth $1,400.

The outreach team offered him a bed in a congregant shelter, but he declined it for fear of catching the coronavirus. Today, he’s in a hotel room paid for by the city.

Advocates say that many people who are homeless would rather stay outdoors than in shelters, where they risk contracting coronavirus, as well as encountering abuse or threats of violence. Homeless people who have pets, work night shifts, need mental health services, or have substance use disorders have a difficult time finding a shelter that will take them.

Shivering inside a crowded tent, Dylan Miner tried to rest upright. “You can gain your stuff back, but it takes a lot of work,” he said. During a recent sweep, he said city workers discarded his mattress and the wood pallets that keep him off the sidewalk — which was still wet from torrental rain.

Miner, 34, does carpentry, fixes bikes, and resells items he either buys or finds.

The city placed him in a downtown hotel for 10 months during the pandemic, but when the program shut down he was unable to find new housing. He is not part of the lawsuit, but expressed support for it.

Nobody is happy with the status quo response, Friedenbach said. She hopes the lawsuit will catalyze a “serious transformation” in how the city treats people who are unhoused.

“This is really connected to a bigger struggle for dignity,” she said. “And a bigger struggle for just a recognition of the humanity of folks who are too poor to afford rents.”

AP video journalist Terry Chea contributed to this report.

The post Homelessness in San Francisco: speak of frustration, survival | Native Information appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — On a frosty December morning, Victoria Solomon recounted how San Francisco police had rousted her awake hours earlier, and threatened to take her to jail if she didn’t clear out within 10 minutes.

They tried to force her out of a public area without offering a shelter bed as required by law, Solomon said. At least this time city workers didn’t trash their belongings, she said. This would have forced her to find a new tent, bedding and clothes — not to mention new identification and Social Security cards, as well as a cell phone.

“You can be as tough as you want on people, that’s not going to magically create a house for them. And they don’t have disappearing powers,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco.

In September, the organization and seven individuals who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless again south San Francisco for violating the city’s own policies regarding providing shelter beds. They also said that city workers have thrown out peoples’ personal belongings such as medication, wheelchairs, prosthetics, laptops and cell phones, against city policy.

Solomon is among an estimated 7,800 people without a home in San Francisco, a city that has come to be seen as an emblem of California’s staggering inability to counter the homeless crisis. Homeowners, businesses and local leaders in San Francisco are frustrated with visible signs of homelessness — which includes public streets blocked by sprawling tents and trash.

Solomon is frustrated too. “Who says I’m not part of the community just because I’m homeless?” she said.

Two of the sweeps she experienced this year happened in the Castro neighborhood, where she noted that civil rights activists once stood up for marginalized peoples’ rights. Now, residents and nearby businesses call the police on her.

The 34-year-old has been homeless for about a decade. Solomon said she is bipolar and struggles with drug addiction, as well as grief from the deaths of her son and mother a year apart.

She travels lightly — a rolling suitcase, tent, dog food and two dogs — and is afraid to leave her belongings unattended. Law enforcement has threatened to take her to jail on an arrest warrant from another county — which she said was for minor drug possession.

Amid rising rents and a national shortage of affordable housing, more than 100,000 people are living on California’s streets. Hawaii, Oregon, and Arizona are among other western states where more homeless people live outside in cars and tents than indoors in shelters, despite billions spent to curb homelessness, including San Francisco’s $672 million annual budget.

Increasingly, advocates for people without housing are fighting back in court — as in the lawsuit filed in San Francisco, where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom is $3,000.

Attorneys for the city deny that workers illegally force people to move or throw out personal items, saying there are strict policies that balance individual rights with the need to clean public spaces.

During a virtual hearing last week, Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu questioned the city’s tactics, given the overwhelming amount of data and eyewitness accounts provided by the coalition. Last week, she temporarily banned San Francisco from clearing homeless encampments.

Across the country, frustration over the crisis has unified Democratic and Republican leaders in embracing tough-on-homelessness tactics, much to the dismay of homeless advocates and even Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, which has warned against hastily executed encampment closures.

This year Tennessee made outdoor camping on public land a felony and in Portland, Oregon, the city council voted to create at least three large campsites and to ban all other tent encampments.

In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a plan to provide medical care to homeless people with untreated psychosis, even against their will — and he has literally rolled up his shirt sleeves to join encampment cleanups. Under the program, people struggling with alcohol and opioid addiction won’t qualify for treatment unless they have a diagnosed psychiatric disorder.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, which houses the Healthy Streets Operations Center that coordinates encampment cleanups, said in a statement that outreach workers talk to unhoused residents beforehand to explain the process and offer services, including shelter.

From June 2020 to September 2022, San Francisco carried out 1,200 formal encampment cleanups and outreach workers encountered more than 10,000 people, according to the emergency management department.

There are also informal requests for homeless people to move, like the one Solomon encountered, so it’s not possible to know the full scale of enforcement actions taken, or threatened to be taken, against people who are homeless.

Business owners are fed up, not necessarily with people who are unhoused but the city that ignores them, said Ryen Motzek, president of the Mission Merchants Association. “It’s a general issue of cleanliness and safety, that’s the No. 1 problem the city faces,” he said.

But Toro Castaño, one of the seven individual plaintiffs, said that without affordable housing, people who are unhoused like him are forced to move from place to place. “We’ll literally move across the street — in the other direction,” he said. “In a week we might move 14 times. Just from corner to corner to corner.”

In a court declaration, he said that in August 2020, he was given two hours to leave his tent, but the incident commander declared everything a fire hazard so city workers tossed all of his belongings into a dump truck. He lost his deceased mother’s wedding kimono, MacBook Pro laptop, a battery-powered heater and a bike worth $1,400.

The outreach team offered him a bed in a congregant shelter, but he declined it for fear of catching the coronavirus. Today, he’s in a hotel room paid for by the city.

Advocates say that many people who are homeless would rather stay outdoors than in shelters, where they risk contracting coronavirus, as well as encountering abuse or threats of violence. Homeless people who have pets, work night shifts, need mental health services, or have substance use disorders have a difficult time finding a shelter that will take them.

Shivering inside a crowded tent, Dylan Miner tried to rest upright. “You can gain your stuff back, but it takes a lot of work,” he said. During a recent sweep, he said city workers discarded his mattress and the wood pallets that keep him off the sidewalk — which was still wet from torrential rain .

Miner, 34, does carpentry, fixes bikes, and resells items he either buys or finds.

The city placed him in a downtown hotel for 10 months during the pandemic, but when the program shut down he was unable to find new housing. He is not part of the lawsuit, but expressed support for it.

Nobody is happy with the status quo response, Friedenbach said. She hopes the lawsuit will catalyze a “serious transformation” in how the city treats people who are unhoused.

“This is really connected to a bigger struggle for dignity,” she said. “And a bigger struggle for just a recognition of the humanity of folks who are too poor to afford rents.”

—-

AP video journalist Terry Chea contributed to this report.

The post Homelessness in San Francisco: discuss of frustration, survival appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

A homeless encampment made of tents and tarps lines the Santa Ana riverbed near Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, January 25, 2018. People living along the riverbed recently learned they must pack their bags and move on, or risk arrest, but alter

SAN FRANCISCO – On a frosty December morning, Victoria Solomon recounted how San Francisco police had rousted her awake hours earlier, and threatened to take her to jail if she didn’t clear out within 10 minutes.

They tried to force her out of a public area without offering a shelter bed as required by law, Solomon said. At least this time city workers didn’t trash their belongings, she said. This would have forced her to find a new tent, bedding and clothes — not to mention new identification and Social Security cards, as well as a cell phone.

“You can be as tough as you want on people, that’s not going to magically create a house for them. And they don’t have disappearing powers,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco.

In September, the organization and seven individuals who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless again south San Francisco for violating the city’s own policies regarding providing shelter beds. They also said that city workers have thrown out peoples’ personal belongings such as medication, wheelchairs, prosthetics, laptops and cell phones, against city policy.

Solomon is among an estimated 7,800 people without a home in San Francisco, a city that has come to be seen as an emblem of California’s staggering inability to counter the homeless crisis. Homeowners, businesses and local leaders in San Francisco are frustrated with visible signs of homelessness — which includes public streets blocked by sprawling tents and trash.

Solomon is frustrated too. “Who says I’m not part of the community just because I’m homeless?” she said.

Two of the sweeps she experienced this year happened in the Castro neighborhood, where she noted that civil rights activists once stood up for marginalized peoples’ rights. Now, residents and nearby businesses call the police on her.

The 34-year-old has been homeless for about a decade. Solomon said she is bipolar and struggles with drug addiction, as well as grief from the deaths of her son and mother a year apart.

She travels lightly — a rolling suitcase, tent, dog food and two dogs — and is afraid to leave her belongings unattended. Law enforcement has threatened to take her to jail on an arrest warrant from another county — which she said was for minor drug possession.

Amid rising rents and a national shortage of affordable housing, more than 100,000 people are living on California’s streets. Hawaii, Oregon, and Arizona are among other western states where more homeless people live outside in cars and tents than indoors in shelters, despite billions spent to curb homelessness, including San Francisco’s $672 million annual budget.

Increasingly, advocates for people without housing are fighting back in court — as in the lawsuit filed in San Francisco, where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom is $3,000.

Attorneys for the city deny that workers illegally force people to move or throw out personal items, saying there are strict policies that balance individual rights with the need to clean public spaces.

During a virtual hearing last week, Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu questioned the city’s tactics, given the overwhelming amount of data and eyewitness accounts provided by the coalition. Last week, she temporarily banned San Francisco from clearing homeless encampments.

Across the country, frustration over the crisis has unified Democratic and Republican leaders in embracing tough-on-homelessness tactics, much to the dismay of homeless advocates and even Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, which has warned against hastily executed encampment closures.

This year Tennessee made outdoor camping on public land a felony and in Portland, Oregon, the city council voted to create at least three large campsites and to ban all other tent encampments.

In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a plan to provide medical care to homeless people with untreated psychosis, even against their will — and he has literally rolled up his shirt sleeves to join encampment cleanups. Under the program, people struggling with alcohol and opioid addiction won’t qualify for treatment unless they have a diagnosed psychiatric disorder.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, which houses the Healthy Streets Operations Center that coordinates encampment cleanups, said in a statement that outreach workers talk to unhoused residents beforehand to explain the process and offer services, including shelter.

From June 2020 to September 2022, San Francisco carried out 1,200 formal encampment cleanups and outreach workers encountered more than 10,000 people, according to the emergency management department.

READ ALSO: 4 homeless men die in Santa Clara County in a single day

There are also informal requests for homeless people to move, like the one Solomon encountered, so it’s not possible to know the full scale of enforcement actions taken, or threatened to be taken, against people who are homeless.

Business owners are fed up, not necessarily with people who are unhoused but the city that ignores them, said Ryen Motzek, president of the Mission Merchants Association. “It’s a general issue of cleanliness and safety, that’s the No. 1 problem the city faces,” he said.

But Toro Castaño, one of the seven individual plaintiffs, said that without affordable housing, people who are unhoused like him are forced to move from place to place. “We’ll literally move across the street — in the other direction,” he said. “In a week we might move 14 times. Just from corner to corner to corner.”

In a court declaration, he said that in August 2020, he was given two hours to leave his tent, but the incident commander declared everything a fire hazard so city workers tossed all of his belongings into a dump truck. He lost his deceased mother’s wedding kimono, MacBook Pro laptop, a battery-powered heater and a bike worth $1,400.

The outreach team offered him a bed in a congregant shelter, but he declined it for fear of catching the coronavirus. Today, he’s in a hotel room paid for by the city.

Advocates say that many people who are homeless would rather stay outdoors than in shelters, where they risk contracting coronavirus, as well as encountering abuse or threats of violence. Homeless people who have pets, work night shifts, need mental health services, or have substance use disorders have a difficult time finding a shelter that will take them.

Shivering inside a crowded tent, Dylan Miner tried to rest upright. “You can gain your stuff back, but it takes a lot of work,” he said. During a recent sweep, he said city workers discarded his mattress and the wood pallets that keep him off the sidewalk — which was still wet from torrental rain.

Miner, 34, does carpentry, fixes bikes, and resells items he either buys or finds.

The city placed him in a downtown hotel for 10 months during the pandemic, but when the program shut down he was unable to find new housing. He is not part of the lawsuit, but expressed support for it.

Nobody is happy with the status quo response, Friedenbach said. She hopes the lawsuit will catalyze a “serious transformation” in how the city treats people who are unhoused.

“This is really connected to a bigger struggle for dignity,” she said. “And a bigger struggle for just a recognition of the humanity of folks who are too poor to afford rents.”

The post Homelessness in San Francisco: Discuss of frustration, survival appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

By JANIE HAR

December 28, 2022 GMT

https://apnews.com/article/san-francisco-portland-disaster-planning-and-response-california-homelessness-6fdd5f3408e54a5d3770c892f2b06ac6

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — On a frosty December morning, Victoria Solomon recounted how San Francisco police had rousted her awake hours earlier, and threatened to take her to jail if she didn’t clear out within 10 minutes.

They tried to force her out of a public area without offering a shelter bed as required by law, Solomon said. At least this time city workers didn’t trash their belongings, she said. This would have forced her to find a new tent, bedding and clothes — not to mention new identification and Social Security cards, as well as a cell phone.

“You can be as tough as you want on people, that’s not going to magically create a house for them. And they don’t have disappearing powers,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco.

In September, the organization and seven individuals who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless again south San Francisco for violating the city’s own policies regarding providing shelter beds. They also said that city workers have thrown out peoples’ personal belongings such as medication, wheelchairs, prosthetics, laptops and cell phones, against city policy.

Solomon is among an estimated 7,800 people without a home in San Francisco, a city that has come to be seen as an emblem of California’s staggering inability to counter the homeless crisis. Homeowners, businesses and local leaders in San Francisco are frustrated with visible signs of homelessness — which includes public streets blocked by sprawling tents and trash.

Solomon is frustrated too. “Who says I’m not part of the community just because I’m homeless?” she said.

Two of the sweeps she experienced this year happened in the Castro neighborhood, where she noted that civil rights activists once stood up for marginalized peoples’ rights. Now, residents and nearby businesses call the police on her.

The 34-year-old has been homeless for about a decade. Solomon said she is bipolar and struggles with drug addiction, as well as grief from the deaths of her son and mother a year apart.

She travels lightly — a rolling suitcase, tent, dog food and two dogs — and is afraid to leave her belongings unattended. Law enforcement has threatened to take her to jail on an arrest warrant from another county — which she said was for minor drug possession.

Amid rising rents and a national shortage of affordable housing, more than 100,000 people are living on California’s streets. Hawaii, Oregon, and Arizona are among other western states where more homeless people live outside in cars and tents than indoors in shelters, despite billions spent to curb homelessness, including San Francisco’s $672 million annual budget.

Increasingly, advocates for people without housing are fighting back in court — as in the lawsuit filed in San Francisco, where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom is $3,000.

Attorneys for the city deny that workers illegally force people to move or throw out personal items, saying there are strict policies that balance individual rights with the need to clean public spaces.

During a virtual hearing last week, Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu questioned the city’s tactics, given the overwhelming amount of data and eyewitness accounts provided by the coalition. Last week, she temporarily banned San Francisco from clearing homeless encampments.

Across the country, frustration over the crisis has unified Democratic and Republican leaders in embracing tough-on-homelessness tactics, much to the dismay of homeless advocates and even Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, which has warned against hastily executed encampment closures.

This year Tennessee made outdoor camping on public land a felony and in Portland, Oregon, the city council voted to create at least three large campsites and to ban all other tent encampments.

In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a plan to provide medical care to homeless people with untreated psychosis, even against their will — and he has literally rolled up his shirt sleeves to join encampment cleanups. Under the program, people struggling with alcohol and opioid addiction won’t qualify for treatment unless they have a diagnosed psychiatric disorder.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, which houses the Healthy Streets Operations Center that coordinates encampment cleanups, said in a statement that outreach workers talk to unhoused residents beforehand to explain the process and offer services, including shelter.

From June 2020 to September 2022, San Francisco carried out 1,200 formal encampment cleanups and outreach workers encountered more than 10,000 people, according to the emergency management department.

There are also informal requests for homeless people to move, like the one Solomon encountered, so it’s not possible to know the full scale of enforcement actions taken, or threatened to be taken, against people who are homeless.

Business owners are fed up, not necessarily with people who are unhoused but the city that ignores them, said Ryen Motzek, president of the Mission Merchants Association. “It’s a general issue of cleanliness and safety, that’s the No. 1 problem the city faces,” he said.

But Toro Castaño, one of the seven individual plaintiffs, said that without affordable housing, people who are unhoused like him are forced to move from place to place. “We’ll literally move across the street — in the other direction,” he said. “In a week we might move 14 times. Just from corner to corner to corner.”

In a court declaration, he said that in August 2020, he was given two hours to leave his tent, but the incident commander declared everything a fire hazard so city workers tossed all of his belongings into a dump truck. He lost his deceased mother’s wedding kimono, MacBook Pro laptop, a battery-powered heater and a bike worth $1,400.

The outreach team offered him a bed in a congregant shelter, but he declined it for fear of catching the coronavirus. Today, he’s in a hotel room paid for by the city.

Advocates say that many people who are homeless would rather stay outdoors than in shelters, where they risk contracting coronavirus, as well as encountering abuse or threats of violence. Homeless people who have pets, work night shifts, need mental health services, or have substance use disorders have a difficult time finding a shelter that will take them.

Shivering inside a crowded tent, Dylan Miner tried to rest upright. “You can gain your stuff back, but it takes a lot of work,” he said. During a recent sweep, he said city workers discarded his mattress and the wood pallets that keep him off the sidewalk — which was still wet from torrental rain.

Miner, 34, does carpentry, fixes bikes, and resells items he either buys or finds.

The city placed him in a downtown hotel for 10 months during the pandemic, but when the program shut down he was unable to find new housing. He is not part of the lawsuit, but expressed support for it.

Nobody is happy with the status quo response, Friedenbach said. She hopes the lawsuit will catalyze a “serious transformation” in how the city treats people who are unhoused.

“This is really connected to a bigger struggle for dignity,” she said. “And a bigger struggle for just a recognition of the humanity of folks who are too poor to afford rents.”

—-

AP video journalist Terry Chea contributed to this report.

The post Homelessness in San Francisco: discuss of frustration, survival appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN FRANCISCO — On a frosty December morning, Victoria Solomon recounted how San Francisco police had rousted her awake hours earlier, and threatened to take her to jail if she didn’t clear out within 10 minutes.

They tried to force her out of a public area without offering a shelter bed as required by law, Solomon said. At least this time city workers didn’t trash their belongings, she said. This would have forced her to find a new tent, bedding and clothes — not to mention new identification and Social Security cards, as well as a cell phone.

“You can be as tough as you want on people, that’s not going to magically create a house for them. And they don’t have disappearing powers,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco.

In September, the organization and seven individuals who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless again south San Francisco for violating the city’s own policies regarding providing shelter beds. They also said that city workers have thrown out peoples’ personal belongings such as medication, wheelchairs, prosthetics, laptops and cell phones, against city policy.

Solomon is among an estimated 7,800 people without a home in San Francisco, a city that has come to be seen as an emblem of California’s staggering inability to counter the homeless crisis. Homeowners, businesses and local leaders in San Francisco are frustrated with visible signs of homelessness — which includes public streets blocked by sprawling tents and trash.

Solomon is frustrated too. “Who says I’m not part of the community just because I’m homeless?” she said.

Two of the sweeps she experienced this year happened in the Castro neighborhood, where she noted that civil rights activists once stood up for marginalized peoples’ rights. Now, residents and nearby businesses call the police on her.

The 34-year-old has been homeless for about a decade. Solomon said she is bipolar and struggles with drug addiction, as well as grief from the deaths of her son and mother a year apart.

She travels lightly — a rolling suitcase, tent, dog food and two dogs — and is afraid to leave her belongings unattended. Law enforcement has threatened to take her to jail on an arrest warrant from another county — which she said was for minor drug possession.

Amid rising rents and a national shortage of affordable housing, more than 100,000 people are living on California’s streets. Hawaii, Oregon, and Arizona are among other western states where more homeless people live outside in cars and tents than indoors in shelters, despite billions spent to curb homelessness, including San Francisco’s $672 million annual budget.

Increasingly, advocates for people without housing are fighting back in court — as in the lawsuit filed in San Francisco, where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom is $3,000.

Attorneys for the city deny that workers illegally force people to move or throw out personal items, saying there are strict policies that balance individual rights with the need to clean public spaces.

Across the country, frustration over the crisis has unified Democratic and Republican leaders in embracing tough-on-homelessness tactics, much to the dismay of homeless advocates and even Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, which has warned against hastily executed encampment closures.

In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a plan to provide medical care to homeless people with untreated psychosis, even against their will — and he has literally rolled up his shirt sleeves to join encampment cleanups. Under the program, people struggling with alcohol and opioid addiction won’t qualify for treatment unless they have a diagnosed psychiatric disorder.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, which houses the Healthy Streets Operations Center that coordinates encampment cleanups, said in a statement that outreach workers talk to unhoused residents beforehand to explain the process and offer services, including shelter.

From June 2020 to September 2022, San Francisco carried out 1,200 formal encampment cleanups and outreach workers encountered more than 10,000 people, according to the emergency management department.

There are also informal requests for homeless people to move, like the one Solomon encountered, so it’s not possible to know the full scale of enforcement actions taken, or threatened to be taken, against people who are homeless.

Business owners are fed up, not necessarily with people who are unhoused but the city that ignores them, said Ryen Motzek, president of the Mission Merchants Association. “It’s a general issue of cleanliness and safety, that’s the No. 1 problem the city faces,” he said.

But Toro Castaño, one of the seven individual plaintiffs, said that without affordable housing, people who are unhoused like him are forced to move from place to place. “We’ll literally move across the street — in the other direction,” he said. “In a week we might move 14 times. Just from corner to corner to corner.”

In a court declaration, he said that in August 2020, he was given two hours to leave his tent, but the incident commander declared everything a fire hazard so city workers tossed all of his belongings into a dump truck. He lost his deceased mother’s wedding kimono, MacBook Pro laptop, a battery-powered heater and a bike worth $1,400.

The outreach team offered him a bed in a congregant shelter, but he declined it for fear of catching the coronavirus. Today, he’s in a hotel room paid for by the city.

Advocates say that many people who are homeless would rather stay outdoors than in shelters, where they risk contracting coronavirus, as well as encountering abuse or threats of violence. Homeless people who have pets, work night shifts, need mental health services, or have substance use disorders have a difficult time finding a shelter that will take them.

Shivering inside a crowded tent, Dylan Miner tried to rest upright. “You can gain your stuff back, but it takes a lot of work,” he said. During a recent sweep, he said city workers discarded his mattress and the wood pallets that keep him off the sidewalk — which was still wet from torrental rain .

Miner, 34, does carpentry, fixes bikes, and resells items he either buys or finds.

The city placed him in a downtown hotel for 10 months during the pandemic, but when the program shut down he was unable to find new housing. He is not part of the lawsuit, but expressed support for it.

Nobody is happy with the status quo response, Friedenbach said. She hopes the lawsuit will catalyze a “serious transformation” in how the city treats people who are unhoused.

“This is really connected to a bigger struggle for dignity,” she said. “And a bigger struggle for just a recognition of the humanity of folks who are too poor to afford rents.”

The post Homelessness in San Francisco: discuss of frustration, survival | Ap appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — On a frosty December morning, Victoria Solomon recounted how San Francisco police had rousted her awake hours earlier, and threatened to take her to jail if she didn’t clear out within 10 minutes.

They tried to force her out of a public area without offering a shelter bed as required by law, Solomon said. At least this time city workers didn’t trash their belongings, she said. This would have forced her to find a new tent, bedding and clothes — not to mention new identification and Social Security cards, as well as a cell phone.

“You can be as tough as you want on people, that’s not going to magically create a house for them. And they don’t have disappearing powers,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco.

In September, the organization and seven individuals who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless again south San Francisco for violating the city’s own policies regarding providing shelter beds. They also said that city workers have thrown out peoples’ personal belongings such as medication, wheelchairs, prosthetics, laptops and cell phones, against city policy.

Solomon is among an estimated 7,800 people without a home in San Francisco, a city that has come to be seen as an emblem of California’s staggering inability to counter the homeless crisis. Homeowners, businesses and local leaders in San Francisco are frustrated with visible signs of homelessness — which includes public streets blocked by sprawling tents and trash.

Solomon is frustrated too. “Who says I’m not part of the community just because I’m homeless?” she said.

Two of the sweeps she experienced this year happened in the Castro neighborhood, where she noted that civil rights activists once stood up for marginalized peoples’ rights. Now, residents and nearby businesses call the police on her.

The 34-year-old has been homeless for about a decade. Solomon said she is bipolar and struggles with drug addiction, as well as grief from the deaths of her son and mother a year apart.

She travels lightly — a rolling suitcase, tent, dog food and two dogs — and is afraid to leave her belongings unattended. Law enforcement has threatened to take her to jail on an arrest warrant from another county — which she said was for minor drug possession.

Amid rising rents and a national shortage of affordable housing, more than 100,000 people are living on California’s streets. Hawaii, Oregon, and Arizona are among other western states where more homeless people live outside in cars and tents than indoors in shelters, despite billions spent to curb homelessness, including San Francisco’s $672 million annual budget.

Increasingly, advocates for people without housing are fighting back in court — as in the lawsuit filed in San Francisco, where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom is $3,000.

Attorneys for the city deny that workers illegally force people to move or throw out personal items, saying there are strict policies that balance individual rights with the need to clean public spaces.

During a virtual hearing last week, Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu questioned the city’s tactics, given the overwhelming amount of data and eyewitness accounts provided by the coalition. Last week, she temporarily banned San Francisco from clearing homeless encampments.

Across the country, frustration over the crisis has unified Democratic and Republican leaders in embracing tough-on-homelessness tactics, much to the dismay of homeless advocates and even Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, which has warned against hastily executed encampment closures.

This year Tennessee made outdoor camping on public land a felony and in Portland, Oregon, the city council voted to create at least three large campsites and to ban all other tent encampments.

In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a plan to provide medical care to homeless people with untreated psychosis, even against their will — and he has literally rolled up his shirt sleeves to join encampment cleanups. Under the program, people struggling with alcohol and opioid addiction won’t qualify for treatment unless they have a diagnosed psychiatric disorder.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, which houses the Healthy Streets Operations Center that coordinates encampment cleanups, said in a statement that outreach workers talk to unhoused residents beforehand to explain the process and offer services, including shelter.

From June 2020 to September 2022, San Francisco carried out 1,200 formal encampment cleanups and outreach workers encountered more than 10,000 people, according to the emergency management department.

There are also informal requests for homeless people to move, like the one Solomon encountered, so it’s not possible to know the full scale of enforcement actions taken, or threatened to be taken, against people who are homeless.

Business owners are fed up, not necessarily with people who are unhoused but the city that ignores them, said Ryen Motzek, president of the Mission Merchants Association. “It’s a general issue of cleanliness and safety, that’s the No. 1 problem the city faces,” he said.

But Toro Castaño, one of the seven individual plaintiffs, said that without affordable housing, people who are unhoused like him are forced to move from place to place. “We’ll literally move across the street — in the other direction,” he said. “In a week we might move 14 times. Just from corner to corner to corner.”

In a court declaration, he said that in August 2020, he was given two hours to leave his tent, but the incident commander declared everything a fire hazard so city workers tossed all of his belongings into a dump truck. He lost his deceased mother’s wedding kimono, MacBook Pro laptop, a battery-powered heater and a bike worth $1,400.

The outreach team offered him a bed in a congregant shelter, but he declined it for fear of catching the coronavirus. Today, he’s in a hotel room paid for by the city.

Advocates say that many people who are homeless would rather stay outdoors than in shelters, where they risk contracting coronavirus, as well as encountering abuse or threats of violence. Homeless people who have pets, work night shifts, need mental health services, or have substance use disorders have a difficult time finding a shelter that will take them.

Shivering inside a crowded tent, Dylan Miner tried to rest upright. “You can gain your stuff back, but it takes a lot of work,” he said. During a recent sweep, he said city workers discarded his mattress and the wood pallets that keep him off the sidewalk — which was still wet from torrental rain.

Miner, 34, does carpentry, fixes bikes, and resells items he either buys or finds.

The city placed him in a downtown hotel for 10 months during the pandemic, but when the program shut down he was unable to find new housing. He is not part of the lawsuit, but expressed support for it.

Nobody is happy with the status quo response, Friedenbach said. She hopes the lawsuit will catalyze a “serious transformation” in how the city treats people who are unhoused.

“This is really connected to a bigger struggle for dignity,” she said. “And a bigger struggle for just a recognition of the humanity of folks who are too poor to afford rents.”

The post Homelessness in San Francisco: Speak of frustration, survival appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

By Brandon Miller, CFP

My great uncle’s poorly fitting toupee was a source of endless amusement to me as a kid. On hot days, it would slide to one side and the soon patch he was trying to hide would moon observers. In the wind, it might flap up and down, flip over an ear, or even blow off altogether. I had to enjoy the hilarity silently, however, as my elders made it clear that uncle’s wig was not something we talked about.

Insurance is a bit like that errant hairpiece in that it’s not something people talk about. Conversing about a commodity that’s only good when things go bad is a bit of a downer, after all. But it’s even more dismal not to have the right insurance and coverage amounts when you need it. So, let’s quickly review what you need and why, and some tips to help make insurance work better for you.

Consolidating policies at one company is easier on you and may lower your payment. Another general rule is to cover little things yourself (a bent fender) and have insurance pay for the big things (a totaled car). Higher deductibles and/or longer waiting periods can help you do this.

More tips include:

health Although not mandated at the Federal level, everyone needs health insurance, which many get through an employer or Medicare. If your employment status is “self” or “un” and you’re under 65, Covered California provides an open marketplace that might save you on coverage from brand-name insurers.

Got a high-deductible health plan? You might qualify for a Health Savings Account (HSA). The annual amount you and/or your employer can contribute each year is modest, but the money you put in isn’t taxed, the account’s earnings aren’t taxed, and your distributions aren’t taxed. It’s a hidden investment tool, if you ask me.

Automobile – If you have a car, you need auto insurance, plain and simple. But maybe you can drop collision coverage if the car is really old.

property Anything with a mortgage requires insurance. But even if you own your property outright, it might make sense to carry some protection. Building costs are soaring, so double-check how much you’ll really get if your home and the contents are destroyed. A yearly review by your insurance broker or financial planner can help save you from draining your savings at a vulnerable time.

Earthquake insurance has been improved recently, and is becoming increasingly important the more equity you have in your home. Flood insurance might be smart if your property is in a flood plain. As for wildfires, homeowners’ insurance should cover the damage. It’s just hard to get policies in certain areas. The California FAIR Plan is designed to make this easier.

Umbrella – This has nothing to do with rain and everything to do with protecting your assets. It extends the liability coverage of your car and homeowners’ policies and includes situations they don’t cover, such as mentally anguish and psychological harm. Umbrella insurance is fairly inexpensive and I highly recommend most people get it.

disability Do you depend on a paycheck? Then you need disability insurance. Your employer’s coverage (if any) is likely inadequate, Social Security is notoriously stingy about who qualifies, and bills don’t end just because your income stream has. Get as much as you can qualify (and pay) for because living expenses don’t tend to go down over time.

Term and Whole Life You can rent or own coverage for an untimely death. Term is great for temporary situations, such as until your mortgage is paid off. Whole or permanent insurance is more costly, but it’s also a way to build equity, fund a trust, add liquidity to your estate so the kids don’t have to sell the house to pay the taxes, and it offers tax-free accumulation to high-income earners.

Long-term Care – This coverage is for expenses related to nursing home care, home healthcare, adult daycare, etc. for those over 65. It’s expensive, so it may not make sense if you’re rich (estate worth over $5 mil) or poor (Medi- Cal wants to kick in). You have to qualify, so get it early—50–55 is an ideal age—especially if dementia runs in your family.

Yes, insurance is no fun, but don’t neglect getting what you need to truly protect yourself, your loved ones, and your lifestyle. Because lack of coverage is the last thing you want when a fierce wind uncovers your soon spot.

Brio does not provide tax or legal advice, and nothing contained in these materials should be taken as such. The opinions expressed in this article are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or on any specific security. It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry. To determine which investments may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing. Any past performance discussed during this program is no guarantee of future results. Any indices referenced for comparison are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. As always please remember investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital; please seek advice from a licensed professional.

Brio Financial Group is a registered investment adviser. SEC Registration does not constitute an endorsement of Brio by the SEC nor does it indicate that Brio has attained a particular level of skill or ability. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Brio Financial Group and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by Brio Financial Group unless a client service agreement is in place.

Brandon Miller, CFP®, is a financial consultant at Brio Financial Group in San Francisco, specializing in helping LGBT individuals and families plan and achieve their financial goals.

Published on August 11, 2022

The post Let’s Discuss About Insurance coverage. Actually – San Francisco Bay Instances appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

WELCOME TO TALK HOLE, A MONTHLY TOPICAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN COMEDIANS ERIC SCHWARTAU AND STEVEN PHILLIPS-HORST.

STEVEN: I just got word from our editor that our last column, “Dimes Square Article,” did very well.

ERIC: We should put Dimes Square in every headline now.

STEVEN: Why You’re Doing Dimes Square Wrong.

ERIC: What Happened to Dimes Square?

STEVEN: Meet The Secret Godfathers of Gay Dimes Square.

ERIC: Dimes Square Gets “Chad” Surgery: Shocking Before & After Photos.

STEVEN: How Montreal Became the New Dimes Square.

ERIC: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Dimes Square.

STEVEN: 1. Did you know? It’s actually a triangle.

ERIC: 2. And a dime is a circle.

STEVEN: 3. The neighborhood was originally called “BelDel” for Below Delancey but it never caught on.

ERIC: 4. And the freelance copywriter who coined “BelDel” was so humiliated he skipped town. He now lives in Catskill, New York.

STEVEN: 5. The first “bump” was done in Dimes Square in 1896, then called Sixpence Alley, when a debutante “bumped” into a chair, fell to the floor, then accidentally snorted some ash left by a chimney sweep.

ERIC: 6. And that chimney sweep went on to start the first Dirtbag Left radio programme.

STEVEN: 7. Back then it was the “Ashbag Left,” and the broadcast was called Gray Scare.

ERIC: 8: Today, the area has the highest number of sheer crop tops per capita.

STEVEN: 9. The Michelin Guide has deemed the neighborhood a “food desert,” because of the overpriced, poor-quality cuisine at many of its restaurants.

ERIC: 10. It has also been declared a “Forever Wild” sanctuary for the preservation of its unique culture of apoliticism and alcoholism.

STEVEN: Wow, I learned so much.

ERIC: What other buzzwords do people want to click on?

STEVEN: Recession, gender, cancel culture, airline travel, something about sports, Margot Robbie.

Justin J Wee

ERIC: Margot Robbie Cancels Gender Over Delayed Flight To Wimbeldon, Sparking Recession Fears.

STEVEN: I’m clicking.

ERIC: An SEO grand slam.

STEVEN: Are we in a recession?

ERIC: We’re definitely in a hole.

STEVEN: Prices are up, pregnancies are forced, guns are concealed, and the American man is dying.

ERIC: Because he’s obese and addicted to pills.

STEVEN: Yet I’m thin but still addicted to Truvada.

ERIC: There’s a cure for both of those things. It’s called being in a relationship.

STEVEN: Not if it’s open.

ERIC: A relationship with a hole in it.

STEVEN: It seems we are entering an era of scarcity. The water wars are coming. Not enough resources, massive inequality, mass migration, plunging birth rates, Children of Men vibes.

ERIC: This is why I got engaged.

STEVEN: But it’s going to be weirder than the movies because our experience is so mediated by technology now. People will be like, “I’m killing my aunt IRL to get more digital water credits for my bored ape.”

ERIC: When apes are bored, they get very thirsty.

STEVEN: It’s like an AI-generated gay dystopia.

ERIC: I don’t think AI has to be gay or dystopic. It’s an extension of our own imaginations and our own intelligence.

STEVEN: Our future is definitely gay and dystopic. AI better catch up.

ERIC: AI is basically a mirror. It only knows what we teach it, so it’s parroting our identities back to us. We’ve been teaching it for years to recognize stoplights and trains in those little CAPTCHA grids.

STEVEN: So our robot overlords will be fluent in stoplight.

ERIC: We are writing the future in the present!

STEVEN: We’re actually writing a column.

ERIC: We’re writing gay code. Soon two gay algorithms will be able to write this column and we can go play tennis and walk our dogs.

STEVEN: Except there won’t be a park to walk our dogs in. There will be a desert, and we’ll be fighting our own dogs for tennis balls because we think they’re food.

ERIC: Right, because AI will have tricked us into making our diets even worse, so they can have all the last heirloom tomatoes for themselves.

STEVEN: Exactly. Because the robots will desire what we taught them to desire. And we taught them tomatoes are delicious.

ERIC: But then it turns out the robots are allergic to nightshades — because we taught them that having allergies is a personality.

STEVEN: Then the robots die and we can all go back to normal.

ERIC: Normal. We don’t know her anymore.

STEVEN: Tell me about it. I had to buy the Rite Aid generic version of Tom’s Natural toothpaste because it was the only one at the store that wasn’t locked up.

ERIC: Nobody wants natural when it comes to teeth. Fluoride. Bleach. Repeat.

STEVEN: We’re already getting fluoride from the water. How much more do you need?

ERIC: Depends on mouth size.

STEVEN: The American mouth is getting bigger.

ERIC: It definitely seems to have more to say. More tweets than ever.

STEVEN: I just don’t think we need to be locking up Crest. Crime is not that bad, and if it is Procter & Gamble can take the hit.

ERIC: I think the real crime is fake Go FundMes. I don’t believe anyone’s roommates are really that toxic.

STEVEN: You’re just paranoid.

ERIC: And that’s why I live alone.

STEVEN: People think there’s more crime and violence, which puts everyone on edge, making everyone more violent, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

ERIC: Like inflation.

STEVEN: Exactly. And now the San Francisco District Attorney got recalled because there are too many homeless people, despite the fact tha he doesn’t control that. I saw something about “Safer Communities” on every Democratic primary brochure handed to me this week for our local elections. We’re headed for a new era of “tough on crime” Democrats — it’s like the ’90s all over again. Which means that the Trump era was a Reagan redux, and everyone’s about to get into grunge again.

ERIC: No, Trump was Nixon and Biden is Carter: Malaise. Gas prices. Sunken living rooms.

STEVEN: So DeSantis will win in 2024 and he’ll be the second Reagan?

ERIC: Yes. Guns, coke, Miami, finance.

STEVEN: I was watching one of my favorite ASMR artists on YouTube, and he’s gotten really into prepping over the past year. He’s the sweetest gay kid who used to just do ear-candling cosplay. Now he buys everything in bulk and doesn’t even like to go shopping without his mom because he’s afraid of “what might happen” at a Walmart. And he’s 27!

ERIC: What might happen is that he’d have to buy his own clothes. Still clinging to mommy’s credit teat.

STEVEN: People are scared. And dumb. And they still want to shop.

ERIC: People buying too much is causing inflation, right?

STEVEN: Well, according to The Fed/The Church of Harvard, everyone got government checks during the pandemic, but instead of spending it they stayed home. Nobody went to France (except for me) so now people have too much money. So now it’s too easy for them to buy oat milk. Hence the price of oat milk has to go up.

ERIC: I don’t even pay for milk. I just ask for some in my coffee.

STEVEN: There’s a sort of schizophrenia going on as well. Unemployment is low, yet so is consumer confidence, yet people are going to restaurants with greater frequency, yet restaurants are more annoying than ever with their QR code menus.

Justin J Wee

ERIC: I love the gleeful hedonism of paying $17 for a cocktail. Or maybe it’s gleeful humiliation.

STEVEN: Dimes Square inflation.

ERIC: They’ll have to change the name to Dollar Square.

STEVEN: Meanwhile, they’re telling us it’s “Russia’s fault” and “the supply chain is weird” and “wages have gone up too much” so we’re in a “wage price spiral.” Personally, I do not feel my wages have gone up too much.

ERIC: We need to renegotiate your price per word.

STEVEN: I’m in a word price spiral.

ERIC: It’s about an economy of words.

STEVEN: We can’t both just write one liners.

ERIC: Yes we can.

STEVEN: Write back better.

ERIC: A poet isn’t paid per word. Let that sink in.

STEVEN: Why doesn’t the government just institute price controls to stem inflation? That’s socialism apparently? It doesn’t seem that ridiculous to me.

ERIC: Keep your hands off my prices.

STEVEN: My prices, my choice!

ERIC: The Bible says we all have the Right to Price.

STEVEN: For example, the government could say a carton of Oatly should not cost more than $3.10. And if Kroger tries to jack it up, a policefolk will come into the grocery store and shoot the Oatly.

ERIC: I bought the cheap oat milk at Trader Joe’s and it was really gritty. Now I’m back to Chobani.

STEVEN: Planet Oat? I wouldn’t even feed that to my twink.

ERIC: No, it was Trader Joe’s brand. Have you ever been to Trader Joe’s?

STEVEN: Yes, it’s food for babies. Pre-cut frozen meat and shitty produce and infantilizing snacks like yogurt-covered ramen and chocolate-covered salmon. No thank you.

ERIC: Well, at least they’re not in a recession over there. Charles Shaw is still $3.

STEVEN: I was just reading Eleanor Roosevelt’s memoir, and she said FDR — who was her fifth cousin and husband — would look out the train window as they traversed the country and gauge the strength of the American economy based on how clean people’s linens were hanging on the line, how shiny their windows were, etc.

Justin J Wee

ERIC: Clean window theory.

STEVEN: The cousin to the Broken Windows theory.

ERIC: The fifth cousin.

STEVEN: My version of this is I think we are in a recession because of the amount of unpaid child labor on Shark Tank. Usually there’s a few “family businesses” per season, but right now there’s multiple pitches per episode with six-year-olds labeling packages or installing drywall.

ERIC: It’s good to get some experience under your belt early.

STEVEN: Helps when applying to elementary school.

ERIC: Or church, which will now be the same thing.

STEVEN: Church and state are a spectrum now.

ERIC: And schools identify as non-binary.

STEVEN: You never forget your first day of kxndergarxen.

ERIC: Especially if there’s a shooting.

STEVEN: I have a theory about church and state.

ERIC: Preach.

STEVEN: Both church and state are weaker than ever so they need to combine forces to maintain relevance. Church used to be really popular, right? The steeple was always the tallest building in the village. Then government became the cool thing — think of all those neo-classical state capitols and courthouses. But by the end of the 20th century, business was the hottest game in town. It’s all about skyscrapers.

ERIC: Because skyscrapers are shiny mirrors. People stopped finding God and started finding themselves.

STEVEN: And now the tallest skyscrapers are mostly condos, where you can really find yourself. Although most NYC penthouse owners don’t even live there.

ERIC: Well God doesn’t live on Earth either.

STEVEN: But she/they summers here.

ERIC: So church and state are fusing as a content strategy. In today’s attention economy, higher engagement equals higher power.

STEVEN: And schools are a great platform for content.

ERIC: Schools are the original podcasts.

STEVEN: Students the original subscribers!

ERIC: After-school programs the original Patreon.

Justin J Wee

STEVEN: And GSA meetings were the original Reddit forums.

ERIC: My friend who is a high school teacher said that GSA now stands for Gender & Sexualities Alliance.

STEVEN: Finally gender and sexuality can come together.

ERIC: Apparently the students are unclear what it is. They just throw events.

STEVEN: In my day, the GSA was for nerdy gays with rainbow suspenders and pins! You wouldn’t be caught dead in there.

ERIC: I guess that’s why they rebranded.

STEVEN: Joining an organization can never be cool. Cool things don’t accomplish stuff. And that’s okay. Society needs both cool people and nerdy organizations.

ERIC: I was in Student Government. They made an unelected position on the executive board called Human Relations Commissioner for me. Very Robert Moses. I would read the announcements over the loudspeaker at lunch.

STEVEN: You were relating to humans by speaking with them.

ERIC: It was more of a one-sided conversation.

STEVEN: Look how far you’ve come.

ERIC: Speaking of gay people and loudspeakers, pride is finally over.

STEVEN: Back to shame now.

ERIC: I love how pride is no longer about gay pride, but simply pride in the concept of identity. Any identity at all.

STEVEN: Asexual. Irish. Deutsche Bank employee.

ERIC: I’m proud of the various bullet points that make up my advertising profile according to Google.

STEVEN: Proud of my data.

ERIC: Proud of my algorithm.

STEVEN: And most of all, I am proud to have a job.

ERIC: All the floats were businesses.

STEVEN: Where was the Gawker float?

ERIC: Peter Thiel sunk it.

STEVEN: We should have been grand marshals.

ERIC: I think our page views would qualify us for mid marshals.

STEVEN: The pride parade is really a celebration of having a job. Every float was the vehicular embodiment of a mass email that went out.

ERIC: And people responded to that email, saying “Yes we can! We will stand on this bus!”

STEVEN: Lauren in accounting sent the first email at Stonewall.

ERIC: You can’t spell brick without BCC.

STEVEN: It’s interesting that all the floats were buses. I’m imagining the city had some deal with a bus company. It dovetails with points I’ve previously made in this very column about how everything is worse now — sadder, less personality, more predicated on avoiding liability, more profit being extracted at every turn.

ERIC: Floats are about magic. Buses are about getting from point A to B. It’s about gas mileage. Pain at the pump.

STEVEN: Or if you’re a drag queen, pain in pumps.

ERIC: Honey, my feet are killing me! I’ve been standing in line all day waiting for a monkeypox vaccine.

STEVEN: I don’t think we’re supposed to call it that anymore. The World Health Organization said they were gonna rename it.

ERIC: Because it sounds too fun, and COVID got jealous.

STEVEN: No, because it misrepresents the monkey community.

ERIC: They should just call it gaypox.

STEVEN: Maybe something more inclusive.

ERIC: BIPOX.

STEVEN: Great for bisexual visibility.

ERIC: Or bicoastal.

STEVEN: That makes sense, because that’s who’s doing the spreading.

ERIC: It’s always the travelers.

Justin J Wee

STEVEN: I guarantee you the the Bubonic Plague was initially spread by gay artisans taking a quick cross-Europe vacation. Posting scrolls in the tavern like “Hey, I’ve had a really stressful couple days weaving baskets…. I need a week in Gaul — who’s down for a dwelling swap?”

ERIC: The famous LGBT urge to change locations but also scam someone while doing it.

STEVEN: I wish I’d scammed my way into the Twinks vs. Dolls event at Singers. That looked fun!

ERIC: It was a huge moment for athleticism.

STEVEN: Sports are back.

ERIC: Well, a recession is kind of like a recess, so that makes sense. It’s a fun play break.

STEVEN: And now it’s time for some flag football. Just make sure it’s the most recently approved version of the flag.

ERIC: People are very interested in bodies. Sports really engage the body.

STEVEN: They should change men’s and women’s sports to be just twinks and dolls. That would solve a lot of this drama over trans women competing in professional sports.

ERIC: As a person of body-hair experience, I feel excluded.

STEVEN: There can be bear and otter categories, too. But that’s it.

ERIC: Speaking of bears, Russia is officially excluded from Wimbledon.

STEVEN: No more Russian Dolls.

ERIC: But then the Association of Tennis Professionals decided to take away the points you win, so as to not penalize the (Bela)Russians. So now the results don’t really matter.

STEVEN: Everyone loses.

ERIC: I guess you still win prize money but with inflation, one million pounds just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

STEVEN: But we stick it to Putin.

ERIC: And that’s recession-proof!

STEVEN: I maintain my position that Ukraine is a really complicated issue.

ERIC: Brave.

STEVEN: It’s totally wrong that Russia invaded. So I sympathize with the Ukranians, but I also hate the idea of just fighting this endless proxy war with Russia.

ERIC: I prefer a proxy war to a war war. Because then I don’t have to fight.

STEVEN: The Proxy would be a good name for a boutique hotel.

ERIC: You don’t stay there, you send someone else.

STEVEN: But AI generates some selfies of you by the pool so people can still get jealous.

ERIC: And now, AI can generate an ending to this column.

AI: Please select all images that contain a columnist.

ERIC: These are all stoplights…?

AI: Correct. See you next time.

THE END

Previously on Talk Hole: Talk Hole: Dimes Square Article

The post Discuss Gap: Kids of Folx appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Bishop Megan Rohrer speaks about Golden Gate Park, healthy resolutions and blessing the city for 2022

January 21, 2022

Heather Knight/The Chronicle

New to podcasts? Here’s how you listen.

Total SF hosts Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight meet with Bishop Megan Rohrer and record a podcast episode in their most unusual location yet — the Ferris wheel at the Music Hall in Golden Gate Park.

Rohrer talks about staying positive in 2022 and when resolutions can lead to unnecessary guilt and shame. They also give a blessing to San Francisco and talk about the city’s potential — even in frustrating times.

This is Rohrer’s third appearance on Total SF and the first since his confirmation as the first transgender bishop in the Lutheran Church. Hartlaub and Knight have recorded at the base of Sutro Tower, on several slow streets, and on top of a drag club, but never in a moving vehicle.

A culture podcast from San Francisco featuring celebrity guests, non-celebrity guests, personalities from the San Francisco Chronicle and a celebration of life in the Bay Area. Hosted by cultural critic Peter Hartlaub in the Chronicle basement historical photo archive, with frequent appearances by his #TotalSF partner, columnist Heather Knight. Hartlaub, who was the Chronicle’s newsboy from 1983 to 1985, began writing for the publication in 2000. Hartlaub writes stories about Bay Area culture, produces podcasts, and browses the Chronicle archives for his work as an author of the Our San Francisco history column. He lives in Alameda.

The post San Francisco wants a pep discuss (on a Ferris wheel) appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Aaron Rodgers understands his hopes for a second Super Bowl title with the Green Bay Packers are running out of time.

The 38-year-old quarterback’s final postseason run begins Saturday night as he attempts to beat the team that has served as the three-time MVP’s greatest nemesis in the playoffs.

Rodgers has a 0-3 playoff record against the San Francisco 49ers, despite beating them in the regular season for the past two years. The top-ranked Packers (13-4) and 49ers (11-7) face off again Saturday night in an NFC division playoff game at Lambeau Field.

“I think mortality in football is something we all think about,” Rodgers said. “And we all think about how many opportunities are presented to us to move forward, and each one is special.”

Since stumbling to a 3-5 start, the 49ers have won eight of 10 while showing a knack for delivering away. They secured a playoff spot by recovering from a 17-0 deficit to win an away game in overtime with the Los Angeles Rams and followed that up with a 23-17 wildcard win in Dallas.

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo says San Francisco’s slow start prompted the 49ers to adopt a playoff mentality prematurely.

“When you put that pressure on your team early on, it creates a mindset,” Garoppolo said. “It creates an atmosphere of urgency in the dressing room that we need to win now and make some plays.”

The Packers defeated the 49ers 30-28 on the road on September 26, with the 49ers erasing a 17-0 deficit and taking the lead in the last minute before Rodgers Green Bay for Mason Crosby’s 51-yard field goal positioned time up. The Packers also beat the 49ers away from home last season, 34-17.

But the 49ers can draw on their successful postseason history against Rodgers’ Packers, including a 37-20 win in the NFC Championship game two seasons ago.

“This is a special opportunity,” Rodgers said. “We’re not going to make it bigger than it is. We’ve come to the point where we’re level headed and balanced and haven’t triggered a roller coaster of emotions, and we will continue to do the same. So if it was good enough to get us this far, it’s good enough to get us past this point.”

DYNAMIC DEEBO

Deebo Samuel has added another role to his all-round squad.

The dynamic receiver and runner showed off his forecasting skills last week. After San Francisco intercepted a pass, Samuel challenged coach Kyle Shanahan to get him the ball and he would score. Shanahan called a handoff on the next play, and Samuel took it 26 yards for a TD.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve never been anywhere near a football player who’s done his own thing,” said Mike McDaniel, 49ers offensive coordinator. “I go to basketball, but when you play with 22 people on the field, 11 of them try to attack you with all their might. And you’re just like, ‘Hey, yeah, give me the ball, I’ll put the ball in the box’, and for him that was a special moment that only a special player could achieve.”

Samuel has 1,880 yards from scrimmage and 15 touchdowns this season, including the playoffs.

STAY DISCIPLINE

Green Bay’s most obvious concern is slowing down a 49ers rushing attack. Elijah Mitchell and Samuel ran 168 yards together against the Cowboys.

The Packers say they also need to pay attention to what linebacker De’Vondre Campbell described as “eye candy.” Campbell was referring to various shifts and pre-snap moves that Shanahan uses to trick defenders into looking the wrong way.

“The way he designs his plays, the moves, and all the different kinds of shifts and all that kind of stuff, it’s something that draws everyone’s attention,” said Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark. “So if your eyes are in the wrong place, if you’re not doing your job or doing what you’re trained to do, he can take advantage of that.”

VIOLATION UPDATES

Packer’s offensive tackle David Bakhtiari (knee) and cornerback Jaire Alexander (shoulder) are questionable and wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling (back) is iffy. The Packers are awaiting wide receiver Randall Cobb (core) and offensive tackle Billy Turner (knee) after injuries knocked them out for the latter part of the regular season.

49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (concussion), cornerback Ambry Thomas (knee) and defensive end Jordan Willis (ankle) are questionable. Bosa was deleted from the concussion log.

DEFEND DAVANTE

Green Bay’s Davante Adams caught 12 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown in the Packers’ regular-season win over the 49ers.

San Francisco is stronger in the secondary now than it was in September thanks to Thomas’ late-season appearance, but defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans knows slowing Adams will be a tall order.

“They make it difficult because they move Davante great,” Ryans said. “He doesn’t stay in one place. He can move into the slot. He can play outside. He is everywhere.”

tundra

The forecast for Saturday in Green Bay calls for a high of 19 degrees with a low of 7, although no snow is expected.

___

AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report.

___

More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://apnews.com/hub/pro-32 and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

The post NFL Playoff Saturday: The highest seeded Packers look to maneuver on to the championship however first they should beat a pesky San Francisco group. – Sports activities Speak Florida appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.