- Michael Macor / The Chronicle Kolinio Waqairawai, who has been living on the streets under the Transbay Terminal, talks with the mayor about relocating.
Posted on 07/31/2010 2:00:56 PM PDT by SmithL
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom didn't get the warmest reception Friday morning when he approached a homeless encampment under a bus overpass for the soon-to-be-demolished Transbay Terminal.
"Go away, man!" hollered 60-year-old Kolinio Waqairawai as he sat against a concrete pillar, a koala blanket draped over his legs, a pack of Parliament cigarettes on his lap and a 16-ounce Bud Light tall boy near at hand. "You're wasting the state's money."
Within five minutes, Waqairawai was holding Newsom's hand and flashing a smile showing his missing lower tooth as the mayor knelt next to him. After rhapsodizing about Marin County - Waqairawai said both of his sisters went to Newsom's alma mater, Redwood High School in Larkspur - the mayor made his pitch.
"So how do we get you into some housing?" Newsom asked.
Its part of a final push by city officials to find homes for about 30 die-hards who have used the Transbay Terminal and its web of overpasses as a shelter for years, repeatedly resisting the city's stepped-up efforts to get them into transitional housing.
Calling the Transbay Terminal home won't be an option in a week. That's when demolition is scheduled to start on the dank and graffitied bus terminal at First and Mission streets to make way for a gleaming hub for commuter trains, high-speed rail and buses dubbed the "Grand Central Station of the West."
Waqairawai and three others who share a camp under a bus ramp are part of a dwindling group that is resistant to leaving.
Among them is the gray-bearded Cat Man, who mumbles angrily as he strides around the terminal with a huge cat named Chiquita on his shoulder. He sleeps with the cat in a coffin-size assembly of cardboard boxes ... and rebuffs offers of help with "Go away!"
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
- Michael Macor / The Chronicle Kolinio Waqairawai, who has been living on the streets under the Transbay Terminal, talks with the mayor about relocating.
It is hard for us in our right minds to realize that a large number of the homeless don’t want “help.”
They want to be left alone with their mental illness(es) and their habit(s), frequently. Not always.
Spread the wealth huh, GavinIdiot......
>Within five minutes, Waqairawai was holding Newsom’s hand and flashing a smile
Soul mates. The real difference is that the bum has honor and the mayor wants something to score some political points.
What kind of name is Kolinio Waqairawai?
using Q without a U behind it is unusual.Hawaaian?
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