Free Republic

Pedro Hernandez said he's lived in the well-maintained pink Victorian at 13th and C streets for more than half of his 71 years. This weekend, Sacramento's latest version of tent city bloomed just beyond his backyard fence. About 35 homeless people are now living in a vacant lot owned by Mark Merin, a prominent attorney who has championed their cause. Hernandez said Sunday that his new neighbors have made him "stressed sick" and kept him up at night with noise, prompting him to file a complaint with police. "I am an old man," he said. He and his wife have...

A Sacramento attorney who has championed the rights of homeless people is opening his private property to campers who need a place to sleep at night. Mark Merin, who for years has challenged the city's and county's treatment of the homeless, is leasing a parcel of land in downtown Sacramento to an association of people seeking to establish a legal "safe ground" campsite. Three advocacy organizations are leading the "safe ground" effort. Merin would not disclose terms of the lease but said the vacant lot is on C Street between 12th and 14th streets and should accommodate 20 to 30...

Little Gavin Mills, the 4-year-old panhandler who evoked so much sympathy and concern from San Franciscans, has been taken from his parents by Child Protective Services. It is an incredibly difficult decision to take a child away from his mother and father, but in this case it is the right choice. "Gavin deserves a chance in life," said Mary Long, who began a crusade to improve Gavin's and his mother Toni's life after seeing them at the Embarcadero BART Station. "He wasn't getting one being used as a panhandler tool by his chronically homeless mom." City officials say the family...

Here's a little news to dampen your day: Our city is downright mean. So says the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty in a new report called "Homes Not Handcuffs" that tracks the criminalization of homeless people in 273 cities nationwide. San Francisco is ranked seventh, up (down?) from 10th last year. Berkeley ranks 10th. The very meanest cities are Los Angeles; St. Petersburg, Fla.; and Orlando. The rankings were based on the number of anti-homeless laws, how strongly those laws are enforced and the general political climate toward homeless people. The report slams San Francisco for citing people...

Two weeks ago, I wrote about efforts to get a 4-year-old panhandler and his mom off the city streets. The column kicked off a spirited debate about our responsibilities to homeless children. Monday the woman, whose first name is Toni, was sitting on the sidewalk on Market Street with her son, Gavin, with a brown cardboard sign propped up behind them that said "Please help." But that's the issue. People have helped. Monday I spoke to Anna Samovol, who along with her co-workers in a downtown office gave toys and food to Gavin and bought a new winter coat for...

For the past 10 years, a homeless man has been living in the doorway of Norton's Vault on Sacramento Street. He's been there longer than Bill Dunkle has owned the bar, longer than Nick Gaffney, who has an office on the block and has been trying to find him housing, and longer than Gavin Newsom has been mayor. "Ten years," Gaffney said. "Isn't that crazy?" Not in San Francisco. Matthew - he only offered his first name - is a prime example of city's often-dysfunctional homeless network. He insisted he wants to move into supportive housing. "That's not true," sighed...

Mayor Gavin Newsom's Care Not Cash program turned 5 years old this month. And although it has been successful in placing more than 2,500 homeless people in supportive housing, it continues to face a major criticism. Once in housing, residents have little incentive to improve their lives by attending therapy sessions, taking necessary medications or enrolling in job training. Few residents ever move on to live without government welfare and many of them "work" by panhandling on the streets. At its worst, the program only moves troubled individuals off the street and into a hotel room, bringing their problems -...

City officials are finally admitting what others have been saying for years: San Francisco is attracting huge numbers of homeless people from all over. Thousands of transient people, arriving from other counties, states and even countries, are overwhelming the city's homeless system. Facing a crippling budget shortfall, officials at San Francisco's homeless agencies are proposing a radical idea - take care of the city's own first, and require newcomers to show proof of residency for aid."If a homeless family living in San Francisco doesn't get shelter, and somebody just off the bus does, it doesn't seem fair," said Trent Rhorer,...

We told you back in May about Mayor Gavin Newsom's plan to install 10 bright orange parking meters - dubbed homeless meters - around the city with signs reading "Be a part of change. Don't give change." The idea was for people to drop their nickels and dimes into meters instead of giving them to panhandlers, and the money would be dispersed to nonprofits serving homeless people. The installation of the meters was supposedly just weeks away, but as you may have noticed, they're still not up.Turns out the message wasn't exactly received the way the mayor wanted. People thought...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is paying thousands of dollars a week in city money for private security guards to play scarecrow over the "Victory Garden" growing in Civic Center Plaza. Only in this case, it's not birds that are being shooed away, but the homeless people and the drunks who drift into the plaza once the sun goes down. The garden is a collection of veggies and herbs planted over the summer as part of the privately sponsored "Slow Food Nation" festival. At first, it was protected at night by volunteers. Once the food fest ended in late August,...

LOS ANGELES, (AP) -- Authorities say FBI agents have served search warrants at three hospitals and arrested two men in a scheme to recruit homeless people to fraudulently bill government health care programs for millions of dollars in unnecessary health services. Federal authorities say the searches Wednesday were conducted at City of Angels, Tustin Hospital and Medical Center and Metropolitan Hospital.

On July 6, SFPD Officer Lisa Frazer responded to several calls about a homeless man named George Miley, who has a long history of terrorizing neighbors at 18th and Diamond in the Castro. But when Frazer tried to serve Miley with a citation for loitering, he became obstreperous and then violent. Frazer only had time to call for backup before he charged her. "He came at me," she said. "He grabbed my microphone and severed the cord so I couldn't call. He ripped my shirt, he scratched me with his fingernails." Luckily, support arrived quickly. It took three officers to...

A long overdue civil grand jury report released Wednesday says that the city should be proud of getting over 4,000 homeless people into housing since 2004 but distressed at the scene on the streets. Panhandling, public drunkenness and street loitering are still an unpleasant reality downtown. The mayor and others are now admitting what the grand jury reported - that a majority of those on the streets are not homeless. The head of the city's homeless program, Dariush Kayhan, estimates that 50 to 75 percent of street people live in supportive housing. "We just warehouse addicts," said the grand jury's...

When a homeless man named James Allen Hill overdosed and died in the restroom of the San Francisco library last Friday afternoon, it was a shocker. A drug overdose in the public library? Really? "It was an unfortunate and tragic incident for everyone," said library spokeswoman Marcia Schneider. "Especially for the security staff that handled it." There will be those who will see Hill's death as a failure of the system, another example of how the city neglects its poorest residents. That's not the story here. The city did anything but neglect Hill. But his case does show a flaw,...

When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom initiated a program in conjunction with Google last month to provide phone and messaging facilities to the homeless, it was the latest chapter in the city's seemingly never ending quest to tackle homelessness. While the program may prove useful for those inclined to better their situation, it is unlikely to have an impact on the chronically homeless. San Francisco has the highest per capita number of homeless in the nation, and city officials have quite a challenge on their hands. And to hear Mayor Gavin Newsom or Angela Alioto, his appointee to chair the...

Hollywood has its star Walk of Fame, but San Francisco could soon have a Walk of Shame - complete with human-shaped bronze sidewalk plaques marking where the city's homeless have died on the streets.The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution last week urging the Department of Public Works to approve a privately funded plan to install "commemorative bronze sidewalk plaques" in the districts of Supervisors Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi, both champions of the city's homeless.However, it doesn't seem many of the supes bothered to read the resolution before voting "yes."Mirkarimi, for example, was listed as co-sponsor - but...

Nothing characterizes the dysfunctional personality of San Francisco like its troubled relationship with panhandlers. While the city bills itself as a free-spirited tourist destination, visitors and residents regularly complain it is nearly impossible to walk down Market Street without being unpleasantly hassled. Ron Hansman, who has worked in the city on and off since 1970, says he took a visiting friend to dinner in North Beach in November and ended up in a confrontation with a belligerent panhandler in front of a Columbus Avenue restaurant. "I was thinking, what happens if we have to fight this guy?" Hansman said. "We're...

Five months ago, I wrote about the recycling center at the southeast corner of Golden Gate Park. Residents have been upset about the facility for some time. The site is noisy and ugly, and seems dated. Recycling is done at the curb of nearly every house these days, so why does the neighborhood need a special site? But most of all, the residents were upset at the fact that the homeless campers in Golden Gate Park were raiding their recycling bins at night, loading up on cans and bottles, and turning them in for cash. It was, some said, a...

It was a surprise to hear gunfire up among the upscale apartments and condominiums on Russian Hill, a shock to see a panhandler waving a knife, and an absolute stunner to hear that when police fired on the man they killed him. Everyone would agree that it was a terrible, scary, unfortunate tragedy. But there was one part of it that didn't surprise those familiar with life on the street: the announcement by police that the man had mental health problems. How many times is this going to happen? Someone living on the street, with severe mental issues, snaps and...

OAKLAND - An Oakland City Council committee will consider a proposal Tuesday to hire homeless people to clean up and remove encampments around the city. City officials are considering spending $125,000 in Redevelopment Agency and federal emergency shelter funds on the effort. About $75,000 of that would be used to pay city public works crews to clean up and fence off vacant city lots now used as encampments.