With the Board of Supervisors set to vote next week on the much needed Sit/Lie ordinance, I decided to go outside my place of work and take a picture of the people sitting and lying on the sidewalk. Here they are:

Good luck asking a interior designers and their clients to walk past these guys. Our building used to hire a private security guard to ask them to leave, but he gave up. The police often try, but it’s not illegal to live on the sidewalk – and these guys know it – and so they don’t leave.

Where exactly is this, you ask? Well, it’s in the middle of the prestigious San Francisco Design District.

Here’s the view to the east:

And here’s the view to the west:

Every few weeks things become such a mess that state-workers come in force to clean up.

Here’s the scene the following day, June 2, 2010 …

This is going on throughout our city, and yet everyone is predicting that the Board of Supervisors are going to reject the Sit/Lie ordinance that our mayor and police are asking for to address the problem.

Go figure.

Fortunately, Mayor Newsom is going to put it on November’s ballot!.

So, if you want to:

- stop enabling people to lead self-destructive lives on our sidewalks
- support San Francisco’s small businesses
- make our streets safer and more friendly for San Francisco’s families and visitors

then please join the Civil Sidewalks campaign. We’ve seen how organized the opposition is, so let’s show that the silent majority can do the same.

Start here: civilsidewalks.com

April 26th, 2010 in SOMA

The panhandlers and addicts who flock to our city and colonize our sidewalks have become increasingly territorial and aggressive. They do not move for police because they “know their rights.” A Civil Sidewalks (aka Sit/Lie) ordinance, which has proven successful in other cities, is therefore needed in San Francisco.

[Why Sit/Lie? Click here for an OUTSTANDING explanation by the Mayor's policy advisor for public safety.]

The proposed Sit/Lie ordinance, on which the Board of Supervisors will soon be voting, is strongly supported by our police, by our Mayor, and by 71% of San Franciscans polled. (If you read the ordinance itself, you will understand why.)

But the activists who oppose the law have been staging theatrics and protests in order to mislead people into thinking that Sit/Lie would affect  people like day workers waiting for a job or tourists sitting on suitcases.

As a result of these deceptions, the Board of Supervisors is not likely to pass Sit/Lie – unless the rest of us start speaking up. So please e-mail the Supervisors right away and let them know what you think:

board.of.supervisors@sfgov.org

The behavior on our sidewalks is a real problem, and the Civil Sidewalks ordinance is a reasonable way to address it. Let’s stand up and say so.