— David Cohen
By Jack Hirschman
April 24, 2007—A demonstration of San Francisco's homeless and their advocates wound through the downtown area, finishing in the famed Bodeker Park. It was a spirited demo targeting a new draconian level of criminalization of the poor on the part of Mayor Gavin Newsom, who proposed and apparently already funded the creation of Poverty Court.
Any person found sleeping, sitting on the ground, vending, camping or soliciting for prostitution would immediately be subject to an overnight stay in jail and/or face the court.
This Manhattan-copycat court would ostensibly direct the arrested person to helpful services, but services in San Francisco already are clogged, and one can see the old dirty hand of electioneering (the Mayor is up for re-election this year).
Instead of using the Million Dollars or more in funding the Court, the demonstrators demanded that such funds be used for services without the onus of criminalization, and for affordable housing for all, which despite the Mayor's past words, remains a pie in the sky out of the reach of most of the poor.
