On Feb. 4, 2016 a major protest against the displacement of homeless people was held in San Francisco – AKA, Super Bowl City. Officials have been “cleaning up” the streets because of the Super Bowl and our very own Curator, Craig Campbell, was there to report on the protest. He is also pictured in the photo below, holding the sign “Your Party Is Their Misery”. If you would like to submit a blog post about what is happening in your community, please email: natalia@lapena.org.
Tackle Homelessness, NOT the Homeless
By Craig Campbell, La Peña Curator
Economic inequality has been the source of discontent for many in the Bay Area. It has driven out much of the San Francisco population from SF as well as much of the Oakland population. This has turned San Francisco in a more expensive city to live than Manhattan, New York, and Oakland into the city with the highest growing housing prices in the USA in 2015.
This all came to a head with the San Francisco hosting the Super Bowl party. For the residents, this was not an event that was held for San Francisco. One issue is that the super Bowl is being held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. The bigger issue is the demographic of the individuals attending the event. On Jan. 27 the cheapest tickets for the Super Bowl was $3,989, while the most expensive tickets were $21,402. These became the economic marker for the population invited to celebrate at the Super Bowl party in San Francisco. The event would cost the taxpayers in San Francisco nearly $5,000,000.
With this in mind Mayor Ed Lee set to clear out the homeless population in San Francisco to maintain the image he has so carefully curated. This protest was a gathering of the San Francisco/Bay Area population in defiance of this new SF culture. This is the list of grievances listed by The Coalition on Homelessness and Broke Ass Stuart, the hosts of this event:
• There are over 7,000 homeless people on any one night in San Francisco
• There is only 1 shelter bed for every 5.5 homeless people
• The majority of the homeless population were San Franciscans before they were homeless
• Studies show it is cheaper to house someone rather than keep them homeless
• San Francisco has more anti-homeless laws than any other city in California
• Last year, 11,000 citations were given to homeless people
• When citations can’t be paid they lead to warrants, loss of access to housing and more
• There is 3,300 homeless children in San Francisco, 61% of homeless adults have a disability, 30% are LGBTQ, and the majority are people of color
On the post analysis of the protest, this demonstration was effective. It brought attention to an issue that has and continues to effect people as economic inequality changes the landscape of major cities around the world. Seeing Bay Area faces in The Guardian in the UK not only reflect on San Francisco disparities, but also reflects the discontent of housing problems in London.
Get involved.
Contact Mayor Ed Lee at (415) 554-6141 or mayoredwinlee@sfgov.org.
Also keep your local population safe. Call your local officials to make sure this doesn’t happen in your community. Keep your elected officials accountable.