A shocking segment on Fox News says homelessness in San Francisco California has gotten so out of control that people are defecating in stores–an absolute public health nightmare. Speaking to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Dr Marc Siegel pinned the blame squarely on California Governor Gavin Newsome, who he accused of failing to provide additional shelters to alleviate San Francisco’s high rate of homelessness.
Dr Siegel told Tucker Carlson, “The Governor of California has been asked repeatedly about building temporary shelters and they are not being built so as a result you have the sewage, you have the feces and you end up with all these health issues. This is a public health emergency, its a disgrace in San Francisco.”
As for the public health nightmare this presents, Dr Siegel said, “Isn’t it ironic that the city of germophobes, of exercise-conscious, environmental conscious are now the city that’s awash in human waste, which is spreading hepatitis A,….every year big outbreaks of hepatitis A, rats in the streets feeding off of the garbage and sewage, typhus, typhoid fever, bacterial infections and even the plague may be coming. What’s really ironic is that they have a poop control that goes around, 6 highly paid individuals in San Francisco according to the [SF]Chronicle that go around trying to clean up the streets. $65 million was spent last year trying to clean up the streets but the homeless have nowhere to go…….medieval diseases are resurfacing in California”
For the record , this is a Fox News segment and there is no question that host Tucker Carlson is using this story to cast liberal San Francisco, which is home to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in very negative light. Having said that, it is impossible to brush under the carpet the real and burgeoning homelessness problem in San Francisco and in this particular case, the serious public health issues defecating in stores and other public areas poses. San Francisco’s homelessness problem has to be immediately addressed for the public health’s sake.
Yours Truly is by no means a public health expert but would wager that using the $65 million dollars to build temporary shelters equipped with bathroom facilities would probably be more helpful than spending the money on 6 “poop control” agents as Dr Siegel suggests San Francisco does. San Francisco should also swallow its pride and start soliciting input from city managers nationwide on ways of effectively tackling homelessness in urban areas. Simply put, this should not be a partisan issue.
Bottom line folks, as we approach the 2020 general elections, issues like homelessness should be front and center in the various televised political debates. In the same way candidates are usually asked for solutions to climate change, healthcare etc, they should also be asked about their plans to combat the growing problem of homelessness in urban areas.
I visited this homeless encampment in Oakland in September, and was heartbroken by the stories I heard from those living in these terrible conditions.
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) December 17, 2019
I believe housing is a human right. As president, I will end homelessness by 2028. https://t.co/ioRmWfgIIK
Some presidential candidates like Julian Castro have already taken a very active role in the fight against homelessness and should be commended for it. Maybe Julian Castro should step in and help San Francisco with the skills he learned as Mayor of San Antonio and as HUD Secretary under President Obama.
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You may reach the author via email at author@grassrootsdempolitics.com or author@emolumentsclause.com