Mayor gives city a C for homeless programs

A group of homeless people in Golden Gate Park near Stanyan Street were issued tickets for public drinking Monday July 22, 2013. A new ordinance in San Francisco, Calif. will be considered by the Board of Supervisors to set uniform hours for all city parks. The idea is that it will make it easier for police and park patrol units to keep people out of parks late at night. less A group of homeless people in Golden Gate Park near Stanyan Street were issued tickets for public drinking Monday July 22, 2013. A new ordinance in San Francisco, Calif. will be considered by the Board of ... more Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Mayor gives city a C for homeless programs 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

It's unusual for a politician to admit he's not doing a great job - and even more unusual for a politician to rate himself as downright average.

So it was surprising when Mayor Ed Lee said he'd give his administration a mere C on the issue of homelessness at a recent gathering of the Monday Group, a high-society public affairs forum at Nob Hill's Huntington Hotel.

Asked about it later, Lee acknowledged that his administration could do a lot more to tackle the ever-present - and some would argue worsening - problem of intimidating and illegal street behavior.

"I don't want to blame the homeless, but I do think we haven't made the curve yet on mental illness," he said.

Specifically, he said he's bothered by "really aggressive harassment of people, the actual robberies I've seen on the streets, the cash exchanges that lead to dope dealing and crack cocaine selling that we often see."

Somehow, we doubt the mayor's words will make it into advertising by S.F. Travel. ("You can't get to the Rock, but you can buy rock downtown in broad daylight!")

I was reminded of the truth of Lee's words on a recent walk up Larkin Street to grab lunch. A group of more than a dozen people who appeared to be homeless camped out on the sidewalk, blocked pedestrians and shot up. Feces and needles littered the sidewalk.

This was at noon on a Monday, less than a block from the Asian Art Museum. You could call it a very different Monday Group.

Bevan Dufty, the mayor's point man on homelessness, summarized his response to being graded a C by his boss with one word: "Ouch."

Dufty said a lot of work is being done to house homeless people including veterans and youth, and that he can point to "dozens and dozens of success stories."

But he agrees that the street situation is frustrating. He said his emphasis is housing and job training rather than police crackdowns, but that the booming economy and skyrocketing rents are making it harder to find landlords willing to rent to homeless people armed with housing vouchers.

Police Chief Greg Suhr took the C grade in stride.

"The mayor is the principal," he said. "My parents always said try to improve on your next report card, and we're going to try to do that."

He said his department is particularly focused on cracking down on aggressive panhandling in Union Square and downtown, and on drug deals within 1,000 feet of schools.

Not many people would give a flat grade to Lee on homelessness. Well, except Paul Boden, director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project which represents homeless people.

"If street crime and drug dealing and horrible behavior in the streets is how he defines homelessness, I'd have to give him an F," Boden said, adding that increased economic stratification and gentrification is making people at the losing end more desperate.

"If people are feeling a negative vibe on the street, they might consider that," he said.

Supervisor Mark Farrell called Tuesday for a hearing on the city's 10-Year Plan to Abolish Chronic Homelessness.

Great news! Under the plan developed in 2004 by Mayor Gavin Newsom, chronic homelessness will be wiped out by next year.

Um, we don't need a hearing to know how that's going to turn out.

This year's count found 6,436 homeless people - a number that has stayed about the same since the 2005 tally.

"We haven't done anything about it in a long time in City Hall," Farrell said. "We need to start having a public dialogue."

By the way, there has been a lot of public dialogue about last month's police crackdown on chess players at Fifth and Market streets after vendors complained that the games were an excuse for drug and alcohol use, violence and open-flame barbecues on the sidewalk. The story even caught the attention of comedian Stephen Colbert.

He had boxer Floyd Mayweather appear on "The Colbert Report" recently to tout the wonders of chess. "With training, chess can be a symphony of tactics, skill and creativity," Mayweather said.

"Well, it sounds to me like it's a symphony of drugs, violence and barbecue," Colbert countered. "Grilled meats have no place in a neighborhood called the Tenderloin."

The good-humored Suhr said he stands by the chess crackdown.

"We got a lot of heat for adjourning the chess game, but even the chess players will tell you that they were overtaken with criminals," he said. "One of the chess players even commented that these guys weren't even good chess players."

Now that's a real crime.

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