San Franciscans can look forward to higher taxes, no plastic straws, and the end of company cafeterias.

San Francisco has a public hygiene crisis of epic proportions, but city officials would rather focus on crappy laws instead of excrement-covered streets.

It is so bad that San Francisco’s new mayor London Breed recently told a local NBC affiliate that she’s never seen as much human feces piled on the sidewalks as she did during a recent stroll through the city.

A sample from a recent interview interview will give you an idea of the caliber of leadership that residents will now enjoy:

“I will say there is more feces on the sidewalks than I’ve ever seen growing up here,” Breed told NBC in a recent interview. “That is a huge problem and we are not just talking about from dogs — we’re talking about from humans.” …Breed, a San Francisco native who grew up in the city’s public housing, was sworn in as mayor last Wednesday and among her endeavors is to increase the construction of affordable housing and implement safe, supervised injection sites for homeless individuals to use drugs instead of the very public drug activity the city sees daily.

To solve the homeless problem, San Francisco residents will vote this November on a new tax to solve the problem.

The city elections department verified on Monday that supporters of the measure had collected the required amount of signatures to place it on the ballot. If passed, the measure would raise more than $300 million annually for housing and shelter beds for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming so. Up to half of the money would go towards permanent housing, and about a quarter would go towards mental health services. The AP notes that the $300 million figure doubles how much San Francisco currently spends on its homeless population. The funds would be generated from an average half-percent tax increase on companies’ revenue above $50 million each year, according to AP.

But that isn’t the only crappy news for Bay Area residents. The straw-ban craze has hit, and the city is ordering that “environmentally friendlier” and costlier alternatives be offered. The city’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to stop the sale and use of plastic straws and other plastic food accessories such as coffee stirrers and splash sticks beginning on July 1, 2019.

Additionally, certain take-out containers will likely also soon be banned.

San Francisco’s board of supervisors not only voted to ban plastic straws but also takeout containers treated with fluorinated chemicals. The proposal — which requires a second vote next week — also prohibits restaurants from offering napkins and utensils with takeout or delivery orders unless they are requested by customers or there is a self-serve station. The board cited environmental impacts as well as litter on streets and waterways as reasons for the ban.

I am going to go out on a limb here and argue human excrement poses far more of an environmental hazard than stray sporks and bendy straws. Furthermore it will make little difference: 10 rivers in Asia and Africa contribute 90% of the plastic waste in the ocean.

Finally, because of minimum-wage rules and a decline in tourism, local restaurants are struggling. Subsequently, San Francisco’s smart set is gearing up to ban company cafeterias:

Two city supervisors have introduced legislation that would nix the installation of non-retail cafeterias in office buildings, a measure aimed at encouraging legions of workers to patronize often struggling neighborhood eateries. …While cafeterias at tech companies in sprawling suburban areas might make sense, that approach is incongruous with operating in an urban environment, says city supervisor Ahsha Safai, who co-sponsored the legislation with supervisor Aaron Peskin.

Now, heavily taxed San Franciscans will have to brave feces-riddled streets for overpriced meals served with pricey utensils. I predict more brown-bag lunches and a continuing exodus from the Bay Area.



