PUBLIC HOUSING IN SAN FRANCISCO

In San Francisco we have many areas that the City should give solace to people that need Public Housing as an interim solution so that they can move and make progress in years to come. Public Housing was never ever meant as permanent housing and it is a crime that the City and County of San Francisco and the Housing Authority has allowed this crime to go on for so many years. Not to be left out of the equation the federal agency Housing and Urban Department (HUD). In recent years because of lack of funding HUD has chosen to make deals with private enterprises and allowed fortunes to be made as the expense of poor people. The well known HOPE program is suspect and many victims of Public Housing left destitute. The Housing Authority has not once given an orientation or sent a letter informing everyone in Public Housing the right of those that live in Public Housing. As renters most poor folks in public housing have rights the same rights that thousands enjoy all over San Francisco. The Housing Authority has not bothered to check its leases with the tenants that live in Public Housing and taken steps to ratify those leases that need changes to make them kosher and right. The Housing Authority has a lease with HUD because most Public Housing in on HUD or Federal Property especially in the Southeast Sector of San Francisco. Many of these leases need verification and evaluation. The Housing Authority has permitted crime to take hold in many Public Housing Areas - we all remember the infamous Geneva Towers and Valencia Gardens. Others may remember the old Public Housing in North Point by Fisherman's Wharf and the old Army Street housing where now stands new Public Housing. From the inception no one has taken the required steps to treat those that live in Public Housing as citizens that can contribute to Society. One has just to visit the areas to realize that those that live in Public Housing are prone to an environment that adversely impacts - growth. On any given day gun shots and domestic violence are rampant with shouts and screams as a result of petty fights, assaults, and just plain bad mouthing. It is not uncommon to see boarded up homes and heavily bared windows and doors to keep the criminal at bay. Some folks playing loud music at all times of the day and other litter the area with no regard to hygiene and matters important to good healthy living. It is sad when children relate to you and tell you that they are victims of society especially those that are from single parent homes. If the mother or father is on crack cocaine or as many refer to them as crack heads the children suffer immensely and the City and County of San Francisco and the San Francisco Health Department has NOT done much to address this situation for years. It is not uncommon for many that live in very poor households not to have sufficient food after the first week of the month or past the first few days if some one gets some money bimonthly. Many children starve and others make do with very little. The children watch Television and see other children dress well and live in good homes and cannot make sense why they have to encounter the worst type of obstacles every single day of their lives. Many have not taken vacation for years. Many a time some teacher, some community advocate, some one sensitive at a Community Based Organization, some Church member or pastor will reach out and touch some youth in Public Housing and bring some little solace. This struggle gets even worse as the child reaches puberty and often question why in the world have they to suffer so much and be treated as second class citizens. Young people dying are not uncommon in the hood. And youth wearing T-Shirts and other memorabilia in honor of dead victims is not uncommon sight in Public Housing. You see, you read, you look the other way and wonder - why so many deaths. The youth watch the expression on your face and sometimes give you an answer. It is always an answer of despair and little hope. So, you take heart and say something nice something positive but the youth know that you can never feel their pain because your ass in not really from the community they live in. You may pretend to understand but as they say: "you feel me" and you really cannot feel the deep, the very deep pain. I have often said that San Francisco is a Racist City and many have asked me why I say that. I say that because what I see I do not like and while our politicians and the Mayor of the City of San Francisco in this case Mayor Gavin Newsom can do something - everyone is avoiding the issues and playing bluff. We cannot afford to harm our youth and many adults by not giving very poor folks an opportunity. In recent years some crooked officials have been forcing very poor folks and especially those that cannot read or write out of Public Housing and on to the Streets. They do not care if they die or if they suffer and many a time these folks are Senior Citizens, Single parents with children, and innocent folks whose only crime is that they are very poor. A situation where someone has mental illness or suffers from cancer or some other chronic disease is not uncommon and when one brings such cases to the authorities they will not help. They force you to go from Department to Department while the Mayor prides himself by faking stats and bragging that Care not Cash in working. Project Homeless Connect and Project Fake Everything is not working and will come to bite the Mayor and others in the butt. No one should terminate any lease of those living in Public Housing without due notice and every notice should give the tenant an opportunity to speak to a counselor. Every termination should spell out the right of those in Public Housing and any Public Official that breaks the law should be sent to jail. In past years I use to visit 440 Turk and if one got an opportunity to go on the second floor you could witness Housing Authority employees having a good time - many of them dressed to kill as if they are there working in a bordello. I could not help asking these folks why are they not helping the many that are told to fill out papers, sit for hours, and order to do this and that while some Security Officer sees that they are tossed around like salad and into the waste basket just because they need help and are very poor. In the months to come I see the Housing Authority evicting many innocent folks while Mayor Gavin Newsom, Jesse Blout, Marcia Rosen, Michael Cohen, Trent, Alex Tourk, and a host of the cronies that work around the Mayor make room for crooked developers with close ties to Mayor Gavin Newsom break ground around many demolished homes that now house the very poor in Public Housing on land that belongs to HUD. Many San Franciscans wonder why there is so much crime in Public Housing? They should go volunteer and try to help the poor folks and while visiting them check out the circumstances of their day to day existence in an environment that defies logic and is a shame to a country such as ours that calls itself a Superpower. Instead some armchair critics pride themselves because they live well while other human beings mostly of color and very unfortunate folks far away from their rich backyards and homes suffer because the City has chosen not to give Public Housing good facilities, health and educational care, Safety and other opportunities the filthy rich take for granted. Some wonder why gangs and violence are common and why Black on Black shootings and killings rampant. The City has allowed guns and drugs to come into a community so as to destroy any semblance of order and progress. Policies have been in place that permits a young woman or man of color to be booked for petty crime and incarceration. No one is paying attention to good health and quality education. No one gives a damn if children in Public Housing can play in a safe area. No one cares if they get good nutrition especially the San Francisco Health Department. No one cares about Cumulative Pollution and of course no one cares about jobs and helping anyone improve their economic status. In some Public Housing areas it is worse then being on a plantation. Not once have the main players the good, the bad and the ugly that is the City and County of San Francisco and folks like Sophina Maxwell sat at a table to resolve and find solutions. Sophina will call for hearing at City Hall where tirades are exchanged and the players go away with hate and hatred and with confrontational attitudes worse then before the hearing. The Mayor uses folks like Dwayne Jones who is Black from Oakland to fake and create Project Opportunity destined to kill and divide and make things worse for those that are surviving day to day. White folks with their White assess cannot feel the pain of Blacks and never will. It becomes all the more pathetic when some one like Dwayne Jones and Laura Luster another Black take charge and pretend to do good while all the while lining their pocket with green and acting as sellouts. Further the leaders at the 1800 Oakdale Community Facility that have made a mockery of the educational system with City College and EDD paying lip service while doing great disservice to the community at large. The Mandela Model is a joke and has not worked and so called leaders mostly Black do not exists in the Southeast at least the ones that care for the community at large. The very poor are left to defend themselves while some City Officials try to help pretending to make something happen while all the time making sure that their pocket are lined and the poor from Public Housing left cold and hanging without any due process and help.

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