Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Tent City Homeless Sanitary Needs on DPH Agenda Today

There are many failures regarding San Francisco's homeless persons and policies, and contributing to them is the Coalition on Homelessness, a nonprofit that is lousy with community organizing and using social media for effective political engagement and change.


One thing they're good at is promoting their media appearances and always having time for reporters.


At today's health commission meeting, starting at 4 pm at the Department of Public Health's headquarters at 101 Grove Street at Polk, director Barbara Garcia and the Homeless Outreach Team will present info about sanitation issues at Tent City along Division Street.

Many legacy and social media reports today state the City has removed all encampments in this area and fencing erected to keep the homeless from reestablishing Tent City.

From Garcia's advance report:

"The Health Department’s Homeless Outreach Team has been working for months with people living in tents on Division Street. Though we have been able to match many people to resources, we remain extremely concerned about the health and well-being of this population. Unfortunately, conditions where multiple tents are congregated have become unsafe, and people have been living without access to running water, bathrooms, trash disposal or safe heating or cooking facilities.

"The Homeless Outreach Team continued their efforts throughout the week to encourage people to relocate to other locations, including the new shelter at Pier 80. We will provide an update at today’s meeting."

The Coalition on Homelessness, which can't be bothered to mobilize forces when DPH and other City agencies have related issues on the agenda, is also not interested in promoting the meetings of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board as a public vehicle for change. Can you show me one alert from the coalition urging participation at the coordinating board?

Also not known for paying attention to DPH's role in addressing homeless health concerns is Tim Redmond of 48 Hills, a blog devoted to providing stenography services to his progressive pals including those at the coalition.


Redmond's current column for what he says are the important City meetings of the week, quotes the director of the coalition and totally ignores today's DPH meeting.

With lame and inept progressives at the Coalition on Homelessness and 48 Hills, it's no wonder City agencies blow them off.

If you can't make the DPH meeting at 4 pm today, you can watch it live and on-demand at the SFGovTV site.

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