UPDATE TO THIS ARTICLE:
El 19 de mayo de 2013. Hola. I’m going to put this update on other pages also as some people only go to certain articles. I was disgusted at what I saw going on in the Jane Warner Plaza yesterday afternoon and I thought to myself: They should close this place (meaning the plaza) because of hate for the street people. I am sick of it. Two bully bicycle cops were harassing a homeless person sitting in the plaza and he got up and left so I assumed he was ordered to leave. Why? Then the cops talked to some people (didn’t appear to be homeless) on the other side of the plaza. Did they complain about the homeless person? I saw a painting artist was painting a canvas scene of the area facing Market Street. He and his partner were over in the south corner of the plaza. Had they been harassed by the bully cops? I don’t think painting a small canvas is allowed there (I’m serious). I left the area in disgust and walked down Castro. There were street people sitting—minding their own business—in a vacant store front area. They gave me a peace sign with their hand as I walked by. I gave them a smile and a peace sign in return. They smiled. I felt sorry for them. Wish I had some dinero/money to give them. There was another street person or two asking for help down the street. I said hello to him. Shortly afterwards I walked back up Castro Street and the bully bicycle cops were writing citations for the homeless group I had given the peace sign to. Disgusting. The bully cops must not have any conscious whatsoever. How can one human being on a power trip write a citation to someone who doesn’t have anything? How the fuck does this bully cop think the homeless people are going to pay the citation? Doh. Is there any brain in that head anywhere? Corporate fascism is something else. I kept walking in disgust and then saw a muchacho lying on the sidewalk with a medical emergency. The only positive thing about that was that it took the bully cops attention away from the homeless/street people and onto the person about to go to the hospital. Then I went back to the Warner Plaza and saw that the artist who had been painting had left the plaza. Earlier, I had sensed that he had been asked to leave. You know how terrible it can be to have an artist painting a local scene on a canvas. He could be a terrrrrrrrrrrrist you know. Afraid of your own shadow? [sarcasm intended.] Ugh. But what was all of this that I had observed about I later asked? I think all of this harassment/citations for the homeless/street people was because of that dictatorial, fascistic and useless merchants group. They were having their useless “sidewalk sale” event with their green balloons (and their logo on the balloons) where the member stores of that despotic group put some of the things they sell in their store out on the sidewalk to try to get some sucker to buy it. So I would suspect that merchants group (which needs to be disband) asked the bicycle thug cops to keep the barrio clean and clear of homeless and street people during their street sale bull shit event. Hopefully, no one bought a thing. May they rot from their hate. We refuse to buy anything in the Castro these days. And considering what the Castro has become we feel very comfortable with our decision. And if you are coming here for some reason (I don’t know why you would since it looks like any place else now!), please don’t give any dinero/money to any of the businesses here because by doing so all you’re doing is feeding hate, despite any bull shit they spew to the contrary. There are a few businesses in the area who are not members of this irrelevant hateful merchants group. For example, if you want nice flowers, go to Urban Flowers on 18th Street. They are not a member of this merchants group. But most businesses are members so as to be a part of this elitist hateful clique and to say they are a member (for bull shit purposes) since most people don’t give a damn whether a store is a member or not or even look for the window sticker. Chau.—el barrio rosa
El 5 de abril de 2013. (Later in the day) UPDATE: Hola. I saw my amiga today.
My amiga said she heard that the business district group wants to increase the musical groups and other “performances” and events in the Jane Warner Plaza this Summer. I told her I had read something about this awhile back but part of their agenda behind this is really to keep the homeless and street people out of the plaza. The thinking from the hateful business district group is that if you have “more activities” (that they approve of, of course) in the Warner Plaza then that somehow will deter the homeless/street people from sitting in the plaza. Apparently the busy-body that runs this useless group doesn’t realize that homeless and street people have brains. Yes, they do! In fact they used their brain, for example, to move from the Harvey Milk Plaza over to the Warner Plaza when the benches were removed (out of hate for the homeless) from the Milk Plaza. Any thinking person would have made the same decision to move over to the Jane Warner Plaza. But apparently, the bourgeois elite of this despotic business district group don’t think that the homeless and street people are human beings so they don’t possess a brain and instead think they are more like pigeons (even though pigeons are very intelligent, and I’m very respectful of pigeons). My amiga also said that this business district group was hoping to get a grant from the city of $20,000 and that dinero/money would be spent to find out what people want in the barrio. LOL. It costs $20,000 to do that? There are ways to find out what people want that don’t cost $20,000. What a rip off and a waste of dinero! What’s the bottom line of all of this bull shit/mierda? The agenda is to get people with money to the plaza for one or more of these little events and then the people with money will be told to “hit the stores and restaurants on your way home.” Yes, they will be urged to go spend their dinero/money in the local stores (who hate on the homeless and the naked muchachos). Period. But they use all of this vague, corporate-sounding and puff language to avoid saying that, but that’s the bottom line. My amiga said that she heard that one of the common questions heard in the barrio from visitors is, “I’ve seen the rainbow flag on the pole above the Harvey Milk Plaza. Now what am I supposed to do here.” I’ve seen that expression on the faces of many tourists standing at Market/Castro. The expression on the face of many tourists I’ve seen is a questioning look as if they’re thinking, “So what is here that I’m supposed to be seeing. I don’t see anything here that I wouldn’t see somewhere else. What is all the hype about that I’ve heard about this place?” The reality is that what many tourists are expecting to see or experience in the Castro is gone today, especially the sexual revolution Castro of the “Gay Mecca” days. Gone. The Castro barrio has become rather bland, sterilized and sanitized. The businesses want this from the tourists: Spend your dinero in the bars, in the stores and in our mediocre restaurants. That’s what you’re supposed to do here. Spend your dinero here then leave. It was about a year or so ago as I recall that merchants and other people in the barrio were whining about the Asian tour buses that stopped near Castro/Market so that Asian tourist could stop and see the barrio. They no longer do that. That was ended and I think it was ended by the merchants because some of the merchants whined that the Asian tourists didn’t buy anything while in the barrio and all they did was take pictures. They didn’t go into any stores. (I wouldn’t either). So the message sent is: You must buy something if you come here. And they also cooked up this silly Castro “ambassador” program nonsense which is comprised of some volunteer residents serving as essentially salespeople/cheerleaders for the Castro (businesses). They promote and try to sell the hateful merchants in the barrio (try to get tourists to go into the stores and restaurants). They would say that they provide “valuable information to tourists and other visitors.” There is just so much bull shit and negative (elitist) politics that goes on in the Castro with the merchants and their beloved corporatist conservative politicians. As for the Summer events in the Jane Warner Plaza, I suspect most of the people who will show up will be the devout disciples of conservative, corporatist politician Cocks. The little events will really be about promoting the merchants. My amiga said she couldn’t remember the exact specifics but it’s about the merchants and businesses, which is all that these people care about. We and some other locals boycott them all on a permanent basis because we refuse to support hate no matter how it’s wrapped. Chau.—el barrio rosa
El 5 de abril de 2013. UPDATE: Hola. Not much new with the Jane Warner Plaza. It might as well be closed since it looks more like a vacant lot these days. The haters who removed the tables and chairs so that the homeless/street people could not sit in them still haven’t brought the tables and chairs back. The other day I saw one of the street people who used to hang out in the plaza. Fortunately she’s still alive. I also saw that snarly piece of work who’s unfortunately the (big) head of the business district group yesterday afternoon assembling a green water tank (it looked like) in the plaza. Then she and one of her business disciples rolled the tank on the sidewalk down Market Street. I have no idea what that was for, but shouldn’t that be against the law? I mean, it’s illegal for skateboarders to be on the sidewalk and in the Jane Warner Plaza and in the Harvey Milk Plaza. This water tank she was pushing also has 2 wheels, just like a skateboard has 2 wheels. Sidewalks are for walking, not rolling (that’s the bull shit that the haters kept repeating during the hateful sit-lie campaign. They kept chanting “sidewalks are for walking and not sitting and lying”). Well, therefore sidewalks are not for rolling water tanks on them either if skateboarders can’t be on the sidewalks. I told my amiga about this and she said: “Maybe this piece of work plans to try to move some homeless/street people somewhere by spraying them with water. Maybe that’s her new tactic.” Wouldn’t surprise me. Hate seems to know no boundaries. Also, I read that there are 27 closed store fronts in the Castro barrio and more to come, so I’m really not sure why anyone would have any interest in coming here, although the “straights” are still flowing in with their bebés and their required holding hands and arm-in-arm behavior. In addition to the 27 closed store front in the barrio, more new retail space is being built—why? when you already have 27 closed stores and more to come—along with non-affordable pretentious condo buildings (they call them “luxury design apartments”) in/near the Castro barrio. It’s part of the continued effort to make San Francisco a city of and for the wealthy. Chau.—el barrio rosa
El 2 de abril de 2013. Hola. UPDATE: Read the previous update, por favor, and then you should understand this update. In addition to those cement borders they installed, behind them (inside one of the planters that people can easily sit on or sit in) they’ve now installed short wire fencing. But I’m already seeing people sitting on the edge or sort of in the planters because it’s a natural place to sit since there are very few chairs in the plaza (most have been removed out of hate for the homeless). I’ve seen no homeless in the plaza for about 2 weeks and “what is is” says he saw none in Golden Gate Park so I don’t know where they went or rather what was done with them or to them (is more like it). Chau.—el barrio rosa
El 28 de marzo de 2013. Hola. UPDATE: There have been no homeless/street people hanging out in the Jane Warner Plaza for at least a week, so I suspect that they were ordered by elitist somebodies to stay out of this public area, even though the homeless are part of the public. “what is is” of the pink barrio says that he thinks the City recently did another one of their “sweeps” of the homeless—to get them out of sight because elitist pretentious corporatists don’t like to see them—because there were very few homeless in Golden Gate Park when he went through recently and there are usually lots of homeless people in Golden Gate Park since that’s where many live. He suspects the homeless have been “swept” to another part of the City (to get them out of sight and away from the pretentious who put themselves on a pedestal and think they are better than other people), which is typical policy for corporatist San Francisco even though the City is now denying they do that. Uh huh. Related: San Francisco wants to delete the homeless. Chau.—el barrio rosa
El 26 de marzo de 2013. Hola. UPDATE: Last week in the Warner Plaza, I saw that piece of know-it-all who pontificates over the business district group. It (the know-it-all) was seemingly discussing “landscaping” of the cement planters with someone. Of course this is the same area where “No Landscaping” is allowed according to the signs in the area. But I guess their “landscaping” is okay and acceptable. Today, they installed what looked like cement borders on the front edge of the planters. My first thought: These borders are intended to keep people (what kind of people? homeless and street people) from sitting in the planters. The intent: Think of wiring used to keep pigeons away. It’s the same intent. So these la basura are installing these things in the cement planters. My suggestion to homeless and street people: One could easily bring a pillow and put it over the cement borders and sit there. With the pillow, it might even feel better than it did before. I’m sure the business district group will disguise their hate for the homeless and street people by saying, “we’re beautifying the planters with borders.” But that’s not what they’re doing, is it? Instead, it’s more hate for the homeless. You’re not fooling anyone business district group. Any of you could also become homeless at any time and face the wrath of the despotic business district group. Good luck with that! Chau.—el barrio rosa
El 17 de marzo de 2013. Hola. The Jane Warner Plaza in San Francisco’s Castro district (which can be seen in the video below) was created a couple of years ago.
The Jane Warner Plaza is in a busy intersection with 17th Street closed to create part of the Plaza. There are cement planters on the South, North and East sides of the Plaza and Muni (our public transport system in San Francisco) has its F line street car tracks on the South side and there are green planters bordering the tracks. The F line street car runs through the middle of the plaza to make its turn down Market Street towards the Bay.
From the beginning, I liked the idea of the Plaza because I felt that there really was no place for people to hang out in the barrio, other than a bar.
STOP THE VIOLENCE. STOP HATE.
Fast forward to today: Over time, I’ve learned some things about who is in the Castro barrio that I was not completely aware of and their agenda. Such as the despotic business district group who reigns with self-appointed omnipotence over this plaza and who really don’t want anyone hanging out in the barrio unless you’re of a certain social class (think: eliti$t) and intend on spending your dinero/money in the barrio at one of the hateful stores (who hate on the homeless and the naked muchachos). Please read: San Francisco wants to delete the homeless. Across the street (to the West) from the Jane Warner Plaza is the Harvey Milk Plaza which the same dictatorial group has already sterilized and sanitized with the help of conservative, corporatist politician Cocks. These people despise the homeless/street people and want them out of sight. They only want people with dinero in the barrio. And therefore, I and others no longer spend any dinero in the Castro barrio because I and others have become so turned off by the covert and overt hate while businesses have “Stop the Violence. Stop Hate” signs (like the sign seen on this page) in their store window….fucking hypocrites is what they are. Hate is hate regardless of how it’s wrapped.
First, they didn’t like and hated on the few naked muchachos who sunbathed, relaxed and sat in the Warner Plaza. The haters and their complicit corporate media—including some faux-liberal publications who are nothing but Democratic Party shills—sensationalized the nudity issue and blew that way out of proportion so much so that we now have a ridiculous nudity ban. It’s a city-wide law even though the few naked muchachos were only in a small area (2-3 blocks) in the entire city. Rather extreme measures. Did the naked muchachos go away? No. They’re still there now wearing G-strings. We’re glad to see them still there and by wearing a G-string they make a mockery out of this ridiculous prudish nudity ban.
CLASSISM
Classism is on the rise from what I’m seeing. Classism is no different than ageism, sexism, anti-ethnicism or being anti-gay, as some examples of sick thinking. All of these septic things are a cancer on our society. The classists in the Castro barrio and the useless and irrelevant business district group decided they needed someone else to hate on apparently, so they’re now harassing the homeless and street people particularly in the Warner Plaza. A friend of mine said, “I think their goal is to turn the Castro into a gated community of and for a particular class of people (the bourgeois elite).” That would seem to be their intent.
I have seen the homeless/street people harassed by la policía on multiple occasions for simply sitting in the red chairs in the Warner Plaza and bothering no one. But apparently some busy-bodied elitist snot(s) in the barrio couldn’t bare to see someone not exactly like their pretentious self, so they whined to la policía about the homeless/street people. They want them out of sight. (Denial).
On the afternoon of el 16 de marzo 2013, I once again saw a bicycle cop approach a small group of the homeless in the plaza on the gas station side. They were bothering no one and sitting there quietly talking with each other. From where I was, it looked like the cop wrote them a citation after talking with one of them for about 10 minutes. I had heard that the homeless/street people had not paid previous citations because being homeless, they don’t have dinero/money. So how are they supposed to pay this additional citation that he looked like he was writing for them? And what type of person with a badge would write a citation for homeless people/street people sitting and bothering no one? Clearly, someone without a conscience. I find that outrageous. As I was leaving (because I didn’t want to see what might happen as it would infuriate me), it looked like some of the homeless/street people were leaving the plaza to, I guess, go to another area down the street. All they really had to do was to walk a few blocks away and then come back and Mr Bully Cop would most likely be gone and then they could return to the plaza until the next piece of elitist la basura whined about them. Moving the homeless/street people from one area to another—to get them out of sight from those whining about them—is the homeless policy for rampantly gentrifying San Francisco. Even though recently the City claimed that is not what they’re doing now. Right.
About two years ago, gentrified San Francisco decided to join the downward spiral of the rest of the nation and voted in the hateful and draconian sit-lie ordinance which means that the homeless/street people cannot legally sit or lie on the sidewalk for 16 hours a day, otherwise they can be cited. So where exactly are they supposed to sit and rest? It seems that the business district group, conservative politician Cocks and the police only want certain people sitting in the plaza of a specific income bracket.The Castro barrio is changing very quickly. It’s becoming “straight.” The crime rate is also rising as more “straights” flood into the barrio. The most common word heard in the barrio is “like,” barked every-other-word. Some people on message forums have written recently that San Francisco seems to have had a lobotomy, in that it is not the same City it was and had a reputation for being. I agree with that. It’s not the City I moved to years ago.
“what is is” of the pink barrio saw an example of the lobotomized city recently when he saw a homeless man in the Warner Plaza without shoes for days. I had seen this muchacho many times before without shoes. Once he was in a sleeping bag with his bare feet exposed. The man’s feet looked terrible. The day “what is is” saw him, this muchacho was trying to walk near the plaza and was having great difficulty walking. “what is is” told me disgustedly that most people walking by this muchacho were laughing at him. They thought it was funny that he was having trouble walking and had no shoes. Disgusting. What is wrong with people?! Have you all had a lobotomy? Jesus fucking christ! What is funny in your fucked up insipid mind about a homeless person without shoes out in the cold? Why don’t you take off your (pretentious) shoes and see how it feels to you to be without shoes for days outdoors and try to walk, and then maybe you’ll get a clue as to how his feet felt. But then upon reflection, those having had a lobotomy still wouldn’t feel a thing. In the San Francisco that I moved to in the late 1970s, the residents of that City would not have laughed but would have shown compassion. Since that incident, I see this muchacho now has “new” (new to him) shoes, so fortunately one person did not find his situation funny and was able to find him a pair of shoes and not laugh at him like a fool. If I could have afforded them, I would have bought him new shoes.
Finally, The Jane Warner Plaza is a public area and the homeless and street people are part of the public. They are part of the public that many elitist/classist septic people don’t want to see or want to deny even exist. So since it appears that one group or another of the public will be discriminated against and hated on and not allowed in this public area called the Jane Warner Plaza, I think the plaza should be closed/abandoned/removed and returned to an open street area. Begin jack hammering out the cement planters and be done with it. Shut it down. It’s time to abandon the idea of the Jane Warner Plaza, not because of the homeless and street people but because of hate. Chau.—el barrio rosa
Related (Homelessness and Economics):
Obama attacks Medicare and Social Security
US jobs growth slows to a crawl
New York City homeless population reaches Great Depression levels
Homeless crisis grows in San Diego
Obama renews calls for slashing Medicare, Social Security
The Poor Face the Most Pain as Automatic Budget Cuts Take Effect [Editorial: As is always the case in the Estados Unidos/U.S. The poor always take the brunt of despicable policies.]