A Slap in the Face for San Franciscans

The intrepid spirit of entrepreneurialism that made San Francisco and its suburbs into a hub of innovation was on display earlier this year when one of the city’s more inventive elected officials pioneered a “Doom and Squalor” walking tour of the city. Sightseers forked over $30, money subsequently given to nonprofits that don’t “actively degrade” the community, to survey the blighted landscape around Mid-Market, Union Square, and the Tenderloin district. The sensory feast to which they were treated included the sights and smells of sprawling homeless encampments, and an obstacle course littered with hypodermic needles and all the diverse fecal specimens the mammalian order can produce. “It’s fanning the flames and not offering concrete proposals nor recognizing the good work,” said one irritated local official. But this invitation to marinate in the “doom loop” in which the city was caught made its point.