Mayor Gavin Newsom had been reluctant to push a sit/lie ordinance, telling The Chronicle editorial board earlier this month it was just too divisive to support.
Then he took his 5 1/2-month-old daughter for a stroll on Haight Street one Saturday morning.
“As God is my witness, there’s a guy on the sidewalk smoking crack,” Newsom said.
Suddenly, the issue became more personal. On Friday, Newsom revealed that he will introduce a sit/lie ordinance to the Board of Supervisors next week.
Get ready for predictions of the end of the world as we know it. The ordinance will give police officers the ability to order abusive sidewalk squatters to move away from homes and stores. But homeless advocates are likely to paint it as an effort to criminalize homelessness and round up and arrest the poor and disadvantaged.
Filed under: What's Going On? | Tagged: homeless advocates, sit/lie ordinance
Oh if only Mr. Brylcream had moved to the TL years ago instead of the Haight.
I think he just admitted how out of touch he’s been during his entire stay as mayor of this city. He’d have been better off ignoring the issue and instead claimed he did all he could. Now, he’s basically admitting that he’s been a bust all these years.