The city of San Francisco has removed 24 Boulders that were put on a sidewalk by a group of locals in an attempt to keep the homeless, noise, filth, and drug abuse off the street.
Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru said on Sep. 30 that the boulders were removed because they were being pushed into the street, causing danger. His agency had to constantly relocate the boulders and said it was a waste of city time.
The group of neighbors trying to solve the problem raised over $2,000, adding that the city didn’t help.
Nuru also mentioned neighbors were getting hate mail from homeless advocates and that he was talking with the locals to come up with another viable solution.
“We’re at the drawing board now. We’re definitely going to look at some of the things we have learned,” Nuru said, according to CNN. “It could be bigger boulders, it could be some kind of landscaping, it could be something different, but we’re going to work with the neighbors on something they want.”
A neighbor who pitched in money for the boulders told ABC on the condition of anonymity, “You’re looking at a turf war one night. It got to the point where everybody was just done. People had knives and guns and people were out fighting, carrying on and waking up people in the neighborhood.”
“They had fights with each other, start fires… it was rough,” another neighbor said.
David Smith-Tan, said “They’ll shoot up and stay overnight,” according to KTVU.
“A bunch of my neighbors, we all chipped in a few hundred dollars and I guess this is what they came up with,” he said, referring to the boulders.
A federal count shows the number of homeless people increased by double-digit percentages in three San Francisco Bay Area counties over two years as the region struggled to tackle the growing problem, including 17 percent in San Francisco and 43 percent in the county that includes Oakland.
More than 25,000 people were counted as homeless during an overnight tally conducted in San Francisco, Alameda, and Silicon Valley’s Santa Clara counties in January. Detailed reports are expected later this year.
Another man who lives near the now bouldered sidewalk, Ernesto Jerez, said, “Since (they put) the rocks, it has helped.”
“It’s something. We’ve got to do something. I feel like there is nothing being done,” Jerez added.
Some homeless advocates called it a cruel response and that it does not solve the problem.
“There’s actually a name for it. It’s called anti-homeless architecture,” Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition On Homelessness, told KTVU.
“We have 1,200 people on the wait list for shelter. That’s for tonight. People have nowhere to go,” she said.
David Smith-Tan is not completely satisfied with the solution: “Someone sets up a tent. I’m stuck walking into the street. And if a car comes I can’t quickly go onto the sidewalk because there is a rock there.”
Recently President Donald Trump has called out San Francisco and California’s waste issue, as well as, their homeless problem. He said that soon they will be getting a notice.
“It’s a terrible situation that’s in Los Angeles and in San Francisco,” Trump said. “And we’re going to be giving San Francisco—they’re in total violation—we’re going to be giving them a notice very soon.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
