Hola amigos

[Carlafan]

1 hour ago, Lumpy said:

I'm in downtown SD a lot after midnight.  It's like a @fotofreak slideshow.  Since you're mentioning the 5th & C trolley stop, the old California Theater a block away down C St was like a Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights attraction for years where the homeless were camped out in front and had breached it and gotten inside.  The cops wouldn't go near it except during Covid when they would move some of the at-risk FOB homeless from the sidewalk to camp out in front of the courthouse where the courthouse guards inside would keep an eye on them there so long as they left during the day.  They finally cleared the Theater out a little over a year ago and made the new owner secure it.  They didn't do anything to help the homeless there, just cast them back to the regular camping spots in the southeast part of downtown.

I've never had a safety issue with the homeless in SD - head on a swivel, steer clear of the mentals and be polite with the norms, maybe make a little smalltalk.  Only one close call and no surprise it was with the cops.  Once crossing Union by the courthouse after midnight I stumbled on a cop SUV parked in the shadows by the construction there and two cops holding a man against the fence while a non-uniformed person was beating the living shit out of him.  Even with his face in the shadows, from what I could make out the dude was already looking like an Emmett Till coffin photo.  A second later the two cops dropped him and swooped around after me without saying a word - no shouts, no orders, nothing. 

Before this little episode I always copped an attitude towards the news articles of people getting beaten or shot by the cops for trying to run away from what seemed like simple encounters.  Why run if you've done nothing wrong?  But the evil in those cops' silence made my legs go into cartoon windmill autopilot and I turned and ran like I was a third my age.  I only made it a block out and around the corner onto Broadway before the pending heart attack forced me to stop, and risking a look back, I saw they had never even pursued me beyond just scaring me off.  As soon as I could breathe enough to believe I had not stroked out, I did go back around the other side of the courthouse to see if I could sneak a picture or video, but by the time I was able to drag my heaving mass around and back there everybody was already gone, cops, other dude, even poor Emmett.  I've rationalized stories that maybe he was somebody really bad that the cops had pulled out from the jailhouse a block away to let his victim get a little old-fashioned justice, then took him back and tossed him in his cell.  Or maybe the third guy was an off duty cop or detective the dude may have gone after, fair or not.  I've also rationalized that I stumbled across an open door to hell and those two cops were just demons out for a little fun.  I've also dreamed about being chased by those cops - swooping after me like a pair of uniformed Harry Potter dementors caught in mid-kiss.  A lot.

A lot of irony and action takes place a block or two away from the rich downtown party playgrounds of America's Finest City.

P.S.  I'd hate being homeless in Hawaii.  Sounds like fun, but those poor souls are the mangiest looking homeless you ever saw - they look like they are rotting.  And no wonder - with the humidity and it raining every day, they probably never get completely dry.

I would leave my old job after 11pm and yep that area was a nightmare zone. I believe they won't demolish that building because of all the asbestos in it, much like a lot of downtown SD buildings. Eh, they just scattered elsewhere. 

[TJ Flyer]

Regular civilians have little to no idea what the police have to deal with on a daily basis.... and with a large % of the homeless population mentally ill and/or drug addicted, it's a real freak show. I can say this from personal experience, as my late brother left home at age 16, 17 and lived on and off the streets, in and out of CA State Mental hospitals, was in the Haight Asbury in the late 60's...

I have some friends whose daughter was living in a tit condo in Downtown LA, and they said she told them Downtown LA had become such a shit show, she finally moved out of there and lives in West LA.

[pookie2]

5 hours ago, TJ Flyer said:

Regular civilians have little to no idea what the police have to deal with on a daily basis.... and with a large % of the homeless population mentally ill and/or drug addicted, it's a real freak show. I can say this from personal experience, as my late brother left home at age 16, 17 and lived on and off the streets, in and out of CA State Mental hospitals, was in the Haight Asbury in the late 60's...

I have some friends whose daughter was living in a tit condo in Downtown LA, and they said she told them Downtown LA had become such a shit show, she finally moved out of there and lives in West LA.

not to mention they can't really do anything without being judged anymore

my kid lives in a high rise down by MOCA and i constantly warn her about trends like thieves following you into your building and beating you for a few bucks

usually chronic criminals kicked back out of the system next day to do it again 

[Jdavid1976]

I know better. I live in NYC where you learn to not engage with the homeless. That being said…

I was buzzed and had just crossed back into the US. I was walking toward the Uber pickup and could see a lady in a wheel chair. It looked like she was putting her clothes on the ground, but also looked like they might have slipped out of her hand. She was “straining” to pick them up. So I decided to help. While picking them up she asked me for money and when I said no, she threw some water on me. 😂 If it had been a dude, I would have handled it different. 

As I said, I should know better. It’s an old trick that people play to get you to stop.