Published since 2005. San Francisco is a city that belongs to the people of the world. Hence this blog has a global focus. The name "Sam Spade's San Francisco" refers to an exciting era in the City's history, the time of Dashiell Hammett's fictional gumshoe and San Francisco character, Sam Spade. My name is Tom Dunn and I edit the blog. I'm not as exciting as Sam Spade, but I am definitely a San Francisco character.Contact or on Twitter -- Search blog below.
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Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Olympic Summer Games 2016 in San Francisco
San Francisco wants to be the home for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. One of the current ideas is to develop an Olympic Village to house visiting athletes from around the world at the old Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard and conduct the grand opening ceremonies at an as-yet-unbuilt new stadium for the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Point.
My first thought was that we must be nuts to consider housing the best athletes from all over the world in the Bayview - Hunters Point war zone. Who in hell would want to be in that kind of drug-infested liquor-store-dotted decrepit neighborhood? The answer is obvious: NOBODY!
In order to make the Bayview - Hunters Point area habitable and attractive we would need to start right now and launch a major sweep of the area by:
1) Building attractive new housing in a garden-like atmosphere at the old naval ship yard. When the Olympic Village closes after the games, make the housing available to local families at deeply subsidized rent levels.
2) Creating an SFPD task force sub-station at Hunters Point. Let's crack down on the gangs, dope dealers and punks who are denizens of the infamous Hunters Point projects.
3) Going after federal funding and developing more partnerships with the DEA, FBI and state Highway Patrol and send the many Bayview - Hunters Point droopy-panted corner dope dealers to San Quentin.
4) Working with District Attorney Kamala Harris and the state Alcoholic Beverage Control to shut down all those raunchy little corner liquor stores.
5) Setting aside major funding and working with our major corporate employers to provide permanent full-time job opportunities to the young men and women in Bayview - Hunters Point who presently find their only financial opportunities to be selling crack cocaine and methamphetamine or producing babies for welfare dollars.
6) Using the existing City College campus located in the Bayview - Hunters Point neighborhood to develop job skills training and certificate programs specifically designed to reach these young people with hope for a future free of criminal activity.
It is not good enough to spend money on winning over the Olympic Committee. We must first spend money ... lots of it ... to change the fundamental nature of the Bayview - Hunters Point area from a crime-ridden, gang-infested ghetto dump into a peaceful, low-crime attractive family neighborhood.It's a big job and a daunting task, but if it can be done, we will substantially change the face of our City for the better.
Learn more about San Francisco's bid for the 2016 Olympic Summer Gameshere.
12 comments:
Anonymous said...
Part of the problem is that the people who "produce babies for welfare dollars" are in a generational trap. Their parents and their grandparents were social services abusers. It is very difficult to stop this kind of generational dysfunctional behavior. As long as people look at babies as a source of income the most serious problem lies within the brains of those parents.
oh, give me a break with all this. I'm glad "no one" wants to come to HP. keeps it quiet and friendly for the rest of us. i lived in nob hill for three years - my car got broken into three times in two weeks; on my way home, i got to walk past people having sex in doorways and prostitutes everywhere; the streets were full of panhandlers and passed out drug users... i've lived in lower haight too where people pissed on my apt bldg and punk teenagers harassed people in the street. living in HP is four times less fatal than trying to walk across Van Ness. if you're not in a gang (and at least 34,000 of us are not), you have almost nothing to worry about. HP rocks. let's keep that a secret, though. hell no to the olympics - people might find out how ridiculous their assumptions about HP really are.
Two weeks or so ago, Tim Redmond of the San Francisco Bay Guardian slashed out at bloggers for feeding unsubstantiated information to the public. He was apparently upset that bloggers are getting so much attention and infringing on trained journalists who have a code of ethics and attribution. The problem is obviously that readers might get the idea that what bloggers post is true.
This so-called "Sam Spade" is the epitome of a blogger sans attribution, research, evidence, etc. Item #5 is particularly unsettling, as it maintains a stereotype of African Americans. The overall sentiment of the blog indicates that Spade is evidently racist.
One way to possibly overcome Spade's jejune prejudice is to visit BVHP, spend some time on 3rd Street at the cafes and eateries, speak with vendors and residents, and do some research and observation in the area. The link to your blog was sent to the editor of San Francisco Bay View for their review.
1. 1300 new homes are under construction in the shipyard right now. Where have you been?
2. There already is an SFPD sub-station in Hunters Point. Captain Pardini and his team bust their butts every day to crack down on crime. The police presence in and around the housing projects is constant.
3. Yes, send the dope dealers to San Quentin. Lifers, the whole lot of 'em. Good idea! Wish I had thought of that! And you mean there’s federal funding out there to help? Wow! Where can I pick up the check?
4. By all means, shut down all the corner markets. Starve the folks out! Who needs food, anyway? They can go to the Marina or Polk Street if they want to buy liquor.
5. Set aside major funding and work with employers… you mean, like, passing a Redevelopment Plan to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars back into the community? Oh wait, that already happened.
6. Ah, provide job training for the youth. Another brilliant innovation! Too bad the City College campuses beat you to it long ago.
Thanks Sam Spade, you’ve truly enlightened us.
Interesting debate. It is unfortunate that some of the people who have commented have their facts wroing even though they are sure they are right.
1) The units at Hunters Point are low income units and are not suitable for an Olympic Village.
2) The SFPD needs both more funding and more officers to seriously address the BV-HP problems - at least that's what Chief Fing and Mayor Newsom say. Maybe the person who commented knows something the mayor and police chief do not know - but I dount it.
3) Shutting doen corner liquor stores will not deprive people of foods. have you ever gone into one of the corner liquor stores on 3rd Street? Families cannot survive on vodka, Little debbie cakes and beef jerkey. They need real grocery stores and supermarkets - not liquor stores!
4)The issue is not IF the redevelopment money will be used in the BV-HP, it is HOW the money will be used.
5) Obviously the last commenter has no knowledge of what is goinf on at CCSF. We all know there is a BV-HP campus, but what funding is in place for expanded job training and where are the commitments from major area employers. that is the part of the mix that is missing.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 2:02:00 PM PDT
Anonymous said...
It's easy to write comments and tell everyone what a wonderful neighborhood the Bayview - Hunters Point really is. However, that is all bull. Take a look at the crime statistics. Murders and drug crimes speak louder than some Hunters Point resident's meaningless verbage that his neighborhood is a desirable place to live. We all know better than that. Get real and get serious. The Bayview - Hunters Point is one of San Francisco's biggest problems.
We sure as hell are not going to impress the Olympic Committee unless we get serious about improving that neighborhood!
People who choose high-risk lifestyles are in danger. The rest of us are safer than in the rest of SF, where people get shot in the face for no reason.
The units in the shipyard will not be low-income. They have the same affordability-zoning requirements as developments everywhere else in the city. Sounds like you are talking about the public housing, which is not in the shipyard. Those units aren't suitable for rats, yet SFHA has people living there.
Yes, I have gone into the corner stores on 3rd. Have you? No one's saying that we don't ALSO need more grocery stores, but shutting down corner stores just put yet more SF merchants out of business in the name of progress. We need more retail, not less.
Yes of course the police need more money. Have any? Maybe you could give some to the schools to?
The hot air about "social service abusers" and "droopy-pant dope dealers" doesn't do shit. If you're truly concerned about "cleaning up" Hunters Point, get off your keyboard and do something about it. But of course you don't want to do anything about it, you just want to spout off simple-minded solutions and pretend you are Einstein.
Hell yeah, I know a lot more about HP than Gavin Newsom. I also know how to use spell-check. Try it sometime -- I think Chief "Fing" would appreciate it.
I read this story because I am interested in San Francisco. The story was interesting, but when I started reading the comments it soon became obvious that the blog is under "GHETTO ATTACK". Why are those people so confrontational and so angry?
For example, take the comment by the person who claims that he or she knows "a hell of a lot more about HP than Gavin Newsom". What an arrogant ass!
It is exactly that kind of attitude that convinces the rest of us to stay as far away from Hunter's Point and the Bayview as possible.
After reading these comments I think the best advice for San Francisco is to drop any plans to use Hunter's Point for the Olympics. Having people like that be in daily touch with representatives from around the globe would do more harm to our reputation than we can imagine.
I don't live anywhere near either the Bayview District or Hunter's Point and it is because of argumentative, angry people like the person who thinks he knows more than Mayor Newsom that I (and most of the rest of San Francisco) stay away from that area.
People like the arrogant writer to which I made reference are their own worst enemies. They are always ready to attack, tear apart and accuse, but seldom have anything positive to say.
Oh My God! One of the people who commented said if the liquor stores close, people in BV-HP can always go the the Marina to buy liquor.
No!
Please don't close the liquor stores in BV-HP. We don't want crack sellers standing in front our our stores in the Marina. We don't want Big Block Gangs or any other gang in our neighborhoods and around our children. We don't want our neighborhood to be full of felons and parolees and fugitives.
They are just fine where they are. Let's leave well enough alone.
And I agree with the fellow who suggested we forget the whole thing about hosting the Summer Olympics. Either that or let's at least scrap any ideas about using the BV-HP.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 6:34:00 PM PDT
said...
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 7:21:00 PM PDT
Anonymous said...
What is everybody doing?
I got a call from a neighbor and went to read this blog. I read the original post by Sam Spade and then I read all the comments. The comments are going way off course. This is not a racial issue and I wish people would stop playing that tired, worn-out old card.
There are Asian people, Hispanic people, Caucasian people and African-American people who feel sick to our stomachs when we read about all the violence and hate and anger that rises to the surface in BV-HP. None of that has anything to do with race.
I know people, good friends, who are property owners and life-long residents of BV-HP who are very well-educated people. They are family people, responsible people and honorable people. Nobody is attacking them. Nobody is accusing them of anything.
Rather, it is the criminal element (and race has nothing to do with it, so don't even think about playing the race card with me - I am African-American)that we need to sweep out of our community.
I live up in LaSalle Heights. That is in the Bayview and it is a stone's throw from the HP projects. I hear the gunfire every night. Nobody can tell me that I don't live in the middle of a war zone. I know better!
Supervisor Sophie Maxwell is aware of our problems. The police are aware of our problems. The school board is aware of our problems. It is no secret that we live in the middle of a community that has too many young men who have no respect for their families, no respect for their parents and no respect for their women.
We face a deep and serious problem and it will not be solved by bringing athletes into our community for a few weeks. It will not be solved by more police cruisers and it will surely not be solved by the words of hate, accusation and anger.
The only way we can turn around our neighborhood is to teach our young men to be responsible and respectful adults, and we will never be able to accomplish that until we are able to provide good jobs and good futures for those young men.
I am disgusted by some of the comments I have read here. We have too many hot-headed young men who love to bump their gums and shoot-off their mouths. Somebody said it earlier: too much anger.
Let's stop attacking everybody who wants to help us. That is just insane behavior!
Sam Spade (or whoever writes this blog) is at least trying to help. What does he get in return? Anger, anger, anger. here we are - driving off someone else who took an interest in our community.
No wonder people are hesitant to come out here or help us. Listen you young men and hot-headed activists: If you are not willing to be a part of the solution, shut your face and stop being part of the problem.
Despite the wonderful diversity and the divisions of all the wonderful posts on games 2016, here is the bottom line.
Analogies and hypoccrisies:
(all about money and power and oil)
1.While the bush administration claimed that they would use Iraq oil to rebuild the infrastructure ( not yet) and while Hugo Chavez, president of Veneuzula stated recently that he would use the oil in his country to rebuild and benefit the citizens, the bush administration condemned the actions of Hugo Chavez.( let;s not talk about Bolivia Oil and latest presidential elections in Mexico)
2. The obvious next step is the analogy of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency actions in BVHP are the same kinda thing, all about money and development money, and forget about the common Joe.
Can any one see the analogy? (duh, already)
Otherwise, I want to say that I get sick and irritated everytime I here that SFRDA puppet, Stanely M. speak, he makes me want to throw up or do an Irish knee cap. (and what ever happened to uncle guido?)
Finally, all you all, got to got see 2 movies, "who killed the electric car" and "an inconvenient truth"
12 comments:
Part of the problem is that the people who "produce babies for welfare dollars" are in a generational trap. Their parents and their grandparents were social services abusers. It is very difficult to stop this kind of generational dysfunctional behavior. As long as people look at babies as a source of income the most serious problem lies within the brains of those parents.
oh, give me a break with all this. I'm glad "no one" wants to come to HP. keeps it quiet and friendly for the rest of us. i lived in nob hill for three years - my car got broken into three times in two weeks; on my way home, i got to walk past people having sex in doorways and prostitutes everywhere; the streets were full of panhandlers and passed out drug users... i've lived in lower haight too where people pissed on my apt bldg and punk teenagers harassed people in the street. living in HP is four times less fatal than trying to walk across Van Ness. if you're not in a gang (and at least 34,000 of us are not), you have almost nothing to worry about. HP rocks. let's keep that a secret, though. hell no to the olympics - people might find out how ridiculous their assumptions about HP really are.
Two weeks or so ago, Tim Redmond of the San Francisco Bay Guardian slashed out at bloggers for feeding unsubstantiated information to the public. He was apparently upset that bloggers are getting so much attention and infringing on trained journalists who have a code of ethics and attribution. The problem is obviously that readers might get the idea that what bloggers post is true.
This so-called "Sam Spade" is the epitome of a blogger sans attribution, research, evidence, etc. Item #5 is particularly unsettling, as it maintains a stereotype of African Americans. The overall sentiment of the blog indicates that Spade is evidently racist.
One way to possibly overcome Spade's jejune prejudice is to visit BVHP, spend some time on 3rd Street at the cafes and eateries, speak with vendors and residents, and do some research and observation in the area. The link to your blog was sent to the editor of San Francisco Bay View for their review.
1. 1300 new homes are under construction in the shipyard right now. Where have you been?
2. There already is an SFPD sub-station in Hunters Point. Captain Pardini and his team bust their butts every day to crack down on crime. The police presence in and around the housing projects is constant.
3. Yes, send the dope dealers to San Quentin. Lifers, the whole lot of 'em. Good idea! Wish I had thought of that! And you mean there’s federal funding out there to help? Wow! Where can I pick up the check?
4. By all means, shut down all the corner markets. Starve the folks out! Who needs food, anyway? They can go to the Marina or Polk Street if they want to buy liquor.
5. Set aside major funding and work with employers… you mean, like, passing a Redevelopment Plan to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars back into the community? Oh wait, that already happened.
6. Ah, provide job training for the youth. Another brilliant innovation! Too bad the City College campuses beat you to it long ago.
Thanks Sam Spade, you’ve truly enlightened us.
Interesting debate. It is unfortunate that some of the people who have commented have their facts wroing even though they are sure they are right.
1) The units at Hunters Point are low income units and are not suitable for an Olympic Village.
2) The SFPD needs both more funding and more officers to seriously address the BV-HP problems - at least that's what Chief Fing and Mayor Newsom say. Maybe the person who commented knows something the mayor and police chief do not know - but I dount it.
3) Shutting doen corner liquor stores will not deprive people of foods. have you ever gone into one of the corner liquor stores on 3rd Street? Families cannot survive on vodka, Little debbie cakes and beef jerkey. They need real grocery stores and supermarkets - not liquor stores!
4)The issue is not IF the redevelopment money will be used in the BV-HP, it is HOW the money will be used.
5) Obviously the last commenter has no knowledge of what is goinf on at CCSF. We all know there is a BV-HP campus, but what funding is in place for expanded job training and where are the commitments from major area employers. that is the part of the mix that is missing.
It's easy to write comments and tell everyone what a wonderful neighborhood the Bayview - Hunters Point really is. However, that is all bull. Take a look at the crime statistics. Murders and drug crimes speak louder than some Hunters Point resident's meaningless verbage that his neighborhood is a desirable place to live. We all know better than that. Get real and get serious. The Bayview - Hunters Point is one of San Francisco's biggest problems.
We sure as hell are not going to impress the Olympic Committee unless we get serious about improving that neighborhood!
People who choose high-risk lifestyles are in danger. The rest of us are safer than in the rest of SF, where people get shot in the face for no reason.
The units in the shipyard will not be low-income. They have the same affordability-zoning requirements as developments everywhere else in the city. Sounds like you are talking about the public housing, which is not in the shipyard. Those units aren't suitable for rats, yet SFHA has people living there.
Yes, I have gone into the corner stores on 3rd. Have you? No one's saying that we don't ALSO need more grocery stores, but shutting down corner stores just put yet more SF merchants out of business in the name of progress. We need more retail, not less.
Yes of course the police need more money. Have any? Maybe you could give some to the schools to?
The hot air about "social service abusers" and "droopy-pant dope dealers" doesn't do shit. If you're truly concerned about "cleaning up" Hunters Point, get off your keyboard and do something about it. But of course you don't want to do anything about it, you just want to spout off simple-minded solutions and pretend you are Einstein.
Hell yeah, I know a lot more about HP than Gavin Newsom. I also know how to use spell-check. Try it sometime -- I think Chief "Fing" would appreciate it.
I read this story because I am interested in San Francisco. The story was interesting, but when I started reading the comments it soon became obvious that the blog is under "GHETTO ATTACK". Why are those people so confrontational and so angry?
For example, take the comment by the person who claims that he or she knows "a hell of a lot more about HP than Gavin Newsom". What an arrogant ass!
It is exactly that kind of attitude that convinces the rest of us to stay as far away from Hunter's Point and the Bayview as possible.
After reading these comments I think the best advice for San Francisco is to drop any plans to use Hunter's Point for the Olympics. Having people like that be in daily touch with representatives from around the globe would do more harm to our reputation than we can imagine.
I don't live anywhere near either the Bayview District or Hunter's Point and it is because of argumentative, angry people like the person who thinks he knows more than Mayor Newsom that I (and most of the rest of San Francisco) stay away from that area.
People like the arrogant writer to which I made reference are their own worst enemies. They are always ready to attack, tear apart and accuse, but seldom have anything positive to say.
Oh My God! One of the people who commented said if the liquor stores close, people in BV-HP can always go the the Marina to buy liquor.
No!
Please don't close the liquor stores in BV-HP. We don't want crack sellers standing in front our our stores in the Marina. We don't want Big Block Gangs or any other gang in our neighborhoods and around our children. We don't want our neighborhood to be full of felons and parolees and fugitives.
They are just fine where they are. Let's leave well enough alone.
And I agree with the fellow who suggested we forget the whole thing about hosting the Summer Olympics. Either that or let's at least scrap any ideas about using the BV-HP.
What is everybody doing?
I got a call from a neighbor and went to read this blog. I read the original post by Sam Spade and then I read all the comments. The comments are going way off course. This is not a racial issue and I wish people would stop playing that tired, worn-out old card.
There are Asian people, Hispanic people, Caucasian people and African-American people who feel sick to our stomachs when we read about all the violence and hate and anger that rises to the surface in BV-HP. None of that has anything to do with race.
I know people, good friends, who are property owners and life-long residents of BV-HP who are very well-educated people. They are family people, responsible people and honorable people. Nobody is attacking them. Nobody is accusing them of anything.
Rather, it is the criminal element (and race has nothing to do with it, so don't even think about playing the race card with me - I am African-American)that we need to sweep out of our community.
I live up in LaSalle Heights. That is in the Bayview and it is a stone's throw from the HP projects. I hear the gunfire every night. Nobody can tell me that I don't live in the middle of a war zone. I know better!
Supervisor Sophie Maxwell is aware of our problems. The police are aware of our problems. The school board is aware of our problems. It is no secret that we live in the middle of a community that has too many young men who have no respect for their families, no respect for their parents and no respect for their women.
We face a deep and serious problem and it will not be solved by bringing athletes into our community for a few weeks. It will not be solved by more police cruisers and it will surely not be solved by the words of hate, accusation and anger.
The only way we can turn around our neighborhood is to teach our young men to be responsible and respectful adults, and we will never be able to accomplish that until we are able to provide good jobs and good futures for those young men.
I am disgusted by some of the comments I have read here. We have too many hot-headed young men who love to bump their gums and shoot-off their mouths. Somebody said it earlier: too much anger.
Let's stop attacking everybody who wants to help us. That is just insane behavior!
Sam Spade (or whoever writes this blog) is at least trying to help. What does he get in return? Anger, anger, anger. here we are - driving off someone else who took an interest in our community.
No wonder people are hesitant to come out here or help us. Listen you young men and hot-headed activists: If you are not willing to be a part of the solution, shut your face and stop being part of the problem.
Here is the bottom line:
Despite the wonderful diversity and the divisions of all the wonderful posts on games 2016, here is the bottom line.
Analogies and hypoccrisies:
(all about money and power and oil)
1.While the bush administration claimed that they would use Iraq oil to rebuild the infrastructure ( not yet) and while Hugo Chavez, president of Veneuzula stated recently that he would use the oil in his country to rebuild and benefit the citizens, the bush administration condemned the actions of Hugo Chavez.( let;s not talk about Bolivia Oil and latest presidential elections in Mexico)
2. The obvious next step is the analogy of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency actions in BVHP are the same kinda thing, all about money and development money, and forget about the common Joe.
Can any one see the analogy? (duh, already)
Otherwise, I want to say that I get sick and irritated everytime I here that SFRDA puppet, Stanely M. speak, he makes me want to throw up or do an Irish knee cap. (and what ever happened to uncle guido?)
Finally, all you all, got to got see 2 movies, "who killed the electric car" and "an inconvenient truth"
PS- no spell checking please
david erickson
http://www.islaiscreek.org
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