Cops: Golden Gate Park

you can leave a starfucks giftcard in the imc mailbox in the redstone building ...thanx

So, you CHOOSE not to pay rent. Fine, not my problem. However, sleeping in the park is illegal. The park exists for the enjoyment of the populace, not to house you. Please find some other lame excuse for being a bum. Yes, I said bum. I don't care if you work, have a laptop, own an airplane, or have a million dollars in your pocket - when you sleep in the park you are a bum. Please, get a life and find something important to occupy your time. (Earth to squat boy: people in SF really are quite tired of the endless whining from people like you who think everyone owes you something. We don't.

sfres, when are you going to quit your shitty job with the feds and join us? You seem to spend a lot of time here...is it possibly because your life sucks and you're envious of people who have freer lives than you pathetic butt, stuck in your cubicle, doing whatever you do, miserable? Think about it...

besides, the park is a joke -- it's built on sand (and as such, is not the natural paradise that some folks seem to think it is). I'd much rather see someone with the privilege to own a laptop (which by the way, can be found for free if you're patient) minimizing their impact on the world by squatting than living in some overpriced designer loft and driving around in some SUV.

ps: how much do you pay in rent? just curious.

Squating is "liberation"? Horseshit. Get a life. No, I don't work for the feds, but I do work, unlike so many others. No, I don't pay rent because I worked hard, saved money, and bought a house. No, I don't drive an SUV - I drive a pickup. What does any of this have to do with bums sleeping in the park? People like you constantly try to change the subject when asked questions that require only direct answers. My point was that our parks are for civic recreation, not campsites for people who choose not to live indoors. I don't care if Squat Boy lives in the trees or craps in the woods as long as it done on his own property.

I guess this is the american dream eh? Stolen land, built within the confines of the european mind, try to escape and there is almost no way out. Your own relations totally divided, calling you or me bums, police, or yuppies. They're just names used by us when our heart is busted and numb. Yes it's true we come from the garden of eden, there's nothing wrong with sleeping outside, the "game" is dictated by our ancestors past decisions, and now we look at what we're doing to the garden and we're sayin' this isn't right. What are we gonnna do about it?

"Land" - Fifteen

The homeless are a problem for only one reason
Their presence raises the question
Who owns the Land?
The homeless are a problem for only one reason
Their presence raises the question
Who owns the Land?
Who owns the Land?
Who owns the Land?
Could it be millions of dead indians
Who owns the Land?
Could it be 6 million Jews?
Who owns the Land?
Is there a connection
Who owns the Land?
To our imperialism
Who owns the Land?
Won't someone please tell me..
Who owns the Land?
Cuz I am just a white man
Who owns the Land?
I live in the Americas
Who owns the Land?
How did I get here?
This morning I was awoken, by a man with a hand gun
He's got a book of rules that says,
I ain't got no right to sleep
This morning I was awoken, by a man with a hand gun
He's got a book of rules that says, I ain't got no right to be
Who owns the Land?
Who owns the Land?
Is there a connection?
Who owns the Land?
To my daily eviction
Who owns the Land?
And the extermination
Who owns the Land?
Of the Native American
Who owns the Land?
Won't someone please tell me..
Who owns the Land?
Cuz I am just a white man
Who owns the Land?
I live in the Americas
Who owns the Land?
How did I get here?
Who owns the Land?
Who owns the Land?
Who owns the Land?
Maybe it's you and me
Who owns the Land?
Maybe it's not
The corporations
Who owns the Land?
Maybe the Earth owns itself
Maybe it's the Native American
Ecocide,
Genocide,
Where is Home?

> Squating is "liberation"? Horseshit. Get a life.

So...are you saying that liberation is horseshit, or that squatting is not a life? In other words, the only shit in this statement is the one involving the lack of clarity in your position.

> No, I don't work for the feds, but I do work, unlike so many others. No, I don't pay rent because I worked hard, saved money, and bought a house. No, I don't drive an SUV - I drive a pickup. What does any of this have to do with bums sleeping in the park? People like you constantly try to change the subject when asked questions that require only direct answers.

Well, great for you. I work hard every day, I just don't get paid for most of the work I do. But to respond to your reductionistic consideration of the topic at hand...

> My point was that our parks are for civic recreation, not campsites for people who choose not to live indoors. I don't care if Squat Boy lives in the trees or craps in the woods as long as it done on his own property.

First off, how do you expect anybody except blowhards who find comfort from their hard work in your empty words to take you seriously when you engage in grade school level taunts? Your reply is more worthy of a spoiled five year old than the adult you are passing yourself off to be. At least a five year old tends to have relative lack of life experience on their side. What's your excuse?

That being said, parks are stolen land. If we want to talk who is entitled to the land, it certainly ain't you (or for that matter, most of the people who read this list). Given the way things are in this country, I still contend that not paying rent by any means possible serves far more people than paying high rents or having an exorbinant mortage. All your precious mortage has done is shaft a bunch of poor people, most of whom work in case you weren't aware. All your identification with a system that you didn't create any more than I did is proving is that you're lacking in self-reflection. I suggest you focus less on working hard and more on enjoying your life. Maybe then you'll be less likely to judge people who are different than you.

Hey squat-boy, just for info, there is a police station right there near the entrance of the park at Stanyan. Think maybe thats why you see a lot of cops there? It has been my experience that cops come and go from a police station quite regularly. LOL..LOL open your eyes before you speek idiot.
Also, what does the title of your post have to do with your story? Just another lie about police brutality to get peoples attention?

Is sleeping in the park when noone wants you there really that enjoyable? I have an apartment and a job and am contributing to society, like most of the other inhabitants of this city. I am all for helping those who can't help themselves, but for those of you who have the arrogance to say that you can afford a laptop, but choose not to pay rent as an affront to the federal government, I have news for you. The Federal (even City) government has no idea why you are doing what you are doing, and all you are succeeding in doing is annoying those that actually pay to live near the park you characterize as "stolen land". If you have so many problems with the way this city is run, then why don't you get the hell out, and stop irritating those who actually WANT to live here and PAY for the priviledge.

That shit went out in the 60's. Willie Brown told us that anyone who wasn't pulling down 50k a year should just leave town. Well, I hate to tell you this, but that isn't going to happen. Yeah it would be nice if all the poor people got out of the way of all the monied yuppie scum and developers so they could fully envision their "dream" of high rents and rich tenants. You want the dotcommers back? Not a chance in hell.

Noone's asking for poor people to get out of the way. I have sympathy for the poor, whether they want it or not. Not pity, but sympathy. I realize many of them work hard. And for what...to strive for a nicer, cleaner, safer place to live. It's unfortunate there has to be a class system in society, but its a fact of life, not just here but everywhere. You have what they work for, and you squat in a park. Go survey the poor and see how many see the nobility in your actions. You'll be lucky if they don't spit in your face for your arrogance.

How about all the self-rightious, especially the initial poster, find something more worthwhile to do with their life than wax poetic about how yuppie scum like me are ruining the world. That laptop that you have...made by corporate scum. The park you live in...designed and maintained by corporations. And you know what, they are average people with jobs that are trying to make a decent life for themselves and their families. Man, some evil people. Wanting their kids to be fed and safe. What bastards. The homeless wouldn't want that if they could have it, would they? No, I'm sure 99% of the homeless would prefer to live in the cold during the winter and starve because they couldn't find enough money to buy a meal. Yeah, that's what they'd want instead of a 9 to 5 and a roof and hot meal. Your arguement is genious.

A little tip for you before I go: unless you are of Souix, Cherokee or some other Native American origin, you yourself are part of the land-stealing problem. You are now squatting on their "stolen" land. While you are at it, I believe the Celts were run out of northern Europe hundreds of years ago. Why don't you go fight for their cause too. Get over yourself.

Ok, I don't know what has prompted you to feel that you need to take on every inhabitant of San Francisco that has a job and pays rent as a drone of the moneyed elite, but I can tell you with complete certainty that I don't make $50k a year and I am not some rich a** trying to trod down every poor person in the city. All I am trying to do is make a life for myself that is happy, but doesn't negatively affect others. I would bet money on the fact that there are many, many homeless people out there who would slap silly someone who has the arrogance to say that they CHOOSE to be homeless yet can afford a laptop and to pay rent. Many of the poor people in this city don't have a choice, but given one, I am SURE would move indoors. Additionally, the taxes I pay as a contributing member of society go to cleaning up the messes that are left by those who inhabit the park, so I personally take offense to those who tell me that they don't have to be there messing it up, but choose to be. The moneyed elite that you are attacking are about 1% of the population, and most of us are just regular folks out there trying to make a life. Excuse me if I get irritated by those self-righteous "homeless" who assume that their actions will somehow give the park back to those from whom it was stolen, or some such thing. If some of the energy that is expended dredging up things to protest about was actually directed to making a difference for the truly downtrodden in this city, we would be much further along than we are.

A new Economic Elite wants to drive those with lower incomes out of the city. Willie Brown is quoted on a Geary sidewalk, "People making less than $50,000 a year have no business living in San Francisco."

Well, I make a decent amount more than $50k (I'm sure somehow that will bring its own rash of retaliatory statements) and I don't want the poor people out. I only need and want one apartment, so don't go accusing "people like me" of being anti-poor, trying to push them out, bring on another dot-com urban renewal, etc. And what is this "new Economic Elite"? Read a history book sometime and see that your "economic elite" has been around since people moved from hunter-gatherer clans to functioning societies.

And somehow you think Willie Brown speaks for all of us (a Democrat by the way; isn't that supposed to be the party of the working class...)? Your arrogance is superceded only by your ignorance.

from someone like yourself who has no respect for lower income people who actually make this town function. Who waits on your tables, cleans the hotel rooms of your tourists and staffs the coffee bar you buy your damn $3 espresso drinks from? You think you'd like cleaning toilets and selling fast food? By the way, homelessness isn't just for bums anymore, it's for whole families that have been pushed to the edge. Not that you care.

As for Willie Brown, he was elected by the same majority that elected "Cake not Cash" Newsom. He is a symbol of the same corrupt graft-for-sale politics that have gone down in this city since the gold rush. That doesn' t mean we're going to let you over-50k land-grabbers shove the rest of us out. Deal with it. Have fun in bed with your slimy developer friends!

some reading matter for 50K dimwits:

There are over 1,300 homeless families on any given night in San Francisco.

Of the families residing in SF's family shelters: 49% are African American, 23% Caucasian, 14% Latino/a, and 4% Asian/Pacific Islanders.

88% of homeless families are headed by single mothers.

57% of children residing in family shelters are under 5 years old.

41% of homeless families have at least one parent that is currently employed or has been employed in the last year.
San Francisco homeless families have the highest average income from work among 10 cities around the country, but still cannot exit homelessness.

63% of homeless families are homeless for at least the second time compared to 37% nationally.

San Francisco has a 1% rental housing vacancy rate.

The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,800 per month, while the welfare grant for a family of three is $565.

The City has allowed the destruction of 4,000 affordable housing units and has not required one-for-one replacement, resulting in the mass exodus of poor families from their community to other counties.

Of the $101 million City budget surplus, less than 1% of the dollars were allocated to programs that serve poor and homeless families.
1,072 families accessed Connecting Point Family Housing Crisis Center in the 97/98 fiscal year. Connecting Point is the central intake point into the family shelter system.

Currently there are 120 families waiting for emergency shelter in San Francisco.

Information in this fact sheet was compiled from Connecting Point Assessment Statistics, Homelessness in the Bay Area (a report from Homebase), the Mayor¹s Welfare Reform Task Force, and the Institute for Children and Poverty.

Please explain to me how the person who made the comment about the moneyed elite having been around forever somehow disrespected the poor? The problem is with the government not allocating the funds properly, not with those of us out here trying to make ends meet. The issue I took was with those who don't have to be homeless, being homeless of their own volition. The statistics shown above are facts; they cannot be disputed, and I don't know anyone who doesn't want the poor to receive the help they deserve. I just want to know how it is somehow the fault of those of us who work and make enough to afford an apartment that there is such a homeless problem in this city. Also, Willie Brown is one person, and I do not share his opinion. According to him, I have no business living in San Francisco either. No headway is going to be made by attacking those who aren't in a position to change anything. Squatter should use his laptop to write letters to the State instead of attacking those of us who are guilty of being ambitious and wanting to be successful. What a crime that is!

"leave me to enjoy my privileges in peace, since there's nothing you or i can do about it."

while the bombs continue to fall and the poor continue to die.

disgusting.

Wow. Liberalism has reached new heights. I proclaim to sympathize. I proclaim to not want to push people out of their homes, simply to have one of my own. I appreciate those who serve me my $3 coffee. My dad grew up with little and lived the American Dream, working two jobs through college and later providing enough for his family that I was lucky enough to attend college myself and make upwards of $50k before I was 30. What a bastard I am. I must be in bed with slimy real estate developers and Mayor Newsome (whom I despise) because I have an apartment, an SUV (I'm throwing you all a bone to lash out at me yet again...have fun with it) and can afford to tip 20% to those who wait my tables. What an asshole I am.

Some people have more than others. It's called life. It sucks, but deal with it. As for your 'cake not cash' comment: as a taxpayer, and someone who likely contributes a bit more to the pot than you (see >$50k income), I'd rather have the homeless 'fed cake' than given some money so I can walk down Haight Street and see my tax money being drank out of a paper bag or shot into an arm.

By the way, there is a place on this earth where they practice the politics you so desire. It's called China. You may have heard of it. Take a look over there and see how well their non-capitalist system works. You've twisted my simple arguement enough through your holier than thou comments that I wish I was in bed with a landgrabbing developer. You'd be the first one I'd send packing.

"Squatter should use his laptop to write letters to the State instead of attacking those of us who are guilty of being ambitious and wanting to be successful".

I don't know Squatter, but reading the above threads, I saw no attack from this person. Anyway, I don't think homeless squatters with laptops are representative of the homeless problem. And you don't really expect one homeless guy to write the state on his laptop? To what end?

If you have an opinion and some intelligence, you certainly are in a position to begin changing things. I apologize for my anger above to those of you who aren't "trolling", but I think we do have the power to start finding solutions to this problem. Maybe one way is to just speak out, as well as support people and institutions who actually do something about housing issues instead of using them to grandstand on.

But I'm staying regardless. Funny how the righties always seem to think that those who disagree with them should be the ones to move on over to China or wherever they think is really vile.

Seems to me that if you're the one that likes fascism, you should leave, or at least, take a really long vacation. You can afford it better than I can, since you contribute -so- much to the pot (monetarily anyway. we won't talk about culture).

Hey, you started this. All I did was say someone who can afford an apartment and lives in the park is an insult to those who live in the park and wish they could have an apartment. And you're correct, my political views are to the right. I missed the law that made that a crime. I also forgot that those of you on the left never think you're the ones that are right. You want people like me out. How is your arguement different than your perception (incorrect at that) of mine?

Stay if you want. Go if you want. I couldn't care less. I'm not trying to push you out. It's not my fault this city and this world is the way it is. And although you want to chalk it up to people like me, fact is without the 'haves' contributing through taxes to social programs, as well as charities, the 'have nots' would have even less. So go enjoy your culture-providing lifestyle. I'll drop a quarter in your cup if I see you around.

"Hey, you started this."

No a homeless person started this, my compassionatey conservative friend.

"And you're correct, my political views are to the right. I missed the law that made that a crime. I also forgot that those of you on the left never think you're the ones that are right. You want people like me out."

Actually no, without people who are opposites like you and I there would be no struggle and no advancement. My family has been in this country for over 200 years. I respect people's right to disagree over our government, but I strongly support the right to dissent from the majority. The majority may rule, but the rest of us are protected by the Bill of Rights.

"...go enjoy your culture-providing lifestyle. I'll drop a quarter in your cup if I see you around."

That's chump change. Why don't you increase that 25 cents to a fair percentage of your income and donate it to a homeless program? Fair enough? I know we want it to be better for people that are disenfranchised by the powers that be. We are both San Franciscans after all. We should be held to a higher standard than the rest of the country. Cheers.

I agree that what makes this country great is that we can have this arguement. But why should we as San Franciscans be held to a higher standard than the rest of the country? Because of our geographic location? Because of the idealism that permeates this city?

I am a native of the east coast, and over there people face the same issues as over here, including sometimes unaffordable housing, poverty, bad education systems, pollution, drug addiction; and the list goes on and on. San Francisco is really not much different than anywhere else.

What made this country what it is today:

(1.) Genocide

(2.) Slavery

(3.) Avarice

(4.) Superior weapons technology

Then why don't you go somewhere where those four things haven't occured over the course of history, you know, just so you can get away from all of these evil things. Oh, wait: these things have happened EVERYWHERE since the dawn of civilization.

Genocide wasn't invented here. Then Greeks and the Romans, and societies before and after them cleansed those who were not of the same origin.

Slavery occurred in Africa itself between tribes, all over Europe, Asia and everywhere else. You win a war, you enslave the conquored. I don't condone it and I hate that it happened, but you are the history buff so you must have known of this.

Avarice. Sure, Americans are greedy. So is everyone else. You think the pharohs hoarded riches because they wanted to preserve them for future generations to admire? Maybe put them in a museum for all to enjoy? All the serfs through time got exactly what they needed from their lords, who were not greedy. Right? Anyone?

Superior weapons technology. Hmm. Would you rather we only had rocks to throw in case the Canadians decided they wanted to steal our land we stole from someone else? I hate to tell you, but if you look over the course of history, there probably aren't many societies made up of those who inhabited the same land thousands of years ago? Go tell France that we wish we hadn't had great military technology during the 1940s. Do it in German, like you would have been doing if we didn't innovate for the protection of ourselves and allies.

Hitler would be off the hook for killing those six million Jews because Stalin killed six million Ukrainians.

That's what I love about your nice little liberal website. You manage to twist a basic arguement about how the world has come to be what it is into my support of genocide and hatred.

Go stick your flowers in the muzzles of guns, rant and rave about genocide then protest a war that just removed one of the world's most violent and genocidal leaders, complain about how the world hates us then rail our participation in a global economy where some jobs end up going overseas, and drive your VW bus to a Greenpeace rally as it spews out the emissions you so despise.

I'll be over here living in reality.

"reality" is the first.

Wow, that was deep. Thanks for weighing in. Do you have any more Jack Handey-like cliches you'd like to enlighten me with?

does that work for you?

Sure, works for me. Especially since I can have a more intelligent conversation/arguement with an inanimate object, namely the paper cup sitting on my desk. Or maybe even my pen, or sunglasses. The list goes on.

Piss off....good one. Did you go storming out of the room and pout after you wrote that?

just what kind of reality *do* you live in? some kind of home? i didn't realize prozac was that strong these days.....

mommy and daddy's, namely.

My reality? It's one where I get up every morning, sit in traffic, go to work, earn a living for myself, then have people like you tell me the state of the world is my fault. All because I don't give handouts to alcoholics and crackheads on the street, assisting in the perpetuation of their habits. Save the world if you want to, but don't look down on me for dealing with my own problems and leaving others to deal with theirs. You think they'd be giving me anything if the roles were reversed, you need something much stronger than Prozac yourself.

Based on the fact that you don't know how to use capital letters, I'm going to have to assume that either you dropped out before they taught them in kindergarten, or haven't quite gotten that far yet.

I need to go find a message board where the people can actually develop arguements with a little more substance. Is your next retaliatory statement going to be: "Your momma"? It appears that's the direction you're going in.

if strangers meet
life begins-
not poor not rich
(only aware)
kind neither
nor cruel
(only complete)
i not not you
not possible;
only truthful
-truthfully,once
if strangers(who
deep our most are
selves)touch:
forever

(and so to dark)

Try that at work some time, if you do in fact work. E. E. Cummings wrote a poem in lowercase, so it is now acceptable grammar?

Boss: What is this shit you gave me in all lowercase?

You: But E.E. Cummings once wrote a poem that way.

Boss: Fuck me then. Continue in your artistic and eclectic ways. I'll work around your preferences and quirks.

I'm sure that's how it would play out. Another brilliant comeback...

just admit it. lick those loafers!!

I love having a job, providing for myself and not asking others for handouts.

can i have it? they're kinda rare these days...

isn't that, like, stealing from your boss?

Oh, sorry. Am I being snarky on YOUR board? I didn't realize that this board was here so everyone could give an "atta boy" to the guy who is homeless with his job and laptop by choice.

using the time you're paid to post here?

for street sheet! you know, i don't think i'll ever use caps again, at least not on this thread...

e.e., I will have to respectfully decline. Keep on keepin' on with your lower case letters, though.

we love it in ya, "here we go again"