Hundreds of unsheltered people living in tent encampments in the blocks surrounding the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco have been forced to leave by city outreach workers and police as part of an attempted “clean up the house” ahead of this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s annual free trade conference.

The action, which housing advocates allege violated a court injunction, was celebrated by right-wing figures and the tech crowd, who have long been convinced that the city is in terminal decline because of an increase in encampments in the downtown area.

The X account End Wokness wrote that the displacement was proof the “government can easily fix our cities overnight. It just doesn’t want to” (the post received 77,000 likes). “Queer Eye but it’s just Xi visiting troubled US cities then they get a makeover,” joked Packy McCormick, the founder of Not Boring Capital and advisor to Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto VC team. The New York Post celebrated the action, saying that residents had “miraculously disappeared.”

  • Furbag@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Why do the right cheer as if it’s a permanent solution? They’ll be back as soon as the important people are gone. To say the problem is “fixed overnight” is like saying “Look Mom, I cleaned my room!” after you just finished sweeping everything underneath the bed and hiding it with the covers.

    I do hope they fix the problem, but I don’t know what else they can try other than just building houses and giving them the keys. That would probably be less expensive in the long run, but taxpayers evidently feel better paying for homelessness programs in perpetuity rather than giving people free shit one time.

    • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Conservatives don’t know how to fix or build anything anymore. They have no solution to homelessness and they don’t care . Sending police to crack some skulls and patting themselves on the back for it is the best they’ve got.

    • Microplasticbrain@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Conservatives don’t have solutions, just stop gaps. They just stall and pass the ball, and lower taxes, its their only trick.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Conservatives didn’t do this. The article mentions cheering but not who actually did this. All it says is the operation was a “black box”.

        This isn’t journalism. They made zero effort to get to the facts. Facts such as:

        • Who ordered this sweep to occur?
        • Who will be held responsible for the illegal actions performed?

        Why is this story entirely focused on the New York Post being in favor of it? There is zero effort to hold the people responsible for this to account.