Travel

Right next to where I work (Civic Center area) there are plans to build 2 big apartment buildings and a clinic for homeless and senior. But they won't be done until 2020.

I can't believe the poverty and drug use I see every day. I don't walk certain areas on my way to work, because it is too sketchy, and it is usually still dark when I'm getting into town. I take BART for 3 stops instead of walking it.

I've worked here for 18 years, and it is the worst I've ever seen it. They have cleaned up the "shooting gallery" inside the BART station at Civic Center, where you walk down this long hall section and there were people shooting up on both sides.

One morning I saw someone who had OD'd on the stairway down to the trains. I found a parking cop and reported it, hopefully the guy got some help.

It is bad. Really bad. I'm not so much scared by the druggies, they are too out of it to really be a threat to me. And in 18 years, the worst thing that has ever happened to me is that once, someone tried to get me right as I was entering the building, (thank goodness that the key card worked that day), he didn't follow me inside (where we do have security).

I wouldn't want to be in that part of town at night. A woman, alone. I would feel like a walking target.

The worst part of all of this for me is how it has desensitized me to seeing such demoralized people, the poverty, the desperation.

The other day I came out at lunch time and saw in the middle of the road (7th street) an elderly lady in a electronic wheelchair. She seemed dazed. I watched for a minute and decided I just had to help her get out of the busy traffic. It took a while to convince her, she was trying to get some money to eat. And one person driving by did give her a dollar. I finally was able to get her to get out of the street, I was afraid she was going to get hit. I asked her if I could help her get some food and she said she couldn't get much with a dollar. I said she had to be careful, that it was not a very good part of town, she said "I know, I just got my check and they stole it from me." My heart was breaking for her. I tried to see if she wanted to go get tacos where I usually get lunch, but she said her chair didn't have enough juice to get that far. She had to get to the methadone clinic that was nearby (one reason there are so many druggies in this part of town I think.) In the end, she took her $7.00 and went into the CVS that was on the corner to get something to eat. She said she didn't need any more help. I only had a half hour for lunch, so I went on my way. But I had tears, and they return as I type this.

What is our society coming to? Why don't we have public bathrooms? (the reek of the city streets is intense) Why don't we take care of our elderly? (sigh)

Will I end up that way when I get too old to work? Our world is so sad. So wrong.

These new buildings that going up will help some. But it won't be soon enough, and it probably won't be enough.

In the mean time, San Francisco is experiencing a HUGE construction boom. So much money is in this city, huge new buildings, lots and lots of constructions workers I see every day on my commute. But the disparaging difference between the haves and have nots is growing.