from the San Francisco Chronicle, 8/11/94, pg. A17 col. 5

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE OF WARNING: The following was excerpted from the daily
capitalist press. Coverage of the issues is distorted by such, in the
form of a bias of interests.


JORDAN GOES AFTER S.F. STREET PEOPLE
Mayor Offers Anti-loitering Measures for November Ballot
by Clarence Johnson, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan flexed his muscle against the city's 
street people and homeless again yesterday, offering November ballot 
measures to outlaw loitering in business districts and automatically 
extract rent payments from the monthly checks of welfare recipients.

If approved by voters, the loitering measure would make it illegal to sit 
or lie down on public sidewalks in virtually every business or commercial 
district of the city from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Violators could be fined up 
to $400 and sent to jail for six months.

"Prohibiting sitting or lying down will enhance the safety of 
pedestrians... who are required to move around or step over persons who 
sit or lie down," the measure reads. The law is necessary because 
would-be patrons "are reluctant to visit (businesses) because of the 
presence of persons sitting or lying on sidewalks."

The proposals, new wrinkles to an already contentious Matrix plan for the 
homeless, are likely to stir a wave of controversy for the  November 
election.

"We are really mad at people for being poor. But we don't have enough 
jobs and we don't have enough housing," said homeless advocate Charlene 
Tschirhart of the St. Anthony's Foundation, who called the proposals 
"repressive." "We need to have a bit more compassion for the people who 
are getting left out."

Under the mayor's second ballot proposal, as much as $280 would be 
automatically deducted from $345-a-month stipends of General Assistance 
recipients who otherwise have no place to live. The mandatory deductions 
would then be used for rent in low-income residential hotels.

"(We take) a reasonable amount to purchase a room and leave them with 
some cash to get through the rest of the month," said Social Services 
General Manager Brian Cahill. 

The proposals are the latest in a string of what the Jordan 
administration calls "quality of life" measures. Past Jordan moves have 
included the fingerprinting of welfare recipients,  outlawing aggressive 
panhandling or begging within 30 feet of bank machines, and attempts to 
confiscate shopping carts from the homeless.

Jordan insists his focus is public behavior, not attacking indigents. "We 
are not going after the homeless," said the mayor, who added that he is 
aiming for positive atmosphere in the city's retail areas.

"It fits into the issue of how can I maintain the economy, make  people 
comfortable with shopping in their neighborhoods and downtown," Jordan 
said. "We want to give people an opportunity to move through safely."

Such popular areas as Chestnut Street in the Marina often fill with 
people drinking coffee and sitting on sidewalks. The law, Jordan 
insisted, would apply to them, too.

The plan is  molded after a Seattle law. But John Crew, of the American 
Civil Liberties Union, said he believes that Jordan's proposal has a 
major problem.

"The judge upheld the law there because there was no history of past 
practices indicating that the city is motivated by a desire to expel 
homeless people," Crew said. "Here we have a mayor (with) an obsession... 
targeting homeless people and expelling them from public view."

*****end of article*****
