Bill Lockwood: Nasty on the Streets of San Francisco
by Bill Lockwood
Adam Andrzejewski founded a website called OpenTheBooks.com. In it he and his team track wasteful spending of tax dollars by all levels of government. But there is another “waste” problem which Andrzejewski has documented. It is human waste on the Streets of San Francisco.
“Since 2011 there have been at least 118,352 reported cases of human fecal matter on city streets.” The number of these cases grows year by year. “Last year, the number of reports spiked to an all-time high at 28,084. In the first quarter 2019, the pace continued with 6,676 instances of human waste in the public way.”
The new mayor, London Breed, won election by “promising to clean things up. However, conditions are the same or worse.” “The city has taken steps to crack down on the crisis. Over the last year, the Department of Public Works instituted what the San Francisco Chronicle called a ‘Poop Patrol.’ Consisting of five teammates, the Chronicle estimated each employee earned a hefty $184,000 in pay, perquisites and pension benefits.”
What is the Cause?
What is the underlying cause or causes of this problem? First, the city is in trouble because it hosts an estimated homeless population of 7,500 people. That is quite remarkable for a city whose population is 884,000. “Affluent sections of the city have become dangerous with open-air drug use, tens of thousands of discarded needles, and sadly, human feces.”
Second, and more importantly, San Francisco boasts a godless culture. Hub of the aggressive homosexual agenda, the City by the Bay mimics Sodom & Gomorrah. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah observes regarding wickedness, “For wickedness burns like a fire; it devours thorns and thorn-bushes, it kindles the thickets of the forest and billows up in a mighty cloud … no man spares his brother” (9:18-19).
When restraints are removed, which is the definition of godlessness, and “self” becomes all important, not only is God disrespected, so is man. Sin becomes a raging fire devouring everything, caring not for God nor man. Such is the very nature of sin.
Or, as Old Testament commentator, John Oswalt, observed: Sin is not a little misguided playfulness as it is so often depicted. It is a rebellion against God’s order for life. As such, it can only be destructive, like a grass fire which works its way through the brush at the edge of the forest deceptively slowly but then increases speed until it bursts into the woods with a roar and an upward rush of smoke. Because sin seeks gratification in denial of the created order, it can find such gratification only in increasingly flagrant denials. The sinful acts themselves cannot satisfy. Soon rebellion for its own sake, a raging fire, is all that is left.
Such it is in the once “Golden City” of San Francisco. Andrzejewski put it lightly, “lately there has been a brownout in the Bay Area.”