take a seat (stencil graffiti)
Posted April 29, 2011
“Public space is for everyone” More protest against San Francisco’s new Sit/Lie ordinance, designed to hygienically remove homeless people from view by not allowing anyone, theoretically, to sit on the sidewalk. That the police have been given authority to exercise discretion here appears to be consolation to some, but you have to wonder about having that next garage sale.
As a result of this, btw, displaced street folk have started forming groups and enclaves in the the city’s parks. Whereas groups on the street seldom numbered more than a handful, these are twenty and thirty people and up. I generally don’t have lots of problems in getting along with these guys, but this is a little intimidating. I have to wonder if it was the intended result, or if the ordinance’s authors ever envisioned any results beyond bums magically disappearing in cosmetically perfumed puffs of smoke…
