Opinion and Commentary By Donna Westfall – November 14, 2023
APEC = Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. It’s a forum to promote trade, investment and economic development among nations around the Pacific Ocean.
And, it’s meeting in San Francisco November 14 – 17. Did I mention that President Biden will be meeting China’s President Xi Jinping? Isn’t it horrible that the once great city of San Francisco has to have leagues of clean-up crews sweeping trash from it’s streets, removing tents and drugs? I learned that some of the spots have been there for 20-30 years.
Here’s a list of countries that are members:
Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People’s Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; the Philippines; the Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; and the United States of America.
They’ll be conducting this year’s meetings under the theme: “Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All.”
PLUS: These CEO’s are also attending:
- Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft),
- Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google Inc.),
- Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI), and
- Marc Benioff (CEO of Salesforce)
While Los Angeles claims almost 600,000 homeless, San Francisco says they have about 8,000 homeless of which less than half stay in shelters. The PIT (Point in Time) conducted annually usually during the winter months, in my opinion, is not highly accurate. But, let’s say 4,000 people and their belongings had to be relocated so that foreign visitors would come away with a good impression of San Francisco. The question is this: Where did they go?
Shelters have added beds, but only enough for 300. Arrests are taking place. To boost security CHP and Bay Area law enforcement are sending in 1,000 extra officers.
The City made it a priority to clear two homeless encampments per day, Monday through Friday prior to APEC. Most of the homeless are moving, but not as you would think into any type of accommodation. In other words, it sounds like many of the millions of illegal aliens (currently 6.2 million) flooding our country, thanks to Pres. Biden, are being taken care of more than our own homeless citizens.
Sound fair? Don’t think so.
Some of their belongings are being thrown in trucks and disposed of. While some churches and organizations help the “unhoused” the latest label for homeless, thousands still struggle keeping to the downtown district also known as the Tenderloin. This area is also considered to be the most dangerous part of San Francisco.
Remember from American History Paul Revere rode his horse alerting the colonists that the “The British are Coming, The British are Coming.” Well, thanks to cartoonist BRANCO, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is riding a horse towards a sign labeled “San Francisco” yelling, “The Commies are Coming, The Commies are Coming. Quick, clean up the poop and move the homeless.”
San Francisco. Used to be a great town. Now we don’t even want to visit any more.
The theme, “Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All” I bet does not encompass the homeless.
