Known for its sloping streets and diverse culture, San Francisco is also known for a very overwhelming population of homeless residents in the 14th largest city in the nation. With one of the largest Sundays of the year being hosted mere miles away from San Francisco, the Super Bowl will no doubt attract many tourists to visit the famous city.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is in a rush to fix the infamous problem in San Francisco. this is another example of America trying to hide who we really are in the effort to earn millions of dollars.
According to the New York Times, a host city for the Super Bowl will bring in somewhere close to a half-billion dollars in revenue. With thousands of out-of-town visitors, hundreds of thousands of dollars made during this time will be collected by the host city. Now, San Francisco is not the host city for the big game this year, however being only 45 minutes away, it will no doubt be most desirable place to visit during the Super Bowl.
What do you think will be the sight for sore eyes to the tourists and the embarrassment for Mayor Lee when they arrive? Homelessness.
Data from the Council for Community and Economic Research shows the total cost of living in San Francisco is 62.6 percent higher than the U.S. average. It has risen dramatically over the past year, and residents don’t believe it’s going to decline any time soon.
As much as I want to be surprised or feel bad about the on-going problem in San Francisco, this has been America’s history for the last 30 years. We claim to be the greatest and most powerful country in the world, but according to U.S. Census, we lead the world in numbers of incarcerated citizens per capita, our economy is nowhere near where it used to be, the highest number of school shooting and then there’s our homeless problem. Now people like Mayor Lee try to cover up one of our major problems in efforts to be a good host for the Super Bowl? The problem here is not just San Francisco’s homelessness.
This problem with our country has been unveiled many times: we are money hungry. From the time you are a child, the media shows you if you want to be successful, you have to be selfish. We force down our children’s throats about climbing the economic ladder by shoving whoever gets in our way without regard. We have no consideration or empathy for the crowd of people at the bottom of the economic ladder. Our lack of willingness to make a difference is the cause for the problem of homelessness in the city.
In order to begin to heal this issue, I believe we as a community need more empathy. Homeless people are people nonetheless, and once we begin to see them as equal, we can gain a better understanding of how to help them. Surviving each day is more valuable than making millions of dollars that the majority of the population never sees.