What Happens to Downtown?

[dann]

Some people have very short memories, so maybe it's necessary to remind Brainster, BrettM and The Atheist of this story:

Ever since an HIV/AIDS patient advocacy group began raising questions last week about why Turing Pharmaceuticals jacked up the price for a medication from $13.50 per pill to $750 overnight, anger against the company has been boiling over.
The medicine, Daraprim, which has been on the market for 62 years, is the standard of care for a food-borne illness called toxoplasmosis caused by a parasite that can severely affect those with compromised immune systems. Turing purchased the rights to the drug last month and almost immediately raised prices.
CEO who raised price of old pill more than $700 calls journalist a ‘moron’ for asking why (Washington Post, Sep 22, 2015).

CEO Martin Shkreli: 4,000 percent drug price hike is ‘altruistic,’ not greedy (Washington Post, Sep 22, 2023)

I can see why Martin Shkrely called the journalist a moron. There was really no reason to ask any questions. Shkreli was obviously one of Brainster's "people trying to make a little profit." However, the journalist's statement was not as moronic as Shkreli's

Statements at sentencing
During his sentencing, Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said Shkreli seemed "genuinely remorseful", regarding his "egregious multitude of lies", but said he had "repeatedly minimized" his misconduct. Shkreli, who reportedly cried as he gave his statement to the court, stated "I was never motivated by money."
Martin Shkreli (Wikipedia)

I assume that Brainster would have preferred that nothing had been done about Shkreli since "she obvious problem is that limiting the price of a good" according to him "is a 100% certain way to ensure that the market will not work hard to eliminate the shortage."

Imagine how incredibly cheap the pills would have become if only the free market had been allowed to work its wonders. At this point it would no doubt have become free of charge.

Nowadays, Shkreli is out there again: Who Asked for This: Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli Releases Medical ChatGPT Knockoff (Gizmodo, April 21, 2023)
Twitter Suspends Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli—Again—After He Debuts Medical ChatGPT Knockoff (Gizmodo, April 25, 2023)
What an enterprising and inspiring young man!

 

[dann]

While waiting for the problem to be solved by "people trying to make a little profit"

Downtown

Downtown on Wednesday, not far from Petco Park, a man in a motorized wheelchair wore a vintage brown and gold shirt.
Another sat on a walker, his head covered with a Padres beanie. Across the front of a nearby tent, a banner displayed a giant “SD.”
But the gear seemed less about the upcoming baseball season and more a necessity against the wind and rain.
From inside the tent, a voice shouted: “They’re forcing us out.”
(...)
More people continue to fall into homelessness than are housed, and one recent tally estimated there were nearly 1,840 people on city streets or living in vehicles.
San Diego police clear downtown homeless encampments as city prepares for Padres opening day (The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 29, 2023)

 

[dann]

Violence in San Fransisco

With must-see video clips!

Chris Hayes on the truth behind the San Francisco attack that obsessed Fox News: “According to the video and the public defender, this is where the story actually began. This is the key context of what happened before everything they played on Fox News.”
The surprise turn in Fox's favorite new fearmongering story (MSNBC on YouTube, April 29, 2023)

The former San Francisco fire commissioner Don Carmignani is being accused engaging in attacks against the unhoused community as video just came to light showing him spraying a homeless man with bear spray. Francesca Fiorentini, Mondale Robinson, and Mark Thompson discuss on The Young Turks.
Ex-San Francisco Official Accused of Bear Macing Homeless People (The Young Turks on YouTube, April 29, 2023)

 

[dann]

A Possible Vigilante Repeatedly Bear-Sprayed the Homeless. Why Didn’t SF Police Warn the Public? (SF Standard, April 28, 2023)

That's a good question, isn't it?!
And there's both this crime and also that other crime that we have already been introduced to by Brainster:

When news of Carmignani’s beating first surfaced, the incident was framed as an unprovoked assault on a man who was simply trying to remove homeless individuals from the front of his mother’s property. Garret Doty, a 24-year-old homeless man, was arrested and accused of beating Carmignani.
“Right now, one of my dear friends is in the hospital because last night in the Marina he was attacked by a homeless person with a metal pipe,” Supervisor Catherine Stefani, whose District 2 covers the Marina, said of Carmignani after the attack.
But much like in the recent killing of tech executive Bob Lee, where many people wrongly jumped to the conclusion that he was the victim of a random street crime, the Carmignani case is calling early assumptions into question.
Doty’s attorney revealed the bear-spray attacks this week and said her client was acting in self-defense.

But why would they think that Bob Lee was the victim of random street crime?

Well, let's see, there are "all the continuing reports of crime problems", of course:

And of course it's tough to lure people back with all the continuing reports of crime problems.

The deadly stabbing of tech executive Bob Lee in San Francisco was a shock to residents and a tragedy for his family, friends and colleagues.

Police said Lee was found early Tuesday morning bleeding outside a condominium building on Main Street near Harrison Street in the city's East Cut Neighborhood.

FBI data compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle shows the city has a lower violent crime rate than other major metropolises, and suffers from property crime more than crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and assault. Still, Lee’s death has further enflamed the debate over public safety in San Francisco, particularly in the city’s downtown which has yet to bounce back from the pandemic. Tech leaders including Elon Musk have been quick to pile pressure on public leaders, with the Twitter and Tesla CEO tweeting “Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately” and tagging the city’s district attorney in the post.
Scant details emerge on fatal stabbing of Cash App founder amid safety concerns (Guardian, April 7, 2023)

So before anybody knew anything about the killer and the motive, "the people trying to make a little profit" already knew whom and what to blame ...

So random street crime?!
No, not at all:
Former FBI agent: Bob Lee was 'friendly' with accused killer's sister

 

[dann]

Politicians happy to do rent control, eviscerating profit motive, that would yield lots of cheaper and cheaper housing, the same way store shelves are crammed with cheap stuff?

Brainster's "people who are trying to make a little profit" are at it again. This time, they aren't out to make "lots of cheaper and cheaper housing" or to see to it that "store shelves are crammed with cheap stuff". Instead, they are eager to provide everybody with cheaper and cheaper health care!





Where would we be without them ...

 

[theprestige]

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/05/10/five-questions-for-ben-stutz/

Willamette Week has been doing some solid investigative journalism about Portland and Oregon politics recently.

This is a short interview with the owner of a 120 year-old bar in downtown Portland. The topic is the bar's current prospects, especially with an open-air fentanyl market across the street. What happens to downtown? I don't know. But this is what is happening to this downtown.

 

[theprestige]

Over in the Whole Foods thread, Norman Alexander expressed incredulity that people in Portland could fund their fentanyl habit with water bottle returns financed by food stamps.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/05/10/five-questions-for-ben-stutz/

"Approximately 130,000 fentanyl pills, weighing over 33 lbs. were found. Officials say the street value of the drugs is $400,000."

That's $3/pill.

 

[Thermal]

Over in the Whole Foods thread, Norman Alexander expressed incredulity that people in Portland could fund their fentanyl habit with water bottle returns financed by food stamps.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/05/10/five-questions-for-ben-stutz/

"Approximately 130,000 fentanyl pills, weighing over 33 lbs. were found. Officials say the street value of the drugs is $400,000."

That's $3/pill.

What do you guys get for a deposit per water bottle? If it's a nickel per, I guess that's 60 bottles per single pill. Does one pill do it, or do you need two or three to get high? My wife was given fentanyl for a recent throat surgery and she not only didn't get high, but it didn't really kill the pain either. Then they gave her 10mg of Oxy with similar results. I kind of assumed you would have to megadose to get off.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/05/10/five-questions-for-ben-stutz/

Willamette Week has been doing some solid investigative journalism about Portland and Oregon politics recently.

This is a short interview with the owner of a 120 year-old bar in downtown Portland. The topic is the bar's current prospects, especially with an open-air fentanyl market across the street. What happens to downtown? I don't know. But this is what is happening to this downtown.

Wish it had more information about this vacant building next door. I always wonder how that's possible in major cities. Isn't the land valuable enough that the opportunity cost of keeping a vacant building doing nothing is huge?

Kinda sounds like a blight, and if the owner isn't going to do anything with it the city should probably start litigating to get ownership.

 

[theprestige]

Wish it had more information about this vacant building next door. I always wonder how that's possible in major cities. Isn't the land valuable enough that the opportunity cost of keeping a vacant building doing nothing is huge?

Kinda sounds like a blight, and if the owner isn't going to do anything with it the city should probably start litigating to get ownership.

The vacant building next door has been in local news a lot. The city and the owner are in fact in the middle of a tussle over it. There's a lot of this going on in Portland. A big part of the problem is the city's dysfunctional approach to development. It creates perverse incentives for property owners, instead of encouraging healthy growth. The evacuation of downtown during Covid didn't help. Neither does the city's decriminalization of public drug use and public camping. Neither does the tacit agreement between City Hall, the Portland Police Bureau, and the ANTIFA/ACAB voting bloc to dial back policing in the city.

tl;dr - yeah, it's blight. Lots and lots of blight. That's what's happening to downtown.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

The vacant building next door has been in local news a lot. The city and the owner are in fact in the middle of a tussle over it. There's a lot of this going on in Portland. A big part of the problem is the city's dysfunctional approach to development. It creates perverse incentives for property owners, instead of encouraging healthy growth. The evacuation of downtown during Covid didn't help. Neither does the city's decriminalization of public drug use and public camping..

That's interesting. Dealing with absentee landlords can be a real hassle.

Neither does the tacit agreement between City Hall, the Portland Police Bureau, and the ANTIFA/ACAB voting bloc to dial back policing in the city

Less "tacit agreement" and more "PPD keeps violating people's civil rights in direct defiance of a federal court order".

Federal lawyers last month said they had asked Portland police to produce a plan on how they’ll properly report , analyze and investigate officers’ use of force, but the city has refused, contending a correction plan isn’t required under the settlement.

In February, the Justice Department found the Police Bureau failed to meet four key reforms under the settlement, citing inappropriate police use and management of force during protests last year, inadequate training, subpar police oversight and a failure to adequately share an annual Police Bureau report with the public as required.

The settlement followed a federal investigation that found Portland officers used excessive force against people with mental illness. It called for widespread changes to Portland police force and Taser policies, training, supervision and oversight, a restructuring of police crisis intervention services and quicker investigations into alleged police misconduct.

https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2021/04/feds-put-city-of-portland-on-formal-notice-of-non-compliance-with-justice-dept-settlement-agreement.html

It sucks having cops that you can't trust to enforce small quality of life issues without making a federal civil rights case out of it. The total lack of professionalism in the PPD is a real liability to the city and makes dealing with ordinary street crime a real problem.

If the choice is between not calling the cops on drug users or having some psycho pig show up and brutalize people in a way that gets the city on the hook for massive damages and general butt-paddling by the DOJ, often the better choice is to not let cops out of the pigpen. Yet again the public pays the price for out of control police, one way or another.

You gotta fight crime with the pigs you have, not the police force you wish you had.

 

[dann]

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/05/10/five-questions-for-ben-stutz/

Willamette Week has been doing some solid investigative journalism about Portland and Oregon politics recently.

This is a short interview with the owner of a 120 year-old bar in downtown Portland. The topic is the bar's current prospects, especially with an open-air fentanyl market across the street. What happens to downtown? I don't know. But this is what is happening to this downtown.

Kelly’s is next door to the most notorious building in Portland: Washington Center, a vacant, 1970s-era commercial complex that remains an open-air fentanyl market despite police sweeps and the installation of panel upon panel of plywood to cover alcoves and outdoor stairs.

So not all commercial free market activities have stopped downtown.

We are in a situation where people are literally blowing fentanyl smoke in a policeman’s face.

That is what could be expected to happen when word got around that the police are scared out of their minds by stories about low-level exposure to fentanyl:
Media outlets push fears of officers overdosing from fentanyl exposures. Doctors say it doesn’t add up. (CNN, Dec 22, 2022)
Why the Fear of Second Hand Fentanyl Smoke May Be Overblown (Psychiatrist, Mar 7, 2023)

 

[dann]

To reinvent downtown retail, drastic changes may be required.
That means denser neighborhoods with a broader mix of affordable housing, experiential retail, restaurants, entertainment, parks and other amenities, which won’t happen overnight.
(...)
“Maybe we cried too much last year” about shrink numbers, a Walgreens executive said in January.
And instead of a strong correlation with crime rates, the closures aren’t also a recent phenomenon.
(...)
Retail stores are also under pressure from the continued shift to online shopping.
For example, chain-store closures in New York City have correlated to the products most frequently bought online.
(...)
Zoning laws need to be updated to allow for redevelopment of some vacant office buildings and commercial real estate into affordable housing.
The density of housing that will replace some office and commercial spaces matters, said David Dixon from Stantec. People want to shop just minutes from their homes, and a critical mass of housing is needed to sustain surrounding retailers.
“A vibrant downtown, full of housing, can bring its streets to life,” he said. “It’s a much larger story than the fate of retailers themselves.”
The real reasons stores such as Walmart and Starbucks are closing in big cities (CNN, May 13, 2023)

It's almost as if street crime and homeless people aren't the problem. Instead, housing those homeless people seems to be part of the solution.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

It's almost as if street crime and homeless people aren't the problem. Instead, housing those homeless people seems to be part of the solution.

Conservatives want to house the homeless too, they just want to do so in the more punitive and expensive way, throwing them in prison.

 

[Brainster]

Writer started out trying to write about how SF is not in a doom loop and:

A note to my fellow San Franciscians: I’m sorry. I know. There’s always some story in the east-coast press about how our city is dying. San Franciscians hate—HATE—these pieces. You’re a stooge and a traitor for writing one. When I set out reporting, I wanted to write a debunking-the-doom piece myself. Yet to live in San Francisco right now, to watch its streets, is to realize that no one will catch you if you fall. In the first three months of 2023, 200 San Franciscans OD’ed, up 41 percent from last year.

 

[Orphia Nay]

NYC is using empty hotels to house asylum seekers.

https://apnews.com/article/183dc6f5fc563da98f3abc56d941799c

But they still don't have enough accommodation for all the city's homeless.

 

[dann]

And of course it's tough to lure people back with all the continuing reports of crime problems.

The deadly stabbing of tech executive Bob Lee in San Francisco was a shock to residents and a tragedy for his family, friends and colleagues.

Police said Lee was found early Tuesday morning bleeding outside a condominium building on Main Street near Harrison Street in the city's East Cut Neighborhood.

More news about the murder of Bob Lee:

EXPOSED: Bob Lee, the murdered cash app founder allegedly had a life of sex and drug use which may have lead to his death.

"Cash App founder Bob Lee allegedly frequented underground sex and drug parties for San Francisco’s elite with the sister of his accused killer after an argument about her.
Lee’s death was initially believed to be a case of random violence in a city where crime is soaring, but his friends suggested it was instead a result of the Cash App founder’s indulgent lifestyle among the upper echelon of Bay Area society where cocaine and swingers were common, the Wall Street Journal reports."
Bob Lee's Murder Exposes The Secrets of San Francisco's "Lifestyle" Culture (The Young Turks on YouTube, May 20, 2023 - 12:40)

 

[quadraginta]

More news about the murder of Bob Lee:

More news still. They have charged the brother of his (married) girlfriend. Who pled "not guilty".

So much for violent street people. Looks like just another family affair.

 

[Orphia Nay]

More news still. They have charged the brother of his (married) girlfriend. Who pled "not guilty".

So much for violent street people. Looks like just another family affair.

Well, well, well.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

More news still. They have charged the brother of his (married) girlfriend. Who pled "not guilty".

So much for violent street people. Looks like just another family affair.

Reactionaries got such blue balls from this. They were champing at the bit when this murder was first announced, spinning tales of the dangerous streets of San Fran and the plague of homeless that menaces the public.

Dropped the story like a sack of bricks the moment it was announced that this murder was not a "stranger danger" horror story. They'll never mention it again.