Helping the Homeless in SF?

I read in the Gate that Mayor Newsom seems to have a new plan for getting panhandlers off the streets, and it involves collecting change in old parking meters, donating said money to homeless charities, and trying to encourage both tourists and locals not to hand over their nickles, dimes and quarters to panhandlers.

While I have a big heart for the homeless (the dreamboat has seen me shed tears for them and their situation) I understand that they can seem an irritating and thankless bunch, and quite a few of them are. An example of an experience I’ve had with the homeless:

A while back I passed a homeless guy on the corner of 15th and Valencia, and feeling very in the mood to help ran to my local Mexican food place and bought dinner and took it back to where him. He took the food, and then proceeded to ask me a million questions about what it was and whether I had provided him with any booze and he didn’t utter one word of thanks (I had given him with a bottle of water and a Negro Modelo, and while walking away was slightly glad I had forgotten a bottle opener, cause he turned out to be such a prick). The next day he didn’t even recognize who I was when I saw him again and he asked me for money.

I was sour on homeless people for a while, then I got over it. I realized I can’t judge all homeless people cause one was a prick, the same way I don’t judge entire races, genders, or sexualities because of one bad egg.

I still wonder what is the best thing to do though. To give money or not to give money? Many people are crying foul on Mayor Newsom for his latest scheme saying that the city isn’t really addressing the problem because it doesn’t actually get people off the streets. I personally say, hey, at least he has a frickin idea. A lot of people in this city complain about the homeless, yet no one is coming up with any ideas on how to fix it. I know we have a government that’s supposed to make things all hunky dory for us, but as the citizens of San Francisco we also need to take some initiatives. If you have better ideas for fixing the problem, let your fellow citizens hear them. Make info-graphic posters, record podcast, hold meetings, stand on your soap box in the streets, write letters. Write the mayor, hell, run for mayor because if you can help our city with its homeless problem, you can probably fix a lot of things. Change, let’s all hop to it!