Trump bashes San Francisco, saying it's in 'horrible shape'
Former San Francisco mayoral candidate Richie Greenberg discusses the time and effort that will be required to tackle California’s homeless crisis and evidence suggesting the mental health element of homelessness.
President Trump criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a series of tweets Saturday morning, ripping the Democratic lawmaker’s San Francisco district as “very bad and dangerous.”
“I can’t believe that Nancy Pelosi’s District in San Francisco is in such horrible shape that the City itself is in violation of many sanitary & environmental orders, causing it to owe the Federal Government billions of dollars,” Trump claimed. “And all she works on is Impeachment…..”
In the weeks since Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry into Trump over his dealings with Ukraine, the president has frequently lashed out at her.
“We should all work together to clean up these hazardous waste and homeless sites before the whole city rots away,” he continued. “Very bad and dangerous conditions, also severely impacting the Pacific Ocean and water supply. Pelosi must work on this mess and turn her District around!”
It’s also not the first time that Trump has attacked San Francisco, a progressive-leaning city. In mid-September, he accused the city of allowing a tremendous amount of waste, including needles, go through storm drains into the ocean -- and threatened to set the Environmental Protection Agency on the city, according to CBS News.
CALIFORNIA LAW EXPEDITES L.A. HOMELESS SHELTER DEVELOPMENT
“They’re in serious violation,” Trump said, adding, “They have to clean it up. We can’t have our cities going to hell.”
But local officials pushed back against that claim. Mayor London Breed called Trump's comments at the time "ridiculous,” saying that storm drain debris is filtered out at city wastewater treatment plants so that it does not flow into the bay or ocean.
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At the beginning of October, Trump followed up on his threat as the EPA issued a notice accusing San Francisco of violating the federal Clean Water Act. In a letter to the city’s general manager of the city’s Public Utilities Commission, Harlan Kelly, Jr., the EPA said it identified several violations in the city, including the lack of proper operation and maintenance that has allowed raw and partially treated sewage to flow into the ocean, and sometimes into streets and homes, according to the Associated Press.
Homelessness in some California cities has surged in recent years; in San Francisco, it rose 17 percent, compared to the last count two years ago, according to The New York Times. Californians also named it as one of the top issues facing the state, according to a poll released last month by the Public Policy Institute of California.
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