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San Diego continues to face a hepatitis A outbreak:
Like other major cities all along the West Coast, San Diego is struggling with a homeless crisis. In a place that bills itself as "America's Finest City," spiraling real estate values have contributed to spiraling homelessness, leaving more than 3,200 people living on the streets or in their cars.
Most alarmingly, the deplorable sanitary conditions help spread a liver-damaging virus that lives in fæces, contributing to the deadliest U.S. hepatitis A epidemic in 20 years. "Some of the most vulnerable are dying in the streets in one of the most desirable and livable regions in America," a San Diego County grand jury wrote in its report in June — reiterating recommendations it gave the city over the past decade to address homelessness.
San Diego has struggled to do that. Two years ago, Mayor Kevin Faulconer closed a downtown tent shelter that operated for 29 years during winter months. He promised a "game changer" — a new, permanent facility with services to funnel people to housing. But it wasn't enough. The result? Legions of Californians without shelter. A spreading contagion. And an extraordinary challenge to the city's sunny identity that threatens its key tourism industry.
Previously: San Diego Declares Emergency Due to Outbreak of Hepatitis A
San Diego Power-Washing Streets to Fight Hepatitis A Outbreak
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday December 09 2017, @02:53PM (1 child)
HO HO HO Ha Ha HAWWWWWWWW! What they are talking about is East Village, which is pretty much like Los Angeles' Skid Row and one step away from becoming a favela or Delhi slum. This is reassurance to the understandably angry out-of-state morons who bought condos there at a ridiculous markup as well as to the potential s̶u̶c̶k̶e̶r̶s̶ buyers who need reassurance that the homeless problem will simply disappear overnight.
I travel there on a regular basis, and yes, despite all the pressure-washing going on every morning, you will still see bums slamming heroin and smoking crack in broad daylight on the patio of that polished little gentrified-looking coffee shop, and you will most definitely see piles of fresh feces on the sidewalks everywhere because cruel bureaucrats think its a bad idea to provide places for bums to shit. Oh, and East Village is where all the social services are, so those bums aren't leaving anytime soon.
"One of the most desirable and livable regions in America," indeed. Like Detroit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 09 2017, @09:55PM
USA likes to call itself the richest nation on the globe.
So, why is 60 percent of the populace $400 away from disaster?
(The majority of USAians would have to sell something or take out a loan if they had an emergency.)
When FDR was handed the mess that (Republicans) Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover had created, and the boom-and-bust Capitalist weren't hiring, he put 15 million USAians back to work and got the economy jump-started.
Those USAians patched up dilapidated public infrastructure and built lots of new stuff.
These days, just look around.
Much of The Richest Nation looks like an armpit.
There's clearly plenty of work that needs doing.
In this (meta)thread, the sorry state of the decades-old sidewalks in SoCal has already been mentioned.
With all the wealth/resources in it, USA should be the most beautiful place on the planet.
You shouldn't be able to look anywhere and not see awesomeness.
Instead, we have a failed nation with a failed economy--and the occasional pocket of affluence.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]