Even as violent crime rates hover near historic lows, San Francisco and swaths of much of the nation seem locked in an intensifying debate over public safety, street misery, open-air drug dealing, as well as the methods of confronting those issues. Voice-overs say, “San Francisco, one of America’s most beautiful cities,” and “I was enchanted.” But then the lens switches to photos of broken shop windows, men sprawled on sidewalks and a tent encampment. “A surge in shoplifting … homelessness … open drug use ... However, the city’s one-night count of unsheltered homeless people actually went down 15% in the last tally, taken in January. But those efforts have done little to blunt the bad national headlines or satisfy San Francisco residents worried about the direction the city is headed.

Source: CNN May 13, 2023 11:12 UTC