My kids go to daycare a short distance from the navigation center proposed for Seawall Lot 330. I support it.
Think of the children! Build the shelter.
In the absence of available shelter, the waiting rooms for people experiencing homelessness are on our streets. My young children used to go to a daycare served by Van Ness Station. They would encounter someone sleeping in the Muni elevator almost every morning. The reality is that people are suffering, and our children are watching. I can’t think of anything more inefficient and ineffective than sheltering people in the elevators that our disabled neighbors and children in strollers rely upon for access to transit.
We must do better, and the Mayor is admirably leading the charge, doing what San Franciscans elected her to do. The expansion of navigation center capacity will improve the experience of children and literally everyone else all over our city who encounter troubling street behavior on a daily basis.
It is shameful that Embarcadero NIMBYs are openly planning legal action intended to drain our collective resources and kill the center entirely or decrease its capacity and effectiveness. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the site. In fact, it is superior to the existing sites in many ways including its size and excellent transit access.
The best investment of our tax dollars is in demonstrating that efforts to undermine the navigation center program and similar necessities for the greater good will not succeed. That wealthier neighborhoods, including my own (Noe Valley), will not get a pass in addressing homelessness. That neighborhoods may shape the details of new navigation centers but not threaten their existence or capacity.
HOW CAN YOU SAY YES TO SHELTER?
Public comment is happening at the Ferry Building TODAY, April 23! If you are unable to attend, take 15 seconds to send an email of support. And sign the petition! If you want to see shelters built all across San Francisco, become a supporting member of YIMBY Action.
On any given night in San Francisco, approximately 4,400 people have no place they can stay indoors. There are less than 2000 beds available in the City’s shelters and navigation centers — an enormous shortfall with huge costs in human suffering. Learn more at nav.yimbyaction.org.
