News/Commentary

‘It feels post-apocalyptic’: Longtime San Francisco resident calls city a ‘hellhole’

May 29, 2023 | | Print Article

As some leftists continue to defend their city’s reputation, locals in San Francisco spoke up about the “hellhole” it has become.

“It honestly feels like I’m in a place that’s been in a zombie apocalypse.”

Lax policing has turned once-thriving districts of progressive cities into meccas of homelessness and drug addiction. The crisis has even led San Francisco Mayor London Breed and the board of supervisors to roll out a pilot program to remove individuals who pose a danger to themselves or others.

Speaking with Fox News Digital,  Seema Gokhale who lives near the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood expressed, “It really feels post-apocalyptic. Something needs to be done. We have to make this a livable place. I describe it as a hellhole right now. If I wasn’t a homeowner and hadn’t grown up in the area and there wasn’t a strong job market in the area, I would leave.”

“I walk by people regularly and it feels horrible,” she said as drug addicts have “needle tracks all over their arms and legs and toes. I see people with rotting limbs because they’re living on the streets.”

“It honestly feels like I’m in a place that’s been in a zombie apocalypse. It’s like a dystopia. It really feels like a dystopian reality right now where I see boarded-up storefronts. I see people defecating on the streets,” Gokhale detailed.

Her account was similar to reports out of Philadelphia where large swaths of people were seen gathered in displays reminiscent of “The Walking Dead,” reportedly suffering from addiction to Xylazine, known as “tranq,” a sedative that amplifies the effects of other drugs.

“They have open, gaping wounds, they can’t walk, and they tell me, ‘If I go to the hospital, I’m going to get sick. They’re so terrified of the detox,” Sarah Laurel of the nonprofit Savage Sisters said.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, local business owner Tom Wong decried the condition of the city and told Fox News Digital, “It went from a family-friendly city to just rampant robbery, theft, assault. It is lawlessness out there and there’s a lot of homelessness.”

“The mindset is changing for the Asian community there. They’re probably realizing that the leftist [policies] are not working and it’s eroding away family values,” he added.

Of course, there were some who suggested the negative reports on the City by the Bay were “media hype” with resident Arjun Sodhani suggesting, “San Francisco has really improved over the years in terms of safety, violent crimes, and standard of living.”

He admitted he can’t say “that there’s not a problem. There is a big problem. And that it might be one of those unresolved problems that’s been going on for a long, long time.”

Progressive California state Sen. Scott Weiner said much the same as he slammed a report from CNN as a “hit job” and said to Fox, “It was pure clickbait, and it presented only one side and did not represent any of the massive amounts of good happening in San Francisco.”

“And it was an absolute hit job, and I guess CNN has been struggling with its ratings, so it platformed Donald Trump to drive up ratings. Now it’s doing a hit piece on San Francisco because people tend to be drawn to that,” he continued and suggested, “San Francisco has always been a punching bag for the right.”

The report from CNN had focused on the homelessness and drug problems which, as previously covered, had reached heights that even leftist politicians could no longer ignore.

The San Francisco Controller’s office revealed that in 2021 and into 2022, nearly half of all commercial sidewalks in the city had feces on them. On top of that, the drug crisis saw a 41 percent rise in drug-related deaths through the first quarter of 2023 leading Breed to announce, “We have to make the kinds of decisions that are going to allow for people to get the help and support they need, but to not allow things to continue in the way that they have been for far too long. It’s time for change.”

The remarks were made at a publicly-held board of supervisors meeting that was shut down by protesters chanting “no more cops” in rejection of the proposed crackdown on drug use and sales.

Former city councilman Tony Hall contributed to Fox News Digital’s report on the situation and said, “Within the last four or five years, definitely within the last ten years, the city is just a shell of what it historically has been.”

“I mean, this is out of control. Anybody who says it’s not is not in touch with the real world. And we have a lot of elected people here that are telling us ‘no,’ the level of crime that we are experiencing in San Francisco is not unlike any other spot in the country,” he said. “False, totally false.”

“We hate to see it going this way,” Hall said detailing 30 percent of office retail spaces were empty downtown, “but it’s due to total mismanagement.”

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Kevin Haggerty
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