People wander a couple of blocks away from where they're staying for work or tourism, and they're right in the Tenderloin. Also, it's true that Market Street and Mission, two streets that were once a bit scruffy with homeless and the like, have deteriorated significantly since the start of the pandemic.

The crime problem could be cleared up in about a month of good policing and court action here in the city, which is what's frustrating. Set up a couple of bait cars, use the ubiquitous CCTV cameras to go after organized thieves, and then throw the book at them. The homeless problem is a bit tougher, since there's a huge homeless industry that really doesn't want permanent solutions, and you also have the West Coast weather drawing people from across the country.

Still, it's hard to say we're out of solutions when we haven't really tried anything remotely serious or plausible.