By: Peter Aitken
San Francisco has undertaken a significant effort to glam up streets ahead of a vital U.S.-China summit next week, including the removal of homeless camps around the city.
"I know folks are saying, 'Oh they're just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming to town.' That's true, because it's true — but it's also true for months and months and months before APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit], we've been having conversations," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday at the unveiling of a new program to plant trees in urban neighborhoods.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the conference could help the city with an anticipated $53 million injected into the economy, according to FOX affiliate KTVU, adding that "tourism is our business here in San Francisco."
KTVU noted that the efforts to clean the city have created "noticeable" cleanliness to the streets but also far fewer homeless encampments on major thoroughfares.
Marc Savino, who works in the city, told KTVU that "you just naturally start to wonder about houseless folks being displaced."
Emails obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle show that the city's superintendent of Street Environmental Services Christopher McDaniels was "concerned about historical encampments that are close to priority areas."
Those areas include seven intersections in two neighborhoods that have long been the "epicenter" of the homeless crisis, according to the Chronicle. Another official, Deputy Director of Operations DiJaida Durden, said that the city needed to "stay on top of the growing encampments," then asked, "Do we have a plan?"
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-city-removes-homeless-beautification-bidens-summit-chinese-president-xi