On his podcast “The Drawback,” Jon Stewart obtained a stunning response when he requested Mayor London Breed about her method to fixing the town’s points.
The comic requested Breed whether or not she’s seen a very promising system for bringing again of us scuffling with psychological well being points or dependancy.
“Not essentially,” Breed replied. Stewart took it as an sincere admission of the troublesome issues at play.
Within the interview, Breed mentioned how her upbringing coloured her method to prison justice, her downside with San Francisco’s acknowledged progressives and the place she thinks the town is handcuffed in its capability to take care of the intertwined crises of psychological well being and homelessness.
Stewart, who additionally shared reminiscences of enjoying on the Punchline after the Loma Prieta earthquake—when a visual crack adorned the comedy membership’s partitions—launched Breed as “criticized, I believe, by everyone, for being too comfortable on crime, too powerful on crime.”
Breed, who grew up in public housing and whose household was deeply impacted by dependancy and the prison justice system, credited her grandmother with serving to her survive that gauntlet. She mentioned it was her upbringing that has formed her views on public security and drug dependancy.
Breed described her grandmother as “actually hardcore,” and posited that she was more durable on her than her brothers. That meant Breed “needed to do all of the chores, run her errands, pay the hire” in an early lesson on accountability.
“You have been saved by sexism?” Stewart joked.
The dialog touched on Breed’s frustration with progressivism as it’s conceived in San Francisco. The mayor took the chance to voice a few of her common criticism of the Board of Supervisors.
“There are members of that physique who really feel that they’re the carriers of the torch for progressive values in San Francisco,” Breed mentioned.
“To be clear, these are individuals who do not know what it feels wish to stay in these circumstances and they’re continually pushing in opposition to the suggestions which might be being even made by the people who find themselves residing within the circumstances which might be so irritating,” she added.
When attempting to parse out intersecting points impacting the town, Breed drew a straight line between homelessness and substance abuse and touted the necessity for secure consumption websites and a “tiered” system of dependancy packages.
“The issue is, in fact, the habits and the challenges that exist from my perspective from a number of the usage of medication and the psychosis that occurs because of the usage of medication,” Breed mentioned. “Oftentimes that’s not reversible. So we’ve got people who find themselves extra erratic, people who find themselves extra combative, people who find themselves extra engaged within the type of habits the place persons are afraid.”
Consistent with that take, Breed pushed for extra instruments to compel individuals into remedy if they’re unable or unwilling to take action voluntarily. Earlier this month, Breed joined a coalition of lawmakers in pushing for updates to California’s conservatorship legal guidelines.
“We’ve got to have a stage of drive related to that to essentially get individuals on the appropriate path,” Breed mentioned. “In case you have psychological sickness and also you’re out on the streets and also you’re strolling out and in of visitors, you realize, we will do a 72-hour maintain. However via our authorized system, in the event you say, I am okay and also you wish to return on the streets, you’re allowed to try this.”
She used the instance of an aged girl who walks round bare, dragging a blanket behind her, and who turns into violent when approached.
“The one factor we will do is detain her. She goes via the method and he or she says ‘I am okay, I can handle myself.’ And that isn’t an answer,” Breed mentioned. “That’s doing the identical factor time and again, anticipating to get a special consequence, which we won’t get except we’re prepared to place in a stage of drive that typically additionally makes individuals uncomfortable.”
“After we’re attempting to vary the insurance policies, we begin speaking about [forcing] somebody into remedy. Then hastily, persons are like, ‘effectively, wait a minute, conservatorship. Have a look at what occurred with Britney Spears. We do not wanna take away somebody’s rights’
“If it have been me, I might need somebody to drive me into no matter remedy doable,” Breed mentioned.
A part of the issue, Stewart identified, a scarcity of obtainable remedy beds.
Breed mentioned she believed that assets might be diverted from jails and prisons into “psychological well being amenities that might meet the wants of these affected by schizophrenia or dementia or points the place they can not essentially handle themselves.”
As for why San Francisco has turn into such an avatar for city decline? Breed pointed the finger at President Trump, who turned the liberal metropolis right into a helpful foil, in addition to social media, which may create viral moments that take maintain within the fashionable creativeness.
“I believe individuals see these movies and assume, oh my goodness, San Francisco is such a scary place,” Breed mentioned.
Probably the most placing facets of the interview was the clear admission by Breed of the restricted affect that a person metropolis like San Francisco could make in tackling its issues of homelessness and drug abuse.
“I believe what we’re doing in San Francisco is attempting to cease the bleeding,” Breed mentioned. “We are able to’t do that alone, we will’t arrest our method out of this downside. We won’t get sufficient individuals into remedy to make a dent.”
Kevin Truong could be reached at [email protected]