A man who recently relocated to San Francisco has expressed his astonishment at the conditions in the crime-ridden, Democrat-led city in California.
Despite city officials cleaning up San Francisco for the visit of Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping earlier this month, crime, open drug use, and widespread homelessness have quickly returned.
One new resident, Jeremy Bernier, shared his dismay with Fox News, stating, “This is a disgrace,” during an interview with FOX’s Carley Shimkus on Monday.
“I’ve been to 50-plus countries and traveled the world.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.
“It’s just ground zero of the fentanyl crisis.
“You’ve got people literally smoking fentanyl, taking these drugs out on the streets.
“You’ve got the tents and camps while you’ve got a playground with children playing right nearby, and this is blocks away from the mayor’s office.
“It’s just unbelievable to me that a city and country with such immense wealth can have such blatant poverty and suffering.”
Bernier’s remarks echo a widespread sentiment of discontent about the persisting issues of crime, squalor, drug abuse, and homelessness that have plagued San Francisco for an extended period.
Numerous business owners have been compelled to close their establishments due to these challenges. Gracias Madre, a well-known vegan restaurant, closed its doors after over a decade earlier this year.
Recently, restaurant owner Tony Pankaew expressed his dismay at the city’s deteriorating conditions, reverting to its usual state after a hurried cleanup for Jinping’s visit. The Communist leader attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit earlier this month and held meetings with Democrat President Joe Biden.
Bernier, a software engineer who arrived in San Francisco a week before Jinping, observed the stark contrast between the city’s condition before and after the cleanup, leaving him pleasantly surprised.
“I came into San Francisco expecting the worst because all over social media, it looks terrible, right?” he said.
“When I arrived in San Francisco, actually, I was surprised that it seemed really clean and fine.
“Yes, there were the bad areas around the Civic Center area, but the good areas were really fine.
“So I thought, ‘Wow. The media is showing an overly dystopian view of it.’
“Then I left the city for a couple of weeks, just arrived back here on Saturday, walked through the Tenderloin [district], and I saw that,” he said, pointing out images he captured of homelessness in the city.
“Either it was cleaned up for Xi Jinping, and then it got bad, or they never cleaned up after Jinping.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom faced backlash for the extensive cleanup initiative.
The Democratic governor addressed the criticism during the launch of a new program aimed at planting trees in urban neighborhoods as part of his Clean California initiative.
“I know folks are saying, ‘Oh they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming to town’,” he said.
“That’s true because it’s true.
“It’s also true for months and months and months before APEC, we’ve been having different conversations and we’ve raised the bar of expectation between the city, the county, and the state and our federal partners,” he added.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) responded to the acknowledgment with a Twitter/X post.
The NRCC stated, “Why do they [Democrats] prioritize cleaning up for China over helping Californians?”
However, Bernier emphasized that the issue is more about a “human” concern than a partisan one.
“Whatever your party is, you can look at this and see this needs to be solved,” he said.
“This is a crisis.
“We’ve just got to come together and solve it.
“It’s just it’s a matter of just having the willpower to solve it.”
