Bye Bye Buster’s
“Shifting the Overton Window” is a concept in political theory: The window represents that range of ideas regarded as known and acceptable options before the public, within the broader spectrum of every possible response on an issue that’s being discussed and decided before—and sometimes by—the general populace.
Joe Overton described a method for moving that window, shifting what the public regards as acceptable. The technique is founded upon priming the public with rhetoric supporting ideas that seem even more extreme and less acceptable than previous “fringe” ideas. This causes, by comparison, these previous extreme fringe ideas to seem closer to mainstream, becoming, therefore, more popularly acceptable. So, to make extreme ideas more acceptable, promote ideas that seem even more extreme, which will remain unacceptable, but will make the real target ideas seem acceptable in comparison.
This is a tool that City Hall is using with this year’s budget. Mayor Newsom knows full well that San Francisco can hardly afford to do without the cost savings provided by low-threshold, 24-hour, intermediate-level, crisis intervention services. Why, then, would Mayor Newsom propose a budget that doesn’t contain any funding for these services, which are so essential to San Francisco’s general welfare? Well ya see, ‘s’like this:
He’s proposed a budget containing funding for his administrative assault on the human and civil rights of San Francisco’s poor and homeless people. You heard about it on the news: that special homeless hoosegow, the new bargain brig; his Honor the Mayor calls it “community court.” Sure, a whole new bureaucracy, dedicated to adjudicating the persecution of the low- and no-income community mainly just for being there. Or being here. Either way, it’s gotta be one of the last things poor and homeless people anywhere need.
Another is his tactical assault on the human and civil rights and the general welfare of San Francisco, as represented by the 250 additional cops funded in his proposed budget. I can’t help wondering: How many more counselors, social workers, and case managers, or supportive housing units, detox beds, and treatment centers, or subsidized housing programs, after-school sports and arts programs, and child-care programs, could San Francisco have had for the same money?
In the absence of enough nurses, apartments, and schools, these acts of fiscal mis-allocation may well be regarded as attacks upon the welfare of San Francisco in general, and that of San Francisco’s more fragile populations in particular. It is those of us who are just barely hangin’ on that will end up having to bare the brunt of these calculated attacks. Those of us who are too old, too young, too sick, too needy, underinsured, unemployed, and close to the edge are the ones most likely to get hurt and die as a result of these classist, callous, and offensive acts.
If Mayor Newsom’s proposed budget had contained only the attacks on the human and civil rights of the marginalized communities, we of the lefty activist community would have surely rallied ‘round and raised a loud, bloody stink in opposition—the loudest we could, with all our hearts, and the stink courtesy of the Mayor’s despicable proposed budget. Newsom knew this, so, he trumped this play with an unconscionable attack upon the City’s healthcare for those individuals with no other resources for accessing care they depend on.
Now are ya getting the picture? Mayor Newsom is trying to “shift the window.” By proposing the absolutely unthinkable, he makes the severely questionable seem like a somewhat reasonable compromise, and on the way, he gets to hand the lefty activist community a third class ticket to Boondoggle City, included free! See the new Mayor Newsom Action Posture, now with Political Positioning! Newsom: He’s Totally Tactical!
Citizen Rick has been a resident in the City about four years, and was shocked to hear that the drop-in was to be closed: “When I first got to the City, the McMillan drop-in [closed this year] was a life-saver for me. They let me in off the street, and got me referrals and information I needed to get indoors. Some people couldn’t follow through on their own, but they helped a lot of people! Now, it’s gonna be rough on folks without a drop-in.”
The clients at Buster’s drop-in go there largely to get a break from it all, and don’t want to talk about the grim probabilities their individual futures might hold, and the crew is not at liberty to discuss it with the press, but the fear and apprehension hang thick in the air. The combination of clients, crew and concrete create a vibe, like a lot of tired soldiers waiting for another attack, as they sit around their Buster’s bunker.
Eli, an advocate at Tenderloin Self Help, anticipates an increase in the number of poverty casualties dropping into Self Help trying to find ways to preserve their lives and sanity.
Kevin, a coordinator for Self Help, had recently returned from marching on the front picket lines with his nephew Reginald, and he said in no uncertain terms that Self Help had been through this before, too, and remained committed to standing tight with its brothers at Buster’s Place during their time of trial.
Walt, a Tenderloin Self Help client, says that the City isn’t funding real solutions, isn’t regulating on behalf of the people, and that this shit they’re pulling just makes it difficult for people, very difficult.
Karl
