What did San Francisco’s leftist politicians do after their policies turned downtown into what amounts to one giant open-air toilet?
Why, they hired a "poop patrol," which is like "paw patrol," only it’s humans cleaning up the mess other beings, purportedly "humans" left.
The toxic task fell to the SOMA West Community Benefit District. It's a nonprofit.
Part of the process involves receiving photos on your cellphone that you never, ever wanted to see.
As you might have guessed, the term used for a cleanup is "Code Brown."
As the San Francisco Standard discovered, "It’s the scavenger hunt from hell."
It begins when a homeless "deposit" is spotted.
A cleaning team leader gets close enough to hold his breath and take a photo that is then sent to another team member along with the location.
After getting all the identifying details, that team member gets to handle the toxic task according to the structural integrity of the target.
"Honestly, it depends on the [situation]. We’re in the weeds, and it’s gross," said Ed Moore, a SOMA West cleaning supervisor. "If it’s liquid, rinse it off. Solidified, used to be liquid? That might need power. If it’s a log, that’s like picking up dog poop: plastic bag."
Where is free government cheese and its accompanying constipation when you really need them?
As you might imagine demand for Code Brown attention has been explosive (no pun intended).
According to the Standard, in April 2020 there were, shall we say, 617 calls for service. One year later, the need was really piling up.
In April of 2021 there was a bounty of 3,771 pickups.
The pressure washer man gets started at 5am in areas where there is no one on the street to get hit by the spray.
The rest of the team is "equipped with brooms, rolling garbage bins, walkie–talkies and a dump truck named Big Bertha."
There are three shifts working from 5am until 2:30am covering the 100-block territory of the Community Business District.
Like us, you are probably wondering how much these cultural decay heroes are paid.
The "ambassadors," "are paid a starting rate of roughly $22 an hour, plus hazard pay" and that doesn’t include the bowel bonus pay.
To encourage each ambassador’s keen powers of observation, each Code Brown they bag and tag gets them an additional $3.00.
As Executive Director Christian Martin explained, "That’s nasty work, so we were like, 'We gotta incentivize people to start doing the dirty work.'"
Our hope is a promotion path exists to give workers some hope for the future.
The fact is in this case one man’s steaming pile is another man’s opportunity.
Ed Moore, a cleaning supervisor, is a case in point.
Moore served 30 years in prison for murder before joining the SOMA crew and working his way up.
"I’m a supervisor. I got a 2019 Honda; I got a one-bedroom apartment right around the corner from the job," Moore added. "You gave me the chance of an opportunity, and I'm gonna give you 110 percent every day. It’s really been a blessing for me."
We can only wish the politicians who created the problem that gave Moore his chance also gave "110 percent" every day.
(A related article may be found here.)
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.