The City by the Bay is currently considering a measure to outlaw sitting and/or lying on the famed Haight Street sidewalks. Or, possibly, any and all sidewalks citywide. Mayor Gavin Newsom personally introduced an ordinance to the Board of Supervisors. Thankfully, it was voted down. But now the measure will be on November's ballot. 

This is a decoy law targeting the homeless. It's a mistake to frame this as a "homeless problem" or to react with undeserved and undue regulations stripping longstanding rights and freedoms from law-abiding residents, homeless or not. 

Newsom is down-playing the homeless insinuations, but too many of us know from experience that once the police get unleashed with laws like this, actual street-level enforcements are mostly left to them. There's a long and continuing history of these types of laws being wielded oppressively and specifically against homeless persons.

Sign the petition to tell Mayor Newsom to stop supporting such a misguided measure.

Photo credit: highrise78