Trash bags full of poop found on S.F. sidewalk
Trash bags full of approximately 20 pounds of human poop were left on the sidewalk over the weekend in downtown San Francisco.
It’s the latest — and perhaps most alarming — sign of the increased filthiness of one of the most popular cities in the United States.
The bags of human poop were said to be left in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district.
The photo was first posted on San Francisco’s Citizen app for identifying crimes then onto Reddit.com, where the photo eventually went viral.
“Walked by this yesterday without knowing it had been a reported thing,” wrote Reddit user green—street. “Arguably the worst smell I’ve ever encountered.
“Plenty of things smell bad/weird/nasty, but the sheer stench of this was massive.”
A spokesman for SF311, San Francisco’s non-emergency customer service for governmental affairs, told The San Francisco Chronicle that though human waste found on city sidewalks might be common, this large of an amount is “not typical.”
It is unclear why the bags of poop were left on the sidewalk and in the neighborhood.
It’s also possible some of the excrement seeped through the bags and onto the curbside.
One Reddit user tracked how long it took for the bag to be removed, stating it was still there “as of 8 p.m.”
“It was the most atrocious smell I’ve ever smelled in San Francisco,” user tusi2 said.
The user added that it was still on the corner by 10 p.m. Saturday but gone by Sunday morning.
“I can’t say I’ve seen anything like that,” said tusi2, who has lived in the Tenderloin for two years. “I’ve seen open feces, smeared feces. I commend whoever put it in a bag.
“It could have been much worse.”
Earlier this year, an investigation by NBC Bay Area revealed feces, drug needles and garbage could be found throughout downtown San Francisco.
The investigative unit surveyed 153 blocks of the city, including popular tourist spots like Union Square, as well as schools, playgrounds and a police station.
“I love and miss the Bay Area so much,” wrote Reddit user morebohrshells, “but no one could pay me insane amounts of money to live in SF ever again."