Library tries novel ideas on homeless

We hope you’re sitting down for this. It turns out battles between city officials and homeless advocates over the rights of transients can sometimes be resolved with — drumroll please — compromise, compassion and common sense. Wait, what? We told you about a year ago that the Library Commission, at the urging of Mayor Ed Lee, was set to adopt a stronger Patron Code of Conduct with firmer penalties for breaking the rules.

The Main Library has long had a problem with transients using it for napping, drug dealing, exposing themselves and taking baths in the restroom sinks. Believe it or not, past incidents have included a man answering the call of nature on books and another smashing a computer with a hammer.

But homeless advocates argued that despite library staff’s pleas to the contrary, the rules were really about clearing the site of homeless people since the first violation of a major offense came with a yearlong suspension.

If this were a bestselling novel, there would be some big-twist ending. But in reality, everything just kind of worked out nicely.

Library staff met with homeless advocates several times to hear their concerns and had a few of them train library staff on how to de-escalate problems and steer the homeless into social services. Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness, led one of the training sessions.

“If people are disrespected or treated badly, they respond in equal measure or worse,” she said. “We really wanted to shift the direction of the library away from a punitive approach to an approach where they’re providing a resource to poor and homeless people in the community.”

City Librarian Luis Herrera praised the homeless advocates for “really giving us a different perspective on how to address some of our concerns.”

The Patron Code of Conduct was instituted in October — and it eliminated some of the more controversial proposed clauses such as a ban on staring. Another controversial clause — banning “pervasive odors” — made the cut, but is only used in the most extreme circumstances, such as when somebody has soiled their pants and other patrons complain. Along with less serious offenses, it isn’t grounds for a long suspension but could result in the person being asked to leave the premises for the day.

In addition, library staff hired three additional security guards and six assistants for its in-house social worker who report problems to her and also make regular bathroom checks.

From January to December 2014, there was a 74 percent decrease in monthly incident reports at the Main Library. There was a 41 percent drop in the number of incidents filed at the Main Library in all of 2014 compared with 2013.

And from October to December 2013, the Main Library issued 33 suspensions for serious misconduct, while from October to December 2014, it issued just five suspensions for serious misconduct.

Suspensions, which can last from one to three years depending on how many times the person has violated the code of conduct, were also down for the entire calendar year. There were 106 in 2013 and 72 in 2014.

The library does seem cleaner and more orderly than it did a year ago. A perusal of the women’s restroom on the first floor found nobody using the sinks as bathtubs. The larger Civic Center area, however, still has its problems, including a sizable homeless population in the plaza in front of City Hall.

Herrera said library patrons have told him they think the building is cleaner and that customer service has improved. Friedenbach said far fewer homeless people are complaining about poor treatment by library staff.

“It’s actually been a really amazing experience,” she said.

In the world of San Francisco’s homeless politics, maybe that’s a twist ending after all. Seeking solutions: You probably remember Greg Gopman, the former CEO of AngelHack who had bizarrely strong opinions about homeless people. If not, here’s a snippet from the December 2013 Facebook post that made him a star — if by star you mean target of derision and hate.

“In downtown SF the degenerates gather like hyenas, spit, urinate, taunt you, sell drugs, get rowdy, they act like they own the center of the city ... There is an area of town for degenerates and an area of town for the working class. There is nothing positive gained from having them so close to us.”

And he went on. And on.

Anyway, the 30-yearold South of Market resident wrote an opinion piece in The Chronicle last week in which he tried to make amends and said he’s spent the past year educating himself about the city’s pervasive homeless problem. He called us to share more.

He plans to host a town hall on the issue this month and said he hopes to attract 1,000 people to come up with new, creative ideas. He wants supervisors and the mayor to attend so they can “listen to some of these new solutions.”

He’s envisioning “5minute lightning pitches” with people casting votes on their favorite ideas. It sounds to us like “Shark Tank: Homeless Edition.” What fun!

He said he has addressed his concerns with Mayor Ed Lee.

“We took a walk on Mid-Market together and spoke on things,” he said. “He explained to me that helping the homeless was always one of his big goals before he got into office and something he regrets he hasn’t been able to do more with.”

Christine Falvey, spokeswoman for Lee, said Lee was taking a merchant walk on MidMarket when Gopman spotted him from afar and approached to exchange greetings. That was it.

Bevan Dufty, the mayor’s director of homeless programs, said he reached out to Gopman after the infamous Facebook post but heard nothing from him then — or since.

“I thought it was terrible — really just disturbing — that somebody who has so much in their life can be so dismissive to describe people being less than human,” Dufty said.

Dufty doesn’t sound particularly impressed by the town hall idea either.

“If you gave me the opportunity to be in a room with 1,000 people who care about homelessness, I absolutely want to be there,” he said. “Is he the one who should be convening this? That’s an open question.”

Dufty said Gopman should have started by apologizing to the Coalition on Homelessness, but staff there say they’ve heard nothing from him.

Jennifer Friedenbach, the coalition’s director, said it sounds like he has “not invented here syndrome” — which usually applies to software companies that waste time by thinking they can only use solutions they’ve developed in-house rather than use outside solutions that already exist.

“It’s very bizarre to me that he’s not reaching out to folks who are working hard on this every day to find out how we can collaborate and work together to end homelessness,” she said.

But she did compliment him for adopting “a more positive approach than calling people nasty names.” Hey, he could only go up from there.