“I’m kind of stuck here for the moment. I want to leave. I’m addicted to heroin so I’ll get sick if I leave…I hitchhike and hop freight trains all over the country. I’ve been sleeping outside for years now. I don’t mind that. I like sleeping outside. I actually enjoy it more than sleeping in a house. Just not under the exact terms that I’m in right now.”
“I would like to stay here; I just can’t manage my drug habits here. I’ve been here multiple times and every time I always end up using too much hard drugs and it’s not good for me to be here.”
“This is one of the hubs of the travelling kids. A lot of us meet up here and congregate here, usually up in the Haight District. That’s why I come here; just to hang out with one of the friends that travel. It used to be a lot of fun being here but it’s not the same anymore. It’s totally different. The cops are really harsh up in the Haight District now, so much so that I don’t really want to hang out there anymore. Downtown is just terrible. Everybody is just constantly looking for an opportunity to take anything valuable that you have. It’s actually making me really depressed being here because everyone is so bad to each other constantly. It was great [a few years ago]. It was a really warm, loving city. Everybody was just all around a lot nicer.”
“I think it’s really great that people that live in houses are forced to see all these people shooting up and drug dealing. I think it’s really awesome that they’re forced to be subjected to it—that it’s right there in their faces. They can’t pull the blind shut or anything. It’s right there. People are shooting up constantly in the BART station right in public. Right in front of the library where they want to take their children. I think it’s really [expletive] great that’s where everybody decided to congregate right in front of City Hall. I don’t have any advice to give on how to solve it, but I really think it’s just awesome that they’re forced to be subjected to it. Most people would rather sweep it under the rug or turn a blind eye to it.”
