A San Francisco politician whom Elon Musk believes “should be in prison” remained adamant about the cause of his city’s homelessness crisis.
“…absolutely the result of capitalism…”
Representing the City by the Bay’s Tenderloin neighborhood, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisor’s District 5 representative Dean Preston isn’t only an outspoken Democratic Socialist, but the first to be elected to the board in decades. During an interview for the documentary “The Battle for San Francisco” with the UK’s UnHerd, he shared some of his skewed thinking as blamed capitalism instead of failed leftist policies for the city’s decline.
“I think what you’re seeing in the Tenderloin is absolutely the result of capitalism and what happens in capitalism to the people at the bottom rungs,” he argued as his positions were pitted against those of author Michael Shellenberger who penned “San Fransicko.”
“The biggest driver of why folks are on the street is because they lost their jobs, income or were evicted from their homes, usually for not being able to pay the rent,” pushed Preston. “So you have major landlords literally causing folks to lose their homes, and real estate speculation making it impossible for folks to find an affordable place to live.”
Additionally, the supervisor made the case that arresting drug users and removing encampments was “completely counterproductive” and the sporadic nature of those enforcements, like when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited, was “inconsistent.”
Meanwhile, as Shellenberger had shown through interviewing the hardly-wanting indigent, San Francisco’s policies had produced economic advantages for people to remain homeless. “I mean, if we’re going to be realistic,” said a man named James who had relocated from Texas, “they pay you to be homeless here.”
Homeless San Franciscan admits he chose to live on the streets: ‘They pay you to be homeless here’ https://t.co/nce4cw0Sws pic.twitter.com/GdiJYSYBmu
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) February 12, 2022
The author had presented at the time that homeless individuals like the man he interviewed could pull in hundreds of dollars a week in welfare, trade food stamps for drugs and not have to worry about covering rent.
Despite that, as the city embarked on an image campaign to bring back tourism as local shops struggled to contend with out-of-control shoplifting by locking away the majority of their goods, Preston downplayed the combined homeless and drug crises that had led to 620 overdoses in just the first nine months of 2023.
“I don’t think every instance of poverty or addiction or behavioral health issue is a safety threat to someone walking by,” asserted the supervisor. “I mean, there’s a lot of people who are doing things that are very harmful to themselves on the streets, who aren’t necessarily a safety threat.”
Still, Preston maintained that with the rampant crime, “I think we have a very, very bloated police budget. All kinds of waste in the police department. I could cut $100 million out of the department.”
In recent months, billionaire Elon Musk, who has held to keeping X headquartered in San Francisco, has repeatedly called out Preston by name, stating in September “Dean Preston needs to be fired. He is arguably the person most responsible for the destruction of San Francisco,” and then in October, “Dean Preston should be in prison for what he’s done to San Francisco,” after the politician peddled similar claims about the cause of the city’s woes.
Absolutely.
Also, Dean Preston needs to be fired. He is arguably the person most responsible for the destruction of San Francisco.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 22, 2023
Dean Preston should be in prison for what he’s done to San Francisco
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2023
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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