The Politics of Homelessness and the “Quality” of Urban LifeRandy Shawbyline‚ May. 01‚ 2008Despite nearly three decades of widespread visible homelessness in America, the traditional media--as San Francisco Chronicle readers well know--remains a fount of misinformation in assessing causes and solutions. This makes the release of Alex Vitale’s City of Disorder particularly timely. Vitale worked for the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness in the early 1990’s, and is now a Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College. His book is the most balanced analysis yet produced of the origins, and political impacts, of the backlash against public camping, sidewalk drinking, panhandling, “squeegee men,” illegal peddling and other “quality of life” issues. Although Vitale focuses on New York City, his analysis also helps explain San Francisco politics. While he agrees that homelessness is a product of decades of inadequate federal spending on low-cost housing, he make a convincing case that “urban liberalism”--embodied in policies adopted by such liberal mayors like David Dinkins and Willie Brown--has contributed to rising homelessnes and its link to public disorder. |