San Francisco is preparing for the imminent arrival of the president of China, Xi Jinping. The city 'cleared' a total of seven intersections of homeless people, between Tenderloin and South of Market streets, which now look very different than they did just a week ago. There are no longer homeless camps full of tents in poor condition, nor is there an open drug market, and the sidewalks are completely clear and impeccable, as shown by several videos posted on social networks:
San Francisco cleaned up its streets for the arrival of Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping pic.twitter.com/LlzkVHCZME
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 12, 2023
The action has surprised several residents who expressed concern that this "cleanup" was only temporary and an attempt to show the best image of the city to various world leaders.
Gavin Newsom admits that the visit of world leaders accelerated the "cleaning" of the streets of San Francisco
The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, had no qualms in admitting that the image wash was due to the imminent visit of several leaders. He did so during a brief press conference with the Mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, in which he stated that the sidewalk cleaning was indeed intended to impress these leaders. "I know folks say, 'Oh, they're just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.' That's true, because it's true," he said in statements reported by Daily Mail.
"If you have people over at your house, you are gonna clean up the house.”
Gavin Newsom is literally laughing at California residents who have to wade through trash, and filth, and junkies every day on the streets of San Francisco.pic.twitter.com/i9g7gGwQOd
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 13, 2023
However, at that same meeting, the Democratic governor also tried to reassure citizens by saying that the initiative, despite having accelerated in recent days, had been active for a long time:
But it's also true for months and months and months prior to ape we've been having different conversations, and we've raised the bar of expectation between the city the county and the state and our federal partners. We all have to do more and do better and so that's really the spirit of this this is momentum.
