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edit: I lived in SF & Oakland from 2013-2019 and Manhattan from late 2019 - now.

The feces problem in SF is exacerbated by opiates. Heavy opiate use causes extreme constipation and opiate withdrawal causes the opposite. Housing and drugs are the top of funnel problems in SF contributing to everything else. New York City seems to not have anywhere near the level of public feces as SOMA / Downtown SF even throughout the pandemic.

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It's not exactly like for like, but compare these maps of available public restrooms in SF and NYC:

- NYC: http://m3.mappler.net/nyrestroom/

- SF: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/viewer?mid=1xRGER_GLPdRdOA...

No disagreement as to the opiate issues in SF exacerbating the problem, but it seems reasonable to think that anyone (drug problem or not) would prefer to use a bathroom than squat on a sidewalk.

Yea I wasn't saying it was the only cause but holy shit I did not know there were that many bathrooms in Manhattan =)

Yes. And just to be clear, this was a problem in SF well before the pandemic.

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