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Comment by spitx | Hacker News Reader

You guys should come by the Mission district or China Town or Lower Haight ( here in San Francisco ) or take public transit (any of the BART stations - 16th, 24th, Civic Center or Glen Park). The foulest stench of excrement anywhere. Some blame the Hispanic population and some blame the Hmong and others blame the street urchins. But I never expected to smell anything so odious in a major metropolis in the U.S.

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Well, you may be exaggerating, but I found my stay in SF similarly disorienting.

We were staying at 4th and Mission, surrounded by luxury stores and hotels. At night, though, it was like Dawn of the Dead, with street-zombies wandering around talking to themselves.

Sadly (to me), they were almost all black. In Toronto, the homeless have the decency to be fairly racially inclusive (with Native Americans somewhat over-represented).

Travel, huh. Different places are different.

That's odd. I've been to these places and have never smelled anything unusual.

I always just blamed the systemic paralysis of sf bay government caused by poor design of the intersection between public power and private power over the commons.

Every time I go to SF, I take the BART from SFO, and travel through many of those stations. It's nothing like what you allude to; it's also completely underused.

I am certain that you have never been to India.

I question whether you've been to New York City, in the summer.

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