Haight real-estate does fine without sit-lie law

Pub date February 2, 2010
SectionPolitics Blog

By Tim Redmond

The drumbeat for a law against sitting on the sidewalk continues. (And I still don’t get the point — if a cop comes up to a thuggish punk who’s sitting down, the perp is just going to stand up. Most aggressive panhandlers are standing, not sitting. The ones who will get hit by this are the old, the disabled and the homeless trying to get some sleep.)

Oh, and it’s supposed to be working really well in Berkeley. But I was on Telegraph Ave. this weekend and there were lots of people sitting on the sidewalk, pretty much everywhere, some of them panhandling, some just chilling out.

But somehow, despite all the horrible problems that are supposedly devastating the neighborhood, Haight Ashbury real estate is doing just fine, thanks.