Homeless Hangout

So the SF Public Library's main branch put $6 million into a facelift. The improvements seem nice and all, but the library is still disgusting and overrun with homeless junkies and crazies sleeping at the tables, making out (seeing this is what drove me to join a private library), and shaving and shooting up in the bathrooms. Nearly all of the reader comments on the news story mention this- so it's not just me being cranky.

Many of the improvements seem to speed up flow of people checking in and out- automatic check-in machines, speedier book check-out, and displaying more of the popular first-floor fiction books. Taken together, these improvements reflect user demand to spend as little time possible in the filthy, well-lit place for books.

It seems to me like the taxpayers just chipped in another six million bucks to avoid dealing with the homeless problem.