Every month city workers remove thousands of needles from the streets. But it's not nearly enough to rid San Francisco of a significant health hazard.
My friend Sue has stopped wearing sandals. Not because she doesn't have nice sandals, or pretty feet.
It's because she's afraid of stepping on a needle.
And I know a guy who jogs every morning before dawn, but changed his schedule. He's running in daylight to avoid jogging over discarded needles all over the street in his neighborhood.
In San Francisco these days, everyone has a needle-sighting story. Needles on bathroom floors, in parks, on beaches, even schoolyards. BART stations are notorious for needles, and streets in the Tenderloin are needle obstacle courses. Or, even worse than spotting a needle, spotting someone use a needle to actually shoot up. Or, worst of all, getting accidentally stuck with a needle. I know someone who nearly sat on a filthy needle on the 38 Geary bus, catching sight of it just in time. Tourists visiting this celebrated city must be shocked by the syringes littering our sidewalks.