Why Are People Mad About San Francisco? The Controversy Over The City's APEC 'Cleanup' Movement Explained

Many have noticed that San Francisco looks a lot "better" recently as the city prepares for the arrival of foreign leaders from Asia ahead of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week 2023. While this by itself may sound like a good thing, it's managed to tick off social media users from both sides of the political aisle. Here's why so many are upset about San Francisco's APEC cleanup.

What's Going On In San Francisco?

The city of San Francisco is hosting the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, in which Joe Biden will speak with foreign leaders from nearly two dozen Asian countries about trade and other issues. San Francisco has for years had a large unhoused population due to housing shortages and skyrocketing rents.

Furthermore, due to the dense layout of the city, the unhoused often are forced to live on city sidewalks in heavily-trafficked areas, which has made some residents, potential tourists and business leaders wary of the city.

On November 8th, the San Francisco Chronicle reported the city was clearing "homeless hot spots" ahead of the upcoming APEC conference. The city opened temporary shelters to house the homeless in the interim, and evidence of this work was clear within days.

Why Are People Upset About San Francisco Moving Its Homeless Ahead Of APEC?

There are myriad reasons why people of many political stripes are upset about San Francisco relocating the homeless ahead of APEC, but chief among them is the fact that the city's residents have long been clamoring for the city to address the issue, and it apparently took the visit of foreign leaders for it to finally respond.

Some complained that the sweep would put undue stress on the city's homeless shelters, while others saw it as a cynical attempt to impress foreign leaders, and in particular Chinese president Xi Jinping, who would be among the conference's attendees.

It didn't help that Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom appeared to confirm critics' characterization of the cleanup movement by saying, "I know folks say, 'Oh, they're just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.' That's true because it's true, but it’s also true for months and months and months prior to APEC we’ve been having conversations."

How Has Social Media Responded?

Users on social media, particularly right-wing users, have characterized the city's cleanup efforts as proof that Democrats will only work to address issues if they can impress foreign leaders, particularly Xi Jinping. Many of the memes about the controversy characterize Xi as the force behind cleaning up the city, with some joking that if Xi stayed longer, the city would become a utopia.

A video of San Francisco streets lined with Chinese flags welcoming Xi was also widely mocked, as people began dubbing the city "Commiefornia."

Ultimately, San Francisco hasn't magically "solved" its homeless problem just so it can impress foreign leaders, as the stopgap measures they put in place will go away shortly after the Asian leaders do. However, the idea that the city appears to have put real effort into "solving" its homeless crisis just to look good on the world stage has left a bad taste in many's mouths.

For more information, check out the San Francisco cleanup controversy entry on Know Your Meme.