In the video above, filmmaker Michael Reiner asked some homeless people about their lives on the streets of San Francisco and how they feel about getting bussed out of sight—and, of course, out of mind—for the Super Bowl.
In preparation for a full-on, tourist-dollar, city-wide Super Bowl party, officials have decided the streets are no place for the people who live on them. It’s not the first time, either, according to Axazier, a man we meet in the video. “They have made us move so many times. They used to have a crew that came at 4:30 in the morning.” “It definitely starts the paranoia going,” says Seth, another subject. “Am I gonna be roused in the middle of the night and put in a truck and taken somewhere?”
Asked what is the hardest part of being out on the streets, a man named Michael doesn’t have to think very long: “Being lonely. It’s really hard.” Stephen answers, “Different citizens looking at you like you’re less-than … From being married, having all that, to being out here, just really fending for yourself.”
Seth, finally, sees a missed opportunity in the influx of visitors to the city. “Maybe, because we’re having to influx of people, it would put a spotlight on the fact that San Francisco really does have an extreme situation with the homeless,” he says. “And maybe we’d get some help.” That wasn’t to be.
