San Francisco woman tries in vain to rid sidewalk of 'anti-homeless' boulders

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - A woman dismayed with the idea of "anti-homeless boulders" cropping up in her San Francisco neighborhood tried in vain to get rid of the large rocks on Craigslist, only to have her efforts thwarted. 

Danielle Baskin posted on Twitter in a now-viral thread that she does not approve of neighbors in the Clinton Park district between Dolores and Guerrero streets pooling together money to line the sidewalk with blockades hoping to dissuade homeless people from sleeping in front of their homes. 

"I walk on this street multiple times per day and haven't noticed the rocks doing much of anything, besides being an obstruction," she tweeted. "Their design only *attempts* to stop people from hanging out here. Hostile design breeds more hostility."

When she first listed the rocks, Baskin claimed the rocks were hers and she was simply trying to get rid of them.  Someone reported her and the post was taken down. She then said she was selling the rocks for $5 each. And again, she was reported and taken down.  "I imagine the Clinton Park block now has a Craigslist alert for "rocks," she quipped on Twitter.

Neighbors had told Hoodline, which first reported the boulder situation, that some neighbors heard people screaming outside their windows in the middle of the night and some homes were broken into. 

The 25 boulders were meant as barriers to keep homeless people from camping out and to keep drug users from turning their street into a shooting gallery.

"Since the rocks, it has helped," Ernesto Jerez told KTVU earlier this week.

A San Francisco Public Works department spokeswoman said the city had no part in putting the boulders here. She also said since the boulders aren't blocking the sidewalk, the city has no plans to remove them.

Homeless advocates call it a cruel response and not a solution.

"There's actually a name for it,´ said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition On Homelessness.  "It's called anti-homeless architecture." 

And from Baskin's Twitter thread, she's on the side of the homeless advocates. 

"That's money they could used to help people," Baskin tweeted. "Instead they tried to hide problems the city's problems from just their block. It didn't even work though. The rocks placement is barbaric and make walking more difficult for everyone."