Charles Barkley ripped town of San Francisco on Sunday throughout TNT’s different broadcast of the NBA All-Star Sport as he talked to Basketball Corridor of Famer Reggie Miller.
Barkley requested Miller which he would select: taking part in within the chilly in Indianapolis – the place Miller spent his total 18-year NBA profession – or ”being round a bunch of homeless crooks in San Francisco.”
Golden State Warriors star Draymond Inexperienced referred to as Barkley ”loopy” and that Barkley was not ”welcome” within the metropolis. WNBA star Candace Parker mentioned ”we love San Francisco,” however Barkley provided a retort.
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Phoenix Suns legend Charles Barkley in attendance at Footprint Middle in Phoenix on Jan. 21, 2023. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports activities)
”No we don’t,” he mentioned. ”… You’ll be able to’t even stroll round down there.”
Inexperienced was emphatic together with his pushback.
”Sure you may stroll round,” he mentioned.
Barkley clapped again saying, ”Yeah, with a bulletproof vest.”
Crime and drug use was at a fever pitch in San Francisco final 12 months. Enterprise house owners within the Tenderloin neighborhood expressed considerations about their futures final month as a result of folks ”don’t really feel secure” strolling across the district.
In November, one resident mentioned he was shocked by what he noticed.
”It is a shame. I have been to 50-plus nations and traveled the world. I’ve by no means seen something like this,” Jeremy Bernier informed FOX Information’ Carley Shimkus.
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Drug customers and drug sellers throughout the road from the San Francisco Federal Constructing. (Fox Information Digital / Jon Michael Raasch)
”It is simply floor zero of the fentanyl disaster. You have received folks actually smoking fentanyl, taking these medication out on the streets. You have received the tents and camps whilst you’ve received a playground with kids taking part in proper close by, and that is blocks away from the mayor’s workplace. It is simply unbelievable to me {that a} metropolis and nation with such immense wealth can have such blatant poverty and struggling.”
San Francisco officers tried to push again on the narrative final month, saying that town’s crime fee was ”decrease than any interval within the final ten years” except for 2020. Town mentioned there was a 7% lower in crime from 2022 and a 13% lower in crime from 2019.
SF Gate identified that motorized vehicle theft was up from 2022 with 6,571 reported thefts in 2023 in opposition to 6,222 in 2022. Moreover, extra robberies occurred in 2023 (2,693) than in 2022. SF Gate reported it was a 14.5% improve over the past 12 months.
”Our work round public security is making a distinction, however we’ve received extra work to do,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed mentioned in a launch final month. ”We aren’t letting up on our efforts to make San Francisco a safer and satisfying metropolis for everybody, and this contains persevering with to ramp up police staffing and giving our native enforcement companies the assets they should do their job.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks throughout a ”Winter of Love” ceremony at San Francisco Metropolis Corridor on Feb. 14, 2024 in San Francisco. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Photographs)
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”I need to thank our native, state, and federal public security companions for his or her collaboration. Collectively we’re sending a message that San Francisco received’t tolerate rampant crime and that there shall be accountability.”
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