(Or: Scott Wiener is still a dickhead)

Another election year and, like clock work, another mean spirited piece of ineffectual legislation is proposed to criminalize homelessness in San Francisco to serve another political hack’s political ambitions. This time, the cynical pandering to our baser instincts takes the form of Proposition Q, a redundant law to institutionalize the already barbaric practice of dismantling tent encampments, stealing the property of those who have least, and harassing the already beleaguered and discounted. It isn’t even Scott Wiener’s first time dipping his stinky pen in this toxic political well (nor the first time we called him out on it), and now it seems he’s teaching the new batch of political opportunists, in the form of Mark Farrell. It would be boringly predictable if it wasn’t so damn infuriating.

While creating mini comix about local San Francisco propositions is certainly not new for us, this time we were able to team up with the San Francisco Poster Syndicate, Clarion Alley Mural Project (whose block party is THis SATURDAy!), Hospitality House and the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness to brainstorm political art to fight Propositions Q and R. We chose to focus on Prop Q, because it’s a little bit of low hanging fruit compared to the more complicated (but just as sucky Prop R), but mainly because it reminded us of all the other times Scott Wiener has teamed up with other political hacks to demonize the homelessness by “cracking down” on “quality of life” “crimes” in stupid and ineffectual ways.

We discussed putting a face on homelessness and showing the disparate impacts this legislation would have on their lives, as opposed to the political opportunists who proposed it. While Leslie is a fictional character, her story is a composite of real life issues and struggles that have afflicted the homeless in San Francisco in our lifetimes.

Please vote NO on Props Q, R, P and U and YES on Props S, J, K and M, and, this November 8th, send a clear message to Scott Wiener and his political ilk that using politics to punch down and divide us is not a path to Sacramento.

Oh yeah, this comic was written by Rio based on discussion we had with Art Hazelwood and the San Francisco Poster Syndicate (who turned this mini comic into a poster) and Christopher Statton from the Clarion Alley Mural project and was drawn by Rio (first two panels/pages), Mikey (panels 3, 5, 6 and 8), the Silverhawks (panel 4) and Audrey (panel 7).