I've written before about how my Dad visited San Francisco in late 1945 when he was stationed post-war in Victorville, California. San Francisco was then one of the world's great cities, which was pretty impressive to the 22-year-old farm kid from Iowa that my Dad was back then. He described clean streets, beautiful architecture, great restaurants, and just generally a fine, prosperous city. What I don't think I've mentioned is that 10 years later, my uncle George saw Frisco as well, as he was in the Army in 1955, stationed at the Presidio. He loved to talk about the city and how Chinatown was one of his favorite weekend haunts.

Dad and Uncle George are gone now, but they certainly wouldn't recognize San Francisco today, after decades of uninterrupted progressive government. In the latest outrage, a  homeless convicted pedophile set up his own open-air drug market near a Catholic school and a public library.

A homeless convicted child sex offender has set up camp near a San Francisco Catholic school and public library — along with large signs offering “free fentanyl” for new users and “meth for stolen items.”

Joseph Adam Moore, 46, was imprisoned for six years for sex crimes, having molested a 12-year-old girl — and was accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl just a month after getting out of prison, according to records obtained by the San Francisco Standard.

The sex offender has also been arrested five times since 2007 for failing to notify authorities of his address as a sex offender, according to the outlet.

I'm a bit curious as to how a tent on a sidewalk could have an address, but what I would really like to know is how an egregious parole violation like this hasn't landed him in the crowbars for a longer stint. Moore seems pretty unrepentant about his latest business venture.

He is now living in a tent on Ninth Avenue near the Stella Maris Academy and the Richmond District library — with photos showing hand-written signs saying “Meth for stolen items” and “free fentanyl 4 new users.” 

“It’s not a joke,” Moore told the San Francisco Chronicle of the drug signs while confirming he was a registered sex offender. 

“Yeah, this is actually happening,” he also told the Standard with a laugh at his offer to sell drugs.

See for yourselves: 

Note the warning on the tweet. The video contains coarse language.

WARNING: Explicit and potentially upsetting content

A San Francisco man who camped across the street from a school displaying sign offering "free fentanyl for new users," and who has a previous pedophile conviction has been arrested. pic.twitter.com/gmzGcL3azr

— The San Francisco Standard (@sfstandard) October 20, 2023

It is becoming apparent that the City by the Bay may be too far gone. The residents of that metropolis keep putting the same lunatics in charge of the asylum, and "asylum" is certainly an apt term these days for much of the Bay area. Oh, sure, some local business geniuses have decided that a marketing campaign is the answer to the city's woes, but if that isn't this month's greatest example of whistling past the graveyard, it will do until a better one comes along. 

Joseph Moore's open defiance may be the final symptom of the city's decay. Oh, he was finally arrested, on Friday. But it will be surprising if the unrepentant Moore isn't back out on the streets in short order, no doubt to set up his drug bazaar in a new location.

As of 1 p.m. Moore was being booked with charges pending, said Sgt. Kathryn Winters, a spokesperson for the Police Department. He did not yet appear in booking records for the San Francisco County Jail. The arrest followed an undercover investigation launched by Capt. Chris Canning of the Richmond District police station, who sent a team out to confront Moore and tell him to clear his structure, Supervisor Connie Chan wrote in an email to constituents on Friday.

It's hard to think of a time in American history when our major cities have been in this precipitous decline. Crime rates are rising, housing prices are through the roof, and there is actual piracy going on in the Oakland harbor. 

At least the impeccably coiffed Governor Newsom has the time to visit Israel.

It's hard to see a way forward for these big blue cities. It's not likely that the residents there will suddenly start electing free-market, free-trade, capitalist-leaning politicians to local offices, pols who will cut spending, streamline city operations, enforce laws, and clean up the streets. One would have to think if that was possible, it would have happened by now -- somewhere. One success story could encourage more; one city that chose free enterprise, deregulation, and de-zoning to allow for more affordable housing to be built by the private sector, encouraging development, entrepreneurship, and business; one city that chose to enforce local laws to cut back on rampant shoplifting, open-air drug markets, human waste on the streets -- that could make a big difference and, indeed, seems an awful lot like a return to simple sanity.

Instead, it seems the decay will continue, and it's important to note that this isn't exclusively an American problem. Major cities the world over are deteriorating. Are there any major cities in the United States or elsewhere that we can still say are among the world's great cities? Today I would place Tokyo in that category, but American and European cities seem to all be bent on self-destruction.