During Ronald Reagan's term as California Governor
he slashed government spending to mental health facilities.
This forced thousands of mental patients to be discharged onto the streets,
and caused other outpatients to loose funding for their medications.
While I lived there, we noticed, almost overnight, the drastic increase in wierdos and crazies living in the park and sleeping in gutters.
They became easy targets for street toughs beating them up.
They discovered for a buck they could ride the bus all night in safety.
As a result, the Muni Metro systems have become their new home.