Fly away home(less)

NO, NOT REALLY — Last February , the City of San Diego bought a defunct downtown indoor skydiving facility for $7 million. Critics were quick to criticize the move, saying that the building was totally unsuitable for use as a hub connecting the homeless with various social services, and that other properties in the area could have been purchased for far less. But, notes Mayor Faulconer, “those other properties did not have indoor skydiving tubes, which are totally cool and fun. Or maybe people don’t think the homeless deserve to enjoy the thrill of being suspended in midair — that they are somehow less than human? Frankly, I’m shocked at such an attitude, and proud that San Diego has the courage and compassion required to show these people a good time.”