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There is often a row of women sitting outside A Woman’s Place, a shelter beneath the 13th Street freeway. Some lean on walkers, their feet too swollen to do much else. Others wear heels. They eat, smoke, or doze off. Earplugs supplied by travelling nurses help block out the rumble of traffic.

At 9:30 a.m. today this usual crowd was replaced by city employees: police, two Homeless Outreach Team workers, and a Department of Public Works crew. A DPW employee in a hazmat suit power-washed the sidewalk. A paramedic warned me to step away from the spray — he wasn’t sure what chemicals might be in the liquid. He couldn’t say if this was a routine cleaning,

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