Kevin Hines regretted jumping off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge the moment his hands released the rail and he plunged the equivalent of 25 stories into the Pacific Ocean, breaking his back.
Hines miraculously survived his suicide attempt at age 19 in September 2000 as he struggled with bipolar disorder, one of about 40 people who survived after jumping off the bridge.
Hines, his father, and a group of parents who lost their children to suicide at the bridge relentlessly advocated for a solution for two decades, meeting resistance from people who did not want to alter the iconic landmark with its sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay.
On Wednesday, they finally got their wish when officials announced that crews have installed stainless-steel nets on both sides of the 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) bridge.
“Had the net been there, I would have been stopped by the police and gotten the help I needed immediately and never broken my back, never shattered three vertebrae, and never been on this path I was on,” said Hines, now a suicide prevention advocate. “I’m so grateful that a small group of like-minded people never gave up on something so important.”
Nearly 2,000 people have plunged to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1937.
City officials approved the project more than a decade ago, and in 2018 work began on the 20-foot-wide (6-meter-wide) stainless steel mesh nets. But the efforts to complete them were repeatedly delayed until now.
The nets — placed 20 feet (6 meters) down from the bridge’s deck — are not visible from cars crossing the bridge. But pedestrians standing by the rails can see them. They were built with marine-grade stainless steel that can withstand the harsh environment that includes salt water, fog and strong winds that often envelop the striking orange structure at the mouth of the San Francisco Bay.
Thanks for charging $120 per resident to build a mega hammock for homeless 👍
/s? Surely you don’t actually think people want to live in a net.
I surely don’t think a net is stopping anyone from offing themselves let alone even begins to address the real issue. Was building it: a) virtue signaling by the city committee b) a great way to blow $224M to hide and pocket some money by contracting affiliated businesses c) useless in terms of actually addressing underlying mental health issues d) all of the above
You tell me. Surely a cool luxurious mega hammock with a view though.
Downvote me all you want, but you can’t change facts - out of 244 confirmed suicides in SF between 2018 and 2020 only 30 were confirmed to have happened due to the GG bridge. That’s 12%. Don’t get your little feelings hurt and instead pay attention where the money is going. Blowing $224M to prevent 12% of cases makes 0 sense.
You ever watch A Christmas Carol and think “hm, that Scrooge guy has a point!”
No, but I have PhD in stats and I can tell none of you know how to count
Better to decrease the surplus population
Yikes, you’re one of those. I was more so talking about a more productive use of a quarter of a Billion dollars like building a state sponsored rehab/support program and investing into a community for lost people of this sort. But no, you’re too illiterate to understand what’s happening in front of you.
I get your point. It makes sense.
You keep talking about money vs reward. How many lives would need to be saved to make it worth it to you? How much is a human life worth to you?
That’s the wrong question. The correct one would be - do these nets achieve the goal and purpose for which they were built - saving lives? Or will the really desperate people just climb down and jump from the nets? They’re flat and solid, not angled at all or guarded to prevent standing or rolling off either. This project is poorly designed and thought out, overdue, overbilled, and over budget.
You were the one that made the comment. So i don’t think it was the wrong question.
I downvoted you for being a condescending piece of shit, not because I think you’re wrong. Just sayin’.
No yea I already said I obviously hurt snowflakes feelings, but thanks for confirming. Sticks and stones, you know? Maybe form an original and an actually useful/insightful thought next time though?