A week ago,
President Trump signed an executive order called Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets.
Now,
this order could be read as Trump setting up another showdown between his administration and liberal cities.
But actually, some cities are already ahead of him on this.
I'm Hannah Rosen.
This is Radio Atlantic.
Over the next three weeks,
we're bringing you a special series about the beginnings of an experiment.
A lot of American cities already know they have a real problem.
A few streets or a neighborhood where the social order seems to have completely broken down.
They're crowded with people living on the streets, often with addiction.
And even before this executive order was signed, some cities were beginning to take these places on,
or at least auditioned some new ways to fix the problem.
Reporter Ethan Brooks looks at San Francisco,
which is an obvious place to look
because it's a city known for being exceptional at thinking up solutions to all kinds of complicated problems.
Why hasn't it been able to crack this one?
Ethan finds some answers close to the ground.
He follows one guy and gets some insights about why the solution these cities are looking for is so elusive.