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Yeah, the way he phrased his blog post is terrible. The guy is clearly not a writer. But my parents are visiting me from abroad in a few months (I've lived in

by GuiA 11y ago

Yeah, the way he phrased his blog post is terrible. The guy is clearly not a writer. But my parents are visiting me from abroad in a few months (I've lived in the Bay Area for about 5 years now), and I'm legitimately afraid something dumb will happen. I usually just walk fast around town, pre emptively avoiding people who seem to be in a universe of their own (and I'm a pretty tall/wide guy, so i've never had a problem fending off loud/obnoxious people when they confront me individually), but my parents will be in leisure visitor mode, and I don't want my mom to have to deal with a coked up naked guy yelling at her. Is that entitled? Yeah, maybe. But I'm not mad at the homeless people - I feel for them. I'm mad at the politicians of SF, who can't properly give a support network to the mentally ill in our streets. Other major world cities aren't in the state of disarray that SF is, so it seems like something that can largely be improved on.

tptacek 11y ago
The problem isn't that he's wrong about the San Francisco homeless problem. The problem is that the first half of his letter is lists legitimate concerns about the problem, and the second half is a temper tantrum about how he feels he's earned a station in life where he shouldn't have to be bothered with those problems. It's a terribly stupid letter. But it's also pretty silly that we're paying attention to it. It's self-evidently stupid.
Johnny555 11y ago
When my parents came to visit me shortly after I moved to SF, as we walked to dinner, I told them how safe the city was and how I felt comfortable walking around my neighborhood even at night. Then as we rounded a corner a few blocks from my apartment, we saw about 8 squad cars blocking the road with crime scene tape blocking the sidewalk. Mom asked the cop what was going on and he said "You can't go this way, we're investigating a multiple homicide". Oops. Mom still brings that up nearly 2 decades later.

by GuiA 11y ago

tptacek 11y ago

The problem isn't that he's wrong about the San Francisco homeless problem. The problem is that the first half of his letter is lists legitimate concerns about the problem, and the second half is a temper tantrum about how he feels he's earned a station in life where he shouldn't have to be bothered with those problems. It's a terribly stupid letter. But it's also pretty silly that we're paying attention to it. It's self-evidently stupid.

Johnny555 11y ago

When my parents came to visit me shortly after I moved to SF, as we walked to dinner, I told them how safe the city was and how I felt comfortable walking around my neighborhood even at night. Then as we rounded a corner a few blocks from my apartment, we saw about 8 squad cars blocking the road with crime scene tape blocking the sidewalk. Mom asked the cop what was going on and he said "You can't go this way, we're investigating a multiple homicide". Oops. Mom still brings that up nearly 2 decades later.