4 ms·

This description of Rome is how I see San Francisco. Formerly such a beautiful city, now all I see is garbage. Recently my grandparents, who had never been out

This description of Rome is how I see San Francisco. Formerly such a beautiful city, now all I see is garbage. Recently my grandparents, who had never been outside of Germany before, visited me in San Francisco. As we left SFO by car and drove into the city, they eagerly took in the new sights. Everything they saw was new to them. After a long period of silence, they asked me, with a certain level of disbelief in their voice, “Why is there so much garbage on the streets in America?” I was stumped. Later, recounting their experience, they told me, “Driving into San Francisco felt like entering a land fill.” I will never forget those words.

michaelvoz 8y ago
I went for a walk today, around my neighborhood in San Francisco. It was filthy. It was really rather sad. I've been here a long time but am now actively looking to leave. It breaks my heart seeing the beautiful city treated as an open air insane asylum and trash pit.
sloanedavids 8y ago
It gets worse. I had hoped to show off Silicon Valley to them as a place that is, well, pretty awesome. Having spent their entire lives in Germany though, they didn’t come away very impressed. When we took the Caltrain from SF down to San Jose they laughed, saying how the rickety slow, old train reminded them of the Soviet-era trains they had in East Germany in the 70’s. I couldn’t disagree. Later, we took BART. Let’s just say they were so put off by the stench and the filthy condition of the train car, they refused to even sit down, held a handkerchief in front of their face, and couldn’t wait to get out. Needless to say, they were unimpressed by their visit to the Bay Area.
- danans 8y ago
  BART is finally deploying their new cleaner and modern trains, but the old cars are indeed well past their expiry date, farther past than any trains I've seen in Western Europe. That may be because until recently, in much of the Bay Area, people of even moderate means often avoided transit at all costs. So the investment and maintenance went to roads, not transit.
  - i_am_nomad 8y ago
    Except the Bay Area has literally the worst-maintained roads of any metropolitan area in the country.
danans 8y ago
What they perhaps didn't see is that the US has a higher rate of personal car ownership. People don't like to walk over garbage, but they don't mind driving over it to an extent. The areas with trash are the ones where people of means drive and the walkers are mostly poor, like freeway underpasses.
- adrianN 8y ago
  You're right that freeway underpasses are particularly egregious but I found almost of SF to be pretty dirty compared to German (or Japanese!) standards. The incredible number of homeless people is also really shocking for visitors.
- de_watcher 8y ago
  Yes, it's all about the Gini index - the amount of inequality in the society.
- dilyevsky 8y ago
  It’s not just rubbish. Half of sf looks like an active war zone. And lots of ppl don’t even own a car there.
- redisman 8y ago
  SF is one of the more walkable cities though. And its streets flow with urine and garbage
dilyevsky 8y ago
Ha! If you commute to the city by Caltrain and look out the window it looks like a screne from Children of Men.
newnewpdro 8y ago
California has always shocked me with the amount of trash I encounter on the highways. It's completely different from where I grew up in the midwest, not all of America is like that. It's part of why I stopped riding motorcycles. There was far too often substantial hazardous objects like building materials or furniture littering the streets. I presume it was all falling from improperly loaded vehicles, perhaps people underestimating the effects of hills. I've observed a lot more negligence and incompetence in general with Californians. There's a combination of extreme carelessness and lack of ownership for one's (in)actions, I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's very apparent after living here for over a decade. Everything is someone else's problem, maybe it's just the ubiquitous self-centeredness Californians are known for. In any case, it doesn't make for a population that cooperates on keeping the place clean. The state would have to spend far more than other states to clean up after its residents enough to be kept comparably tidy. These people simply can't be bothered about anything other than themselves.

michaelvoz 8y ago

I went for a walk today, around my neighborhood in San Francisco. It was filthy. It was really rather sad. I've been here a long time but am now actively looking to leave. It breaks my heart seeing the beautiful city treated as an open air insane asylum and trash pit.

sloanedavids 8y ago

It gets worse. I had hoped to show off Silicon Valley to them as a place that is, well, pretty awesome. Having spent their entire lives in Germany though, they didn’t come away very impressed. When we took the Caltrain from SF down to San Jose they laughed, saying how the rickety slow, old train reminded them of the Soviet-era trains they had in East Germany in the 70’s. I couldn’t disagree. Later, we took BART. Let’s just say they were so put off by the stench and the filthy condition of the train car, they refused to even sit down, held a handkerchief in front of their face, and couldn’t wait to get out. Needless to say, they were unimpressed by their visit to the Bay Area.

danans 8y ago
BART is finally deploying their new cleaner and modern trains, but the old cars are indeed well past their expiry date, farther past than any trains I've seen in Western Europe. That may be because until recently, in much of the Bay Area, people of even moderate means often avoided transit at all costs. So the investment and maintenance went to roads, not transit.
- i_am_nomad 8y ago
  Except the Bay Area has literally the worst-maintained roads of any metropolitan area in the country.

danans 8y ago

What they perhaps didn't see is that the US has a higher rate of personal car ownership. People don't like to walk over garbage, but they don't mind driving over it to an extent. The areas with trash are the ones where people of means drive and the walkers are mostly poor, like freeway underpasses.

adrianN 8y ago
You're right that freeway underpasses are particularly egregious but I found almost of SF to be pretty dirty compared to German (or Japanese!) standards. The incredible number of homeless people is also really shocking for visitors.
de_watcher 8y ago
Yes, it's all about the Gini index - the amount of inequality in the society.
dilyevsky 8y ago
It’s not just rubbish. Half of sf looks like an active war zone. And lots of ppl don’t even own a car there.
redisman 8y ago
SF is one of the more walkable cities though. And its streets flow with urine and garbage

dilyevsky 8y ago

Ha! If you commute to the city by Caltrain and look out the window it looks like a screne from Children of Men.

newnewpdro 8y ago

California has always shocked me with the amount of trash I encounter on the highways. It's completely different from where I grew up in the midwest, not all of America is like that. It's part of why I stopped riding motorcycles. There was far too often substantial hazardous objects like building materials or furniture littering the streets. I presume it was all falling from improperly loaded vehicles, perhaps people underestimating the effects of hills. I've observed a lot more negligence and incompetence in general with Californians. There's a combination of extreme carelessness and lack of ownership for one's (in)actions, I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's very apparent after living here for over a decade. Everything is someone else's problem, maybe it's just the ubiquitous self-centeredness Californians are known for. In any case, it doesn't make for a population that cooperates on keeping the place clean. The state would have to spend far more than other states to clean up after its residents enough to be kept comparably tidy. These people simply can't be bothered about anything other than themselves.