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Man this is sad... I just moved in SF a few months ago and I’m starting to get used to it... my parents want to come visit but I don’t want them to see all of t

Man this is sad... I just moved in SF a few months ago and I’m starting to get used to it... my parents want to come visit but I don’t want them to see all of this. I’m thinking of just meeting them in san diego and touring california while avoiding SF. This is not a SF problem. This is an American problem.

burlesona 8y ago
Opioids are an American problem, but homelessness across the US has been mostly decreasing over the past decade(1). The situation in SF and Seattle (to name two) has a lot to do with how bad the overall housing situation is in those places. 1: https://www.businessinsider.com/homeless-population-usa-states-2018-11 https://www.businessinsider.com/homeless-population-usa-stat...
- pstuart 8y ago
  And the problem of SF being a magnet for homeless to either be shipped to from other locales or "migrating" from the greater bay area. My mother was one of the latter.
- gamma-male 8y ago
  I don’t agree with you. Inside a country homeless people will generally tend to stick together in specific regions. This is what is happening here, what you can see in San Francisco is a consequence of many decisions the US has been taking over the years, no universal health care being one. The housing situation in many places is bad, it doesn’t mean it will attract homeless people from all over the place.
sloanedavids 8y ago
It is indeed a US problem. Just look at the depressed areas of the US on the east coast and south. However, SF brands itself as the city of the future, innovation, and progress. Because it is the epicenter of the worlds technology startup scene. But this darker aspect of the city contradicts that positive brand. You can’t be the city of progress and innovation if half of your people are subsisting in third world pits of despair. I mean you can try to be, but it doesn’t quite work. Something is wrong.
- wallacoloo 8y ago
  > However, SF brands itself as the city of the future, innovation, and progress. Because it is the epicenter of the worlds technology startup scene. I think what you describe are mostly business-related things. As an outsider, SF’s brand is about [mostly young] people claiming their opportunity to make a lot of money. None of the branding I see is about improving wellbeing. If something is wrong, I think it must be more general, perhaps that money and wellbeing aren’t so coupled. But unless SF is totally misrepresenting its brand to me, I’m not seeing any contradiction in its brand.
  - YuriNiyazov 8y ago
    I think the misunderstanding here is between what San Francisco supposedly used to be (a haven for hippies, LGBTQ, and other misfits) and what it is now (a haven for young people with business ambitions)
- gamma-male 8y ago
  Yup. They are propositions to solve the problem (prop C) but hilariously people are against them because it means more money being spent. Screw the people living in the streets if that means I can’t buy the next iPhone am I right?
gnulinux 8y ago
I came to US ~5 years ago and spent most of my time in SF. In my home country we had no homeless (ok, probably not like 0 but nowhere near close to SF, I've never seen a homeless person in my childhood) ao I thought this is an American problem. Now I'm living in Boston and there are surprisingly few homeless people. It's obviously not 0, I still get to see homeless sleeping in subway, streets etc but the difference between SF and Boston is day and night. SF has a ridiculously concentrated homeless population.

burlesona 8y ago

Opioids are an American problem, but homelessness across the US has been mostly decreasing over the past decade(1). The situation in SF and Seattle (to name two) has a lot to do with how bad the overall housing situation is in those places. 1: https://www.businessinsider.com/homeless-population-usa-states-2018-11 https://www.businessinsider.com/homeless-population-usa-stat...

pstuart 8y ago
And the problem of SF being a magnet for homeless to either be shipped to from other locales or "migrating" from the greater bay area. My mother was one of the latter.
gamma-male 8y ago
I don’t agree with you. Inside a country homeless people will generally tend to stick together in specific regions. This is what is happening here, what you can see in San Francisco is a consequence of many decisions the US has been taking over the years, no universal health care being one. The housing situation in many places is bad, it doesn’t mean it will attract homeless people from all over the place.

sloanedavids 8y ago

It is indeed a US problem. Just look at the depressed areas of the US on the east coast and south. However, SF brands itself as the city of the future, innovation, and progress. Because it is the epicenter of the worlds technology startup scene. But this darker aspect of the city contradicts that positive brand. You can’t be the city of progress and innovation if half of your people are subsisting in third world pits of despair. I mean you can try to be, but it doesn’t quite work. Something is wrong.

wallacoloo 8y ago
> However, SF brands itself as the city of the future, innovation, and progress. Because it is the epicenter of the worlds technology startup scene. I think what you describe are mostly business-related things. As an outsider, SF’s brand is about [mostly young] people claiming their opportunity to make a lot of money. None of the branding I see is about improving wellbeing. If something is wrong, I think it must be more general, perhaps that money and wellbeing aren’t so coupled. But unless SF is totally misrepresenting its brand to me, I’m not seeing any contradiction in its brand.
- YuriNiyazov 8y ago
  I think the misunderstanding here is between what San Francisco supposedly used to be (a haven for hippies, LGBTQ, and other misfits) and what it is now (a haven for young people with business ambitions)
gamma-male 8y ago
Yup. They are propositions to solve the problem (prop C) but hilariously people are against them because it means more money being spent. Screw the people living in the streets if that means I can’t buy the next iPhone am I right?

gnulinux 8y ago

I came to US ~5 years ago and spent most of my time in SF. In my home country we had no homeless (ok, probably not like 0 but nowhere near close to SF, I've never seen a homeless person in my childhood) ao I thought this is an American problem. Now I'm living in Boston and there are surprisingly few homeless people. It's obviously not 0, I still get to see homeless sleeping in subway, streets etc but the difference between SF and Boston is day and night. SF has a ridiculously concentrated homeless population.