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I can't even work in SF. The time wasted to drive to work kills me, I can't get desensitized to all the homeless shitting on streets, stabbing themselves with n

• thinkingkong 7y ago
  Well your first mistake was leaving work.
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• shafyy 7y ago
  Where do you live now?
  • superpermutat0r 7y ago
    Split, Croatia. Weather is equivalent, smaller city, lots of foreigners, and a growing IT industry. For a foreigner it's also very easy to just come and live in Croatia, they give staying permits to anyone who comes to just live and spend money (not work) but after you find work, getting an EU blue card is a piece of cake.
    • tzakrajs 7y ago
      What if we don't speak any language other than English? Is it difficult to live and work there as such?
      • treis 7y ago
        Every cheap country (Vietnam, Nicaragua, Thailand, Bali, etc.) will have a hodge podge of backpackers, ex-pats, retirees, etc. Enough locals will speak English to support providing necessities and socialization can happen with the other ex-pats. Working there is a different story, but generally you don't want to work there since the reason they're cheap is that the people are poor. The local jobs are low paid. The trick is to be able to work remotely or more rarely as a well paid employee of a foreign company.
      • matwood 7y ago
        I've been to Croatia a few times. It is very English friendly. Even a lot of the local TV was often in English. Croatia is a great place, and I highly recommend visiting.
      • superpermutat0r 7y ago
        Language is not a requirement to live/work in Croatia. There's a huge expat community in Croatia, I have met many Canadians and US citizens who came here and got their job because of their great English. Yes, working as an English teacher, or translator, or any language related job is a bit boring, but for tech people there's a huge demand and English-only is perfectly fine. Food has labels in English, restaurants and everything else, because of tourism, are very English oriented. It's a great place for foreigners.
    • shafyy 7y ago
      Sounds like a great place to work. In Turkey, it's also quite easy to get a staying permit, even if you don't plan on being emplyed by a Turkish company (e.g. if you just want to work on your startup). Just need to show that you have $500 per month you want to stay on your bank account.
      • dmortin 7y ago
        Did you consider other cheaper countries like in Eastern Europe (Hungary, Slovenia, etc?)
        • shafyy 7y ago
          Yeah we looked at a couple of options, including South East Asia and South America. In the end, the fact that I spoke Turkish, had a cultural connection, the closeness to friends and family in Zurich and the great cuisine did it for us :-) To be clear, you'll have a harder time if you don't speak (or willing to learn) Turkish in Bodrum, whereas more people speak English in Istanbul.
      • pbhjpbhj 7y ago
        Which areas of Turkey are safe for non-muslims at present?
    • deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    • qaq 7y ago
      Montenegro might be a good alternative with 11% income tax
      • rtio 7y ago
        Seems unlikely. Montenegro is for example not member of the EU. Chances are it is a better idea to 'trade up' to somewhere like Slovenia instead were you can find yourself with a low tax rate in some situations.
        • qaq 7y ago
          If you are a US citizen or a citizen of any other country that has visa free travel with EU why would you care?
          • rtio 7y ago
            The EU offers a lot of advantages in terms of labour market, services, payments etc. There are also reasons why Montenegro isn't allowed to join the EU that could be considered disadvantages. And of course if you don't care about those things there are plenty of other choices.
            • qaq 7y ago
              In Europe with same climate access to sea trivial ability to become a resident and similar tax level not that many :). Say you are US Citizen with remote position making 120K your tax bill in Montenegro is 13k. In Spain, Portugal, Greece etc you would be looking at 3x that.
      • superpermutat0r 7y ago
        Tax is irrelevant if you are an employee in your own Croatian company. The paycheck is yours to choose and you can pay the company income to yourself (12% or 18% tax, depending on the amount). Yeah, you lose the social benefits of the future but have more money to save. Companies here do not mind paying to your business for services because it is cheaper for them too, and as a tech worker, all the benefits of an employer are not that important.
    • temptemptemp111 7y ago
      What's the fastest residential fibre you can get there?
    • chosenbreed37 7y ago
      Nice ;-)
    • dantillberg 7y ago
      Re "weather is equivalent": I was curious, so I plugged the comparison into Weather Spark to see: [0]. Split is warmer in summer, colder in winter, a bit more humid, and moderately less sunny in the summer. It's very similar, but also a little bit different, and I find this site to be super useful in nailing down the differences. [0]: https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/80692~557~1098/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Split-San-Francisco-and-San-Jose https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/80692~557~1098/Comparison...
    • rtio 7y ago
      Isn't it annoying/limiting to live in a "tourist town" or maybe that is just part of the year?
      • superpermutat0r 7y ago
        It's mostly August, town is small and tourists are concentrated in historic areas. Traffic is jammed but you can walk around, everything is 15 mins away.
        • rtio 7y ago
          I should have been more specific. I don't mind tourist, but when I was living in Malta for awhile it seemed like being a tourist destinations affected it negatively. Rents would be higher than expected in many attractive areas, but it would be pretty quiet off-season. And outside the attractive areas the standard of living and services would be less. I guess some of that you would figure out living there longer, but it seemed like the "bang-for-buck" was less than expected and a lot of that had to do with being a tourist destination. Would you think that would be a concern in Split?
          • superpermutat0r 7y ago
            Yeah, Split is expensive when it comes to buying stuff, but still cheaper rent than capital city Zagreb. City is really small, so all the services are here. I haven't noticed that I miss anything or that anything is too expensive. Families that want to save more go live in Solin, Stobreč or similar costal outskirts, and these are 15-20 minutes by car from city center. Roads get congested around historic core, unlike Zagreb where congestion issues are ridiculous (can take you an hour to get to where you want). According to Numbeo, I'd have to have impossible income to keep the buying power at the same level if I moved to Vienna, Berlin, or other more attractive European towns. A quality engineer earning 2-2.5k euro in Croatia has no reason to move to Berlin or Vienna if paycheck does not double. An experienced engineer earning more really needs to get insane offers to move. My SF salary was no where near the current living standards.
• dmortin 7y ago
  It's strange that a rich area can't take care of this problem. E.g. supporting the homeless some way, cleaning them up and helping them to find some job and housing.
  • enraged_camel 7y ago
    The argument most commonly put forth by NIMBY types is that providing services for homeless people simply encourages more homeless to move to that city. Here in Austin, the City announced plans to build a new community center to help the homeless. Nearby residents are losing their fucking minds over it.
    • andymoe 7y ago
      Same in San Francisco... I think we might actually get it built anyway though.
    • merpnderp 7y ago
      I have a friend who's neighborhood had a community center for the homeless put in, but with strict rules on violence and drug usage. So homeless people migrate to the neighborhood to get into the shelter, but are often quickly turned out because they can't stop fighting or shooting up. And because of this, my friend's neighborhood is now a dangerous, very crime ridden place to live. Two weeks ago he and his wife were leaving for work and a junkie walked around from their backyard, leaned into his wife's open car window and reached for her purse before he could jump out of his car and run the guy off. They're losing their fucking minds over this.
    • conanbatt 7y ago
      San Francisco is a net-exporter of homeless people, according to a piece by The Guardian. Aproximately half the homeless population was sent to other states.
  • natalyarostova 7y ago
    They spend vast amounts of money on the problem, but the way they approach the problem makes the solution intractable. To the extent the drug addicted and severely mentally ill homeless can want things, and want the right to continue their current life, they are afforded that right. That is to say, it is their fundamental right to use drugs, live, and defecate on the street (I know these things are illegal, but really, legality is determined by enforcement, not what is on the books. And as far as enforcement goes, these things are legal for all intents and purposes). So long as they don't want help, and so long as it is their right to refuse and continue as they are, nothing will change. The alternatives are many, but they all start with some type of enforcement agency willingly stripping these peoples rights, and forcibly and potentially violently taking them into government custody, which the citizens of San Francisco find far more appalling than solving the problem. Note: What I said above doesn't generalize to 'the homeless,' and people out of a job and down on their luck, It specifically is targeted to the worst offenders who scatter the city with waste and needles.
• ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
  In the path month two people have taken heroin leaning against the window of my cubicle. Homeless people are closer to me than the co-worker in the next cube, and I don't even notice them now unless they make a lot of noise. It's a mirrored window so I can see out but they can't see in. I used to do a lot of work with homeless charities, and I often wonder if I would be a better person if I worked from home. Maybe I would have retained some of my sensitivity to these issues, or maybe that concern for the human condition fades with age, and I'd just be the same asshole but working in my pajamas.
• andreygrehov 7y ago
  Homelessness should be illegal.
  • devnonymous 7y ago
    Absolutely! Put them all in jail, where they have a roof over their head, a bed to sleep, 2 square meals, sanitation... paid for by tax dollars.... errr or some such. /sarsasm in case it was not evident. some days I just don't know whether it would be evident here.
    • hutzlibu 7y ago
      I think/hope parent was sarcastic as well ...
  • tim333 7y ago
    That only really works if you combine that with the government providing homes for those with no money.
  • pastor_elm 7y ago
    Homeless encampments are illegal in NYC. But on the west coast there is this strange idea that you should be allowed to set up your tent wherever you like.
    • lazyasciiart 7y ago
      Thats because the west coast refuses to provide shelter that can replace the tents, unlike NYC.
  • lazyasciiart 7y ago
    It is in New York. It's illegal for the government to not provide people with shelter to live in. Is that what you meant?
• shafyy 7y ago
  Oversimplifying here, but the homeless probem arises due to high housing cost and poor health care system. In addition to fighting the symptoms (which is already being done ok-ish), we need to fight the mentioned root causes. Unfortunately, the health care problem goes back to CA or even on a national level. Often times, mentally ill or people that lost their jobs for another reason become homeless, and from there the downward spiral begins. So, a better security net for those who suffer from mental and physical problems would be a good start.
  • justaguyhere 7y ago
    Can't remember where, but I remember reading stats that a huge percentage (like a third) homeless people are military veterans :(
    • fucking_tragedy 7y ago
      The largest percentage of homeless people are families. The largest causes of homelessness are job loss, arguments with friends and family whom they lived with, eviction, and divorce/separation. Drugs & alcohol are responsible for 15%, and illness/medical problems account for 7%. [1] [1] http://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2017SanFrancisco-PIT-FINAL.pdf http://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2017SanFranc...
  • unixhero 7y ago
    There are also homeless regardless if they receive help, due to mental illnesses.
    • quakeguy 7y ago
      ...and?!?
  • toasterlovin 7y ago
    The specific problems OP mentions are not due to high housing costs. What about rent being expensive means people have to shoot up or defecate in broad daylight on a public street?
• analogmemory 7y ago
  Cool. Good to see the privileged viewpoint of white folks still exists. I'd imagine it's much easier to judge others over the internet that to actually find ways to help them. And yes I'm being purposely judgemental of you. Have you taken the time to understand why these states happen for transient folks? Our mental health system is broken and the federal government refuses to grand basic health care for all its citizens. The state does offer free health care, but you have to jump through hoops to get it. As a former person who was homeless, I got to experience it first hand. Also just because you happened to work in the common areas where the homeless are gathering doesn't mean nothing is happening. The city is trying things but often they are only able to help a small percentage. And are often hamstrung by lack of funding and indifference by the larger population. Drug use is rampant because they want to feel something to escape the shit situation they are in. They just lack the care and monetary means to move on to get help. So in short, fuck your shortsided indifference.
  • dentemple 7y ago
    that's a harsher reply that it needs to be, mate
    • Gabriel_Martin 7y ago
      well we live in an era where internet outrage is replacing activism
  • toasterlovin 7y ago
    How do you know the person you're responding to is white?
    • Zarath 7y ago
      Cause they're a meanie!
  • inimino 7y ago
    Where's the indifference? They just said they moved away from it. Do you have a problem with that?
• JackFr 7y ago
  > talking schizophrenically in a dead language Speaking Latin or Aramaic while never having studied it is like #1 sign of demonic possession. I'd definitely avoid those guys.
• danans 7y ago
  > talking schizophrenically in a dead language, I'm not sure "dead language" is the term you are looking for. > every time I go grab a coffee or lunch in a cheaper area, A "cheaper area" area where they can access what they need to get through the day (cheap food, etc) is also what those homeless people are after, so it's no surprise you might end up in the same space.
  • superpermutat0r 7y ago
    Yeah, I was over-exaggerating the "dead language" bit, it's random noise. Leaving Twitter headquarters gets me in an uncomfortable place, even without the need to find cheap food.