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I think it's hard to make this argument in modern circumstances. I moved to a city for a good job. I don't agree with the city politically, my family isn't from

I think it's hard to make this argument in modern circumstances. I moved to a city for a good job. I don't agree with the city politically, my family isn't from here, I don't see this place as where I belong or fit in, and I don't expect to be here forever. If my city becomes unpleasant or unnecessary, I'm not going to fight to the bitter end. I'm going to bounce. In pre-modern times, perhaps people had more of a connection and loyalty to where they live. I wouldn't know. To me city, state, or even country delineations feel somewhat unreal. Another way to put it would be that I'm not running from the problems. I'm solving them. See: my problems aren't mismanagement of the city, rampant homeless, crime, smoke, high cost of living, etc - my problem is that I live in a city where all this stuff is, and I can solve that quite easily. My "home" is my friends and family, even though we are distributed across the world now. I wouldn't run from my problems, even if they were geographically distant, but I'm not obliging myself to solve everyone's problems, even if they're geographically close.

azinman2 6y ago
People used to come to SF because they loved the city. The internet economy changed that, and it contributed to many of SF’s ills. I’m personally hopeful that once all the people leave that don’t like the city, that it’ll return to its natural equilibrium.
- 01100011 6y ago
  I'd like to think that too. I miss the old SF from the mid 90's. That said, you need only look at the rest of CA to realize it isn't just tech ruining SF. It's increased population, increased wealth, and increased mobility that is allowing coastal CA to grow beyond the suburban capacity that is baked in to the infrastructure. Sure, there are problems unique to SF, or at least the magnitude is unique, but CA as a whole has gone downhill. I spent half my life in San Diego before coming to the Bay Area. It sucks there too compared to what it used to be.
  - 0xB31B1B 6y ago
    Infrastructure is not an immutable factor of the landscape, we can and do change it frequently
    - 01100011 6y ago
      To some degree yeah, but not enough to really change things. You can widen freeways and add a trolley line here and there, but no one, as far as I know, is bulldozing subdivisions of low-density housing and relaying out the road network. CA is trying half measures like allowing higher density redevelopment in suburbs and it makes things worse. The communities weren't designed for high density.
  - blackflame7000 6y ago
    You gotta ask yourself who's been in charge for the last 20 years and why do we continue to elect them?

azinman2 6y ago

People used to come to SF because they loved the city. The internet economy changed that, and it contributed to many of SF’s ills. I’m personally hopeful that once all the people leave that don’t like the city, that it’ll return to its natural equilibrium.

01100011 6y ago
I'd like to think that too. I miss the old SF from the mid 90's. That said, you need only look at the rest of CA to realize it isn't just tech ruining SF. It's increased population, increased wealth, and increased mobility that is allowing coastal CA to grow beyond the suburban capacity that is baked in to the infrastructure. Sure, there are problems unique to SF, or at least the magnitude is unique, but CA as a whole has gone downhill. I spent half my life in San Diego before coming to the Bay Area. It sucks there too compared to what it used to be.
- 0xB31B1B 6y ago
  Infrastructure is not an immutable factor of the landscape, we can and do change it frequently
  - 01100011 6y ago
    To some degree yeah, but not enough to really change things. You can widen freeways and add a trolley line here and there, but no one, as far as I know, is bulldozing subdivisions of low-density housing and relaying out the road network. CA is trying half measures like allowing higher density redevelopment in suburbs and it makes things worse. The communities weren't designed for high density.
- blackflame7000 6y ago
  You gotta ask yourself who's been in charge for the last 20 years and why do we continue to elect them?