7 ms·

I may as well represent a different perspective here. I am not leaving San Francisco. It's beautiful here. I'm excited to see it get weirder. I will always cho

I may as well represent a different perspective here. I am not leaving San Francisco. It's beautiful here. I'm excited to see it get weirder. I will always choose to live somewhere that is exciting over somewhere that will be the same forever. Everything about San Francisco has always been "temporary." This city is boom/bust, constantly changing. It's interesting, having a front-row seat to the ways that people and culture change over time. Some of the most interesting, most cherished times for native San Franciscans was the 60s/70s, when crime was way higher than today, there was no real tech presence, and the art scene here was booming. It was expensive then, too. It's probably always going to be expensive to live here. If you're here, you can probably already feel the city starting to get into the bust times, the times when the culture really starts to get shaken up and things start evolving into something new. It's not for everyone, but for a certain kind of person — it's better than anywhere else. You probably won't agree with me, and that's okay. I don't expect, or want, everyone to. But the changes I've seen in SF recently — personally, I like them. There's so much potential. EDIT: The level of hostility in the comments here is a little staggering. Please, readers, consider that others may have a different perspective than you. Obviously, I am not condoning any further human suffering. If that's all that you can see in my comment, consider if the cynicism in your comment may effect others.

chrisseaton 6y ago
> I'm excited to see it get weirder ... personally, I like [it] I think the problem is that the 'weirdness' is more like 'human suffering'. People treat it like a charming part of the experience for their benefit... but like it's real people suffering.
- taylorlapeyre 6y ago
  If you’re imagining crime and homelessness, that’s not exactly what I mean by “weirdness” – those are problems that San Francisco needs to fix... and will probably always need to fix.
  - setpatchaddress 6y ago
    SF’s homeless problem is out of control in a way that it isn’t in most large cities. You can’t say “that’s just life”.
    - taylorlapeyre 6y ago
      I certainly never said that homelessness is “just life.” I’m just realistic. San Francisco will probably always have this problem to some extent, and it’s our responsibility as San Franciscans to help alleviate it as much as possible. None of this has to do with my original point about San Francisco’s recent changes, which I have personally experienced as having a much higher density of artists.
      - chrisseaton 6y ago
        > San Francisco will probably always have this problem to some extent But why? Other cities don't. For example Liechtenstein has literally no homeless people in the entire country. They had to close their last homeless shelter... because it was empty. Many other global cities have single-digit homeless per 100k population. Why does San Francisco have literally ten thousand homeless people and why are the numbers still growing? "will probably always have this problem" is bat-shit insane.
        crooked-v 6y ago
        As a country we've decided that the suitable response to children regularly being mass murdered in schools is to train children to expect being mass murdered in school. A similar abandonment on the subject of homeless is hardly surprising.
        pm90 6y ago
        To a certain extent, housing is a statewide problem (prop 13) which the city has limited power to address. To another extent, the lack of a National affordable healthcare program and support for people in duress amplifies the problem even further. The city has also taken a more humane approach to dealing with the homeless rather than incarcerating or throwing them elsewhere. Most of the homeless suffer from drug/alcohol related issues and the city has tried different approaches to solving this problem. Overall, it’s a confluence of many problems that makes it very difficult to “solve” the homelessness problem. Comparing to another city with different circumstances isn’t really helpful; they’re not facing the same situation.
pm90 6y ago
I’ve not lived here for too long but I agree with your sentiment. It’s a wonderful city and I’ve met wonderful people and have had great experiences so far. No city is perfect and to the contrary of what most people complain about, I am happy that this city has a big homeless budget and that my tax dollars are being used to provide them some kind of relief, that the city Government is not prosecuting an already unfortunate class of people for doing exactly what any one of us put in such terrible circumstances would be coerced into doing.
almost_usual 6y ago
SF’s bust now is $1m+ condos in Western Edition, not really a bust. SF was built on gold mining and capitalism. There was a counter culture period but it’s a money making town.
ubertoop 6y ago
Come on dude. People aren't talking about the "weird" or quirky aspects of SF. We're talking about fucking needles, and human feces in the street. Stop protecting this shit by labeling it as something other than human suffering and a public health disaster.
- taylorlapeyre 6y ago
  > People aren't talking about the "weird" or quirky aspects of SF Someone has to stand up for these aspects of the city, and I guess today it's my turn.
- ditonal 6y ago
  My friend lived in SF for 3 years, then left for a year. He called me to say, “dude what happened to SF? Apparently it’s all shit and needles now.” I had to explain to him that nothing has changed. He was just reading sensationalized media. I live in SF, I would like the city cleaned up, more accountability for taxes, more focus on tax payers over homeless. But at the same time, SF represents liberalism in the US so is a target for conservative media and the problems are massively overblown. People act like the Tenderloin is the whole city, or tech people who never left soma. The city is incredibly beautiful overall. The top comment at time of writing is complaining about taxes AND how terrible it is to see homeless and we are evil. It’s a hot take totally free of substance, short of kicking people out of the city there are no easy solutions that involve lower taxes and helping all the homeless. These people want to sound compassionate but mostly sound like they want suffering out of their eyesight. Downtown SF has emptied out because we’re still in the middle of a pandemic. I don’t know if it will last but it’s so dumb to act like people left for any other reason than a pandemic making city living awful. There’s a good chance it will bounce back. Most of SFs biggest problems like affordability are caused by too many people wanting to live there. These are problems other cities are jealous of. The mayor of Miami literally bought a billboard right now begging people to go to his city. And that jealousy combined with hatred of democrats means people will massively exaggerate problems. Again, I highly recommend visiting any other neighborhood besides soma or the tenderloin.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
lazzlazzlazz 6y ago
One of the most strangely written cope pieces I've seen pro-SF so far. San Francisco has never been less exciting. Sure, it'll remain the Enterprise SaaS capital of the world for a while, but all the most exciting and interesting people have higher expectations than never-ending battles with NIMBYs and deranged city councils. It's been feeling like time for a change for years now. I'm glad to see it happening.
- taylorlapeyre 6y ago
  All I can say is that my experience is much different than yours.
oh_sigh 6y ago
If you really want weird you should try some favelas outside of Rio. You'd love it there if you're looking for weird like they have in SF!
imtringued 6y ago
>I will always choose to live somewhere that is exciting over somewhere that will be the same forever. If you were to ask the local home owners they want it to stay the same forever. In fact, the city isn't changing at all, it's the people that are changing.

chrisseaton 6y ago

> I'm excited to see it get weirder ... personally, I like [it] I think the problem is that the 'weirdness' is more like 'human suffering'. People treat it like a charming part of the experience for their benefit... but like it's real people suffering.

taylorlapeyre 6y ago
If you’re imagining crime and homelessness, that’s not exactly what I mean by “weirdness” – those are problems that San Francisco needs to fix... and will probably always need to fix.
- setpatchaddress 6y ago
  SF’s homeless problem is out of control in a way that it isn’t in most large cities. You can’t say “that’s just life”.
  - taylorlapeyre 6y ago
    I certainly never said that homelessness is “just life.” I’m just realistic. San Francisco will probably always have this problem to some extent, and it’s our responsibility as San Franciscans to help alleviate it as much as possible. None of this has to do with my original point about San Francisco’s recent changes, which I have personally experienced as having a much higher density of artists.
    - chrisseaton 6y ago
      > San Francisco will probably always have this problem to some extent But why? Other cities don't. For example Liechtenstein has literally no homeless people in the entire country. They had to close their last homeless shelter... because it was empty. Many other global cities have single-digit homeless per 100k population. Why does San Francisco have literally ten thousand homeless people and why are the numbers still growing? "will probably always have this problem" is bat-shit insane.
      - crooked-v 6y ago
        As a country we've decided that the suitable response to children regularly being mass murdered in schools is to train children to expect being mass murdered in school. A similar abandonment on the subject of homeless is hardly surprising.
      - pm90 6y ago
        To a certain extent, housing is a statewide problem (prop 13) which the city has limited power to address. To another extent, the lack of a National affordable healthcare program and support for people in duress amplifies the problem even further. The city has also taken a more humane approach to dealing with the homeless rather than incarcerating or throwing them elsewhere. Most of the homeless suffer from drug/alcohol related issues and the city has tried different approaches to solving this problem. Overall, it’s a confluence of many problems that makes it very difficult to “solve” the homelessness problem. Comparing to another city with different circumstances isn’t really helpful; they’re not facing the same situation.

pm90 6y ago

I’ve not lived here for too long but I agree with your sentiment. It’s a wonderful city and I’ve met wonderful people and have had great experiences so far. No city is perfect and to the contrary of what most people complain about, I am happy that this city has a big homeless budget and that my tax dollars are being used to provide them some kind of relief, that the city Government is not prosecuting an already unfortunate class of people for doing exactly what any one of us put in such terrible circumstances would be coerced into doing.

almost_usual 6y ago

SF’s bust now is $1m+ condos in Western Edition, not really a bust. SF was built on gold mining and capitalism. There was a counter culture period but it’s a money making town.

ubertoop 6y ago

Come on dude. People aren't talking about the "weird" or quirky aspects of SF. We're talking about fucking needles, and human feces in the street. Stop protecting this shit by labeling it as something other than human suffering and a public health disaster.

taylorlapeyre 6y ago
> People aren't talking about the "weird" or quirky aspects of SF Someone has to stand up for these aspects of the city, and I guess today it's my turn.
ditonal 6y ago
My friend lived in SF for 3 years, then left for a year. He called me to say, “dude what happened to SF? Apparently it’s all shit and needles now.” I had to explain to him that nothing has changed. He was just reading sensationalized media. I live in SF, I would like the city cleaned up, more accountability for taxes, more focus on tax payers over homeless. But at the same time, SF represents liberalism in the US so is a target for conservative media and the problems are massively overblown. People act like the Tenderloin is the whole city, or tech people who never left soma. The city is incredibly beautiful overall. The top comment at time of writing is complaining about taxes AND how terrible it is to see homeless and we are evil. It’s a hot take totally free of substance, short of kicking people out of the city there are no easy solutions that involve lower taxes and helping all the homeless. These people want to sound compassionate but mostly sound like they want suffering out of their eyesight. Downtown SF has emptied out because we’re still in the middle of a pandemic. I don’t know if it will last but it’s so dumb to act like people left for any other reason than a pandemic making city living awful. There’s a good chance it will bounce back. Most of SFs biggest problems like affordability are caused by too many people wanting to live there. These are problems other cities are jealous of. The mayor of Miami literally bought a billboard right now begging people to go to his city. And that jealousy combined with hatred of democrats means people will massively exaggerate problems. Again, I highly recommend visiting any other neighborhood besides soma or the tenderloin.
- chrisseaton 6y ago

lazzlazzlazz 6y ago

One of the most strangely written cope pieces I've seen pro-SF so far. San Francisco has never been less exciting. Sure, it'll remain the Enterprise SaaS capital of the world for a while, but all the most exciting and interesting people have higher expectations than never-ending battles with NIMBYs and deranged city councils. It's been feeling like time for a change for years now. I'm glad to see it happening.

taylorlapeyre 6y ago
All I can say is that my experience is much different than yours.

oh_sigh 6y ago

If you really want weird you should try some favelas outside of Rio. You'd love it there if you're looking for weird like they have in SF!

imtringued 6y ago

>I will always choose to live somewhere that is exciting over somewhere that will be the same forever. If you were to ask the local home owners they want it to stay the same forever. In fact, the city isn't changing at all, it's the people that are changing.