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I'm planning to move to SF for a job. A friend told me to sign up for a neighborhood facebook group to one of the nicer neighborhoods in SF, Cole Valley, becaus

I'm planning to move to SF for a job. A friend told me to sign up for a neighborhood facebook group to one of the nicer neighborhoods in SF, Cole Valley, because I might see a message about a good place to rent. Cole Valley is a small neighborhood on the south east corner of Golden Gate Park. In the 3 weeks I've been on the list 5 cars have had their windows busted and things stolen, 2 garages have been broken into and things stolen. 2 garages have had their doors damaged from attempted break-ins costing the owners hundreds to get fixed. There's been videos of people staking out places to rob (people walking from house to house inspecting garage door locks and trying to peak inside the garages). And ~10 or so posts about various other thefts or results of thefts. This sounds more like one of those lawless 3rd world countries than a major city in a first world country. And worse, many people on the list just react as "that's life in a big city", no big deal. It's not, having lived in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Singapore were property crime is extremely low. People get defensive whenever I bring this up, making excuses why crime needs to be high where they live. It doesn't.

rahimnathwani 5y ago
If you want more of that type of news, make sure you install these apps: * Ring * Nextdoor
- kfarr 5y ago
  Oh and don't forget Citizen. With that combo you'll never want to sleep again!
  - b9a2cab5 5y ago
    If the police and justice system actually worked in SF Citizen wouldn't have a market.
tayo42 5y ago
Don't let the doom porn get to you. I lived in bernal for 5 years and never had a problem. Cole valley is right next to haight ashbury which attracts a fair amount characters. There's other neighborhoods that aren't in the middle of everything. Bernal heights, glen park, noe valley, pacific heights, the richmond and the sunset will be a little less crazy. I think any American city will have some culture shock compared to Japan or Singapore. Just don't leave stuff out in the open, lock your stuff and maybe don't drive a prius, people like to steal the catalytic converters.
- themanmaran 5y ago
  Perks of living on top of a giant hill. No one wants to hike bernal to rob someone.
  - SmellTheGlove 5y ago
    I thought that, but in the last 6 months living at the top of golden gate heights, the number of garage and car break ins was crazy. Felt like one a day. They’d case the block in broad daylight. I used to leave my car unlocked so at least there’d be no broken glass. Garage door openers were getting stolen and they’d come back to those houses later to empty out the garage. Cops never turned up when called. Anyway we moved out of SF a month ago. No chance I’m paying that rent or mortgage in a city that won’t enforce its laws. Seattle’s been awesome so far.
    - ALittleLight 5y ago
      Wow. If you think Seattle is awesome SF must've been bad. Please come to lovely Bellevue sometime. Much cleaner and safer than Seattle.
      - SmellTheGlove 5y ago
        Eh, we looked on the east side. To each their own, but it felt lacking to us. I spent a great decade in Northern New England before heading west for a career, and I'll probably end up back there one day, but I value the diversity and even a bit of the grit Seattle has. I don't live in Belltown, so I find the city to be pretty clean and safe. This isn't a swipe at Bellevue, it's just not for us. That was probably a swipe at Belltown though :D
    - Seattle3503 5y ago
      > Seattle’s been awesome so far. Seattle might be headed that way with our city council. Make sure to vote.
      - 5y ago
s5300 5y ago
No, this is not more like one of those lawless third world countries. I don't understand how some people have such little life experience to make these sorts of comments. There aren't exactly many cars to be broken into in lawless third world countries, there aren't many garages with things in them to be broken into along with said things stolen in lawless third world countries, and there aren't many garages with doors to be damaged in lawless third world countries. Like, come on.
ljhsiung 5y ago
Screw anecdata. Here are some statistics/resources. SF Chronicle (an SF based newspaper) tracks break-ins in SF [0]. Here is a more general crime dashboard as well [1]. For reference, here are some statistics in Chicago [2]. YTD, SF has had 8500 property theft cases. Chicago-- 3000. Per crime capita, SF is astronomical. Many people don't have cars in SF for this exact reason. Other commenters are right that it varies slightly by neighborhood (e.g. cars in Russian Hill/Cole Valley are by far more touristy than others), but that doesn't make it any less ridiculous. [0] https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/sf-car-breakins/ https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/sf-car-breakins/ [1] https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/stay-safe/crime-data/crime-dashboard https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/stay-safe/crime-data/crim... [2] https://home.chicagopolice.org/wp-content/uploads/1_PDFsam_CompStat-Public-2021-Week-18.pdf https://home.chicagopolice.org/wp-content/uploads/1_PDFsam_C...
- mushbino 5y ago
  How does violent crime compare?
thethethethe 5y ago
It's really not that bad. If you go looking for something, you are going to find it, which is exactly what you did by going to the neighborhood fb group. I've lived in potrero hill and lower Haight for over three years and only have and some packages stolen, and I lived right next to the projects when in potrero. This "crime problem" has little to no effect on my daily life, other than needing to press a button so an attendant can unlock the shampoo cabinet when I'm at CVS every other month.
- tengbretson 5y ago
  > which is exactly what you did by going to the neighborhood fb group Is it uncommon to have a neighborhood fb group that's just full of old people posting that it looks like it might rain and people trying to offload extra rhubarb from their garden?
- ummonk 5y ago
  Neighborhood FB groups in low crime places don't have people posting about actual crime. It's usually either social stuff, or posts by Karens about random "suspicious looking" people.
  - astura 5y ago
    I live in a very low crime area, my neighbor regularly leaves her garage door open (I guess out of convenience?) and her garage is full of extremely valuable items, nobody ever takes anything. My neighborhood FB group is almost exclusively people asking for recommendations, I've never seen a post about crime.

rahimnathwani 5y ago

If you want more of that type of news, make sure you install these apps: * Ring * Nextdoor

kfarr 5y ago
Oh and don't forget Citizen. With that combo you'll never want to sleep again!
- b9a2cab5 5y ago
  If the police and justice system actually worked in SF Citizen wouldn't have a market.

tayo42 5y ago

Don't let the doom porn get to you. I lived in bernal for 5 years and never had a problem. Cole valley is right next to haight ashbury which attracts a fair amount characters. There's other neighborhoods that aren't in the middle of everything. Bernal heights, glen park, noe valley, pacific heights, the richmond and the sunset will be a little less crazy. I think any American city will have some culture shock compared to Japan or Singapore. Just don't leave stuff out in the open, lock your stuff and maybe don't drive a prius, people like to steal the catalytic converters.

themanmaran 5y ago
Perks of living on top of a giant hill. No one wants to hike bernal to rob someone.
- SmellTheGlove 5y ago
  I thought that, but in the last 6 months living at the top of golden gate heights, the number of garage and car break ins was crazy. Felt like one a day. They’d case the block in broad daylight. I used to leave my car unlocked so at least there’d be no broken glass. Garage door openers were getting stolen and they’d come back to those houses later to empty out the garage. Cops never turned up when called. Anyway we moved out of SF a month ago. No chance I’m paying that rent or mortgage in a city that won’t enforce its laws. Seattle’s been awesome so far.
  - ALittleLight 5y ago
    Wow. If you think Seattle is awesome SF must've been bad. Please come to lovely Bellevue sometime. Much cleaner and safer than Seattle.
    - SmellTheGlove 5y ago
      Eh, we looked on the east side. To each their own, but it felt lacking to us. I spent a great decade in Northern New England before heading west for a career, and I'll probably end up back there one day, but I value the diversity and even a bit of the grit Seattle has. I don't live in Belltown, so I find the city to be pretty clean and safe. This isn't a swipe at Bellevue, it's just not for us. That was probably a swipe at Belltown though :D
  - Seattle3503 5y ago
    > Seattle’s been awesome so far. Seattle might be headed that way with our city council. Make sure to vote.
    - 5y ago

s5300 5y ago

No, this is not more like one of those lawless third world countries. I don't understand how some people have such little life experience to make these sorts of comments. There aren't exactly many cars to be broken into in lawless third world countries, there aren't many garages with things in them to be broken into along with said things stolen in lawless third world countries, and there aren't many garages with doors to be damaged in lawless third world countries. Like, come on.

ljhsiung 5y ago

Screw anecdata. Here are some statistics/resources. SF Chronicle (an SF based newspaper) tracks break-ins in SF [0]. Here is a more general crime dashboard as well [1]. For reference, here are some statistics in Chicago [2]. YTD, SF has had 8500 property theft cases. Chicago-- 3000. Per crime capita, SF is astronomical. Many people don't have cars in SF for this exact reason. Other commenters are right that it varies slightly by neighborhood (e.g. cars in Russian Hill/Cole Valley are by far more touristy than others), but that doesn't make it any less ridiculous. [0] https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/sf-car-breakins/ https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/sf-car-breakins/ [1] https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/stay-safe/crime-data/crime-dashboard https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/stay-safe/crime-data/crim... [2] https://home.chicagopolice.org/wp-content/uploads/1_PDFsam_CompStat-Public-2021-Week-18.pdf https://home.chicagopolice.org/wp-content/uploads/1_PDFsam_C...

mushbino 5y ago
How does violent crime compare?

thethethethe 5y ago

It's really not that bad. If you go looking for something, you are going to find it, which is exactly what you did by going to the neighborhood fb group. I've lived in potrero hill and lower Haight for over three years and only have and some packages stolen, and I lived right next to the projects when in potrero. This "crime problem" has little to no effect on my daily life, other than needing to press a button so an attendant can unlock the shampoo cabinet when I'm at CVS every other month.

tengbretson 5y ago
> which is exactly what you did by going to the neighborhood fb group Is it uncommon to have a neighborhood fb group that's just full of old people posting that it looks like it might rain and people trying to offload extra rhubarb from their garden?
ummonk 5y ago
Neighborhood FB groups in low crime places don't have people posting about actual crime. It's usually either social stuff, or posts by Karens about random "suspicious looking" people.
- astura 5y ago
  I live in a very low crime area, my neighbor regularly leaves her garage door open (I guess out of convenience?) and her garage is full of extremely valuable items, nobody ever takes anything. My neighborhood FB group is almost exclusively people asking for recommendations, I've never seen a post about crime.