4 ms·

> but I do feel pretty icky there these days. This is what really blows my mind. SF is the only city I know of where you can walk out the doors of a multi-bill

by ng12 5y ago

> but I do feel pretty icky there these days. This is what really blows my mind. SF is the only city I know of where you can walk out the doors of a multi-billion dollar company to be greeted by absolute filth. I'm sure there are parts of NY/DC/Boston that are comparable but I don't understand why they're so central in SF. Even in DTLA most of the economic activity is reasonably separated from skid row.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
I would call it a consequence of the two-party system. San Francisco's commitment to subsidizing their own criminal underclass can only really exist in the context of the dispute between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party over how an underclass should be dealt with. The Democrats control California for other reasons, and their control is so solid that they're free to implement their worst ideas.
- kcplate 5y ago
  Unfortunately the Democratic Party of the last 20+ years has come to measure their policy successes by their intentions rather than their effects.
- thephyber 5y ago
  This ignores some upstream decisions that were done by powers other than Democrats. Governor Reagan closed most mental institutions in the state. Lots of them were terrible places because we humans (even doctors) are not kind to others with mental illness, especially the ones that dislike being held against their will. Also, asylum inmates are kind of hidden and politically “voiceless”. The jail/prison system was the de facto replacement, but US incarceration largely increases mental illness and our corrections system isn’t great at helping people avoid being put away again. Then the SCOCA ruled that the prisons and jails in California were so overcrowded that it violated the rights of inmates, so the state had to quickly work to whittle down incarcerated populations while prosecutors were trying to pretend like they had any chance at a defendant would do long time for a light crime. Then the voters passed a state prop to reduce some classes of crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. There are 2 silver linings as I see them: (1) some jurisdictions in CA are experimenting with voting other than First Past the Post and (2) voters in SF and other cities see some of these issues as political and policy losers and are eager to reject them (if given a reasonable alternative).

by ng12 5y ago

thaumasiotes 5y ago

I would call it a consequence of the two-party system. San Francisco's commitment to subsidizing their own criminal underclass can only really exist in the context of the dispute between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party over how an underclass should be dealt with. The Democrats control California for other reasons, and their control is so solid that they're free to implement their worst ideas.

kcplate 5y ago
Unfortunately the Democratic Party of the last 20+ years has come to measure their policy successes by their intentions rather than their effects.
thephyber 5y ago
This ignores some upstream decisions that were done by powers other than Democrats. Governor Reagan closed most mental institutions in the state. Lots of them were terrible places because we humans (even doctors) are not kind to others with mental illness, especially the ones that dislike being held against their will. Also, asylum inmates are kind of hidden and politically “voiceless”. The jail/prison system was the de facto replacement, but US incarceration largely increases mental illness and our corrections system isn’t great at helping people avoid being put away again. Then the SCOCA ruled that the prisons and jails in California were so overcrowded that it violated the rights of inmates, so the state had to quickly work to whittle down incarcerated populations while prosecutors were trying to pretend like they had any chance at a defendant would do long time for a light crime. Then the voters passed a state prop to reduce some classes of crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. There are 2 silver linings as I see them: (1) some jurisdictions in CA are experimenting with voting other than First Past the Post and (2) voters in SF and other cities see some of these issues as political and policy losers and are eager to reject them (if given a reasonable alternative).