7 ms·

This sounds like what happened in the SFbay area(south bay/pennisula), I grew up there and it used to be a great place to live, center left politics, lots of fa

This sounds like what happened in the SFbay area(south bay/pennisula), I grew up there and it used to be a great place to live, center left politics, lots of families and a diverse set of industries with many middle class opportunities. right around 10-15 years ago things started to change dramatically for the worse, housing and costs everywhere skyrocketed, homeless population exploded, politics veered hard left. Most of my friends from high school(90%) were forced to leave due to rents going from $1k a month to $3k a month for a 1-2 bdrm apts. Those that owned houses also moved as they were fed up with crime and could get a way better house somewhere else. Middle class jobs all disappeared from the area, families also left, the neighborhoods I lived in San Jose (rose garden/willow glen) had barely any kids for my daughter to play with as there were no families anymore, the rose garden neighborhood had 0 kids on the street, the willow glen neighborhood had 1 family w/ kids who moved away during the pandemic. I was lucky and making really good money in tech but was devastated by how the area I grew up in had turned into a nightmare and everyone I know (even family) leaving the area. I too ended leaving as the cost vs. quality of life didn't make any sense and I couldn't see my family living in a place I didn't even recognize anymore. Most people don't talk about it but there is a huge diaspora of bay area residents due to the stuff mentioned above and it breaks my heart to think we will most likely never return and familiy/friends I expected to spend the rest of my life with all leaving.

standyro 4y ago
I'm curious, where did you leave to, if I can ask?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
swearwolf 4y ago
As a resident, what do you think was the catalyst for these changes?
- pkaye 4y ago
  A lot of people moved into the bay area for the good jobs, nice weather and nature. Once housing demand pushed above supply, prices started shooting up. Those locals whose incomes didn't grow were pushed out of their homes. The bay area is boxed in by the hills so hard to expand out. Also a lot of the land was already build up with single family homes and other low density housing a long time ago so upgrading the density is harder. The public transportation is also limited. BART didn't expand to south bay until a few years ago. And the stations are far apart. Undoing all this mess will be much more expensive now.
  - 62951413 4y ago
    Actually California natives have one good thing going for them. Prop 13. So if you or your parents have lived in the house for 30+ years you're likely to pay $2K in property taxes on a $1M house (annually). The lack of middle-class jobs is a whole different story.
    - pkaye 4y ago
      Not just natives. Anyone who moved here a decade back might benefit. I grew up here but it was still difficult to buy a house when young because the housing prices kept ahead of salaries. The drop in prices during the last recession is what gave me the chance.
    - ghaff 4y ago
      And that is the flip side to Prop 13, which a bunch of people like to hate on. Absent Prop 13 (for residential properties) a lot of long-term residents would be forced out by rapidly rising property taxes. Which would-be residents may not like but is not at all clearly a bad thing.
      - TulliusCicero 4y ago
        Even if that's your angle, Prop 13 is bizarrely overbroad. If you just wanted to protect long-term residents from needing to move: * Remove its application to commercial property * Remove its application to second/vacation homes * Remove its application to inherited property * Only apply the restriction if the increase would be burdensome on the household's income * Only apply the restriction once someone has lived in the house for a significant amount of time, e.g. 5+ years.
orthoxerox 4y ago
> Those that owned houses also moved as they were fed up with crime and could get a way better house somewhere else. How do the criminals afford to live in the area?
- bagacrap 4y ago
  and the only reason they could get a way better house somewhere else is bc their own home greatly appreciated in value... so let's not paint homeowners as victims here
- koboll 4y ago
  Well, there are two classes of criminal. The petty crimes are committed by a small but very vocal minority of homeless people who are severely mentally ill and/or severely addicted to meth/opiates. They can afford to live here because everyone has apparently decided the most humane thing to do is to look the other way while they struggle, freeze, and eventually overdose and die on the street. The larger-scale thefts are committed by organized crime operations that essentially operate a business of stealing and reselling stuff because of notoriously lax law enforcement. Think the opening scene of Requiem for a Dream, except an entire crew doing that, over and over and over. They make a lot of money doing this -- and drive up the cost of basic essentials for other working class people who have to buy what they resell because they clear drugstores out. They make enough to live comfortably, despite the high cost of living, apparently.
- stevenwoo 4y ago
  The freeways make it easy to commute in and out for criminals. My housemate's car was stolen about 15 years ago(!) and used for a bank robbery somewhere else on the peninsula (also close to a freeway) and abandoned in Oakland. There's a regular sweep of my neighborhood on the peninsula for unlocked cars at night, they will take anything, and break into cars for visible bags. It's practically every third topic on Nextdoor.
  - 650REDHAIR 4y ago
    Also public housing… I live in SF and would watch my old neighbor in the subsidized housing across the street park a new ebike in the garage every day. They would throw away random exhaust bits in the public trash can around midnight once or twice a week. Every few months they would have a “garage sale” and every item on the sidewalk was still new in box. All completely random stuff. Everyone knew about it. People complained. The cops knew. The postman knew they stole packages. Nothing anyone could do. They still live there. Still stealing.
FerociousTimes 4y ago
I totally understand your pain in seeing your hometown turning into a hellish zone but I can't pass on calling the irony in your story since these same Cali exiles are one of the principal factors in pricing ordinary locals in Portugal out of their neighborhoods. SOURCE Welcome to Portugal, the new expat haven. Californians, please go home https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-05-12/california-expats-portugal-relocation-lisbon https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-05-12/califo...
- draw_down 4y ago
- samatman 4y ago
  I'd love to see so much as a tiny shred of evidence of this, it doesn't pass the smell test. Austin? Ok, sure. How many Californians are expatriating to Lisbon? Is it that many? Ok, let's do Londoners next. A lot more right? Principal factors, you say. Let's see it.
  - FerociousTimes 4y ago
    By searching "Californians in Portugal", just one of many on the top search results page: Welcome to Portugal, the new expat haven. Californians, please go home https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-05-12/california-expats-portugal-relocation-lisbon https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-05-12/califo...
    - AYBABTME 4y ago
      If you go fishing for what you believe, you'll surely find it. A quick google search returning some stuff doesn't quantify this as being an actual, significant phenomenon.
    - raverbashing 4y ago
      (Turning my sarcasm down here a bit), a west coast newspaper isn't the best source about the foreign resident situation in Portugal and where they do come from. Google translate and all that Instead let me propose an alternate origin of this story: "Hey have you heard that Jamie just moved to Portugal? Maybe we can write a story about that" > “I’d say 95% of my clients are now Americans,” said André Fernandes, a 38-year-old Porto-based real estate broker who, upon seeing the surge in interest in his homeland, moved back from New Jersey three years ago and switched from installing fire sprinklers to selling housing Only shows how most journalists will go far for a story. Oh and by far I mean the East coast.
gip 4y ago
That is an anecdotinal data point.. I live in a building with 6 units in the Mission district of SF. Until a few years ago my neighbours were people: families, (gay) couples,.. We now have 3 startups in our building. One of the startup (YC-backed!) moved out yesterday. The guys just threw what they didn't want into the street from the windows of their second floor apartment. And disappeared, leaving a filthy mess on the pavement.
- keepquestioning 4y ago
  You need to report them to YC
  - gip 4y ago
    I'm not sure I want to do that, it's not my style. I just called the City and they sent a team to clean up the mess. But even if I reported them, I suspect YC leaders would be rather proud of these guys.
    - keepquestioning 4y ago
      YC is definitely a "F you, I've got mine" type of community.
- gverrilla 4y ago
  Move fast and break things. Literally.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
SyzygistSix 4y ago
Hard left politics would build housing or pass legislation/policies that encouraged it rather than preserve the wealth of already wealthy property owners through discouraging new building. There is more to left politics or even sane politics than being socially very liberal.
- wombat-man 4y ago
  Yeah this isn't rocket science. Saving every old home in the city is not a winning long term solution. We need more homes in these places people want to live.
  - ReptileMan 4y ago
    Or residence permit. That is also a solution no one asks about.
650REDHAIR 4y ago
Where did you end up? Is it better?
bowsamic 4y ago
> politics veered hard left By hard left do you mean "wokeism" or "communism", because the former is absolutely not hard left

standyro 4y ago

I'm curious, where did you leave to, if I can ask?

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

swearwolf 4y ago

As a resident, what do you think was the catalyst for these changes?

pkaye 4y ago
A lot of people moved into the bay area for the good jobs, nice weather and nature. Once housing demand pushed above supply, prices started shooting up. Those locals whose incomes didn't grow were pushed out of their homes. The bay area is boxed in by the hills so hard to expand out. Also a lot of the land was already build up with single family homes and other low density housing a long time ago so upgrading the density is harder. The public transportation is also limited. BART didn't expand to south bay until a few years ago. And the stations are far apart. Undoing all this mess will be much more expensive now.
- 62951413 4y ago
  Actually California natives have one good thing going for them. Prop 13. So if you or your parents have lived in the house for 30+ years you're likely to pay $2K in property taxes on a $1M house (annually). The lack of middle-class jobs is a whole different story.
  - pkaye 4y ago
    Not just natives. Anyone who moved here a decade back might benefit. I grew up here but it was still difficult to buy a house when young because the housing prices kept ahead of salaries. The drop in prices during the last recession is what gave me the chance.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    And that is the flip side to Prop 13, which a bunch of people like to hate on. Absent Prop 13 (for residential properties) a lot of long-term residents would be forced out by rapidly rising property taxes. Which would-be residents may not like but is not at all clearly a bad thing.
    - TulliusCicero 4y ago
      Even if that's your angle, Prop 13 is bizarrely overbroad. If you just wanted to protect long-term residents from needing to move: * Remove its application to commercial property * Remove its application to second/vacation homes * Remove its application to inherited property * Only apply the restriction if the increase would be burdensome on the household's income * Only apply the restriction once someone has lived in the house for a significant amount of time, e.g. 5+ years.

orthoxerox 4y ago

> Those that owned houses also moved as they were fed up with crime and could get a way better house somewhere else. How do the criminals afford to live in the area?

bagacrap 4y ago
and the only reason they could get a way better house somewhere else is bc their own home greatly appreciated in value... so let's not paint homeowners as victims here
koboll 4y ago
Well, there are two classes of criminal. The petty crimes are committed by a small but very vocal minority of homeless people who are severely mentally ill and/or severely addicted to meth/opiates. They can afford to live here because everyone has apparently decided the most humane thing to do is to look the other way while they struggle, freeze, and eventually overdose and die on the street. The larger-scale thefts are committed by organized crime operations that essentially operate a business of stealing and reselling stuff because of notoriously lax law enforcement. Think the opening scene of Requiem for a Dream, except an entire crew doing that, over and over and over. They make a lot of money doing this -- and drive up the cost of basic essentials for other working class people who have to buy what they resell because they clear drugstores out. They make enough to live comfortably, despite the high cost of living, apparently.
stevenwoo 4y ago
The freeways make it easy to commute in and out for criminals. My housemate's car was stolen about 15 years ago(!) and used for a bank robbery somewhere else on the peninsula (also close to a freeway) and abandoned in Oakland. There's a regular sweep of my neighborhood on the peninsula for unlocked cars at night, they will take anything, and break into cars for visible bags. It's practically every third topic on Nextdoor.
- 650REDHAIR 4y ago
  Also public housing… I live in SF and would watch my old neighbor in the subsidized housing across the street park a new ebike in the garage every day. They would throw away random exhaust bits in the public trash can around midnight once or twice a week. Every few months they would have a “garage sale” and every item on the sidewalk was still new in box. All completely random stuff. Everyone knew about it. People complained. The cops knew. The postman knew they stole packages. Nothing anyone could do. They still live there. Still stealing.

FerociousTimes 4y ago

I totally understand your pain in seeing your hometown turning into a hellish zone but I can't pass on calling the irony in your story since these same Cali exiles are one of the principal factors in pricing ordinary locals in Portugal out of their neighborhoods. SOURCE Welcome to Portugal, the new expat haven. Californians, please go home https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-05-12/california-expats-portugal-relocation-lisbon https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-05-12/califo...

draw_down 4y ago
samatman 4y ago
I'd love to see so much as a tiny shred of evidence of this, it doesn't pass the smell test. Austin? Ok, sure. How many Californians are expatriating to Lisbon? Is it that many? Ok, let's do Londoners next. A lot more right? Principal factors, you say. Let's see it.
- FerociousTimes 4y ago
  By searching "Californians in Portugal", just one of many on the top search results page: Welcome to Portugal, the new expat haven. Californians, please go home https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-05-12/california-expats-portugal-relocation-lisbon https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-05-12/califo...
  - AYBABTME 4y ago
    If you go fishing for what you believe, you'll surely find it. A quick google search returning some stuff doesn't quantify this as being an actual, significant phenomenon.
  - raverbashing 4y ago
    (Turning my sarcasm down here a bit), a west coast newspaper isn't the best source about the foreign resident situation in Portugal and where they do come from. Google translate and all that Instead let me propose an alternate origin of this story: "Hey have you heard that Jamie just moved to Portugal? Maybe we can write a story about that" > “I’d say 95% of my clients are now Americans,” said André Fernandes, a 38-year-old Porto-based real estate broker who, upon seeing the surge in interest in his homeland, moved back from New Jersey three years ago and switched from installing fire sprinklers to selling housing Only shows how most journalists will go far for a story. Oh and by far I mean the East coast.

gip 4y ago

That is an anecdotinal data point.. I live in a building with 6 units in the Mission district of SF. Until a few years ago my neighbours were people: families, (gay) couples,.. We now have 3 startups in our building. One of the startup (YC-backed!) moved out yesterday. The guys just threw what they didn't want into the street from the windows of their second floor apartment. And disappeared, leaving a filthy mess on the pavement.

keepquestioning 4y ago
You need to report them to YC
- gip 4y ago
  I'm not sure I want to do that, it's not my style. I just called the City and they sent a team to clean up the mess. But even if I reported them, I suspect YC leaders would be rather proud of these guys.
  - keepquestioning 4y ago
    YC is definitely a "F you, I've got mine" type of community.
gverrilla 4y ago
Move fast and break things. Literally.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

SyzygistSix 4y ago

Hard left politics would build housing or pass legislation/policies that encouraged it rather than preserve the wealth of already wealthy property owners through discouraging new building. There is more to left politics or even sane politics than being socially very liberal.

wombat-man 4y ago
Yeah this isn't rocket science. Saving every old home in the city is not a winning long term solution. We need more homes in these places people want to live.
- ReptileMan 4y ago
  Or residence permit. That is also a solution no one asks about.

650REDHAIR 4y ago

Where did you end up? Is it better?

bowsamic 4y ago

> politics veered hard left By hard left do you mean "wokeism" or "communism", because the former is absolutely not hard left