3 ms·
Do you live there? This is a genuine question; I'm trying to separate possible FUD from the truth here. I lived in NYC 20 years ago, and you're not describing
by jrm4 4y ago
Do you live there?
This is a genuine question; I'm trying to separate possible FUD from the truth here. I lived in NYC 20 years ago, and you're not describing anything different.
- timr 4y agoI lived in SF for almost a decade, until about 2017. OP is not exaggerating. I just made a post where I outlined some (not all!) of the things that actually happened to me, and they're pretty much a recitation of OP's list. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34039215 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34039215
- atlasunshrugged 4y agoI lived there (apt at 5th and Mission and office near the Caltrain station) until a few years ago and many friends still do (although quite a few have left). All OP's comments seem reasonable.
- epicureanideal 4y agoI live nearby and try to avoid going there because it’s that awful.
- zer0-c00l 4y agoLOL of course he doesn’t. > Public parks full of criminal element that make walking through it a high-stress, high-alert situation This one is especially laughable, nothing could be further from the truth
- iancmceachern 4y agoI currently live in SF and have lived in NYC. In all honesty it's not all that different. I think the main difference is the weather and number of shelter beds. There are many times a year when being outdoors in NYC isn't possible, so they have more shelter beds and more use of those beds. In SF that dynamic doesn't exist. Other than that, it's the same in my experience.
- timr 4y ago> In all honesty it's not all that different. Also lived in both. It's absolutely different, but it depends on the neighborhood. I'd say that SF's average level of horribleness (when I left in 2017) was about the same as the bad parts of Harlem or the Bronx, or the area around Penn Station / PABT. But sure, if you go to the burb/bougie parts of SF, like West Portal, or even Pac Heights, then it's very different from SOMA or Civic Center. Just like SoHo is very different from East Harlem. But it's gaslighting to pretend that the two are equivalent. New York is unquestionably better, overall (for starters, the police in NYC will typically actually do something when property crimes are being committed in the open air, which is more than I can say for SF.)
- BryantD 4y agoI would be very happy to see SF pass a law providing the same right to shelter that New York City has.
- rib3ye 4y agoThe only thing I would disagree with is feeling unsafe in public parks.
- eternalban 4y agoNew Yorker here too. Finally got to see the fabled valley last year and spent 2 days walking SF. Parts of it are just like NYC before the cleanup to turn it into a tourist destination. Chinatown and area around it absolutely reminded of late 80s/early 90s in NY. Has that vibe. Parts of it -- here is looking at you Pacific Heights -- are just completely off the scale amazing. I would move in a heartbeat to PH if I could afford it, crime be damned. (Looked pretty damn safe too, btw.) tldr; it ain't a "shithole" if you are rich (like everywhere else). far from it.