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The comparison is absurd. No one would live in Detroit because it’s bleak and sprawling. San Francisco is beautiful and cosmopolitan. The trajectory of Detroit
by fnordpiglet 4y ago
The comparison is absurd. No one would live in Detroit because it’s bleak and sprawling. San Francisco is beautiful and cosmopolitan. The trajectory of Detroit is irreversible and structural, while for San Francisco it’ll be an enduring global destination for as long as it stands. Two year blips during a pandemic aren’t sufficient to mark a trend, and SF city politics have been broken for generations.
I lived in SOMA in the 1990’s, and 5th and mission was an open air drug festival too. The tender groin was foul, and civic center was a wasteland of feces, condoms, needles, and occasionally people who died overnight and hadn’t been cleaned up yet. The streets were covered in human waste even in residential areas.
When I’ve come back to SF, it is generally a lot cleaner than it was, and has gentrified. I’ve not been back post pandemic, and I can imagine it’s reverted. But it was not possible to be worse than it was when I lived there.
Yet, people loved it there and I miss it. If it weren’t for the vacuous tech culture chasing VC and exits I might be back some day.
- huitzitziltzin 4y agoWhile I don’t endorse most of this piece, it’s worth pointing out that Detroit has not always been bleak. Within living memory it was a very prosperous city
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- adamjcook 4y ago> No one would live in Detroit because it’s bleak and sprawling. San Francisco is beautiful and cosmopolitan. The trajectory of Detroit is irreversible and structural As someone who just moved to Detroit (in October of 2022), I could not disagree more. This city is clearly on the upswing and it is immensely beautiful. Do not sleep on Detroit. If anything, it is absurd for this "article" to compare whatever is happening in San Francisco to a completely unrelated population decline event in Detroit that spanned over 70 years. In other words, I am not sure why Detroit would be brought into this "analysis" at all. That is what is absurd.
- Brian_K_White 4y agoThey only brought it up to blame it on unions. The entire piece is garbage.
- CamperBob2 4y agoWho else is there to blame? Autoworkers ganged up on their employers and attempted to capture more value than they contributed. The employers reacted predictably, and diversified their production across (many) other states. Unsustainable is unsustainable, regardless of politics.