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It's not easy for people to just pack up and move. What if you've lived there your whole life? What if your friends and family lived there? What if your job was

It's not easy for people to just pack up and move. What if you've lived there your whole life? What if your friends and family lived there? What if your job was there? I guess you say "Sorry poor trash, but you gotta be this rich to live here. If you can't cut it, kindly leave the city you've known your whole life, abandon your friends, and get a new job." But that seems cold, doesn't it?

maxlybbert 13y ago
> It's not easy for people to just pack up and move. What if you've lived there your whole life? What if your friends and family lived there? What if your job was there? I've done many things I didn't want to. It's part of being an adult. Then again, nobody makes me eat my vegetables.
- normloman 13y ago
  You echo a lot of other comments. Boils down to "I've had to relocate, so nobody else gets to complain." That's not a valid argument. Being forced to move sucks, no matter who you are. More importantly, why should the poor in San Francisco move? They were there first. They could afford rent, until us tech people came. Why should we crowd them out? And if we did, is that the kind of city we want? A city where everyone is rich, and the poor and middle class huddle into slums outside the border? Here's how that will turn out: When the rich city makes too much garbage, they will dump it in the middle of poor city. When the state creates funds for new infrastructure project, you can bet they will all go to rich city. When big companies relocate, they will build their luxurious campus in rich city. Sorry, no jobs for poor city. But don't worry, rich city still needs street sweepers and baristas. Huddling the poor in a small area just makes them an easier target for oppression.
  - maxlybbert 13y ago
    > Boils down to "I've had to relocate, so nobody else gets to complain." I'm sorry. That's not my argument in any way. For one, I support free speech enough that I won't say people have no right to complain. Personally, I think anybody who constantly streams complaints is probably immature and not somebody I want to associate with, but they can complain all they want; I'll simply tune them out. Looking at the particular case of this lady: * she is currently homeless, and apparently does not like that; * she used to antagonize her former landlord; * her former landlord tried to help her find a new place, but she declined the help; * she refuses to work with organizations that exist to help people like her, she apparently chafes at their rules and regulations; * she has the option of moving to Germany free of charge, but refuses to do so. But my statement that "doing things you don't like is part of being an adult" is true. Many college students are appalled when they discover that the life isn't as easy as they were led to believe. I'm sure I was one of them; it's been a while and my memory is foggy. But complaining that things aren't always hunky dory is silly. At some point you have to make the best with what you have. And saying "but I don't want to move away from my friends" or "but why do I have to pay market rates for a place to live?" simply comes off as immature.
hnal943 13y ago
It's not about her being poor so much as uncivil. When you stop paying your rent and you've destroyed the value of the building you live in and fight with the neighbors, it makes it very hard for anyone to want to help you. If she had been cooperative, I don't think this would have even been a story.
CodeMage 13y ago
There might be many cases of rich vs. poor in San Franscisco and I'm not disputing that your arguments might be perfectly suited to those. However, if the case presented in this article is the best the author(s) could find, then we're seeing an example of sloppy journalism. Here's why: "I could send you transcripts of a phone message where she said she will burn the house down if we didn't fix the leaking roof. Or show you the rent increase letter that was returned to me unopened and defaced with 'Fuck You' written on it. We tried to help her." Basically, you purchase a property from someone else and it comes with a tenant. You try to co-exist with that tenant and she behaves in a manner that is unreasonably hostile. Are we really supposed to be sympathetic? Is this really supposed to make us feel for the plight of people being evicted in San Francisco?
yesiamyourdad 13y ago
From the sound of the article she has no family and whatever friends she has don't like her enough to let her live with them. It's a simple thing: she and her prior landlord were breaking the law. Either SF has to change their zoning laws or she had to comply. Hard to see the property owner as the bad guy. After years of legal action and dealing with someone who honestly sounds like an exceedingly difficult personality, I'd want to sell the house too.
ryguytilidie 13y ago
I make six figures and I couldn't afford to live in SF anymore, so I relocated to the east bay. This is entirely reasonable...
raldi 13y ago
> It's not easy for people to just pack up and move. You're right. But that's life. For example, I had to pack up and move 8 times in the last 14 years, and it sucked every time. But I dealt with it. Having to move merely once every several decades is a comparative luxury.
eqdw 13y ago
> It's not easy for people to just pack up and move. What if you've lived there your whole life? What if your friends and family lived there? What if your job was there? I lost my job in Canada, and it was prohibitively difficult to find a software job I could sustain myself on in my home city, so I packed up and moved. I moved out of the city I had lived in my whole life. I left my friends and family and landed, alone, in SF. Because the economic landscape forced me to move. I understand what you are trying to say, but I'm having trouble sympathizing. And, given how many H1Bs get given out every year, I suspect I'm not the only one here who feels that way
null_ptr 13y ago
That's what the majority of people in this thread seem to say, and this lack of empathy is disheartening. There's some dick a few comments up that said people uproot themselves all the time, "he did it when he was 18 and left for college". Unbelievable. It's sad to slowly see where all the techie-hate comes from, the entitlement and lack of basic empathy demonstrated in this thread is eye-opening.

maxlybbert 13y ago

> It's not easy for people to just pack up and move. What if you've lived there your whole life? What if your friends and family lived there? What if your job was there? I've done many things I didn't want to. It's part of being an adult. Then again, nobody makes me eat my vegetables.

normloman 13y ago
You echo a lot of other comments. Boils down to "I've had to relocate, so nobody else gets to complain." That's not a valid argument. Being forced to move sucks, no matter who you are. More importantly, why should the poor in San Francisco move? They were there first. They could afford rent, until us tech people came. Why should we crowd them out? And if we did, is that the kind of city we want? A city where everyone is rich, and the poor and middle class huddle into slums outside the border? Here's how that will turn out: When the rich city makes too much garbage, they will dump it in the middle of poor city. When the state creates funds for new infrastructure project, you can bet they will all go to rich city. When big companies relocate, they will build their luxurious campus in rich city. Sorry, no jobs for poor city. But don't worry, rich city still needs street sweepers and baristas. Huddling the poor in a small area just makes them an easier target for oppression.
- maxlybbert 13y ago
  > Boils down to "I've had to relocate, so nobody else gets to complain." I'm sorry. That's not my argument in any way. For one, I support free speech enough that I won't say people have no right to complain. Personally, I think anybody who constantly streams complaints is probably immature and not somebody I want to associate with, but they can complain all they want; I'll simply tune them out. Looking at the particular case of this lady: * she is currently homeless, and apparently does not like that; * she used to antagonize her former landlord; * her former landlord tried to help her find a new place, but she declined the help; * she refuses to work with organizations that exist to help people like her, she apparently chafes at their rules and regulations; * she has the option of moving to Germany free of charge, but refuses to do so. But my statement that "doing things you don't like is part of being an adult" is true. Many college students are appalled when they discover that the life isn't as easy as they were led to believe. I'm sure I was one of them; it's been a while and my memory is foggy. But complaining that things aren't always hunky dory is silly. At some point you have to make the best with what you have. And saying "but I don't want to move away from my friends" or "but why do I have to pay market rates for a place to live?" simply comes off as immature.

hnal943 13y ago

It's not about her being poor so much as uncivil. When you stop paying your rent and you've destroyed the value of the building you live in and fight with the neighbors, it makes it very hard for anyone to want to help you. If she had been cooperative, I don't think this would have even been a story.

CodeMage 13y ago

There might be many cases of rich vs. poor in San Franscisco and I'm not disputing that your arguments might be perfectly suited to those. However, if the case presented in this article is the best the author(s) could find, then we're seeing an example of sloppy journalism. Here's why: "I could send you transcripts of a phone message where she said she will burn the house down if we didn't fix the leaking roof. Or show you the rent increase letter that was returned to me unopened and defaced with 'Fuck You' written on it. We tried to help her." Basically, you purchase a property from someone else and it comes with a tenant. You try to co-exist with that tenant and she behaves in a manner that is unreasonably hostile. Are we really supposed to be sympathetic? Is this really supposed to make us feel for the plight of people being evicted in San Francisco?

yesiamyourdad 13y ago

From the sound of the article she has no family and whatever friends she has don't like her enough to let her live with them. It's a simple thing: she and her prior landlord were breaking the law. Either SF has to change their zoning laws or she had to comply. Hard to see the property owner as the bad guy. After years of legal action and dealing with someone who honestly sounds like an exceedingly difficult personality, I'd want to sell the house too.

ryguytilidie 13y ago

I make six figures and I couldn't afford to live in SF anymore, so I relocated to the east bay. This is entirely reasonable...

raldi 13y ago

> It's not easy for people to just pack up and move. You're right. But that's life. For example, I had to pack up and move 8 times in the last 14 years, and it sucked every time. But I dealt with it. Having to move merely once every several decades is a comparative luxury.

eqdw 13y ago

> It's not easy for people to just pack up and move. What if you've lived there your whole life? What if your friends and family lived there? What if your job was there? I lost my job in Canada, and it was prohibitively difficult to find a software job I could sustain myself on in my home city, so I packed up and moved. I moved out of the city I had lived in my whole life. I left my friends and family and landed, alone, in SF. Because the economic landscape forced me to move. I understand what you are trying to say, but I'm having trouble sympathizing. And, given how many H1Bs get given out every year, I suspect I'm not the only one here who feels that way

null_ptr 13y ago

That's what the majority of people in this thread seem to say, and this lack of empathy is disheartening. There's some dick a few comments up that said people uproot themselves all the time, "he did it when he was 18 and left for college". Unbelievable. It's sad to slowly see where all the techie-hate comes from, the entitlement and lack of basic empathy demonstrated in this thread is eye-opening.