5 ms·
At one point I stayed a couple months with some friends in San Francisco and I utterly hated it. When discussing it with my friends, who love it there, they ga
by TomOfTTB 17y ago
At one point I stayed a couple months with some friends in San Francisco and I utterly hated it. When discussing it with my friends, who love it there, they gave me some very valuable insight.
They basically said they believe most people would hate it in San Francisco but that's the whole point. Because the people who love it there don't really fit in many other places. It's a sanctuary for a certain type of culture and that's where its value is.
Everyone deserves a place where they can fit in and for the young idealist, the aging hippie, and all the other odd balls that call that place home that's where they belong. But yes, as a consequence that means that a lot of other groups (most families for instance) don't belong. Not every environment has to be all inclusive.
- davidw 17y agoI'm socially fairly "progressive", but "no families" just seems kind of wrong to me. I don't care if you're gay or straight or whatever, but families are part and parcel of being human. Just to be clear: I don't think everyone needs to have a family or anything like that, but a lot of people choose to, and a place without them seemed weird to me even well before I had one myself.
- davidmathers 17y agoWe have a special neighborhood just for families. It's called Noe Valley.
- davidw 17y ago... families with a million dollars to drop on a house ... http://www.trulia.com/CA/San_Francisco,1443,Noe_Valley/ http://www.trulia.com/CA/San_Francisco,1443,Noe_Valley/
- hughprime 17y agoOnly one million? Cheaper than I thought! Actually I do see a few houses in the $1 million range on that page, but none of them seem to have yards. With no backyard and no reasonable parks in the neighbourhood, where would your children play?
- tptacek 17y agoInteresting fact: the special neighborhood San Francisco has for families is 85.8% occupied by homes without kids.
- rdouble 17y agoThere are tons of families in SF, except most of them are Chinese or Mexican. The original article, and most of the comments here (including mine) read like a "Things White People Like" critique of SF, including the punch line: moving to Portland...
- davidmathers 17y agoVery trenchant. Not sure why you got downvoted.
- thesethings 17y agoI wrote less clearly elsewhere in the thread that you can be in the middle of a very diverse place, but your own life can be driven by a monoculture. This also explains the Portland paradox... statistically less diverse, though for members of a specific subculture, perhaps more likely to provide exposure to different things.
- davidw 17y agoLet's take the Mexicans as an example, as I think the Chinese situation is a bit more complex. There are a couple of possibilities: * There is a supply of decent middle-income housing inhabited largely by Mexicans and less so by other groups. * Those people have money and are living in expensive San Francisco houses that have a decent amount of space for a family. * They don't have much money, and are crammed into small houses or are living in bad neighborhoods (as defined by high crime or other objective measurements). * Your numbers are off and there aren't 'tons of families' from that group. Which is it?
- rdouble 17y agoWhat do you think the answer to that question is? Your larger point is correct, it is too expensive for most white people to have 2.2 kids and a Volvo in SF. It's also lacking for restaurants, sucks for outdoor activities, and has poor public transit. Best to move to Oregon, Canada, or Europe rather than suffer the indignity of life in San Francisco.
- 17y ago