
Thoughts on San Francisco - andrenth
https://www.perell.com/blog/thoughts-on-san-francisco
======
kelnos
Pretty on the nose, IMO. I've lived in SF since 2010, and the Bay Area since
2004. I've seen the change even in that amount of time, not even the longer
time scale of the OP, who grew up here and later moved away.

In my mind, it all comes down to housing policy. Prop 13 needs to go.
Restrictive zoning needs to go. The right of residents to complain and lawsuit
development projects out of existence[0] needs to go.

In the shorter term, while all this plays out, we need to invest heavily in
sheltering our homeless population, getting them off drugs, and getting them
help with any mental health needs. Acceptance of this needs to be mandatory:
once we have sufficient services in order to help the entire homeless
population, I actually do want to "criminalize homelessness". It should not be
an allowable choice, and those who are homeless and need help getting back on
their feet can get that help, every last person.

Of course, I don't expect any of this to happen. I agree with the OP that the
next 15 years aren't gonna look great for the city. I just wonder what it will
take. Will people actually wise up, see the actual roots of the problem, and
fix them; or will there be a backlash that results in a giant exodus that
crashes home prices and leaves the city in shambles?

[0] This one is especially insidious. Often a housing developer will be
delayed multiple years before they're able to break ground. The extra money
that they have to spend on legal fees, as well as being paid to sit on land
they own but can't make money on, drives up the cost of the finished product.
I hear so many complaints that all the new development is "luxury housing" \--
well, duh. Because of all the anti-housing activism, high-end housing is the
only way developers can turn a profit.

~~~
purple_ducks
> I actually do want to "criminalize homelessness". It should not be an
> allowable choice

How about people who are an utter nuisance on their neighbours? Do we just say
tough luck to the neighbours?

Have you ever experienced that?

People who have zero respect for their neighbours and just do whatever they
want at whatever time they want?

How many noise complaints will the neighbours be forced to tolerate because I
have zero doubt given SF's governance that putting these people in jail will
not happen.

Should people just tolerate their lives being disrupted until all avenues of
addiction/mental health/other treatment are exhausted?

~~~
kelnos
Pretty sure this is an edge case. Sure, one that needs to be handled, but I
don't think it invalidates my thinking.

Fines are obviously not a great option, since someone who has been recently
homeless likely can't pay them. Maybe jail time is the right answer? I agree
that SF wouldn't reach for that solution, but I wasn't talking about things
that SF likely _would_ do, just what I think it _needs_ to do in order to get
us out of this hole.

------
aetherson
With regards to schools:

It's not really true that California is ranked 50th out of the states on
spending per student. Here's a detailed explanation:
[https://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2018/jan/17...](https://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2018/jan/17/delaine-
eastin/does-california-rank-41st-student-spending-no-1-pr/)

The low-ranking cost per student depends on a quality-of-life-adjustment and
is also now several years old.

Also, SF public schools are a very mixed bag, they aren't uniformly terrible.
The lottery system rewards parents who are willing to do a bunch of research
and not just pick their neighborhood schools. Places that are neighborhood
schools for neighborhoods that include a lot of low-information parents are
likely terrible, other schools are much better.

------
rconti
> Without the protests, the Bay Bridge would be connected to the Golden Gate
> Bridge via the Embarcadero Freeway, and other freeways would extend to the
> Richmond and Sunset neighborhoods. Say what you want about people who block
> new modern housing projects, but I believe San Francisco is a better city
> because these big developments have been blocked in the past.

Well, that makes one person who thinks San Francisco is a better city because
at least two of its surface streets are clogged with "freeway" traffic 24/7.

Not building a freeway doesn't change the fact that people are driving Highway
101 (and Interstate 280) through it. It just reduces the average speed, lowers
the efficiency of the trip, and increases pollution.

~~~
kelnos
Highways aren't the only solution to traffic. You can also move that traffic
underground (though hopefully without all the graft and pain of something like
Boston's Big Dig), or build more and more frequent public transit.

Sure, there are people whose sole reason to be on Van Ness/Lombard (101) or
19th Ave (280 to Golden Gate Bridge) is to drive _through_ the city and not
_to_ it, but I'd guess the majority of it is local traffic that could be
replaced with better transit (and even if not the majority, certainly enough
to make a difference).

People drive in and through SF because the alternatives suck. As much as I
love using Uber/Lyft, they've undeniably made traffic in SF worse.

~~~
rconti
Sure, in fact I'd welcome an underground freeway through SF.

------
tvchurch
"The Housing: San Francisco has deeply conservative tendencies for such a
liberal city. Its housing supply isn't growing fast enough to keep up with
rising demand."

Restrictive housing is more of a liberal phenomenon than a conservative one,
wouldn't you say?

~~~
nathanaldensr
"There's a group of people I don't like. There's a policy I don't like.
Therefore, the group of people I don't like are responsible."

I'd say that's the extent of deep thought and analysis on this one.

~~~
uoaei
It doesn't appear to be a statement of political alignment but of risk-
aversive behavior.

~~~
reaperducer
The left stereotypes the right as willing to build, build, build with no
thought to consequences as long as the dollars continue to flow.

The right stereotypes the left as standing in the way of progress, where
"progress" is defined as commerce.

So I'd say both parents are correct, and the author of the "Thoughts" on SFO
is letting his politics cloud his objectivity.

~~~
Pils
The author gives a shoutout to Palladium mag, whose EIC has some "heterodox"
opinions on certain ethnic groups[1], as a cool SF philanthropy project. If
the author is a liberal, strange bedfellows indeed.

[1][https://splinternews.com/leaked-emails-show-how-white-
nation...](https://splinternews.com/leaked-emails-show-how-white-nationalists-
have-infiltra-1837681245)

------
proc0
Overall good summary, and that growth chart explains a lot of SF's problems
over the last decade. Every city must have a capacity based on space
available, SF is tiny at around 45 square miles, which is a fraction of most
other large cities, yet the amount of people that want to live here is
probably disproportionate, and obviously the current administration of the
city has not been able to keep up.

~~~
kelnos
While square mileage is certainly a limiting factor, we've hardly scratched
the surface in vertical height. SF's population density is embarrassingly low
for a city with such demand.

~~~
proc0
It's due to earthquakes I assume, since the building safety codes are probably
super strict. I was just recently in the Saleforce tower, and had the chance
to visit floor 55. Yeah, fuck that, the wind was making the office sway very
slightly but noticeably. I can't imagine being on floor 55 during an
earthquake!

------
cloud226
"San Francisco has the best coffee of anywhere I've traveled." Did anyone else
LOL on this when reading it? Then I realised he must haven't travelled
overseas...

~~~
hellisothers
Having traveled all over the US and “overseas” not only do several US cities
have the best coffee (outside of maybe Japan) but LA, SF, and maybe Seattle
have the best coffee in the US.

Talking to other coffee enthusiasts who have traveled globally they also
expected better coffee elsewhere given this prevailing feeling that “coffee is
amazing in Europe” but found it wanting.

------
tompic823
I had no idea that the old Embarcadero Freeway ran directly in front of the
ferry building, before it was rebuilt in its current location in South Beach.
The article includes a great photo that really highlights how different the
city must have felt then. Contrast this to the measure that residents just
recently passed to entirely forbid vehicles (except buses and taxis) east of
10th St.

~~~
xvedejas
Are you referring to the vote of officials to ban cars on much of Market
street? As far as I know, there was no measure passed by residents to ban cars
on streets east of 10th, so your comment is misleading. That would be a very
large area, something like 1.7sqmi of downtown SF, to restrict cars.

------
sdnlafkjh34rw
"From a sociological perspective, you won’t find a more interesting city to
study." "San Francisco has the prettiest natural surroundings of any city in
America."

Statements like this make it clear that the author hasn't really seen must of
the world or even America.

~~~
OnlineGladiator
> "San Francisco has the prettiest natural surroundings of any city in
> America."

I'm open to disagreements, but I'd say SF has the prettiest surroundings of
any US city. The only place I've lived I think was prettier was Rio de
Janeiro. I can think of other places that are also very beautiful though, such
as Salt Lake City or Jackson Hole.

I like to say the worst thing about San Francisco is San Francisco -
everything around San Francisco is gorgeous! Muir Woods, Half Moon Bay,
Sausalito - those are within a ~30 minute drive from where I live. The coastal
drive north once you get to Stinson Beach might be my favorite road to drive
on because of the views.

As for the city itself, I would absolutely give the edge to Chicago for their
architectural designs.

What places do you find the prettiest?

~~~
baddox
Salt Lake City is what immediately came to my mind as well, if we're limiting
it to "major" US cities. There are, of course, small towns that are basically
known for having ludicrously beautiful surroundings, like Telluride. And I
assume we're just not counting Hawaii since that obviously wouldn't be fair?

