Is it like this everywhere? What are other cities doing right that SF isn't doing?
Of the big cities I've visited (in CA, OR, WA, IL, DC, NY, CO, NV) and in other developed countries, I think SF is by far the worst, with Seattle a close second and Portland not far behind.
There's a bazillion variables to consider when discussing the livability of a city, but it seems like there is something in particular going on with the major West Coast cities, especially the ones with a lot of income inequality like San Fran and Seattle, where all the nice places are owned by rich tech people and there's not much left for anyone else. On paper they all claim to be solidly leftist, but their realities on the ground are much harsher, with people shitting and shooting up and dying left and right and no real feeling of community or solidarity. They to have very car-dependent cultures too and inferior public transit, which seems to decrease the likelihood of seeing "regular" people walking on the streets.
It was a very different feeling from, say, Chicago, where, yes, there's also crime and mental illness, but most parts of the city felt incredibly safe and warm and neighborly. I felt much more uncomfortable and unsafe in SF than I ever did in Chicago or DC or Denver.
I grew up spending much of my childhood in the SF Bay Area, but it's gotten so much worse in recent years, seemingly in line with the tech booms and then especially the COVID exodus (towards rural communities and WFH). I don't know whether this is a failure of policy or planning or politics or something else, but it's so sad that a city with so much money can fail so badly at being livable. I don't know how the richest state with all these amazingly smart and wealthy people can just turn a blind eye to all the suffering there, unable to provide even basic shelter to so many thousands. Every time I visit Europe or Asia, I become ashamed of the US (and myself).
Are there no objectively testable and verifiable "best practices" for city management? How do other states and countries manage these same issues? We can't be the only ones facing drug use, homelessness, etc. But we are definitely one of the richest societies, so it's not just a problem of budget. What sorts of successful implementations have been done elsewhere?
Of the big cities I've visited (in CA, OR, WA, IL, DC, NY, CO, NV) and in other developed countries, I think SF is by far the worst, with Seattle a close second and Portland not far behind.
There's a bazillion variables to consider when discussing the livability of a city, but it seems like there is something in particular going on with the major West Coast cities, especially the ones with a lot of income inequality like San Fran and Seattle, where all the nice places are owned by rich tech people and there's not much left for anyone else. On paper they all claim to be solidly leftist, but their realities on the ground are much harsher, with people shitting and shooting up and dying left and right and no real feeling of community or solidarity. They to have very car-dependent cultures too and inferior public transit, which seems to decrease the likelihood of seeing "regular" people walking on the streets.
It was a very different feeling from, say, Chicago, where, yes, there's also crime and mental illness, but most parts of the city felt incredibly safe and warm and neighborly. I felt much more uncomfortable and unsafe in SF than I ever did in Chicago or DC or Denver.
I grew up spending much of my childhood in the SF Bay Area, but it's gotten so much worse in recent years, seemingly in line with the tech booms and then especially the COVID exodus (towards rural communities and WFH). I don't know whether this is a failure of policy or planning or politics or something else, but it's so sad that a city with so much money can fail so badly at being livable. I don't know how the richest state with all these amazingly smart and wealthy people can just turn a blind eye to all the suffering there, unable to provide even basic shelter to so many thousands. Every time I visit Europe or Asia, I become ashamed of the US (and myself).
Are there no objectively testable and verifiable "best practices" for city management? How do other states and countries manage these same issues? We can't be the only ones facing drug use, homelessness, etc. But we are definitely one of the richest societies, so it's not just a problem of budget. What sorts of successful implementations have been done elsewhere?