The Decay of San Francisco
This is mostly a rant than anything. But also curious what folks think around here. A year and a half ago, when the pandemic was young and the vaccines were around the corner, my partner and I decided to settle in SF for the forseeble future. We bought a house. It seems our conjecture of the pandemic being short lived was wrong. Living close to the HQ in the Silicon Valley seems to be less and less important career-wise, folks are not really going back to the office, people are leaving SF in droves and SF quality of life is getting worse and worse. I am quite unhappy with my decision, but the effort of moving somewhere else is way too big at this point. In particular, it feels this city is going downhill a lot. Every time we go downtown for a concert, dinning, etc., it is simply horrible. Store closures all over the place, way more than in other cities. Homeless folks trashing everything, simply disgusting. Feels unsafe, ugly. We pay 30K in property taxes and over 100K in state taxes, and it feels it is the worst deal ever. Trash on the streets, potholes all over the place in and around Noe Valley where we live, graffiti littering traffic signs ... what the heck is going on! tc 600k, 10 yoe
well first you have to move out of Hoe Valley 😃 Jokes aside, I live on Van Ness near the civic center and the drugs and homelessness scene is out of control. I even saw a big lump of poo at the entrance of my building a few times.
Lived in that area for a few years before the pandemic. It’s been like that for years and got crazy after COVID. Run away!
Is it a typo that you pay 100k in state taxes? It’s a lot
Probably not a typo, it's 1-1.1m household tc if it excludes property and sales taxes
Yes your first mistake was ever moving to shit francisco
To be honest, it never felt particularly safe to walk around civic center, market and south…even 25y ago, but It has spread out all over the place.
Noe Valley is one of the loveliest parts of SF, idk what you’re talking about
Noe Valley has a great vibe. I love the village feel, the architecture and 24th St. is buzzing. Buuut, have you noticed the potholes and bumps everywhere -- 29th, 26th St. All along. How come they can't fix such basic stuff. Why am I getting upset about such a thing you might ask? Well, SF has the second highest budget per citizen in the largest 100 US cities (only after Washington DC), close to 10K while the average is 2.5K. What are they doing this funding. Can't they at least fix streets, ridiculous. It is indicative of the waste and incompetence this city is drowning into. Other then that I like Noe Valley :)
Well those problems predate the pandemic! The city has always been like this. I don’t feel like it’s really decaying beyond where it was prior.
Saw recent videos of break-in and got really scared. Even if I buy a house, my buddies will never visit me due to car break in. Also noticed the houses are attached to neighbors house. Not sure who got do maintenance etc. Police just said they have bigger fish to fry. Not sure how locals if sf are so nice. I would have got hold of the mayor and give the piece of my mind.
Being scared of break ins sounds like stuff that happens in a third world country. California is no longer livable nor desirable
Man in third world, they don't smash the windows of the parked cars. These guys in SF just smash and grab literally any thing they see
I love the amount of activities in the city but also feel unsafe as a long term home. So in the end decided to live in South Bay
I just turned down a job in San Francisco because the city is awful. I went to Stanford, lived in Russian hill (which I liked), but the cost of living didn’t fit the quality of life. I won’t return until it’s much safer, cleaner, and normal.
Any hope that after pandemic RTO will somehow change the situation? Or should we just all vote for republicans?
What neighbourhood you living in?
On the hill between Noe Valley and Glen Park Canyon, looking down over the canyon. Technically it is Glen Park. It is very tranquil, clean, and safe. The Glen Park Village, which is the business area, is by the Bart station. It is small, with a nice library and grocery store and a shitty liquor store, bar, etc. All in all needs to get better down there. The area around entry to 280 is shitty -- bumpy with potholes and a bit of trash. They started repaving portions of 101 and 280 but so much more to do ...
I lived in this neighborhood. Its a cool spot, a little bit tol quiet for my taste though. Hit up Glen Park Station, the bar is such a great neighborhood bar.