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San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

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Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#521
post #486
post #441

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France begs to differ. You have spectacularly good restaurants in rural areas all over the county (Michelin star good).

Sure, but you don't get the variety. If you move out to rural France but are used to rotating among eating Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Thai, etc. throughout the month, you might be disappointed with the lack of choices.

You are probably used to this rotation just because you grew up in the US. As someone who has grown up in Italy we don't think about food this way, not even regionally. I.e. don't expect a great risotto in Naples or a decent carbonara in Milan...

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#522

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And if you haven't heard, all the public school names are going to be renamed, since people like Lincoln and George Washington were terrible people who shouldn't be celebrated /s [1] [1]: https://abc7news.com/renaming-sf-public-schools-school-name-...

I don't know why you were downvoted. Even if someone supports renaming a school called Lincoln to something else, the ... extreme nature of such a thing is a consideration for people to consider whether or not SF is a nice place to live. Because there are people in charge making decisions like this, and people in charge wield power, and if you live in SF you'll be subservient to these leaders. I'll add, the fact ther…

I think the downvotes fall into two categories. Some people agree with the renaming, and others just don't care either way. In a subthread about why people might want to move away from SF, "they're going to rename some schools" is not particularly relevant, and comes off a little flamebaity.

My personal opinion is that some of the renaming is a bit over the top, but I'm glad we're re-examining our historical "heroes"; most of what kids read in their US history classes paints an idealized, unrealistic picture of these figures, and ignores real harm they caused, both by their actions and attitudes. Regardless, I just frankly do not care whether a building is named Lincoln High School or John Doe High School. If ditching Lincoln's name makes a bunch of people feel more comfortable, it's no skin off my back.

What's actually important is that we teach the truth, and all of it. When we teach kids about Thomas Jefferson, we should certainly give him credit for the statesman he was, and for what he did to free the US from England. But we should also teach how he owned slaves throughout his entire life and saw no problem with that, and how he was a rich, elite landowner who believed that only a very small, single-digit percent of the population should be allowed to vote. Even Washington, who seemed not entirely comfortable with slavery, owned a slave that was only set free upon Washington's death. And Lincoln... well, his main concern was keeping the Union together. If that ultimately meant allowing the South to keep slavery intact, he was fine with that.

I don't bring all that up to say that they were awful, irredeemable people with no positive qualities. Some of them, if born today, might grow up with very different attitudes. But I think it's reasonable to suggest that quite a few people, especially non-white people, might not be particularly comfortable sending their kids to schools named after these people. And it's perfectly ok that they feel that way.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#523
post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go to denver/boulder. You get snow on occasion, but it's gone the next day, and the whole state is a park. Plus Skiing, 300 days of sunshine, and while the housing has become much more expensive, it's still way less then California.

Colorado is horrible. Denver gets 10 feet of snow every winter. Austin is way better.

To each his own I guess.

Austin is nice, but comes no where close to the natural beauty of Colorado. I'd put it 2nd the West Coast.

Texas is just flatness and trees. The rivers are nice though.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get top-quality Japanese food in thousands of small Japanese towns, and top-quality Thai food in thousands of small Thai towns. However, rest assured you will have a very hard time finding (say) Mexican in either. The only places in either country where you have a genuinely cosmopolitan food scene are Tokyo and Bangkok respectively.

What is top-quality American food, and where do you find it?

In addition to the burger previously mentioned, off the top of my head as "American cuisine" there's obviously barbecue, as well as Southern cuisine, Cajun/Creole, and -- while some might argue -- I'd throw in Tex-Mex and New Mexican (e.g., the state of New Mexico) as gastronomically distinct. Where you find it is, well, all over. You have to do a little research. :) But you can find really well-regarded restaurants around America for those cuisines, across a wide variety of price points.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please report back in February after experiencing a -40 day :)

There are no -40 days in Chicago, but I'll agree the winter is unbearable. I don't mind the cold. I mind the never ending cold. December + January are fine, February is depressing, but March and April really are awful.

I grew up there, and really the worst part was that stretch in February where it's overcast every single fucking day.

Then there's the humidity with 100+F days in the summer. And mosquitoes.

The other problem was I grew up in a reasonable, livable suburb, and now, when I go back there, I see that rents and housing are really extremely expensive compared to salaries. Jobs suck (there's no real tech industry anymore). And traffic in the suburbs is constant gridlock wherever you go. It's become a real horror show and I couldn't ever contemplate moving back. Weather/Climate is not even the consideration.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some will want to stay in proximity to the young people they already know.

The ones that want that already do.

All of them? Your response suggests that.

I’d counter that many young people permanently leave their “hometown” for financial opportunities that are currently only available away from that “hometown”.

For privileged young folks who are “amenity migrants”, your statement would be admittedly true. It might be a bit classist to extend that assumption to all young people.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#527

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In what sense are we not closer to a vaccine? I’m not following vaccine development closely, but my understanding is that many candidates are progressing along nicely.

Just today, for example: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/10/13/covid-vacci...

I don't think the downvotes here are fair. Drug development is hard. Most candidates never make it to market. This is a vaccine for a virus that's never been successfully vaccinated against.

Expect a majority of the vaccines in trial to fail over the next 6 months, either for safety or efficacy.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The magnitude of that demand will never reach the same height. The US is expected to add 80m people in the next 30 years. So that seems very unlikely, even if there is a shift in behavior. Edit: reduced the population estimate with newer numbers from the census bureau.

But those 100m are going to grow up in a world where remote working is the norm.

A small fraction of those 100m are going to be working in corporate jobs where WFH is even an option. Retail workers, trade workers, transportation workers.

The whole WFH discussion is an upper-middle class discussion. Low income workers don't have the option of working from home.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lower sales tax receipts could also imply people are spending less due to lockdowns and fear of catching the virus.

except, if you read the article they are up 25% or more in every surrounding county.

The surrounding counties have far different demographics and density profiles.

Also, the article never stated if neighboring counties had decreased or increased aggregate tax receipts-- it only talked about online sales tax, which is a subset of all sales taxes collected:

> But eight of the counties — everywhere but San Francisco — saw major jumps in online sales taxes, as high as 36% for Contra Costa County.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The WFH is a huge part. Just moved from a tiny 1 bed near downtown LA to a 3 bed place in Chicago with lower rent. My girlfriend and I both get our own offices, we have a yard, and enough places that are half open nearby that we're pretty happy.

Please report back in February after experiencing a -40 day :)

I grew up even further north, so I'll be fine ;) Plus, work from home! You just don't go outside!
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