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I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

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Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#241

My CA home, in Sunnyvale, is about 40 miles south of SF. I never go up to SF anymore, and I won't take meetings there. People who visit from out of town ask to go up to the city, and I won't take them. My life and personal safety is more important. I admire Jefferson (the man whose camera was stolen) for being so gracious about it. But he shouldn't blame himself.

I live on the peninsula also but have no problem going to SF for meetings. What parts of the city do you get asked to meet people in? I drive to BART and ride up to SOMA without a second thought (and I am neither big nor trained in self-defense).

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#242
post #197
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A google search says in 2019 there were 41 murders in sf and 99 in brooklyn. though idk where to find crime by neighborhood. seems pretty equal when you account for population

Murder is not the only crime. I, and a bunch of my friends, have been attacked (punched, followed home, etc) by homeless people in SF. This has never happened to any of us anywhere else, and we are a group who travels a lot to a lot of cities, including internationally. I didn't report it to the police when I was sucker punched in the stomach by a homeless guy who ran away afterwards, because I barely saw him and wha…

What point are you trying to make here? What is any cop going to do anywhere in that situation? You need to be aware of where to go and where not to.

2019 Kings county - Aggravated Assault - 9,221

2019 SF - Aggravated Assault - 2,514

https://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/crimnet/ojsa/indexcrimes/...

https://sfgov.org/scorecards//public-safety/violent-crime-ra...

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I lived in the Tendernob neighborhood of SF for almost 10 years. I’d always pass by a lot of what you’re talking about... - At one point I did a lot of walking there and to keep myself entertained I started tracking PPM (poops per mile) - one day I walked by a woman peeing between two cars, and she noticed me & apologized. Later I walked back that same route and saw her again. She thanked me for not yelling at…

> - I gave a beer to a homeless guy, and he chugged it & threw the can into the street. I asked him why he didn’t put it in the trash can right next to us, and he explained that he didn’t want the tiny Asian women who forage for recyclables to get stabbed by the needles in the trash cans, and that one of them would be along to get the can shortly. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes later, a woman pushing a shopping car…

Like why didn't he just leave the can next to the trash can? I've saw trash cans in Germany with bottles ringed around them and was told that it was to make it easier for people that collected the deposits.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#244

Is anybody else getting tired of the constant stream of inflammatory posts ragging on San Francisco or the Bay Area? I feel like I've been seeing one every one or two days that make it to the top of HN. These types of posts just seem to fit into this ongoing narrative that SF (and relatedly, silicon valley), are all falling apart due to poor governance. It's beginning to feel like a strong echo chamber in here. What…

I think a big part of the SF hate is that it's ostensibly a liberal place, when it's really a conservative city. It has horrible housing policies and isn't actually racially equal when you look at the wealth distribution within the city. I think SF's external perception makes it a target for vitriol from right wing people on the internet.

SF has lots of problems to be clear, especially on the east side of the city.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And in most cities I haven't had to bribe a cop, like the one time I went to Mexico. And in most cities I haven't heard the result of an acid attack outside of my hotel lobby, like one of the times I've visited London. I'd take feces over those examples any day. And yet, I'm not going to shit on those places, because I was a tourist . I get that some places, especially some tourist and downtown areas, are more danger…

Comparing acid attacks in London to San Francisco's problems is like comparing plane crashes to car crashes. The former is worse per occurrence and gets more attention, but the latter is much, much more common and so worse overall.

You've missed my point entirely.

My point is that just because I heard an acid attack outside my hotel in London, it does not make me qualified to criticize London or those who choose to live there.

Just as someone who visited SF a few times and saw some feces (etc) is not qualified to criticize SF or those who choose to live here.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#246

> The police officer said he was glad to have the license plate number but that robbery is so low-profile in the courts right now that even if they did catch him, without video proof, the thieves would be let go within a day or so. Even with video proof, there's a good chance that Chesa would drop all charges anyway. Related topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27216343

Can't a person go to supreme court in that case?

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#247
post #9

In early 2020, before lockdown, I visited San Francisco as a tourist with my wife. We took a wrong turn at a book store and wound up on a street covered in feces. The next street was fine. Then on the next, we watched a homeless woman shoot up on the street. Then a supercar pulled into a garage. I'm not the best traveled, I'll admit, so I can't compare SF to foreign cities. I'm a simple hillbilly from the Southeast,…

Anecdata is andecdata. I've visited SF a ton for work/business and for tech events and never see anything that I haven't already seen in Boston, LA, DC, any major city. I've always had a great time in SF. It's beautiful, especially at night, usually pretty decent weather, great food, lots of cute girls (everyone disagrees?), a fun place to hike around especially compared to the flat midwest. I don't know if I'd pay what it takes to live decently there, but I'm always happy to travel to SF.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#248
post #181
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crime has exploded across the US since the start of COVID, not just SF. So I'm not convinced Chesa is to blame. Which isn't too say I'm a big fan of his either. Homelessness is indeed a problem, but according to the biannual survey, most of the unhoused are from the bay area. This suggested the crisis is the result of skyrocketing rents and the steady disappearance of SROs. Yet another thing we can thank Nimbys for.…

I was born and raised in SF as well. SF is beginning to look and feel like late 80’s/early 90’s SF. Increase in hate crimes against Asians. Car break-ins. Burglaries. Fewer people on the streets. I think part of what is happening is that criminals refocused on residents because there aren’t tourists around to prey on anymore. Chesa Boudin made it worse. No more bail so people accused of crime are free to sometimes co…

Well, the pandemic and economic depression have certainly exacerbated things. I also doubt that tourism in most places in California will really resemble pre-quarantine times until at least June 15th.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#249
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Progressive Bad" isn't really the takeaway here. It turns out nuance is important. Questionable policies combined with a complex socioeconomic situation due to decades of perverse incentives isn't, in fact, an optimal strategy of governance.

I think it's hard to argue that the SF government is not comprised of people on the forefront of the progressive agenda. Am I wrong about this? Take a look at Chesa Boudin, for example [1]. All their policies are progressive (their voters would certainly hope so). Are you saying that San Francisco's progressive policies are not the right progressive policies? Which place has the right policies then? Chicago? Their cr…

To be honest, I think American progressivism as a whole is a bit compromised as it generally tries to accomplish its goals while first keeping the corporations pleased and second never truly taxing the rich. Further they need to consider the externalities they create. If a city or state is going to implement supportive policies, people from surrounding areas (areas not contributing to the tax base) may choose or be pressured to travel there.

This isn't to say progressivism is doomed in America or we must force socialist policies onto all outlying areas, just that the process of learning how to properly roll out socially responsible policies is still ongoing and one of the major issues is rapidly growing polarization with no interest in nuance.

Re: I Was Robbed in San Francisco While the Cameras Rolled

#250

SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin ran for office in November 2019 focusing his campaign on ending mass incarceration with restorative justice models, rather than punitive incarceral methods. Since then crime in SF has absolutely exploded, fuelled by proposition 47 which reduced stealing less than $900 day to a misdemeanor. Add in a massive opioid crisis and the result is a rapidly growing crisis of shoplifting, petty…

John Pfaff, a law professor at Fordham who wrote "the book" on mass incarceration, has been at pains to point out that crime (and particularly violent crime) has risen uniformly , across the country, in both "red" areas and "blue", and the rise cannot be attributed to "progressive prosecutors", or really any particular policy intervention.

Someone else mentioned that crime is at an all time low in SF, who is wrong?
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