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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

#301

Post by dcow »

yupper32 wrote: post #149
dcow wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, what are you doing to turn it around? I don't think it's fair to use the collective "we" in this case unless you're actively working to solve these problems. Otherwise it comes off as incredibly dismissive.

Voting, contributing to campaigns, some volunteering around prop times. Though I'll admit I haven't done much around the recall of our DA outside of donating. I should be doing more there. I'm also active in my neighborhood in my own way, trying to get people together for events (think trivia, bar game tournaments, etc). Though of course this has limited during covid. I think your comment is kinda rude, though. Even…

I simply asked, didn't suggest you weren't doing things. Please read my comment carefully--I specifically tried to be careful not to imply anything. I asked because I think participating locally is the only real answer, so kudos.

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

#302

Post by laurent92 »

jmeister wrote: post #127
laurent92 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same as in France: - Being lenient towards criminals because we need to have empathy towards all humans (real victims being forgotten here); - Encouraging “deconstruction”, deconstruction of family values, of masculinity, of marriage, of traditional rules, replacement by state-sponsored benefits, which break the social fabric (a human as a free-spinning electron without roots may be healthy and wealthy, but at extrem…

You must not be American, definitely not Californian because the points you make are extremely taboo. In the US there are probably a handful of feminist-critics who dare to say these things in the mainstream, e.g. Camille Paglia, Christina Hoff Sommers. What is the intellectual climate like in France? Can someone write what you wrote above in a mainstream newspaper column?

French people consider themselves an exception compared to USA, but stats depict a stunning similarity: Our stats about male/female suicide, court judgements about family, female position in companies, are closeby the US ones, generally within 4%. The whole Western world, despite local specificities, are going through the surprisingly same questions as I’ve raised about California in the main trends, and local trends don’t offset the main direction.

Culturally, France systematically follows US trends with 10 years delay. My theory is that ideas are tested/tuned in US and reproduced with more intensity in Europe, with the additional help that France already has a strong socialist culture (a quarter of its workforce as public servants, tradition of organizing and demonstrating) so there is no counterpoint to the liberal arguments.

So we basically have similar laws to California. We even have a Ministry of Equality, which sound terribly dystopian.

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

#303

Post by julianapostate »

darkhorse22 wrote: post #203
dheera wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always thought that an honestly useful product would be some kind of theft deterrent device that you either attach to your car, or attach to your camera equipment, and it detects the car window getting smashed or the tripod getting moved out of range of a beacon in the owner's pocket. If triggered it should spray a combination of fart spray, glitter, pepper spray, honey, flour, feathers, ink, in all directions.…

This is rich person thinking. Somebody who's willing to smash your car window for a camera really doesn't care if you "embarrass" them for a few minutes.

As i was getting a flu shot, i saw a lone young guy enter a Walgreens near oakland with an empty duffel bag intent on stealing a few hundred dollars in deodorant and face cream. As he proceed to use his arms to shovel the first batch in, the security guard, one or two employs and a bystanders just started shaming him. "Dont do it!!", "Please no!!", "you can still walk out!!". They were screaming at him at the top of their lungs for 10 second from both ends of the aisle... and it worked! it was surreal but with the empty bag, He walked out distraught. The security guard let him pass out. I couldn't believe it, but he just could not take having so many people screaming at him for it and carry it out .. i guess he just felt too guilty. maybe if he had'nt gone alone he would have had the strength to continue which is why i see people operate in groups.

Wouldn't believe it could happen before i saw it. "criminals are so desperate these no point" is not something i buy anymore, they clearly aren't always fully sold on what their doing, especially if young and any little thing could be enough for them to turn back.

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

#304

Post by pvg »

olivermarks wrote: post #233
diob wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for actually linking to stats. I've been to San Francisco, it's not as bleak as the anecdotes folks constantly try to put on it. One of my favorite cities to visit.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/audit-california-track-h... There are all sorts of stats and data out there. finding accurate information is very hard. Most counties have HMIS systems but many are not well maintained which tends to lead to very inaccurate data reporting. There is also the issue that the moment a person arrives in California and sits on the pavement they are considered a 'resident' by many of the…

There are all sorts of stats and data out there

That's true, do you happen to recall the sources of the ones you cited?

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

#305

Post by raverbashing »

Apocryphon wrote: post #294
raverbashing wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One (or a couple of) cities don't represent the whole country, naturally. These were probably either recent migrants ("refugees" for lack of a better term) or Roma camps (which are not today's problem). They could as well just be homeless, sure (depends on the park, location, etc). Mostly, they are the result of progressive policies gone unchecked as well. But are these in the same quantity/concentration and causing…

How bad are the banlieues?

They have several problems but not necessarily homelessness.

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

#306

Post by aranchelk »

dcow wrote: post #268
aronowb14 wrote: post #73

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…

SF is objectively poorly managed. It's not just anecdotal. Follow the money and see where it leads... Personally I see the posts as a strong dose of red-pill happening here on NH as people wake up from their starry-eyed honeymoon with the city by the bay. From what I've seen, it's not just people saying "I visited and it sucked". It's people also saying "I lived there for 10+ years and it really has gone downhill". P…

> The trash and feces becomes more than just a nuisance

Don’t forget the dirty needles

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

#307

Post by asdff »

bzbarsky wrote: post #283
asdff wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it not? You have ultra rich living above and driving around people living in tarps on the street just like what you see in corrupted "third world" places around the world. It is so demoralizing living near a homeless encampment and seeing how people live every day for years, and seeing nothing done to improve their situation. No other first world country I know is like that. First world countries have governme…

Last time I was in France (Lyon, a few years ago), there was quite a number of homeless people camping out in the parks. Is France also a third-world country? I agree that the homeless situation is bad. I don't think blanket claims that other "first world" countries handle it much better are necessarily true, unfortunately.

Those homeless in France have better healthcare and mental health treatment opportunities than I do working full time.

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

#308

Post by MertsA »

narrator wrote: post #113
dheera wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always thought that an honestly useful product would be some kind of theft deterrent device that you either attach to your car, or attach to your camera equipment, and it detects the car window getting smashed or the tripod getting moved out of range of a beacon in the owner's pocket. If triggered it should spray a combination of fart spray, glitter, pepper spray, honey, flour, feathers, ink, in all directions.…

Traps to defend property are very illegal.

Non-lethal traps like what he's proposing are legal and surprisingly commonplace. A ton of banks have dye packs hidden inside wads of cash that explode after a bank robber makes off with the money. There's also anti-vandal paint that coats the hands of anyone trying to climb it with a slippery greasy paint.

Even the popular myth that a fire alarm pull station will stain your hands with ink is based on an actual product. High schools with a string of false alarms will sometimes put a marking compound on the handle that is indelible and changes to a bright color when someone tries to wash it off their hands.

Spraying a thief with fart spray and glitter is not illegal.

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

#309

Post by babesh »

Apocryphon wrote: post #299
babesh wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. The economic downturn definitely was another major cause. There was increased crime even in the suburbs. However, that crime was mostly car break-ins, catalytic converter thefts, garage break-ins, package thefts. Violent crime doesn’t seem to have increased much unlike in SF and apparently other big cities.

Fair, but a lot of the anecdote details you mentioned aren't really attributable to the increase in violent crime. As mentioned elsewhere, Walgreens closing might be caused by economic downturn impacting a business strategy of market saturation ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27273139 and second child post). The city also feels dead because tourism everywhere in the U.S. is currently dead. SF Chinatown is most…

I probably wasn’t clear enough. I think there has been an increase in property crime in the suburbs but their violent crime rate doesn’t seem to have increased as much as it has in the cities.

Violent crime has increased in the cities based on statistics that I have read.

Walgreens is probably multifactor but it is guaranteed that the shoplifting hurt badly.

Yes the cities are dead partly due to lost of tourism. However, it isn’t only that. Commercial real estate occupancy rates are worse than during the dot com bust.

Real estate is multifactor. Real estate is booming everywhere in the Bay Area possibly with the exception of SF, not just Oakland.

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

#310

Post by alanfranz »

dannyw wrote: post #234
kstenerud wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the interesting thing is, the laws are even still more draconian than in Western European countries, booking processes more traumatic, prison terms longer, prison conditions an order of magnitude worse, and supervised release much more onerous. And yet Western Europe doesn't suffer anything even close to San Francisco's crime levels.

Probably because the police actually investigate cases in Western Europe.

They won’t investigate petty thefts. Bike theft is almost legal in Italy. But they will file a report every time.
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