It would be nice if they voted in new people (read: republicans) based on this. I think the city would be improved with some different ideas in government.
Shame these days all politics is national
70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll
51–60 of 260 posts
Re: 70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll
#52This is interesting given the protests. As I understand it, San Francisco is generally considered to be a very liberal and progressive city. The politicians are generally considered to be very liberal and progressive. These are the same groups, however, that want to defund the police. I don’t get it. You can want both police reform, and policing, but without the police there’s not really anyone capable, trained, or j…
"Defund the police" is mostly a shorthand for "federalize the police". Some people with little political power might interpret it literally, but they're not really calling the shots.
Re: 70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll
#53I wonder what percentage of residents support the tax increases necessary to provide such services.
> I wonder what percentage of residents support the tax increases necessary to provide such services
It depends on how the question is phrased.
Few people want to pay more taxes.
Most people want a better society, not just for themselves, for everyone, since we are all connected.
The art of good government is asking the question in a way that shines a light to where 51% of people will dare to go, that many of the remainder will tolerat.
Re: 70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're mixing issues. The homelessness problem has been growing for the last 15 years (I mean, before that too, but I remember never being shocked in the early 2000s like I always am today), whereas the "Defund" thing is only in the last year. The homelessness crisis is not caused by a lack of police enforcement.
True, but lack of police enforcement has led to greater numbers of homeless people acting without worry, setting up camps, pooping in the streets, vandalism, assault, robbery, etc. Greater police presence is an excellent deterrent for homeless misbehavior and crime. Otherwise there is no limitation on what those unhoused persons can do, thus exacerbating the problem. It may not have caused it, but the lack of police…
> but lack of police enforcement has led to greater numbers of homeless people acting without worry, setting up camps, pooping in the streets, vandalism, assault, robbery, etc.
From my experience, homelessness is not affected by police presence/enforcement other than to force them into other areas. An unhoused person has to go somewhere, so using police to approach that simply pushes them in larger numbers into other areas, making it someone else's problem. That seems like a huge waste of resources.
Re: 70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll
#55This is interesting given the protests. As I understand it, San Francisco is generally considered to be a very liberal and progressive city. The politicians are generally considered to be very liberal and progressive. These are the same groups, however, that want to defund the police. I don’t get it. You can want both police reform, and policing, but without the police there’s not really anyone capable, trained, or j…
>The politicians are generally considered to be very liberal and progressive. These are the same groups, however, that want to defund the police. I don’t get it.
It's the fact that you see an issue like homelessness and think "this is what we pay the police for", that blinds you to the actual grievances of the protestors. Instead of actually addressing issue, most Americans have developed the crutch of just calling the police who have just opted to either move the issue or throw the homeless in jail. It's sort of frustrating that on Hacker News people haven't done anymore than surface level research into the grievances behind "defund the police". A lot of their argument seems to stem to the fact that many problems they face are relegated to police (who have the funding) when things like housing and mental health services should be funded instead.
San Francisco's problem (and, I'd argue the "true" motivation behind the restorative justice) is that the city can no longer afford to in-prison more people for basic offenses. The housing problem has now extended to prisons and I believe COVID exasperated that issue as people wanted to avoid having overcrowded prisons. That plus the massively reduced city traffic has had homeless people claim a lot of open spaces. At this point I don't think funding more police departments would put a dent in the issue.
Re: 70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll
#56This is interesting given the protests. As I understand it, San Francisco is generally considered to be a very liberal and progressive city. The politicians are generally considered to be very liberal and progressive. These are the same groups, however, that want to defund the police. I don’t get it. You can want both police reform, and policing, but without the police there’s not really anyone capable, trained, or j…
What's not to get? https://i.imgur.com/8xlOIW9.png The whole point of defunding the police is to get the funding back to where it belongs. https://citymonitor.ai/government/the-reality-of-us-city-bud... - The reality of US city budgets: Police funding eclipses most other agencies’
A basehead is robbing the CVS again? Quick, send a social worker!
Re: 70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll
#57It's just a symptom of the neo-pseudo-scientific political system. I can find plenty of articles that "fact check" my gut instinct that deporting illegal immigrants who commit violent crime will reduce the violent crime. A cursory googling will remind me that SF's ban on handguns, licensed carry, and other gun restrictions protect me. After all, if I were in danger, the police average under 8 minutes response time on…
I wonder how many journalists who wrote these fact checked studies actually live in the area.
Re: 70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
There has already been extensive spending in these areas and what do we have to show for it? EDIT: While there's many factors that drive crime, crime was lower before the defund movements.
Does this logic apply to policing, too? > crime was lower before the defund movements Remind me, did anything else happen in 2020 that might have had an impact on crime?
Good point. The rioting encouraged by politicians and the media happened in 2020.
Re: 70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll
#59This is interesting given the protests. As I understand it, San Francisco is generally considered to be a very liberal and progressive city. The politicians are generally considered to be very liberal and progressive. These are the same groups, however, that want to defund the police. I don’t get it. You can want both police reform, and policing, but without the police there’s not really anyone capable, trained, or j…
What's not to get? https://i.imgur.com/8xlOIW9.png The whole point of defunding the police is to get the funding back to where it belongs. https://citymonitor.ai/government/the-reality-of-us-city-bud... - The reality of US city budgets: Police funding eclipses most other agencies’
Tax cuts so citizens can hire private security?
Re: 70% of San Francisco residents say quality of life has declined: poll
#60Chesa Boudin was elected in November 2019 on a progressive platform centered on ending mass incarceration. DA Boudin personally understands the impact of incarceration; both of his parents were incarcerated (for Murder) throughout his childhood and his father is still in prison. San Francisco residents deserve to reap the fruits of their Prophet.
This problem existed well before 2019.
It got way worse since 2019