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Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

economist.com

301–310 of 441 posts

Re: Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

#301
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

San Francisco has also given homeless people one-way bus tickets to get rid of them. It's a common practice in many cities nationwide. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/dec/...

As the article notes, cities usually only will do so if you both want to leave and have someone willing to take you in on the far end. If they just wanted to get rid of people they wouldn't worry about any of that.

It doesn't quite say that. Key West says they confirm this, and there is an allusion to the policy being similar to some other cities (not all.) In exchange for checking more strictly, the article claims Key West permanently bans at least some homeless from receiving services again. There is also a counter-assertion in the article that some of these policies in other cities are in name only for various reasons (coercion, contact check done carelessly.)

Outside of the scope of the article, there are unofficial deportations that would not have a delineated process and wouldn't be reported.

Re: Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

#302
post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It was done in the name of human rights, but naturally there were ulterior motives. what was the ulterior motive?

Saving a great deal of money for the state of California in the short term.

Wasn’t psychic ward “incarceration” also used to silence politically-incorrect dissidents?

Re: Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

#303

As someone who's family has been in the bay area for over a century I was disappointed the article didn't mention any of the old money families who've controlled SF politics for decades. This article[0] mentions some, though not all of the families (The Aliotos aren't mentioned here for example). While I haven't fully kept up, I know in the 90s at least a quarter of the financial district was held by two families. Th…

There you have it. Why is San Francisco’s city government so dysfunctional? Because no matter how bad it gets and how much liberal policies fail, voters can convince themselves that the problem is “moneyed elites” and “not enough liberalism.” Just amazing.

Re: Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

#304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low because they don't arrest anyone. But that isn't on the police - they don't arrest anyone because the DA doesn't prosecute anyone. Property crime is sky high... if you happen to get caught breaking into a car the penalty is a warning. That is the policy. You have to break into many cars and be caught (which is hard to do) many times for any action. Boudin has indefensibly ignored violent criminals, too. Like a wo…

This is a pretty bold statement. And as the poet said: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” . Do you have evidence to back up your claim that low prosecution rates actually leads to more crimes? Your current anecdotes sound like hearsay to me, I would need to see some credible sources before I can start believing them.

Sealioning: http://wondermark.com/1k62

Re: Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

#305
post #293
post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If SF politics is really controlled by a wealthy cabal then why have they allowed the situation to deteriorate so much? What possible benefit could they derive from homelessness, dirty streets, rampant property crime, and a dysfunctional government? The wealthy people who control NYC politics seem less tolerant of such issues.

> If SF politics is really controlled by a wealthy cabal then why have they allowed the situation to deteriorate so much? Because they can't influence supervisor elections or school board elections as well as they can elections for mayor. The reason why San Francisco mayors are always re-elected is because they're very middle of the road in terms of politics and risk tolerance. Activist policies are usually the produ…

What kind of boot-licking nonsense is this? The sentence "the rich elite is in many ways more grounded then the middle class" appearing on a site called "Hacker News" is just laughable.

Re: Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

San francisco is a net exporter of homeless people according to a report about the subject on the guardian.

California is a net exporter of poor people. Yet it still manages to have more than 25 percent of the nation's homeless population while only holding 12 percent of the nation's overall population.

California has a larger percentage of impoverished people when you correct for cost of living than any other state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

Re: Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

#307
post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If SF politics is really controlled by a wealthy cabal then why have they allowed the situation to deteriorate so much? Because they can't influence supervisor elections or school board elections as well as they can elections for mayor. The reason why San Francisco mayors are always re-elected is because they're very middle of the road in terms of politics and risk tolerance. Activist policies are usually the produ…

What kind of boot-licking nonsense is this? The sentence "the rich elite is in many ways more grounded then the middle class" appearing on a site called "Hacker News" is just laughable.

Did you have something to add? Suggesting something is “laughable” is just an appeal to incredulity if you don’t say why.

Re: Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

#308
post #293
post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If SF politics is really controlled by a wealthy cabal then why have they allowed the situation to deteriorate so much? What possible benefit could they derive from homelessness, dirty streets, rampant property crime, and a dysfunctional government? The wealthy people who control NYC politics seem less tolerant of such issues.

> If SF politics is really controlled by a wealthy cabal then why have they allowed the situation to deteriorate so much? Because they can't influence supervisor elections or school board elections as well as they can elections for mayor. The reason why San Francisco mayors are always re-elected is because they're very middle of the road in terms of politics and risk tolerance. Activist policies are usually the produ…

So they don't run the city, but they are highly influential stakeholders.

Re: Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

#309
post #98

I don't think this article successfully describes "why" SF is dysfunctional. I agree that the government is bureaucratic and slow, and the school system is terrible, and our government is corrupt. That's the "what." I think some of the "why"s mentioned in the article are accurate. It's true that SF residents tend to be transient and only homeowners vote in large numbers. And SF political actors see themselves through…

Let me simply this: the Democrats always win in SF.

Re: Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional

#310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low because they don't arrest anyone. But that isn't on the police - they don't arrest anyone because the DA doesn't prosecute anyone. Property crime is sky high... if you happen to get caught breaking into a car the penalty is a warning. That is the policy. You have to break into many cars and be caught (which is hard to do) many times for any action. Boudin has indefensibly ignored violent criminals, too. Like a wo…

This is a pretty bold statement. And as the poet said: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” . Do you have evidence to back up your claim that low prosecution rates actually leads to more crimes? Your current anecdotes sound like hearsay to me, I would need to see some credible sources before I can start believing them.

Lol. Now it’s bold to suggest no enforcement of the law leads to people violating the law more frequently.
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