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San Francisco: An Elitist Bubble Ignoring a Crime Epidemic?

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Re: San Francisco: An Elitist Bubble Ignoring a Crime Epidemic?

#11

Post by gibsonf1 »

belfalas wrote: post #4
maerF0x0 wrote: post #2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_California Despite California's current reputation, check out 1952-1988 . IMO that was a golden era of California, and the fertile grounds under which many of the boomers generation got their start

A great history professor I had at university was very interested in California politics. His take after years of research was that the thing holding California back is Prop 13, which has to do with taxation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_California_Proposition_13 Dear HNers, please note: I understand Prop 13 is hugely controversial and the "third rail" of California politics. I don't have a dog in this fight, I…

The increasingly bad management of California (and SF/LA etc) is not about taxes, its about managing based on ideology rather than the common-sense well-being of the citizens. Hence the citizens leave to more favorable places. If prop 13 had anything to do with it, we would have had people escaping the state back then instead of only in recent years.

Re: San Francisco: An Elitist Bubble Ignoring a Crime Epidemic?

#12

Post by thenoblesunfish »

It could well be that the only difference between the author and the people who "accept" crime is a few months. Is the author going to do anything about the problem other than restate it? If not, he might also shrug when someone arrives in town and states what everyone knows.

Re: San Francisco: An Elitist Bubble Ignoring a Crime Epidemic?

#13

Post by uoaei »

belfalas wrote: post #4
maerF0x0 wrote: post #2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_California Despite California's current reputation, check out 1952-1988 . IMO that was a golden era of California, and the fertile grounds under which many of the boomers generation got their start

A great history professor I had at university was very interested in California politics. His take after years of research was that the thing holding California back is Prop 13, which has to do with taxation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_California_Proposition_13 Dear HNers, please note: I understand Prop 13 is hugely controversial and the "third rail" of California politics. I don't have a dog in this fight, I…

The only ones who get upset when you point this out are people who thought they could get away with and benefit from such a loophole. They see no problem with excluding others from the possibility of enjoying the same benefit as long as they already have it.

Climbing a ladder and then pulling it up after you is anti-social and shameful.

Re: San Francisco: An Elitist Bubble Ignoring a Crime Epidemic?

#14

Post by ethbr0 »

buggythebug wrote: post #7
rootusrootus wrote: post #3

> And yet, San Francisco, like other great cities worldwide, has its unique charm and a sense of elitist smugness, a conviction that living here is a coveted opportunity. As a fellow lover of big cities, I respect this attitude. That's quite introspective, and might explain a lot of the commentary on hacker news when urban/suburban/rural discussions come up.

I wouldn't put SF in the great cities list. Maybe it had something back in the 80's or 90's - it's own charm or soul. But for the past 15 year's it's slowly turned into a soulless, charmless, no character city where everyone is in tech and thinks the same. I may be in the miniority on this site - but frankly I think it's sucked for a while now. I've had much better times in other big cities worldwide.

People move to a city because they want to be more like the people who already live there.

But if too many move in too fast, the city instead becomes like them.

Re: San Francisco: An Elitist Bubble Ignoring a Crime Epidemic?

#16

Post by boredumb »

belfalas wrote: post #4
maerF0x0 wrote: post #2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_California Despite California's current reputation, check out 1952-1988 . IMO that was a golden era of California, and the fertile grounds under which many of the boomers generation got their start

A great history professor I had at university was very interested in California politics. His take after years of research was that the thing holding California back is Prop 13, which has to do with taxation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_California_Proposition_13 Dear HNers, please note: I understand Prop 13 is hugely controversial and the "third rail" of California politics. I don't have a dog in this fight, I…

So the thing holding back California is that they don't get enough taxes? There must be something more nuanced i'm missing, but it almost feels like a comedy sketch thinking of a California college professor explaining to people that California not taxing it's citizens enough is the thing holding it back.

Re: San Francisco: An Elitist Bubble Ignoring a Crime Epidemic?

#18

Post by Fricken »

fundad wrote: post #9
rootusrootus wrote: post #3

> And yet, San Francisco, like other great cities worldwide, has its unique charm and a sense of elitist smugness, a conviction that living here is a coveted opportunity. As a fellow lover of big cities, I respect this attitude. That's quite introspective, and might explain a lot of the commentary on hacker news when urban/suburban/rural discussions come up.

People are in denial about aging out of city living.

You age out of all living eventually

Re: San Francisco: An Elitist Bubble Ignoring a Crime Epidemic?

#19

Post by uoaei »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_California Despite California's current reputation, check out 1952-1988 . IMO that was a golden era of California, and the fertile grounds under which many of the boomers generation got their start

Republicans are the paragons of "boom now, bust later", alternatively "screw those who come after because I got mine". You're making a good point but don't seem to get it yourself.

Re: San Francisco: An Elitist Bubble Ignoring a Crime Epidemic?

#20

Post by alexb_ »

boredumb wrote: post #16
belfalas wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A great history professor I had at university was very interested in California politics. His take after years of research was that the thing holding California back is Prop 13, which has to do with taxation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_California_Proposition_13 Dear HNers, please note: I understand Prop 13 is hugely controversial and the "third rail" of California politics. I don't have a dog in this fight, I…

So the thing holding back California is that they don't get enough taxes? There must be something more nuanced i'm missing, but it almost feels like a comedy sketch thinking of a California college professor explaining to people that California not taxing it's citizens enough is the thing holding it back.

The nuance is that with restrictions on property tax there is absolutely no disincentive for citizens to support local policies that restrict housing development. You are incentivized to keep the housing supply as low as you can possibly get it, because raising the price of your own property has zero downsides. This creates homelessness due to a restricted supply of housing.
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