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What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

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Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#431

Post by jquery »

theorique wrote: post #418
__--__ wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The powers that be leave them alone because if they don't, they are met with complete civil unrest in SF. Any attempt to even address the homeless issue is met with outrage and organized protest. This goes along with the outcry against gentrification and the lament of the city losing its "character." Make no mistake, some of the people here actually want to live in a post-apocalyptic zombie film. :)

outcry against gentrification and the lament of the city losing its "character." People sniffing glue, blazing crack pipes, and defecating on the street is 'character'?

It keeps the rents down and prevents richer people from moving in next door and making you feel insecure.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#432

Post by aioprisan »

hindsightbias wrote: post #343
icey wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-Texan, I'd be interested if could you share some of the dysfunctions of their government? I haven't heard many people claim that before, so I'm curious as to what I'm missing.

TX has had massive shortfalls in the last two biennial budgets. As big as CA's annual one: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/04/us-usa-deficits-st... So imagine an already very low service state having to cut budgets even more. Am sure that will work out well for the kids long-term. The State is tossing welfare/health/service issues down to the counties now, so expect your property taxes to skyrocket in the next…

except Texas has a lot more money from oil taxes to give to things like schools, no sales taxes etc.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#433

Post by wpietri »

swong8 wrote: post #257
sakopov wrote: post #98

In my opinion the high cost of living kills everything else on that list. I'd much rather have a comfortable living, travel the world and be optimistic that i will have no problems buying a nice house for me and my spouse/family if i need to/should i want to. I don't really see this possible based on what i hear from a couple of friends living and working there. Both consumed by their tech jobs, some cool things to d…

I still don't get why folks don't consider living in places just outside of SF that are much more affordable. Places such as South San Francisco, Daly City, Brisbane, Oakland, etc. The proximity to the city is very close (5-10 mins).

None of those places are, in practice, 5-10 minutes from a place you want to be. You can see that in the BART schedules: http://www.bart.gov/schedules/bylineresults.aspx?route=7&#38...

And that doesn't include walking or waiting time.

Driving might seem like a plausible option, but that's generally worse. Oakland City Center to Embarcadero is 25 minutes by car, not counting parking. Daly City to the Mission is 20 minutes. And that's not counting parking, which is never easy in SF.

People do live in those places. But it's definitely living in another city.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#434

Post by jseliger »

aliston wrote: post #430
lawnchair_larry wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having moved from SF to Seattle, I just want to say that Seattle is terrible, and you should warn everybody you know to stay away. ;)

Serious question -- did you have trouble adjusting to the lack of sunshine?

I've lived in Bellevue, WA, then Worcester, MA, then Seattle, WA, then Tucson, AZ, then New York, NY, and I've never had a problem with sun or its lack. Different people react differently, however, and I still a) went running most days, and b) really like the cultural / lifestyle aspects of living in cities.

I prefer the Seattle experience of relatively temperate weather, year-round, to the Tucson experience of insane heat for about five months of the year. Obviously nowhere else in the U.S. is going to rival the weather experience of the CA coast.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#435

Post by davmar »

philwelch wrote: post #405
nostromo wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(He's joking, it's wonderful. This is the decades-old Seattle joke, "It's so miserable here, please stay away.")

(Don't tell them that! They'll keep moving here and then it'll be as expensive as NY and SF!)

/sheepishly walking away

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#436

Post by meej »

tomblomfield wrote: post #128

SF is a great city - I lived there for 3 or 4 months. Coming from London, the thing I really missed was the late-night club & music scene. Trying to find anything happening past 1am, especially on a weeknight, is a non-starter.

SF is surprisingly hostile to late night music for a city of its size. The DNA Lounge blog is a good window into what it's like to own a club in SF. Here's a classic post where jwz compares SF to Austin after attending SXSW for the first time: http://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/log/2009/03/16.html

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#437

Post by jseliger »

starpilot wrote: post #420
jseliger wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I just moved here from Tucson, and there's virtually no way I'd be here if not for the fact that I'm living with a medical resident in an apartment subsidized by her hospital. Given a choice among SF, NYC, and Seattle, and I'd choose Seattle: It has much of what makes the first two desirable, but at 60% of the cost. BTW, to the extent that you want to make cities like SF and NYC more affordable, favor the rem…

Everyone forgets Chicago. In the US, it's the most important financial center outside of Manhattan and is the third place city in number of Michelin starred restaurants (fewer than SF; Seattle has none). Boeing moved their corporate HQ there from Seattle because of its financial prominence. It has a world class university in U. Chicago and excellent bus/rail transit across the metro area. But the Chicago area is seri…

What's Chicago known for these days? When I think of Seattle, I think of music (grunge was big, and today there's still a lot of it), Amazon, Microsoft, tech stuff, and arts. When I think of SF I think of free-spirits, the 60s, and startups. When I think of New York I think of movies, finance, artists (especially writers), publishing, and fashion.

When I think of Chicago, I think of. . . corruption? Commodities markets?

I'm not saying this to be snarky or a coastal asshole or whatever. I'm saying it because I genuinely don't have much of an impression of Chicago from the popular culture, or from books, or from sites like HN.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#438

Post by georgeorwell »

jquery wrote: post #428
georgeorwell wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This comment does not belong on HN. Just as you petitioned SF to get rid of the homeless people from your precious neighborhood, you can downvote my post, flag it, and petition PG to ban my account if you don't want me to post comments like this. If it fails, just as your real life petition failed, you can always find another web forum. What's becoming clear is that I don't belong on HN. There's just no real sense…

Sorry, this isn't a forum where saying "Fuck You" to another poster is okay.

If it's not okay, why does my comment have more upvotes than downvotes?

For me, this isn't a forum where degrading a whole class of society is okay. Except, from what you guys are saying, maybe it is okay because it's a visible and personally annoying class? That is where the anger comes from.

What's ironic about all this is that if you read his later comments, the original guy I responded to apparently shares my opinions more than yours.

Finally, did you get so hung up on the F-bomb that you missed my edit to the original post?

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#439

Post by jmnickels »

aioprisan wrote: post #429
starpilot wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone forgets Chicago. In the US, it's the most important financial center outside of Manhattan and is the third place city in number of Michelin starred restaurants (fewer than SF; Seattle has none). Boeing moved their corporate HQ there from Seattle because of its financial prominence. It has a world class university in U. Chicago and excellent bus/rail transit across the metro area. But the Chicago area is seri…

from my experience there, it's simply too far from other places (vs Boston/NYC/DC area or) and weather is a lot harsher

it's a 2 hour flight.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#440

Post by juan_juarez »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #392
juan_juarez wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Came in to say that much of it's true about Portland. The weather's better. Rent and the cost of living is cheaper, but finding a place close-in to downtown is still highly competitive (ie - you have to be ready to put down a deposit as soon as you find a place you like; there is no real opportunity to look at other places and come back). PBR is losing some of its cachet - you just as often see Hamm's or Old German a…

(ie - you have to be ready to put down a deposit as soon as you find a place you like; there is no real opportunity to look at other places and come back). You mean that's not normal?

Things are different in less 'happening' cities, smaller towns or out in the burbs. You can actually spend a few days looking at units and have time to think about which you want. You can come back a 3-4 days later without worrying too much about your first choice being leased. If it is, you can probably get your 2nd.
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