San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide • Hacker News Board

Re: San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide

#111

Post by asdf21 » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 2:24 PM UTC

dekhn wrote: post #73

leesalminen wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner and I visited SF last summer and were fairly shocked with all the homelessness, drug use on the streets and human feces scattered about. We won’t be back.

I'd just like to say, as somebody who used to live in SF, I feel sorry for tourists. What the city is permitting is unthinkable, but up to about a year ago, even saying that it wasn't acceptable was social suicide. Now it's changed a bunch- people are much more clearly stating that allowing people to put up tents and litter the sstreets with poop and needles isn't OK. However, the city really can't do anything about…

Sounds like private property is better managed than public property in SF...

Re: San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide

#112

Post by zaroth » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 2:24 PM UTC

xivzgrev wrote: post #90

It’s interesting how this guy cherry picks examples. He mentions Sam Altman but declined to mention how Y Combinator is relocating to SF. And there are incubators and small companies etc. not saying there’s no negative trend but this articles comes off as a biased rant vs a more balanced perspective, which given the title i suppose is fair just not compelling.

YC moving to SF for more signals the beginning of the end for them more than anything else. There’s such a thing as being high on your own emissions.

SF is antithetical to the kind of startup that YC used to be all about, for many reasons stated eloquently by TFA.

Re: San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide

#113

Post by wonderwonder » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 2:24 PM UTC

nkingsy wrote: post #30

The author draws a very unsubtle if not direct line between housing costs and homelessness. Is there any? I was under the impression that most of the homeless are mentally ill and/or transplants from other areas. What percent of them just can't afford the rent?

40% of American's cannot afford a $400 emergency. For those without a family / friend support system something as simple as a car accident, hospital stay or losing their job could quickly lead to living on the street. I think the vulnerability of low income people is very underestimated for those who don't have a safety structure such as family etc.

Re: San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide

#114

Post by bilbo0s » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 2:25 PM UTC

ihm wrote: post #71

Communitivity wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could so see a planet-bound version of the movie Elysium. The elite top 5% live in walled off fortresses, a la Aeon Flux's city, and have everything - while the rest live outside in a daily fight to live against a dystopian environment financially and economically. I don't think it's inevitable though, so the question is - how do we stop it? We have some of the brighter minds in tech on this forum, what are your th…

Walking around Pacific Heights gives me that feeling… How to stop it and create a city where anyone can live: - build world class public transit - double the number of houses but decommodify the housing market as much as possible with lots of social housing and controlled rent increases

I don't know man?

I'm not too sanguine about the possibility of either of those things happening in the United States. Public transit has always kind of gone nowhere in this nation outside of the great coastal cities and Chicago. And as for the housing proposal, I can already hear the howls of "SOCIALISM!!!" that will be raised by certain very powerful interests and political parties.

Re: San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide

#115

Post by asdf21 » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 2:25 PM UTC

redm wrote: post #45

Although a bit overdramatic at times, there is so much truth on this article. I wish i could do more than upvote it. “Crowded thoroughfares such as Market Street, even in the light of midday, stage a carnival of indecipherable outbursts and drug-induced thrashings about which the police seem to do nothing.” This really touched me because the police in SF, if you ever see one, look disinterested at best.

Are they supposed to be interested in every druggie?

Re: San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide

#116

Post by padseeker » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 2:27 PM UTC

I've seen articles that are less political get reported a lot faster than this.

Re: San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide

#117

Post by Symmetry » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 2:27 PM UTC

nkingsy wrote: post #30

The author draws a very unsubtle if not direct line between housing costs and homelessness. Is there any? I was under the impression that most of the homeless are mentally ill and/or transplants from other areas. What percent of them just can't afford the rent?

There are many sorts of homeless people. Many wouldn't be able to support themselves no matter how cheap housing is. There are many who wouldn't be homeless if housing was cheaper. This last group is the one typically targeted by laws against sleeping in cars at night. It's hard to give percentages, though.

Re: San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide

#118

Post by asdf21 » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 2:27 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #35

People working to fix the problems: https://yimbyaction.org - get involved!

So the only solution is a even higher population density?

Re: San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide

#119

Post by mikeyouse » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 2:28 PM UTC

rb808 wrote: post #98

mikeyouse wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right? This keeps coming up on the neighborhood FB groups whenever anyone discusses SB50 or any changes. "We don't want to become like NYC, where are all these people going to go??" San Francisco could double its population and still be ~30% less dense than Paris is. Let's aim for that. Paris is generally considered to be an okay place.

> Paris is generally considered to be an okay place. Lol do you know anyone who lives there? It has one of the highest property prices and rents in the world.

> Lol do you know anyone who lives there.

Yes I do..

> It has one of the highest property prices and rents in the world.

It's still cheaper than San Francisco.

Re: San Francisco’s Slow-Motion Suicide

#120

Post by freehunter » Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 2:28 PM UTC

dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #78

The author lost me at > Cities are nearly immortal; though they decline, they rarely die. Cities great and small die all the time. Ur died, Babylon died. SF will die. Cities die when their purpose no longer justifies their expense. And the purpose of most cities is concentrating people to facilitate trade. But increasingly there’s nothing to do in SF, especially for the masses. If people don’t figure out something fo…

Those cities were more like nations and the city fell when the civilization did. If we're using Ur and Babylon in reference to the complete abandonment of SF, we would need the entire American nation to collapse and be abandoned as well. Without that, SF will "die" the way Rome did or the way Detroit did. Not the way Ur or Babylon did.