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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

#271

Post by georgeorwell »

nugget wrote: post #240
georgeorwell wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling people crack-heads and shambling zombies is pejorative. You don't casually use words like fag, dyke, tranny, bitch, ho, nigger, Indian (for native / aboriginal), and kyke, right? If you want a name, say "drug-addicted homeless person". We're talking about the most badly abused people in our society and you and the author are simply abusing them more with these words. Surprise, they aren't there to say anythin…

As someone who lives around and deals with these people every day, let's call a spade a spade and not cover it up. Have you seen a zombie movie lately? These people basically ARE zombies - they hobble around, mutter to themselves, smell like shit, randomly attack people, and will infect you with disease if you touch them. Whether they scream at/spit on/push around my sister or female employees because they are on cra…

For the record, I don't think the situation is a good one by any means. I just don't think the people who are least empowered to do anything about it should be referred to pejoratively, and a big part of that is because it isn't going to help the situation. For that matter I don't think anyone should be referred to pejoratively on the basis of class membership, rich or poor.

It just seems to me that replacing the pejorative terms with neutral language makes the whole post more compassionate. And then the question you end up asking is, "This is bad, what should we do about it?" - because obviously zombies outside your four star hotel is a sign of badness - as opposed to, "Fucking crackheads, how do they work?"

I think that people even have to live on the street at all in the richest nation in the world is a travesty. It's almost like they're there to motivate people to work harder.

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

#272

Post by stevewilhelm »

troels wrote: post #180
raldi wrote: post #139

It gets cold at night not because of fog, but because of lack of humidity. Same reason the desert is like that. Same reason the surface of the moon is 107°C during the day and -153°C at night.

How can it be foggy and lack humidity?

Most of the bay area is chaparral. The Central Valley is generally ten to twenty degrees hotter than the coastal areas during the summer. The hot air literally sucks the cold wet marine air inland right across SF during most summer days.

That is why the best SF weather is early spring and late fall when the temperature difference between the Central Valley and the SF Bay Area is minimal, and their is much less fog.

When the summer sun goes down, the fog evaporates in the dry air and the temperature drops.

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

#274

Post by [deleted] »

georgeorwell wrote: post #221
JabavuAdams wrote: post #44

I'm living in Toronto, Canada, and the SF crack-head thing is always a shock. If I'm in SF, it's for conferences and it's always strange that literally one block away from our expensive hotel, there are zombies shambling about -- and this is totally normal! For those who know Toronto: it's like you're in Yorkdale, you walk one block and you're in the worst part of Parkdale. The other odd thing is that I seem to pay a…

Calling people crack-heads and shambling zombies is pejorative. You don't casually use words like fag, dyke, tranny, bitch, ho, nigger, Indian (for native / aboriginal), and kyke, right? If you want a name, say "drug-addicted homeless person". We're talking about the most badly abused people in our society and you and the author are simply abusing them more with these words. Surprise, they aren't there to say anythin…

[deleted]

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

#275

Post by jseliger »

bluekite2000 wrote: post #133
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…

The same goes w/ NYC. I have been here for a while now and have met so many young girls following Sex in the City dream, which invariably turned out badly.

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 removal of building height limitations and setbacks. The real problem in such cities is with supply, as Matt Yglesias writes in The Rent is Too Damn High and Ryan Avent writes in The Gated City. SF and NYC aren't expensive because of some natural law; they're expensive because of man-made laws, which can be changed. Don't yield to torpor!

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

#276

Post by __--__ »

bherms wrote: post #196
guyzero wrote: post #84

On it getting cold at 4 PM, I quote the estimable "30 Rock": "Can’t hack it in the big city? Gonna move to the Bay Area now, pretend that was your dream the whole time? Have fun always carrying a light sweater."

I hate that everyone calls the weather here amazing. Being cold all but maybe 30-40 days a year is not incredible weather, especially factoring in fog.

Go spend a winter in NY and then complain about the SF weather.

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

#277

Post by harel »

I used to live in San Francisco for about 4 years (1998 to 2002) and for a few months over those 4 years I lived south and north of the city. I say this very literally, that I rather be homeless in San Francisco than live anywhere around it. Its an amazing city that has given me a lot (and taken a lot in a fair trade). The most amazing aspect of this city, in my opinion, is that its where all the American 'rejects' end up in. In those years the start up scene was different than today and not everybody around you was in a start up. But most of those who were not native and not in a start up were those that didn't quite fit in in their home state and though they'd find acceptance in San Francisco. Most of them did. Its probably one of the most tolerant city in the States where most people there have a passport and are well travelled. Yes its expensive, but you do get what you pay for. The same applies to any big city like London, New York, Tel Aviv etc.

Although I'm no longer a local, here are a few culinary pro tips: if you are a sushi lover, you must visit Ebisu in the Sunset (http://www.ebisusushi.com). If you fancy a good pint of Guinness, Oreily's pub in North Beach is a must (and they make a beef and Guinness soup that is just insane).

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

#278

Post by squidsoup »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #75
amosson wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much has been written about the dysfunction of California's government. I would summarize it as we have a direct participation system, in the form of propositions, that has limited what the government can do. Specifically, the voters have limited the amount of property taxes that can be raised, required a super majority of the legislature to raise any other taxes, and then gone ahead and proscribed what the legislatu…

Oregon has done exactly the same thing, though, and it hasn't caused the same problems. We have a balanced budget requirement, an annual cap on property tax increases, a requirement that the legislature can't pass taxes itself but has to put them as ballot measures, and a requirement that no new tax can pass at a special election (non-May non-November) without a 50% turnout (in response to too many ballot-stuffing sp…

I'm in New Zealand and interested in potentially moving to Portland one day. I'm aware that the city has a great reputation for arts and food (which is the appeal for me and my family) and personally prefer living in smaller cities. The regular folk music events, street markets and greenery all seem very appealing! Are there many job opportunities for software developers there however?

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

#279

Post by combataircraft »

The streets smell pie and marijuana.

Tenderloin is the shittiest places I've ever seen.

Local poor people stick on tourists and try to rip you off.

Go one street below of Market, you'll see junkies injecting heroin to their arms.

There is no street that can be called as "the heart of the downtown".

Cafes get close on 6 or 7pm.

The ocean is fucked up by some industrial shit. and the people think "it's ok".

The transportation is fucked up.

Streets are big and straight. Nothing smells historical or romantic.

Rents are crazy. I saw an apartment in a shitty neighboorhood for 1450$ per month and I even don't leave a dog in that kind of small and unhealthy place with no sunlight!

Bay Area is fucking lame.

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

#280

Post by JoshTriplett »

noname123 wrote: post #124
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…

Just curious, in your opinion, what should be the net worth target for people making regular tech income in their 30's, 40's and 50's if they want to eek out comfortable living in retirement, inflation-adjusted?

Try http://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement for a fairly straightforward, income-independent answer to that question. Tell it your annual income and expenses, and it'll tell you when you can retire. Adjust the numbers and your retirement date changes. (The defaults for "return on investment" and "withdrawal rate" work pretty well.)
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