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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

#281

Post by g8oz »

georgeorwell wrote: post #271
nugget wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pej…

Funny, your userid is georgeorwell and you're advocating DoubleSpeak

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

#282

Post by ry0ohki »

run4yourlives wrote: post #66
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…

It's more a west coast thing. I grew up in Toronto and I can tell you the same thing shocked me about moving to Vancouver. Crackheads/street people don't like to freeze, so they move to the warmth is. I'd imagine this is as true in the US as it is in Canada.

It's half warmth, half social services/laws. You see way more homeless people in Seattle and San Francisco then you'll see in Houston or Jacksonville. The social services and laws for homeless people are way more generous on the west coast.

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

#283

Post by jseliger »

jacoblyles wrote: post #118
JoshTriplett wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Oregon we have less than half the taxes of California, and yet we have well-maintained roads (to the point of joking that the state flower is a traffic cone), and well-maintained everything else. And the state doesn't gripe about not having enough money nearly as often (and when they do it doesn't make the national news). The state even (by law) gives back any excess tax revenue they collect each year, though…

California is too large a state to be well-governed. Because of its size, it requires a big budget to campaign. As a result, the public sector unions dominate state politics. Democrats have had the majority in both houses of the state congress for 40 of the last 42 years - that gives you an idea of how dynamic our politics are. In good economic times the legislature hikes union benefits and in bad times taxes are hik…

> California is too large a state to be well-governed. Because of its size, it requires a big budget to campaign. As a result, the public sector unions dominate state politics. Democrats have had the majority in both houses of the state congress for 40 of the last 42 years - that gives you an idea of how dynamic our politics are.

This isn't really true. California's cities have some serious issues around allowing growth and development, and the state as a whole has a major problem because of Prop 13. See here: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2009/05/should-w... for more, although there are many other issues.

These problems aren't inherent with size; they're self-created.

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

#285

Post by brigade »

stephencanon wrote: post #265
erohead wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Palo Alto is the answer to the weather. Consistently awesome compared to the city.

Yup. South of Palo Alto it gets too hot in the summer. Farther north it gets foggy and cold too often. Palo Alto and Menlo Park have it just right.

There's like, one week a year where it's in the 80's. Are you from Britain?

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

#286

Post by JoshTriplett »

squidsoup wrote: post #278
JoshTriplett wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

> Are there many job opportunities for software developers there however?

As a software developer there, I can unequivocally say "yes". That applies whether you prefer big companies, startups, or something inbetween.

And the rest of the reputation you mentioned is entirely deserved and accurate. (Also, if you prefer smaller cities, the surrounding area can easily accomodate, and the Portland area has a great light rail and public transit system to get you to and from downtown Portland.)

Feel free to contact me privately if you'd like to chat more about the area.

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

#289

Post by w1ntermute »

natrius wrote: post #253
w1ntermute wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't so much that the taxes are high, it's that the money is wasted. I think that if Americans saw a (domestic) example of high taxes being used in a productive manner, they would be much more open to the idea of a Scandinavian style cradle-to-grave system. But as long as the states with high taxation are poster children for governmental dysfunction, there will be a palpable opposition to taxation. And t…

Texas used to not have a business income tax, but in 2006, a business "margin" tax was enacted that is pretty much the same thing. http://heartland.org/sites/default/files/03-02-12_drenner-le... (PDF)

Damn, that sucks. Are there any other big states that have more favorable tax laws?

The problem with Texas is that the growing Hispanic population is going to lead to it turning into another California in the next 10 to 15 years. It'll turn blue and the taxes will skyrocket.

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

#290

Post by georgeorwell »

cema wrote: post #267
georgeorwell wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes me angry when privileged people don't demonstrate compassion. I have trouble demonstrating compassion for them. You're right, I don't have fun at parties full of such people, and I've been to a few. But you're also right that I need to lighten up. Attacking people out of the blue like I just did is not good for one's health, and it has little positive effect on the world. I have pretty poor social skills.

It makes me angry when privileged people don't demonstrate compassion. OK, but where do you see a lack of compassion? I think you read too much into the "zombie" reference.

Compassion generally means feeling another person's pain. I don't think that you can use negative, objectifying language and feel another person's pain at the same time.

For example, consider:

(1) "Just outside of my expensive hotel, there were all these drug-addicted homeless people that couldn't even walk properly. Life must be pretty difficult for them."

vs.

(2) "Just outside of my expensive hotel, there were all these crackhead zombies shambling around. Life must be pretty difficult for them."

The second sentence in the second form is so improbable that I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.

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