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The little things I learned in the valley
41–50 of 72 posts
Re: The little things I learned in the valley
#42> A lot of people are homeless. Every year I visit it’s increasing. Maybe I am using the wrong streets. I am surprised there’s no startup to fix this.
Do we really think startups are the silver bullet to solve all of the world's problems?
Re: The little things I learned in the valley
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
What the others said. I had similar experiences for basically the first 10 years of my visits to SF - I never really got beyond the Moscone Center / The W Hotel / 3rd Street and that 10-square-block area was my impression of SF. But having lived here now for almost 2 years, that impression is just so wrong. It's a TINY fraction of SF, and that is not what SF is about. Next time you're here, find a boutique hotel in t…
So your advice is - to enjoy SF, stay in the expensive areas, and get a taxi if you need to go through the poor areas, or the parts where there might be homeless people?
Do people ever go to poor areas to enjoy themselves? Wouldn't that be some form of poverty tourism? I don't see any reason to lash out at the comment you're replying to. Saying "these are fun areas in SF (or any city)" is not a political comment. For all you know the commenter you replied to volunteers in shelters, and donates to charities that aid the homeless.
Re: The little things I learned in the valley
#44There is hope on the streets. The cogs of the American economy seem like moving. [...] A lot of people are homeless. Every year I visit it’s increasing. Maybe I am using the wrong streets. I am surprised there’s no startup to fix this.
Seems like he's missed the elephant in the room. The tech sector's cogs are moving at an increasingly rapid pace whereas nearly everyone else has been jammed to a standstill or losing ground since 2008. The proliterian hatred of the tech sector is based on jealousy and misplaced blame for the fallout caused by gentrification which follows higher incomes. The homeless are the most blatant casualties of a depressed eco…
Homelessness in SF is a lot more complicated than that. With a mild climate, political sympathy (and associated city services), and lots of tourists to panhandle... SF is something of a destination for the homeless who can manage it.
Re: The little things I learned in the valley
#45There is hope on the streets. The cogs of the American economy seem like moving. [...] A lot of people are homeless. Every year I visit it’s increasing. Maybe I am using the wrong streets. I am surprised there’s no startup to fix this.
Are you implying that the two are mutually exclusive? Solving homelessness is not an economic problem. There are so many factors involved, that you can have a great economy with low unemployment but tons of homeless people.
>Solving homelessness is not an economic problem
Of course it is. If housing were not so expensive, there would be no "homeless" population.
Re: The little things I learned in the valley
#46>> But the increasing divide in between the rich and the poor and the nouveau riche will only hurt in long term. History has taught us that. I hope my American friends will learn this for the larger good.
Every time I hear this, I wonder if people just don't know that we lift more people out of poverty every year, or its just such a common misconception that is now engrained in our culture.
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/10/land-of-opportunity-almost-...
"Land of opportunity: Of the 1.8M net increase in global millionaires last year, more than 9 out of 10 were Americans"
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/09/17/2633881/poverty-...
"The official poverty rate was essentially unchanged at 15.1 percent in 2012, and alternative measures show that safety net programs like food stamps, unemployment insurance, Social Security, and tax credits for the working poor keep tens of millions of Americans out of poverty each year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday."
Maybe we have different ideas of what poor is?
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/what-is-pov...
"“The poorest Americans today live a better life than all but the richest persons a hundred years ago.”[3] In 2005, the typical household defined as poor by the government had a car and air conditioning. For entertainment, the household had two color televisions, cable or satellite TV, a DVD player, and a VCR. If there were children, especially boys, in the home, the family had a game system, such as an Xbox or a PlayStation.[4] In the kitchen, the household had a refrigerator, an oven and stove, and a microwave. Other household conveniences included a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone, and a coffee maker."
Re: The little things I learned in the valley
#47> A lot of people are homeless. Every year I visit it’s increasing. Maybe I am using the wrong streets. I am surprised there’s no startup to fix this. Does he mean a startup to help him avoid streets with homeless, or a startup to solve the homeless problem?
"A startup to solve the homeless problem" is the Golden Hammer Antipattern in action. "We have software startups and they're amazing, so they can solve any problem".
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Re: The little things I learned in the valley
#48> "This future is “only” mobile. I thought it is mobile."
I wouldn't mind seeing more expansion on that thought. Maybe it's because I spend so much time on the computer for work, but I still think there is a LONG ways to go before you can have the same experience with applications or sites on your mobile device that your desktop gives you. I will never want to be locked down to such a small screen for everything. And things like touch screens (at any size) are far from perfect verse the precision you can get with a mouse.
Yes, I think the future is mobile, for certain categories of business. I just think we are still very far from saying that statement applies to everything in the tech industry, or any industry for that matter. I think a better statement is the future is "mobile enabled" meaning you have to have a way to use the site or app on the go (mobile), but that doesn't mean it's the ideal way to interact with the product 100% of the time.
Re: The little things I learned in the valley
#49>>>"Ironically there is a lot of hatred among the locals about “tech” but I was honestly surprised since the west coast is largely transient population." It's interesting to note the parallels between SF and Bangalore in this aspect.
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Re: The little things I learned in the valley
#50What was most off putting on my last trip to SF was the juxtaposition of the yuppie and homeless worlds. It wasn't uncommon to see long lines for local chic coffee shops full of young, well-to-do individuals while the homeless begged, urinated and defacated on the same stretch of sidewalk to often no acknowledgement by the former group. I live in NYC so I see homeless people every day, but here you don't see such an…
That seems to be largest complaint I hear from tourists. SF takes care of their homeless. Matter of fact, SF programs are so good we have a problem with other states sending their homeless specifically to SF[1]. I'm from Chicago where the homeless don't have nearly the same advantages as they do here in SF(particularly the weather).
There were encampments in Grant Park in Chicago and they were forcibly removed by the police both in '68 and just a few years ago[2]. Which, again, is in stark contrast to something like Golden Gate Park here in SF where there has been a large homeless encampment for at least as long as I have lived here and probably longer[3]. That shit would just not fly in Chicago but I do like that SF actually takes care of everyone and not just the people that know the right people.
[1]http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/11/2602391/san-franc...
[2]http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-16/news/chi-occup...
[3]http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/despite-improvement-5...