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Bob Lee, former CTO of Square, has died after being stabbed in San Francisco

sfgate.com

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Re: Bob Lee, former CTO of Square, has died after being stabbed in San Francisco

#401

Post by blackshaw »

scoofy wrote: post #144
martin_a wrote: post #103

Can someone very briefly wrap this whole "SF is broken"-situation up for somebody from Europe? I only ever read that it's "because of the policies" and there are lots of rather disturbing videos about SF making its rounds on YouTube. But what exactly happened? Did they just remove all the police? Did they gave out free drugs to everybody? I'm not interested in blaming political parties, I just want to get a quick gra…

I will do my best, but it's important for people to know that I mean this as respectfully as I can. It's my honest assessment, and I will try to make few-to-no normative claims. I tend to refer to what's happening in SF as SF-Stockholm syndrome (I do not mean this as disrespectful, only that I don't know any other way to describe the normalization of what happens here). I grew up in Texas, spent time on the East Coas…

Interesting comment - thanks.

Re: Bob Lee, former CTO of Square, has died after being stabbed in San Francisco

#402

Post by btbuildem »

From what I've heard about SF, there is an insane level of inequality there -- abject poverty and homelessness, next to gleaming wealth and SV opulence.

For all the "problems" that tech bros solve, it's somehow tragically fitting that the two worlds collide undeniably this way. The city didn't get like this overnight, and the tech culture that it supports has been one of the drivers of the economic divide.

Now the bubble is burst at the point of a knife... or is it? Will people see the root of the problem? Or will they just call for more police, more coercion, to double-down on the status quo? You could take this as a call to solve real problems, right there, at home.

Re: Bob Lee, former CTO of Square, has died after being stabbed in San Francisco

#403

Post by alephnerd »

philwelch wrote: post #369
alephnerd wrote: post #324

My condolences to Bob's family. I hope this finally gets SF city government to get it's shit together. Ik the VC commmunity is pretty closely knit here but always seemed to concentrate on national politics. Maybe they'll now pressure City govt to finally start maintaining quality of life Edit: Jesus, this happened right in Rincon Hill. This is SF's equivalent of Murray Hill. Yea shit needs to be fixed.

It seems to me that SF city government has been openly hostile to tech this entire time. If they don’t care about impoverished minorities being murdered by violent criminals, what makes you think they would care any more about tech executives?

The tech hostility issue was surrounding tech workers moving to the Mission District (a formerly working class Latino neighborhood that had a bunch of white bohemian alternative types).

In city politics, a handful of major tech moguls have always been active. Ron Conway and Mark Benioff have both historically been massive players in SF politics and have been supporting more moderate Mayoral candidates for some time, but the SF Board of Supervisors tends to filled only with NIMBY activists and real estate owners (Dean Preston, Aaron Peskin, Hillary Ronen).

Now that someone who is Seacliff adjacent is dead, they'll finally do something. I used to live in a Tenderloin adjacent neighborhood and my street literally reverted to mob justice after the riots because it was filled with working class undocumented immigrants+asylum seekers who were targeted and Tenderloin PD's hiring basically collapsed (on that note - if you're trying to stick up someone, don't stick up someone who fought in the Yemen Civil War and the Afghan Civil War. A couple people learnt their lesson in that neighborhood from what I heard at the local mosque).

While those riots went on, the police were guarding Seacliff, Russian Hill, and PacHeights. And it's those same people who's kids end up in SF progressive politics and setting up organizations that push these kinds of policies.

Btw, if anyone downvotes me thinking I'm some GOP nut - I'm not. My politics lean moderate Dem and I have worked in the moderate Dem space for years. That said, the SF Dems are entirely out of touch. It's a level of machine politics that makes Chicago look competent (and they've had actual Supes get arrested for arms trafficking, but then again so did we in 2012).

Re: Bob Lee, former CTO of Square, has died after being stabbed in San Francisco

#404

Post by jutrewag »

joemazerino wrote: post #361

I have commented on SF threads before regarding the violent crime. I don't think we have figured out if this was premeditated or not, but either way, SF is becoming incredibly dangerous. Progressive DA's and a neutered police force are to blame for the rise in violent crime. Many of my friends have taken their remote gigs and left SF in the last 3 years. What's the point in rolling the dice every time you walk outsid…

It’s really simple and I don’t understand why progressives can’t grasp this. You need to snuff out crime. There’s a reasonable way to do it without swinging across to either extreme. If the police force won’t cooperate, clean house and hire again. It’s a relatively low skilled job that is easy to hire for. Get the homeless off the street, snuff out petty crime or you’re basically dooming the progressive mandate as something unworkable.

Re: Bob Lee, former CTO of Square, has died after being stabbed in San Francisco

#405

Post by jwmoz »

mrgill wrote: post #186
jwmoz wrote: post #178

London sometimes feels bad but then I read stories on SF..

At least the weather is good in SF and.. you make 3-6x more money.

When I was younger I had this fantasy of moving to and working in SF. Then one day a SF guy joined our company in London. Said it was foggy all the time. Totally ruined the fantasy.

Re: Bob Lee, former CTO of Square, has died after being stabbed in San Francisco

#408

Post by dilap »

short_sells_poo wrote: post #372
joemazerino wrote: post #361

I have commented on SF threads before regarding the violent crime. I don't think we have figured out if this was premeditated or not, but either way, SF is becoming incredibly dangerous. Progressive DA's and a neutered police force are to blame for the rise in violent crime. Many of my friends have taken their remote gigs and left SF in the last 3 years. What's the point in rolling the dice every time you walk outsid…

[flagged]

It's not the miserable plebs being kept in check, it's just isolating the small minority of the criminally violent.

SF is terrible for the plebs, because basic safe and sanitary conditions are no longer accessible without great wealth.

Re: Bob Lee, former CTO of Square, has died after being stabbed in San Francisco

#409

Post by UncleMeat »

kodisha wrote: post #267

I am very spoiled by living in one of the European capitals. It's super safe here, and it's normal thing to see young females taking a dog out for a walk in 22-02h. I visit SF at least once a year, and default to my learned habit of walking alone, and later at night. No more.

Many years ago my dad worked for a british company. Some of his coworkers were traveling to DC for business and staying in a very nice hotel. They asked my dad if they should buy a gun to be safe in DC. He was floored.

No. Jesus Christ.

Violence exists. You can compare risk between places and activities. But decisions should be based on data, not headlines and hunches.

Re: Bob Lee, former CTO of Square, has died after being stabbed in San Francisco

#410

Post by AbrahamParangi »

For those of us who consider ourselves liberals, at what point do we have to ask ourselves if decriminalization/restorative justice is actually working?

I mean, we obviously want to believe it works- but does it actually? And if, hypothetically, it were counterproductive- what then?

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