Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

sfgate.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

631–640 of 1001 posts

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

#631

Post by alexchantavy »

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…

One thing I’ve noticed in SF bay forums is there’s strong support for more enforcement and generally cleaning up the city. For comparison, Seattle forums are literally more split: Seattle’s subreddits are split to r/Seattle (leans left) and r/SeattleWA (leans right).

All this to say that based on my reads of online forums, I think SF is ahead of the curve of Seattle in terms of near universal frustration with homelessness/drugs/etc (even if it’s not confirmed whether they are related to this case), but somehow no progress or change in elected officials have been made.

I’m watching this to see if there’s hope for some of the problems in Seattle, since online forums here aren’t pissed off to the same degree yet.

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

#633

Post by 0xDEF »

Equiet wrote: post #440
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.

Lots of comments about relative safety of US vs European cities. Looking at the data, you need to scroll past 9 US cities (all big cities) until you find the first European city (relatively small city you never have a reason to go to) in this crime ranking: https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings.jsp Europe is definitely safer than the US.

The "problematic" parts of Copenhagen and many other European cities are often counted as being part of other smaller suburban municipalities/cities that are too small to appear on such lists.

Nation-wide statistics show that Europe is definitely much safer than the US. However I would rather compare metropolitan areas than cities.

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

#634

Post by naremu »

jonfw wrote: post #593
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…

It's a great location on the coast, with public transit, interesting architecture and culture. So people want to be there. The weather is great and the housing is incredibly expensive, so living on the street, in a tent, or out of a car is more appealing comparatively speaking than most places. San Francisco has tended to view aggressive law enforcement against poor or homeless people as immoral (they don't want to c…

It's interesting to see California really embrace socially progressive policies

while simultaneously staying heavily invested in economics that nobody but some quiet, far off yacht owner seems to be happy about

As someone from the general northeast US, it's amazing how local views of california have changed as they continue to kind of...drag their feet along and keep up this "highly based" outward appearance.

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

#635

Post by [deleted] »

asveikau wrote: post #588
cheeseblubber wrote: post #529

Here are some statistics that might help the discussion: "With a crime rate of 54 per one thousand residents, San Francisco has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 18." https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/san-francisco/crime#des... A…

It's misleading to lump violent crime and property crime together. SF is skewed very heavily towards property crime. This stabbing incident is a rare event, and broken auto glass is common. They're not the same.

[deleted]

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

#636

Post by blahblah1234567 »

cheeseblubber wrote: post #529

Here are some statistics that might help the discussion: "With a crime rate of 54 per one thousand residents, San Francisco has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 18." https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/san-francisco/crime#des... A…

[dead]

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

#637

Post by ironman1478 »

arzanr wrote: post #581

Everyone commenting on here about how bad things are in SF has likely rarely or never stepped into the core parts of Protrero Hill, Noe Valley, Richmond, Sunset, Glenn Park, Forest Hill etc. SF is a tale of two cities divided by natural barriers. There is a side to the city where you see almost no drugs, or homelessness. This is not a dismissal of the real issues facing the city but an acknowledgement that it is stil…

Noe valley and Richmond have homeless people. In the Richmond, on geary you'll see a lot of homelessness and drugs, especially from 4th-10th. There are also a few near Safeway on cabrillo. In noe you'd definitely see it on 12th Street. I've seen some really unstable people clear out coffee shops because they we were ranting in the middle of the shop.

There aren't many homeless people in the purely residential areas, but they are definitely where the businesses are.

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

#638

Post by outside1234 »

kenneth wrote: post #151

I find it shocking that anyone still chooses to live in this broken city. I left >4 years ago and am never coming back. It's unfixable. Let's move the tech industry somewhere that isn't rotten to the core.

What's the alternative? Moving to the south with high amounts of gun violence?

* https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/...

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

#639

Post by ultra_nick »

JoshTko wrote: post #558
kenneth wrote: post #151

I find it shocking that anyone still chooses to live in this broken city. I left >4 years ago and am never coming back. It's unfixable. Let's move the tech industry somewhere that isn't rotten to the core.

Honest question, what if the tech industry is a root cause?

Housing inequality could be fixed with a land tax. A land tax makes nimbyism significantly more expensive, so they're more willing to sell property to high density housing developers.

Places like Texas, with a property tax and little zoning, would handle a concentration of wealth better. Although, it'd be even more optional with a land tax instead of a property tax.

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

#640

Post by [deleted] »

clsec wrote: post #483
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…

>Progressive DA's and a neutered police force are to blame for the rise in violent Interesting that you say this after our progressive DA was recalled & our mayor is trying to supplement the SFPD budget by $27.6M. Also interesting, I have lived in SF since 1972 and only been mugged once, in my 1st yr there (I was 7 & mugged by kids across the street in the projects for my Mickey M watch and about $0.50). I will freel…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN