The little things I learned in the valley

71–72 of 72 posts

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#71

Post by Balgair » Thu, May 08, 2014, 4:49 AM UTC

San Fransisco is a dirty, two-fisted drinking town.

I grew up in the Bay and my family has been there 4 generations now. The tech sector is a small part of SF and SF is a small part of the Bay and California as well. There are millions of teachers, janitors, dentists and accountants that live in the Bay too. Most of these people couldn't care less about tech. They care about Prop 13. The care about the police; my town was a This American Life special [0] on corruption. They care about traditions and family; Pittsburgh is owned by old mafiosi from way back [1]. They care about stable jobs; Telegraph is nothing but burning out asians and burnt out hippies [2][3]. They care about fun and freedom; SF clears out for the Burn every year more and more [4]. Tech, though rich, is a fad and we can all see it. The impression I get is that it's a bunch of trustafarians and credit cards playing around because there still aren't any good jobs left over from 2008 and no-one knows what to do 6 years on.

SF will be who lives, works, goes to PTS meetings, runs for Geary Revitalization seats, goes to A's and Raider's games, and cleans the streets. Not doughy guys staring at screens and pretending they can make Soylent real (really, how uncool can you be?) Unless it's got bourbon in it, most people in the Bay could care less.

[0]http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/447/t...

[1]http://mafia.wikia.com/wiki/San_Jose_crime_family

[2]http://opa.berkeley.edu/uc-berkeley-fall-enrollment-data

[3]http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Council_4/Elected_Officials_and...

[4]http://blog.burningman.com/2013/09/news/black-rock-city-2013...

Re: The little things I learned in the valley

#72

Post by gadders » Thu, May 08, 2014, 10:36 AM UTC

kyro wrote: post #33

What 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…

This is a good article on homelessness in SF and the industry that has grown up to support them: http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_4_san-francisco-homeless...

"Finally, the homelessness advocates pulled out their trump card: associating supporters of the Civil Sidewalks law with “business interests.” San Francisco “progressives” regard businessmen as aliens within the body politic whose main function is to provide an inexhaustible well of funds to transfer to the city’s social-services empire. If it weren’t for vigilant politicians, however, the interlopers would constantly seek to duck this ever-growing civic obligation. “If these corporations pay their fair share,” supervisor John Avalos explained in 2009 when introducing a new business tax, “we can generate millions that will go towards keeping health clinics, youth and senior services, and jobs safe for San Franciscans.” (The contradiction between raising business taxes and keeping jobs safe was lost on Avalos.)"

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