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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

#831

Post by vecinu »

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…

I lived in Potrero Hill (I see you misspelled it, are you familiar with the neighborhood?) for over a decade and can tell you it didn't feel safe at all.

Had a bike stolen from my garage with power tools, caught a man with an angle grinder in another garage cutting through locks and threatening my life, mentally ill people yelling in the street and saw a few people with machetes walking around.

I used to go to Whole Foods, to Chez Maman, to the library and the rec center all the time. I moved out in 2020 and will never return, my mental health has improved significantly and I'm not exaggerating. I feel so much better now, it's like a flip switched and I started appreciating the beauty of life and community again...

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

#832

Post by sedatk »

The greatest deterrent for crime is the person's belief that they would be caught[1]. No amount of punishment deters people, not even the death penalty, from committing crime more than being certain that they would be prosecuted.

[1] https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/247350.pdf

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

#834

Post by DiggyJohnson »

eertami wrote: post #771
subsubzero wrote: post #708

Its a real bummer with SF, but the problems are totally self inflicted. If the politics were of a different breed I could see it being one of the best cities to live in the US, let alone the world. Having worked there for close to a decade the stuff I have seen was really depressing. I visited my cousin who works at Ouster nearby for lunch one day and was wondering what all these white casings were littering the grou…

[flagged]

I don't understand this comment. Is it sarcasm?

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

#835

Post by igetspam »

dang wrote: post #748
aEJ04Izw5HYm wrote: post #555

Can we take a minute to re-direct this conversation away from just the politics of SF? I want to draw attention to Bob Lee, a well-respected technologist and prototype hacker, always curious and sharing lots of interesting technical developments. He was a great role model for how Engineers should be respected in an executive capacity as he advanced his career from 'Software' to 'Product'. His efforts contributed to t…

I agree and am going to partition these threads so that there's a place to remember Bob Lee that isn't an argument about current affairs. To facilitate this, I've taken the liberty of converting your text here into a new submission ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35457341 ) and am going to move the relevant comments there. I hope that's ok with you (and if not, let me know and I'll rework this).

Thank you.

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

#836

Post by josephcsible »

ninjagoo wrote: post #650
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…

So Wikipedia has a list of US Cities, sortable by crime rate, and has separate statistics for violent crime and property crime [1]. This list is based on FBI's data from 2019. By that list, sorted by the total violent crime rate from highest to lowest, SF is 37th on the list of 100 cities, NYC is 59th, Austin is 73rd. In absolute numbers, SF is 715/100k, NYC is 539/100k, Austin is 415/100k. Also, by that list, the to…

It's misleading to look at 2019 crime data for San Francisco when the biggest reason for crime going up there recently was Chesa Boudin, who was only DA from 2020 to 2022.

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

#837

Post by flappyeagle »

MAGZine wrote: post #509
Dem_Boys wrote: post #469

Could someone please enlighten me on why we don't treat governing like we do software solutions? When I'm given a task to complete, my first instinct is to find where other developers have done what I'm asked to do and then utilize their wisdom into my own solution which will likely look very similar to theirs. Why do we see such drastically different approaches to solving issues in society and government? Want bette…

Which city should San Francisco look to to solve all of its problems? Fwiw, "governance" does exactly that. Many states literally copy, or copy-then-tweak California law (e.g. motor vehicle efficiency requirements).

Singapore

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

#838

Post by kspacewalk2 »

Very sad to see something like this happen. But.

Cash App founder, a rich 42 year old father of 2, found dead at 2:35 AM, one week after an explosive report accusing his startup of being extensively used for crime and fraud[0].

This is odd.

[0] https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-news-today-03-...

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

#839

Post by flappyeagle »

There are enough comments on here that I am probably not adding much new, but I lived in SF for 10 years until recently. When I arrived (from New York City) I thought — hey, it's a bit sketchy but not so bad overall. I think it got progressively worse every year.

I have no idea what policy changes would help, but it's the only place I've ever been where I saw crime being committed in broad daylight. It's the only place where leaving anything within sight in a parked car results in a break-in. A fucking bag of potato chips once.

There are nice parts; the higher your physical elevation, the less chance of your being affected by crime. Literally people living their ivory towers watching their city burn.

At the end of the day, it's a democracy. The voters get what they deserve. Remote work is here — the tax base is on its way out, or retreating to high ground.

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

#840

Post by mhardcastle »

tlear wrote: post #814

He was a really interesting, good guy. Getting stabbed by some filth. Fucking shithole of a city. In the last 10 years every time I am there I can't help but wonder HOW??? How can such rich city with so much potential be turning into this?? I grew up in east Europe, in general few places in US trigger my prep for fight or flight.. SF you are having a nice conversation, walk wrong way 50meters and suddenly my heart go…

If you use that baton, or even if you are seen with it by the wrong person, there is a good chance that you will be charged with a crime. Look up penal codes 12020 and 22210, possession of a club or baton in California is not legal.

(To say nothing of the desirability of such a law - just as a FYI)

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