Just got back from my first trip to San Francisco in years. It was not that bad!

[Anonymous]

Not fooling anyone OP. SF is a dump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were you there for the convention?
We also just returned and maybe I was expecting worse based on what we’d heard. It wasn’t as bad as I expected. We took Muni and BART a bunch and definitely ran into some colorful people but I never felt unsafe. Would I move there? Also no.

SF native here: there are conventions each week. You'd have to be more specific about which one.

Not if you were there last week. You’d know which one!

I literally live four blocks from the Moscone Center. I am “there” every week. There’s a convention “season “ when there are constant conventions, and we have to just work around the street closures (Salesforce). Last week was raining every day, and have no idea what convention went on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not fooling anyone OP. SF is a dump.

I think OP was intended as satire. Went to SF on business in January. It was every bit as bad as the media said. More to the point, the SF city locals we met with cautioned us about the risks and gave us advice in advance about dealing with robbers, thieves, etc. That business will be moving down the peninsula when their lease runs out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I just returned home from a long weekend trip SF. Our overall takeaway is that San Francisco is wonderful place, certainly one of the great cities of the world!

We spent Saturday/Sunday walking some 30 miles through the north half of the city, exploring everything from China town to the incredible Golden Gate Park. I am still trying to reconcile the experience we had with the overwhelmingly negative press the city receives in some media circles... Far from being a distopian hellscape, we found a vibrant atmosphere full of some of the kindest strangers we have come across in a very long time.

I will just say that while we had an incredible trip, the homeless problem did not go unnoticed... Specifically the mentally I'll homeless problem. The one really bad incident involved human feces on the sidewalk that was actively being trampled by a huge crowd of people, it was honestly one of the grossest thing I have ever seen in my life... Everyone's shoes had poop on them. Then one woman took off her shirt and proceeded to "body slam" the (now decimated) poop pile, getting poop all over her torso and hair. While the issue of mentally ill homeless people is not unique to San Francisco, I think it is also fair to say that the good people of the city should not have to deal with this. There's no excuse for someone to pull down their pants and poop on a sidewalk that people are walking on. If someone does that they need to be taken off the streets, period. That is simply unacceptable behavior in any civilized society.

With all that being said I would just like to reiterate that we had a wonderful visit!!

Too bad we can’t institutionalize and force medicate the insane. This is not sarcasm. I truly mean it.

[Anonymous]

We were in San Francisco over Christmas. Maybe because it was cold and rainy, but we saw very few homeless people. We also stayed in nicer and/or more touristy areas. We certainly did not find it any worse than DC. Overall, we really enjoyed San Francisco and the homeless did not impact our enjoyment of the city!

[Anonymous]

I loved our trip last summer, but the homeless situation was not good. We stayed at a nice hotel, specifically not where homeless issue is supposed to be bad because I researched it, and a homeless guy still came at us when we got out of our Uber as we got to the hotel. Another one chased us down the street screaming. That is just the personal experiences we had, in addition to just seeing a lot of homeless people out of their minds on drugs. Whole areas of the city were entirely deserted even on work days. I have no idea how SF is not doing something to remedy the situation. It is very sad as it's such a gorgeous city.

[Anonymous]

I live on the peninsula now (moved from DC almost a decade ago) and don’t know if I don’t like the city because I don’t know it, or don’t know it because I don’t like it. We have a membership at the exploratorium and I love that and a friend and I go to a few musicals each year but otherwise I generally don’t go in. When I do the homeless problem and the parking challenges and the car break ins all get me a bit stressed. The last few times I went to the city was for my older DD’s soccer games. Some are in Golden Gate Park which is beautiful. I think of what I did on a visit 20 years ago and realize neither of my kids has ever been to the Presidio or the De Young museum and the younger one has never been to pier 39. We do other things in the area (just hiked out at Ano Nuevo to see the elephant seals) generally.

I periodically Bart to work in Oakland (generally I work at home). A month ago as we came through San Francisco a man across from me was injecting himself (drugs? Insulin? Who knows but I assume the former). At first I just ignored it, but decided to move to a different car. I haven’t typically had that experience. Even in the subburbs though we’ve found used needles before and one day a homeless woman was asleep on the sidewalk with her dress pulled up and her naked butt exposed. I was appalled that some people were laughing, pointing, and even taking pictures but I was worried the woman would be harassed by the police if I called them so I didn’t really know what to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not fooling anyone OP. SF is a dump.

Exactly. Plus 1.

[Anonymous]

We'll be there for two days in April and will report back.

[Anonymous]

I was there for a week in November, mostly downtown in Union Square area. I'm from NYC so I'm used to seeing mentally ill homeless people on the streets, but...my god. SF was on another level. You had to be buzzed in to all the shops (Vuitton etc) in the area because of that, and crime.

Having said that there was still a lot of beauty, good food and things to do, and I enjoyed my time there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but you could not PAY me to set foot anywhere in California. What a hell hole. And I lived there for three years.

Are you talking physically or politically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get why you'd choose to spend a couple days in SF when you could choose to spend them in Monterey or Carmel. Or Capitola. Or Napa. Or literally any of these places that are like 1 hour from SF.

I’m the PP who is going in April. We’ve been to Monterey and Carmel, as well as Laguna Beach, Dana Point, etc., in the past few years. We’ll have our kids with us so Napa seems meh. We’ll go there when the kids are gone.

Pp you're responding to. I took my kids to SF in 2019 and haven't taken them back since. It was becoming much darker and grittier by 2019, and it's infinitely worse now. Be very, very careful. I personally have never been attacked yet in SF, but know many people who have. And I don't mean people with "vibrant" social lives-- I mean normal, boring middle aged tech industry people. One friend was beaten terribly right outside his hotel, and he couldn't get to his key card to badge into the front of the hotel. The doorman just watched as he suffered a brutal assault, didn't call the cops or security. You truly take your life into your hands. I am not saying not to go-- but I am telling you not to disregard all the warnings. Especially not with your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also recently visited San Francisco and had a lovely trip like you. I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting a lot worse. Actually, the homeless problem and everything is more visible here in DC.

I had the opposite impression. Neither was that bad, but I saw more driving through down town SF than here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but you could not PAY me to set foot anywhere in California. What a hell hole. And I lived there for three years.

Are you talking physically or politically?

DP. California native and I am totally apolitical. General quality of life for residents is not that great now (I have no idea what it was like say 50 years ago) and cost of living is high in most of the state. And it really IS the land of natural disasters. Monsoon rains in winter, droughts, Blizzards in the Donner Pass, Santa Ana winds, earthquakes, wild fires, and more. Best thing I have done for my quality of life was to leave and move to someplace with a more reasonable cost of living, 4 seasons, adequate rain but without floods or droughts, and good job options.

[Anonymous]

It is not an accident that substantial chunks of Silicon Valley are relocating to Austin. Quality of life is better for the employees and their families. Operating costs are lower for companies. School options are at least as good as Silicon Valley.

Long time Austin residents are understandably upset that their housing costs are skyrocketing, however,