These Major Cities Are At Risk Of Crashing - Page 3

iheartthed · #41 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 3:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crawford

But I would be more worried about a global downturn trouncing tech than some idiot stealing a soda from a CVS. And I bet you SF fares better than SV once the downturn hits. Places like Cupertino will get killed, because the only reason someone is paying $1.5 million for a crapbox home is Apple.

Very true.

iheartthed · #42 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 3:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JManc

Everyone that i know that's been to SF says it's absolutely breathtaking but also dirty and over run homeless. Always same response. Granted, they are tourists or on business and see the sights and then probably tuned into the bum pinching a loaf in front of a Starbucks.

I don't think San Francisco is any worse than New York. Granted, those places just might be the worst places in the U.S., but they're also the two most expensive cities in the U.S., so maybe these two things are connected. I could see how people from suburbs of other cities might be a little shocked, though.

But complaining about interacting with the homeless is something that people do when they're not used to cosmopolitan environments.

homebucket · #43 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 4:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimondpark

The bay area job market and gdp is so full steam ahead literally its ridiculous. We need a breather but after looking at some data I estimate there's a very good chance the local CSA economy will grow by a whopping $115B in 2019.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFBruin

San Francisco is not on the verge of crashing.

It has the greatest concentration of wealth and intellectual capacity of any city that I have ever been to (at least on a per person basis).

Well even though it's doing well right now, it's hard to imagine the growth is sustainable. And inherently when you're accelerating and reaching top speeds (and for the most part dependent on one sector), you're more likely to have a major crash than a city that is plodding along slowly, declining, or has already crashed in the past.

Londonee · #44 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 4:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiSpy

If he plays around on nextdoor, that might be the problem.

That place is toxic. Nothing but fearful Fox News-watching Boomers.

Fixed it for you.

JManc · #45 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 6:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I don't think San Francisco is any worse than New York. Granted, those places just might be the worst places in the U.S., but they're also the two most expensive cities in the U.S., so maybe these two things are connected. I could see how people from suburbs of other cities might be a little shocked, though.

But complaining about interacting with the homeless is something that people do when they're not used to cosmopolitan environments.

Homeless is ubiquitous in almost any major city. If you live in or around one..even a suburb, homeless should not be a big culture shock. That said, it seems cities like San Francisco, Austin, Vancouver and Portland do get a bad rap even from people in other big cities. My wife's been to SF a number of times and commented on their homeless and she works here downtown where the bums routinely piss on the side of her office building.

Pedestrian · #46 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 7:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I don't think San Francisco is any worse than New York. Granted, those places just might be the worst places in the U.S., but they're also the two most expensive cities in the U.S., so maybe these two things are connected. I could see how people from suburbs of other cities might be a little shocked, though.

But complaining about interacting with the homeless is something that people do when they're not used to cosmopolitan environments.

In fact, I think they are connected in a number of ways.

First of all, the wealthiest cities can afford to and do spend the most money on services for their homeless and other down/outers including many who might be homeless except for taxpayer benefits (housing subsidies etc). San Francisco's "homeless budget" will be on the order of ¾ of a billion $ (as soon as the courts dispose of lawsuits against the most recent tax hike to fund it) for a city of around 880,000. That's about $1000 per citizen being spent on the homeless or the would-be-homeless-were-it-not-for-benefits.

Then there's the fact that these cities are wealthy because they are full of affluent, highly educated people. There has been a shift for decades in the politics of such people leftward so that today they tend to be progressive and exceptionally tolerant of public asocial behavior. Thus we have politicians running these places like the SF Board of Supervisors and Mayor deBlasio (SF's Mayor is actually a bit more conservative than either of those).

Is San Francisco worse than New York? Well, I can't argue that because I haven't been in New York in 3 or 4 years but 3 or 4 years ago it definitely was. When I visit that city I wander a lot, walking, all over town and I saw nothing like the tent cities on public sidewalks one sees all over SF and in large parts of LA. Reportedly New York does a better job of sheltering its homeless and, too, the weather may help to convince them to accept sheltering rather than camping out. Just a guess though--I don't know the reasons one feels less assaulted by the homeless masses in NY but one did when last I was there.

Pedestrian · #47 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 7:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JManc

Homeless is ubiquitous in almost any major city. If you live in or around one..even a suburb, homeless should not be a big culture shock. That said, it seems cities like San Francisco, Austin, Vancouver and Portland do get a bad rap even from people in other big cities. My wife's been to SF a number of times and commented on their homeless and she works here downtown where the bums routinely piss on the side of her office building.

But do they sh*t on the sidewalk of your main downtown street in front of literally hundreds of people at 2 PM and does everyone, inclduing law enforcement, ignore it when they do? In SF they do. I've seen it several times and I don't spend that much time in that area (I live downtown but not right near Union Square where this takes place).

The reason any of this matters is on-topic to the thread: It is driving SOME people and business to leave the city. So far it seems contained and there is time to turn things around. But so far there doesn't seem the will.

JManc · #48 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 7:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

But do they sh*t on the sidewalk of your main downtown street in front of literally hundreds of people at 2 PM and does everyone, inclduing law enforcement, ignore it when they do? In SF they do. I've seen it several times and I don't spend that much time in that area (I live downtown but not right near Union Square where this takes place).

The reason any of this matters is on-topic to the thread: It is driving SOME people and business to leave the city. So far it seems contained and there is time to turn things around. But so far there doesn't seem the will.

I watched a lady get off the rail, pull her pants down squeeze one out right on the sidewalk in rush hour traffic and hop back on the train. Broad daylight and in the middle of rush hour. As to whether or not city would tolerate it, probably not.

My impression of San Francisco is that it's San Francisco and the homelessness issue should more or less be expected in a city that has had hyper liberal/ idealistic political culture for decades. I would not expect them to have same approach to the homeless as Houston or New York.

chris08876 · #49 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 8:13 PM**

I hear the poop patrols in San Francisco get payed handsomely (range of 70-180k). Job growth prospects for the poop patrol!

bossabreezes · #50 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 8:15 PM**

NY doesn't have tent cities really, but it is officially now legal to defecate in the streets. DiBlasio signed this into law, as if there was no bigger problems for him to take care of otherwise.

Imagine that, the mayor using tax payer dollars wasting time by signing a law that makes it legal for anyone to sh*t in the street.

The city's gotten much dirtier since he took office, and I now have seen human excrement walking to work more times than I'd like to admit.

chris08876 · #51 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 8:18 PM**

In NYC, it should be legal to piss in a bush or tree near highways, because if you've ever had a coffee or energy drink while stuck in 2 hour traffic, that isn't moving, and the nearest bathroom could be 40 minutes away, it becomes an ordeal. I almost pissed my pants once on the Cross-Bronx, so word to the wise... bring empty bottles and try not to miss.

BG918 · #52 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 8:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

NY doesn't have tent cities really, but it is officially now legal to defecate in the streets. DiBlasio signed this into law, as if there was no bigger problems for him to take care of otherwise.

Imagine that, the mayor using tax payer dollars wasting time by signing a law that makes it legal for anyone to sh*t in the street.

The city's gotten much dirtier since he took office, and I now have seen human excrement walking to work more times than I'd like to admit.

I feel this is a problem in many large cities right now. Homeless tents popping up all over, people defecating on the sidewalks, drug use rampant, etc. Not sure what has happened over the past decade for this to become such a problem, is it directly related to the insane cost of living in these places or is there a deeper societal issue going on here?

bossabreezes · #53 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 8:27 PM**

^^Societal mainly.

The opioid crisis just keeps getting more hardcore. It's very sad to see but Heroin is out of control in pretty much all swaths of the US. In cities it's just more pronounced, as it's more visible than in a trailer park in Kentucky, for example.

Also, it's societal because we, productive members of society, are expected to deal with it (and pay for it) rather than condone it. This is due to the political climate in the country now, which is very laissez faire towards drug use and welfare.

iheartthed · #54 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 8:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

NY doesn't have tent cities really, but it is officially now legal to defecate in the streets. DiBlasio signed this into law, as if there was no bigger problems for him to take care of otherwise.

Imagine that, the mayor using tax payer dollars wasting time by signing a law that makes it legal for anyone to sh*t in the street.

The city's gotten much dirtier since he took office, and I now have seen human excrement walking to work more times than I'd like to admit.

What law?

Also, what's the difference between human shit and dog shit that has perpetually been on sidewalks across all flavors of NYC neighborhoods since well before DeBlasio became mayor?

tdawg · #55 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 9:12 PM**

I'm not saying homelessness isn't a problem here in NYC but I've lived here for 20 years and I don't think it's any worse now than it's been during that time period.

LosAngelesSportsFan · #56 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 10:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

In fact, I think they are connected in a number of ways.

First of all, the wealthiest cities can afford to and do spend the most money on services for their homeless and other down/outers including many who might be homeless except for taxpayer benefits (housing subsidies etc). San Francisco's "homeless budget" will be on the order of ¾ of a billion $ (as soon as the courts dispose of lawsuits against the most recent tax hike to fund it) for a city of around 880,000. That's about $1000 per citizen being spent on the homeless or the would-be-homeless-were-it-not-for-benefits.

Then there's the fact that these cities are wealthy because they are full of affluent, highly educated people. There has been a shift for decades in the politics of such people leftward so that today they tend to be progressive and exceptionally tolerant of public asocial behavior. Thus we have politicians running these places like the SF Board of Supervisors and Mayor deBlasio (SF's Mayor is actually a bit more conservative than either of those).

Is San Francisco worse than New York? Well, I can't argue that because I haven't been in New York in 3 or 4 years but 3 or 4 years ago it definitely was. When I visit that city I wander a lot, walking, all over town and I saw nothing like the tent cities on public sidewalks one sees all over SF and in large parts of LA. Reportedly New York does a better job of sheltering its homeless and, too, the weather may help to convince them to accept sheltering rather than camping out. Just a guess though--I don't know the reasons one feels less assaulted by the homeless masses in NY but one did when last I was there.

NYC has the most homeless, but they have a right to shelter law. Over 90% of their homeless are sheltered while in LA and SF its the opposite percentages and getting worse.

Also, many of our quality of life issues in California are directly related to props 47, 57 and AB 109 which was bullshit progressive left "prison reform" that basically led to a massive release of prisoners from prisons and jails, even hardcore criminals as well as changing many felonies to misdemeanors, even crazy crimes like certain rapes and gun crimes. Additionally, it is now a misdemeanor to shoplift as long as you steal less than $950 at a time. Incredibly, there is also a rule that past crimes cant be considered so these worthless people continue to pillage our stores. These same worthless people are also now living on the streets of our residential neighborhoods, our sidewalks and our hillsides, committing crimes, shooting up, trashing our cities, causing multiple major and minor fires weekly and our "leaders" wont do a damn thing about it because they are scared shitless of the ACLU, "homeless" advocates and the far left. Assholes like George Gascon, the previous DA in SF (who is now running for LA County DA) are directly responsible for this shit. Kamala Harris, Eric Garcetti, Gov. Brown and others are also at fault (i regretfully and unfortunately voted for all of them). We need massive reform to address these problems before its too late. Yes, our economy is great, but the quality of life has dropped tremendously over the last few years. You may get a sense visiting California, but as a native Angeleno and someone living in the middle of it, its completely different. A vast majority of us are not happy with these policies but our leaders only listen to the very loud and small minority.

LosAngelesSportsFan · #57 Posted **Jan 2, 2020, 10:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BG918

I feel this is a problem in many large cities right now. Homeless tents popping up all over, people defecating on the sidewalks, drug use rampant, etc. Not sure what has happened over the past decade for this to become such a problem, is it directly related to the insane cost of living in these places or is there a deeper societal issue going on here?

Absolutely nothing to do with cost of housing. We have no mental health care, no involuntary holds, no real system to handle addiction and very lax laws on the books. We are entitling this behavior, normalizing it really and the ACLU constantly sues to allow all of this. The city of LA has been sued multiple times over the last decade. All of these lawsuits have been bullshit and the homeless they used as plaintiffs never saw a dime of the settlement money and all are still living on the streets or dead while the attorneys are living it up with the millions they made in their mansions in brentwood and pacific palisades (i wont name the main attorney here because who knows if she is reading this stuff)