San Francisco is a ****hole.

kneemos

Literally shoite on the streets.

https://youtu.be/ld6qYJe4pRs

Omackeral

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQp4-jLajSg

Homer

Was there a couple of weeks ago and it has the worst homelessness and mental issues of any city I’ve visited in the US by far!

Ted Johnson

I believe Detroit is the ultimate example of American liberal progress.

The Crowman

Ted Johnson wrote: »

I believe Detroit is the ultimate example of American liberal progress.

How is it liberal progress?

Franz Von Peppercorn

It’s like the curates egg.

biko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHLhx2hXtNo

super_furry

They've a huge homeless problem with many of those homeless suffering from mental health issues and it's one of the most expensive places to live in the world. Been there twice now and I wouldn't be in a rush to go back.

Dingaan

The Crowman wrote: »

How is it liberal progress?

He means the Democrat's have been in power since the year dot.

brendanwalsh

The American dream has long died in certain specialties parts of the US. Hartford, Detroit, East St louis. These are sh1t holes akin to third world countries, where crime drugs poverty are the way of life. More people killed in Chicago than in Iraq.
The US is f ucked.

Your Face

It's twinned with Cork City.

Gimme A Pound

Ted Johnson wrote: »

I believe Detroit is the ultimate example of American liberal progress.

And there's me thinking the decline of the automobile industry is what led to Detroit being in such a bad way.

murpho999

Been there twice. Really liked it. Beautiful city.

Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park. Fisheman's Wharf , Sealions, Alcatraz, Castro, Lomabard Street, Cable cars, to name just a few things.

Good night life.

Yes there's a huge homeless problem and they have mental health issues just like most homeless people here despite everybody blaming the government.

rob316

I was there once after coming from Vegas and I flew back to Vegas early, couldn't wait to get out of there. So expensive, filthy, unacceptable levels of homelessness, windy and I found the people in general fairly unfriendly.

It's got some cool, interesting parts but you really see the poverty divide there.

I really liked San Francisco and want to go back at some stage. People are really friendly wherever we went.

There were many homeless though which was sad to see but I grew up in a big city so (sadly) I was used to it.

BattleCorp

I used to live just outside of San Francisco in Mountain View years ago (long before Google).

I've always enjoyed the city, there's always plenty to do and it's relatively safe during the day. I've only once had problems at night over there where I didn't feel safe. Haight Street at night can be dodgy. That said, Dublin is pretty much the same in that regard.

They do have a very big problem with homelessness. It's very visible over there. Golden Gate Park used to have a homeless person sleeping under every bush or tree when I was last over there but they get cleared out every so often. They seem to have a lot of homeless people who lie on the footpath (pavement) over there during the day and we don't see that as much here. Our homeless don't seem as visible.

There's a huge mental illness problem there, but that seems common enough throughout the US. Their medical system is absolutely sh1te for those near the bottom of the ladder. If anybody thinks our supports are weak, they'd want to experience the third world service that poor people get over there.

I doubt that San Francisco is much different to any major US city really though. They probably all have the same problems. And we have a lot of similar problems here too.

Anyway, I'm off over there for holidays in September/October. Looking forward to it to be honest. :D:D

MayoSalmon

brendanwalsh wrote: »

The American dream has long died in certain specialties parts of the US. Hartford, Detroit, East St louis. These are sh1t holes akin to third world countries, where crime drugs poverty are the way of life. More people killed in Chicago than in Iraq.
The US is f ucked.

Richest country in the world with unprecedented standards of living but okay!

I had the best night ever on Haight Street. Met some amazing people in one bar who took me and my husband under their wing. They took us to some great bars and it was a battle to pay for a drink. I did say to them at one stage “if you’re thinking of mugging us I wouldn’t bother. We don’t have much money”

They thought I was away with the fairies.

BattleCorp

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Richest country in the world with unprecedented standards of living but okay!

It may be the richest country but that wealth certainly isn't spread evenly.

Sonics2k

Ted Johnson wrote: »

I believe Detroit is the ultimate example of American liberal progress.

Quick, blame the Liberals and Feminists!

jim o doom

Ted Johnson wrote: »

I believe Detroit is the ultimate example of American liberal progress.

I believe eating skittles will one day give me the ability to sweat skittles on demand. It may not be true, but I believe it goddamnit!

rob316

I'm east coast, love new york.

orourkeda1977

brendanwalsh wrote: »

The American dream has long died in certain specialties parts of the US. Hartford, Detroit, East St louis. These are sh1t holes akin to third world countries, where crime drugs poverty are the way of life. More people killed in Chicago than in Iraq.
The US is f ucked.

To paraphrase George Carlin, It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.

Ciaran_B

Homer wrote: »

Was there a couple of weeks ago and it has the worst homelessness and mental issues of any city I’ve visited in the US by far!

I was there a few years ago and had the same experiance. Street after street full of tents with people living in them, 1000's of people just shuffling about. Not surprised to hear nothing has changed.

topper75

orourkeda1977 wrote: »

To paraphrase George Carlin, It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.

Yes but, to clarify, I think that dream was more about hard work and bettering yourself rather than ****ting on a footpath and thinking the richness should just automatically flow into your outstretched empty coffee cup.

orourkeda1977

topper75 wrote: »

Yes but, to clarify, I think that dream was more about hard work and bettering yourself rather than ****ting on a footpath and thinking the richness should just automatically flow into your outstretched empty coffee cup.

Either way the so called american dream is dead

kneemos

Ted Johnson wrote: »

I believe Detroit is the ultimate example of American liberal progress.

The Democrats are liberal now ?

givyjoe

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Richest country in the world with unprecedented standards of living but okay!

There you have it though, for the rich. You ain't rich and you don't have health insurance, you really are fcuked. And there's literally tens of millions on that tightrope.

donaghs

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Richest country in the world with unprecedented standards of living but okay!

San Francisco's homeless problem does seem visibly worse on its main streets than other US cities.

The problem precedes late 80s gentrification, and the 90s tech boom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_San_Francisco_Bay_Area#Emergence_in_the_late_70's_and_early_80's

You'd have to draw the conclusion that something has gone wrong with how the issue has been managed.

branie2

Your Face wrote: »

It's twinned with Cork City.

Both are very hilly

TomSweeney

I was there in 2000, pretty horrific (apart from some amazing places) I can only imagine what it is like now.
A couple of years later I passed through on my way to Arcata Northern CA.
We saw a homeless guy taking a dump in the middle of the street when we were driving through at about 6AM....:(

threein99

Was there for 4 days last year, wouldn't rush back, Alcatraz was great. The Golden Gate bridge is cool to look at but the noise of the traffic on it when you are walking over it is head wrecking. Sausalito is really nice too.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Richest country in the world with unprecedented standards of living but okay!

Emm... they're trillions of dollars in debt....

Grayson

I've had to travel there for work and it really is a shocking place. I've been to developing nations and not seen homelessness as bad, or at least not as visible. You arrive on the plane, hop onto a BART (their equivalent of the DART), and that's when your introduction starts. The BART was built in the 70's. It looks like it. It makes the dart look classy. There's plenty of people begging on it and you even see them crapping on it. From the bart you can see the tent cities as you go into SF. Once you get into SF nearly every second doorway has a homeless person in it. And you'll see many walking around shouting random crap. These are the people with health issues

SF is one of the starkest examples of the rich poor divide in the US. You'll see loads of 100k cars on the streets and out of SF you'll see even more. But there's so much poverty.

My coworkers in the US earn at least double what I do. I know of an intern who turned down a job after college for 120k a year because he was offered more elsewhere. And then there's the service workers in walmart, starbucks etc. They haven't got a hope of competing with the skilled workers for even basic housing.

SharpshooterTom

Aww this thread really upsets me.

I've never been to the US before and finally heading there for the very first time this summer and decided to pick San Francisco as my first American city. Been saving up for it for a few months now.

People bad mouth SF but I look into considering LA instead people moan about that saying its souless, has no real city centre. I look at Vegas and people call that fake, overrated, tacky etc.

It seems like every city in the US is hated one way or another.

Subcomandante Marcos

Dingaan wrote: »

He means the Democrat's have been in power since the year dot.

So the slightly less right wing neoliberal party hasn't fixed the social issues that cause poverty and homelessness in a country with almost zero social safety nets?

Well Colour me stunned.

Sonics2k

Little bit anecdotal but I know a good few people who live and work in SF. A really good mate of mine from school got a job a few years ago with a massive Tech firm, and ended up moving to Seoul about 5 years ago with them.

Sometime last year they offered him a promotion, a huge pay rise and an offer to move to the SF office and work with the key developer team. They gave him a few weeks to think about it.

Long story short, he spoke to colleagues working in the SF office, spent a week out there and ended up turning the job down. Even with the pay rise he'd end up losing cash, largely due to the sheer cost of rent in the city. He'd have to pay for a 2bed apartment for himself, his wife and kid and was looking at thousands per month for a place smaller than he had, in a crappy neighbourhood.

SF has been overtaken by these massive tech companies that can afford to pay their staff massive wages which lead to mass homelessness and housing issues.

Grayson

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Aww this thread really upsets me.

I've never been to the US before and finally heading there for the very first time this summer and decided to pick San Francisco as my first American city. Been saving up for it for a few months now.

People bad mouth SF but I look into considering LA instead people moan about that saying its souless, has no real city centre. I look at Vegas and people call that fake, overrated, tacky etc.

It seems like every city in the US is hated one way or another.

The touristy stuff there is nice. Nice parks, great food and places like Sausalito & Muir woods are beautiful. You'll enjoy it. It would just be a horrible place to live unless you were absolutely loaded.

Franz Von Peppercorn

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Aww this thread really upsets me.

I've never been to the US before and finally heading there for the very first time this summer and decided to pick San Francisco as my first American city. Been saving up for it for a few months now.

People bad mouth SF but I look into considering LA instead people moan about that saying its souless, has no real city centre. I look at Vegas and people call that fake, overrated, tacky etc.

It seems like every city in the US is hated one way or another.

To be fair to San Francsico they have a homeless problem because other States and cities treat their homeless more severely. You can't be homeless in Texas and other parts of the US, you are locked up or "moved on". Vagrancy laws apply. Because of that and the relatively benign weather, and the fact that SF is a walkable and tourist city making it easier to beg better explains the issue there. SF could rid itself of homelessness like other cities by passing draconian laws which they won't.

The problems of homelessness in the US may be caused by Neo-liberalism but they manifest in liberal cities.

Franz Von Peppercorn

The other problems re rent and so on in SF are absolutely true. Even the highest paid tech worker has little disposable income. Theres rent control for some, and others have their mortgage paid off but that generally applies to the natives ( and I mean native to SF not the US). And these guys are the worst nimbyists in the US. ( In case you think that I'm just defending the "liberals" there).

RasTa

Obviously never been to hastings in Vancouver

sk8erboii

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Emm... they're trillions of dollars in debt....

National debt is quite djfferent from personal debt lad

Grayson

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

The other problems re rent and so on in SF are absolutely true. Even the highest paid tech worker has little disposable income. Theres rent control for some, and others have their mortgage paid off but that generally applies the natives ( and I mean native to SF not the US). And these guys are the worst nimbyists in the US. ( In case you think that I'm just defending the "liberals" there).

And it leads into the inequality there too. Since schools and even police are paid out of local property taxes, the best schools are in the more expensive neighbourhoods.

I spent a lot of my time outside SF in towns around there and it's all about what neighbourhood you live in. There was a lot of chat in the office about who lives where.

ThomasFlynn

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

........

It seems like every city in the US is hated one way or another.

Boston is grand
Small city admittedly.

jam_mac_jam

sk8erboii wrote: »

National debt is quite djfferent from personal debt lad

Doesn't really matter how different if you can't walk along the street without dodging human ****. That's a bit third world regardless of how rich they are.

Franz Von Peppercorn

sk8erboii wrote: »

National debt is quite djfferent from personal debt lad

He didn’t say it wasn’t. Lad. Although there’s a different problem with how we measure debt vs gdp, that isn’t it.

Grayson

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

Doesn't really matter how different if you can't walk along the street without dodging human ****. That's a bit third world regardless of how rich they are.

To be fair you don't see that often unless you're in certain neighbourhoods like the tenderloin. It's extremely rare downtown or around columbus or any of the touristy areas.

I've watched a few documentaries about the opioid crisis and issues caused by other drugs like meth, and SF is far from the worst city, even in california. There's places like Reno which are just in bits.

Edit: I know Reno is Nevada, it's just that was the last doc I saw.

TeaBagMania

its not just SF, the whole of Comifornia is turning into a ****hole

Grayson

And btw, cali is one of the higher tax states. I worked out how much tax I'd be paying if I was living there and it's not as high as here, but it's not far off.
It's just that people don't get much for their tax dollars. And richer people pay a lower proportion of tax.

Edit: I just checked again and it's lower now thanks to Trumps tax breaks.

AllForIt

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Aww this thread really upsets me.

I've never been to the US before and finally heading there for the very first time this summer and decided to pick San Francisco as my first American city. Been saving up for it for a few months now.

People bad mouth SF but I look into considering LA instead people moan about that saying its souless, has no real city centre. I look at Vegas and people call that fake, overrated, tacky etc.

It seems like every city in the US is hated one way or another.

I always shut out those kinds of thoughts when on hols no matter where the destination. All cities have a bad side to one degree or another.

And I never heard anyone say they hate NY, not Manhattan anyway.

buried

Keep reading thread title as "San Francisco is A$$hole" in the same voice as Mr.Wu