Triggered by both the Lions playoff game against the 49ers (the chosen team of my SO) and this posting of photos by Scott Alexander, which needs to be looked at, I have been thinking of San Francisco a bit. Those photos remind me of Ann Arbor in the 70s. Is that good? In any event, Keep Austin Weird can't hold a candle.
SF is so well documented as a disaster of filth, crime, and chaos, that it almost certainly has to be not as bad as it's portrayed. Still, the exodus of businesses continues. The toy store that was the inspiration for Toy Story is closing out of safety concerns.
Paul Graham (of y-combinator) is of the belief that it's a matter of replacing just a small number of council members and things will turn around right quickly: "There is hope for San Francisco. Most people don't realize the extent to which the city's problems stem from just a handful of incompetent supervisors." Perhaps, but as someone born in Detroit and having been close to its history my whole life, I can say cities "recovering" or "turning around" is the exception not the rule. Detroit was the wealthiest metro area in the U.S. 1949, it took about 15-20 years to destroy it and despite all the effort and good faith and noble words, it's still a disaster and that's not going to change. There are overwhelmingly more examples like that than there are of big cities turning around. To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, the end comes very slowly, then all at once.
I was in SF only once, a couple of decades ago when it was still a top tourist destination in the U.S. and I was at an early stage in my traveling phase. I was thoroughly unimpressed. It was cold and inconvenient and overpriced. I saw none of the great beauty that other folks seemed to see. During that time, the big three cities for me were Vegas for the Strip, New York for Manhattan, and New Orleans for the French Quarter. SF was a nothing-burger by comparison. I saw no reason to ever go back and haven't. (The closest I've come since was Carmel-by-the-Sea which is worth a visit.)
And in truth, I think the rest of us will be just fine without a functional SF. Michigander: "So there is the Golden Gate Bridge, which is 1.7 miles long. You call that a bridge? Oh, and there is an island near it? Alcatraz. I'm sure that's lovely. Have fun on your wee little bridge and dire, abandoned prison island."
