It is political choices, but it's not primarily on a city level, or a year-to-year level. The problems in San Francisco are generations in the making and often national in cause. You might read Loewen's "Sundown Towns" for a good look at a key factor to understanding American cities.

The "mentality" here is one appropriate for the person and the circumstance. As you say, his neighbors weren't aliens, they were people. Compassion and understanding were worthwhile efforts. And they remain so.

I did not say this mentality is not appropriate for one person. And I didn't say that compassion is not a worthwhile effort, so I am not sure what you are responding to.

I agreed with the parent's sentiments initially. But then I saw your comment before the edit, where you had called this "uneducated loser mentality." I'm sad that you edited it, because you're also right.

>I loved the Tenderloin back then, even though it was terrifying. It was full of weirdos and loonies and junkies and poverty stricken artsy types like me, who had no power or desire in gentrification - we were just poor too. But we embraced where we were and didn't try to change it. The loin changed me far more than my presence changed it - for the better. It taught me compassion and empathy and how to avoid getting knifed by a junkie in the alleyway.

>But we embraced where we were and didn't try to change it.

Poor is fine. It's a hard life, but it's a state of being. Even being artsy and a little crazy; that's great. The rest of it though...? Why romanticize this? It's bad. We shouldn't romanticize bad. Learn your lessons, but let's want something better.

> we shouldn't romanticize bad

San Francisco’s old guard in a nutshell.

>Poor is fine. It's a hard life, but it's a state of being. Even being artsy and a little crazy; that's great. The rest of it though...? Why romanticize this? It's bad. We shouldn't romanticize bad. Learn your lessons, but let's want something better.

The OC has either survivor ship bias or a bad memory. I've never lived in SF but I've lived in Portland and work adjacent to mental health professionals and the stories that they have of people being victimized in the camps and shanty towns are tragic.

For everyone who learned to 'not get stabbed' (whatever that means), there are people who DO get stabbed, or sexually assaulted, or robbed of the little money they had.

For the past hundred years or so, a lot of people moved to SF because it was nothing like Zurich.

It’s not reasonable even for the nouveaux riches of tech to expect to flip a city’s character in a decade.

this comment completely misses the point. I did not suggest San Francisco needs to be like Zurich. With respect, I think it is idiotic to suggest that the only option for the city to be as safe as Zurich is to become literally exactly like Zurich.

I also didn't say anything about flipping a city's character in a decade. Whether it takes 1 decade, 2, 3 or 4 -- there is no reason to accept the idea that city just has to be unsafe and nothing can be done about it

> there is no reason that SF has to be a lot less safe than Zurich.

Lack of Nazi gold to prop up a social net, which can later be defended tooth and nail with strong anti immigration policies while newer streams of illegal money such as mexican cartels are adquiered.

Maybe SF does not want money laundering for some of the worst people on the planet, to be its identity. But hey I guess the rolex watches and chocolate are pretty good.

this comment makes no sense, what does Nazi gold have to do with safety? San Francisco is just as wealthy as Zurich if not more so.

> what does Nazi gold have to do with safety?

It provided the original funding for many fo Zurich's public services.

> San Francisco is just as wealthy as Zurich

Kinda, but in a very different way. It requieres way more people, so it imports way more people. This makes the city more dynamic but also makes it harder to do sensible long term urban planning for example.

Also many services grew organically and are disfunctional such as the healthcare system in the US. That alone could fix many of SF problems, related to drug abuse (which is a healthcare problem not a crime one), medical related poverty and homelessness and mental illeness. With that alone, ignoring other solutions you would see a massive improvement in QoL in SF.

healthcare system in the US is dysfunctional everywhere but safety varies quite a bit across the country.