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Looney Town!

29 comments on Looney Town!

Looney Town!

: San Francisco is nucking futs.

At various streetcorners, striking hotel workers are banging garbage cans and drums and running sirens and blowing whistles and causing a considerable nuisance. I arrive at the conference hotel. How long does that go on? I ask. Ten o’clock, they say, resigned. That’s nuts, I say. We wouldn’t stand for that in New York! I switch rooms four times until I finally find peace. I know they’re muttering “crazy New Yorker” at the desk and I don’t care.

Homeless are everywhere, as advertised. People walk three-legged dogs. Things are scruffy.

This is not the city I loved and lived in for many years, back when I was a columnist on the Examiner and the young man about town. This was the greatest city on earth.

Every time I came back to town back then and drove up 101, I eagerly anticipated taking that one last curve and having the vista of the city before me. It always made me smile.

This time, I take that curve and it looks like Sacramento: Just a bunch of nondescript boxes crowding around each other with the barest sign of the Transamerica meekly peeking out.

So far, so sad.

29 responses to “Looney Town!”

  1. stable dictum Avatar
    stable dictum

    As a NY’er transplanted to SF a few years ago, and a resident not two blocks from the hotel in question (from your description, I *know* I’m right) … I too am sad.
    Believe it or not, it is day 6 of the strike taking its current, steel drum inspired form.
    I miss the clean streets of New York. I miss the boisterous street life of Columbus Avenue, Amsterdam and Broadway on my beloved Upper West Side. I miss Central Park. I miss the crowds of intelligent, successful people. I miss walking on flatland.
    And I miss my friends.

  2. Mike G Avatar
    Mike G

    San Francisco is pretty much a laboratory for every failed type of liberalism. Want to prove that letting the homeless go free will result in people taking a dump on your doorstep? Want to prove that rent control will make the housing situation for working class people worse, not better? Want to prove that letting the hookers work right in front of nice hotels will prevent urban renewal? It’s all there for you.

  3. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    Ouch.
    True, there are plenty of things about this city that are unpleasant, but SACRAMENTO? I’ve lived in San Francisco, near San Francisco and just outside Sacramento. That’s harsh. I’m not California sun-dazed either. I’ve lived other places too.
    Many things make San Francisco seedy, dirty and as you say, scruffy. It is sad in some ways. Yet, watching the fog roll over Twin Peaks, seeing surfers brave the waters at Ocean Beach, having so much life in a city that is only 7 miles by 7 miles, but doesn’t feel cramped, these are amazing things.
    You’re point that New Yorkers wouldn’t stand for the homeless people might be true. But hey, they’re there too. And the fact that people in San Francisco do stand for it, but try to make it better, that we do let things happen, many things, some good, some bad, that’s pretty great.
    I’m fairly conservative (well, by SF standards). But I think this is an amazing place.

  4. John Avatar
    John

    Grampa tell me the story again about the promise of socialism! Pleeze pleeeeeze!

  5. PJ Avatar
    PJ

    The last time I stayed in SF I stayed in a boutique hotel near Union Square. Every time I walked outside I was greeted by the smell of vaporizing urine and by streets empty except for a shuffling battalion of mostly male substance abusers. To each his own. As I said on my customer survey, though, I will not be spending $200 a night to visit that hellhole again. Rudy, we need you!

  6. Sterling Avatar
    Sterling

    I haven’t been to San Francisco since the dotcom bubble popped and I didn’t particularly care for it then. It was fun, but you could never find a cab, vagrants owned the streets and it seemed like all the responsible adults had moved to the East Bay. People were amazingly conspicuous in their drug use, too, which I took to be a general sign of civil disorder.
    I suppose it’s possible that I’m just an uptight east coaster. Most of the San Francisco transplants I knew have since moved back to where they came from – New York, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. When I visited Amsterdam for the first time a few years ago, I recognized its kinship to San Francisco. In both places you find intellectuals wearing rose-colored glasses, who proclaim their moral superiority because they’ve allowed their city to become a dump.

  7. alwin Avatar
    alwin

    Oh, Murphy; I’m glad it wasn’t just me. Spent the weekend at the Tinderbox West conference and roomed in one of the struck hotels. Bloody awful.
    You’re right about the scurffiness and filth. The roads are in disrepair, and it’s impossible to use a map to get to anyplace because the routes that appear don’t exist.
    I remember reading of people’s love of SF, and it didn’t jibe with what I saw this weekend. It seems that the city is dying; not with a scream, but a demonstration.

  8. Myles Weissleder Avatar
    Myles Weissleder

    Come up to Marin and relax!

  9. tony Avatar
    tony

    Every time I go back there I always make a stop at the best chinese restaurant on the west coast.
    The House of Nan King
    Kearny & Columbus
    enjoy!

  10. Frank Martin Avatar
    Frank Martin

    Hey there mister, theres no need to get nasty and run down the Capitol of Caifornia. It wasn’t we in the central valley who turned what was once great city into a urine stained hovel populated by t-shirt vendors and shopping cart people.
    The people of SF did that all by themselves. All in the name of progressive policies to help the oppressed.

  11. Frank Martin Avatar
    Frank Martin

    Hey there mister, theres no need to get nasty and run down the Capitol of Caifornia. It wasn’t we in the central valley who turned what was once great city into a urine stained hovel populated by t-shirt vendors and shopping cart people.
    The people of SF did that all by themselves. All in the name of progressive policies to help the oppressed.

  12. Walter E. Wallis Avatar
    Walter E. Wallis

    I can forgive Frisco a lot, but not the shit in the streets, either people’s or dog’s. Frisco tries to forget that real people shit and drive and park, and they think the problems will go away if they only think nice thoughts and pay high salaries to city workers. Actually accomodating people is so…. normal.
    The left chased away the navy and the unions sent shipping to Oakland, and California taxes sent Banking East. All the broken freeways in L.A. were fixed within a year of their last big one. Frisco is still vacillating.
    Still, you can get pretty good food there. Just don’t eat anything served cool.

  13. Jim B Avatar
    Jim B

    This is what happens when personal responsibility is replaced by governmental largesse. For all the complaints about conservatism, there’s a reason that these problems are endemic in locales run exclusively by liberals.
    SF has no excuse for its sad state of affairs other than the political ideology of its residents. It has every possible advantage – a beautiful locale, easy access, an educated workforce, etc.
    Unlike other places in the country where the opportunities aren’t so abundant where you find a population determined to work their way out of poverty and achieve the American dream, SF has become the last refuge of the irresponsible.
    This is why so many fight vehemently against big government liberalism. It’s not bigotry, sexism, intolerance, or any of those things. It’s the base degradation of human existence that occurs when human beings are divorced from personal responsibility. I truly don’t understand how so many “compassionate” people who are drawn to liberal policies can justify ignoring the unmistakably “uncompassionate” results in order to advance their ideology.
    This is the inevitable result. And the trendline is clear, it’s going to get much worse there before it gets better without serious institutional change in its governance.
    I don’t wish misery on any of my fellow Americans, but if SF serves as an example of the true results of implementing virtually every liberal dream policy known to man for the rest of the country then it will be unwittingly providing a great public service for everyone.

  14. gaw3 Avatar
    gaw3

    Yes there’s filth, and scruffiness (I assume you’re hotelling near the Tenderloin), and yet…..
    get over to the Mission and have a burrito with tons of jalepenos as the jukebox thumps out some Mexican pop…
    go skinny dipping at Baker Beach….
    walk along Embarcadero taking in the sails on the bay…
    just get the out of downtown. You’ll feel a whole lot better.

  15. W. James Au Avatar
    W. James Au

    All of these comments are valid to a certain extent, but decidedly out of date. The new mayor Gavin Newsom has done a tremendous job addressing the “homelessness” problem– which is indeed a gargantuan problem, but it’s mainly a matter of drug abuse, public insanity and vagrancy, as opposed to not having a home per se– reducing the city homeless rolls by 50%, according to a recent good profile of him in the New Yorker. Indeed, Newsom made fighting homelessness his cause, even during his years as a City Supervisor, fighting against the failed ideologue policies of the homeless advocacy coalition, a lobbying group of such ferocity as to make the NRA seem like affable pussies. His first blow was called “Care not Cash”, which reduced the welfare payouts from several hundred dollars per month to $60 or so, and it was passed by 60%. Running against a Green party candidate with strong backing from SF’s cultural elite, he won the mayoral race with similar numbers. The city is much more centrist than its reputation suggests, though its fanatic far left minority of activists like to pretend otherwise. (A pro-business Democrat with some respect for Giulani’s tough love policies, Newsom was attacked by his opponents as everything from a racist to a Nazi to, worse of all, just like Bush.)
    Having done all this, he turned around and ordered the city to start handing out marriage licences to gay couples– which was, by my lights, more heroic, compassionate, and strategically brilliant than anything his far left antagonists have ever done in their entire lives. He now enjoys public support in the astounding range of 70%, making him free to continue his drive to save the city from the extremes of failed ideology, and restore it to its former luster. I am one of the most jaded Bay Area residents living here, but Newsom just about single-handedly revived my optimism for the place.
    Oh yeah: he’s 36, he looks like an actor, and his wife is a former lingerie model turned prosecutor turned cable talking head:
    http://www.gavinnewsom.com/kimberly.html
    Try top THAT, New York/Boston/Chicago/Austin/New Orleans/LA!

  16. hen Avatar
    hen

    Top that? Here in Philly we have arguably the most corrupt government in the country (surprisingly democratic – who wd have guessed?), a shrinking population, despite the fact that we are situated right between NYC and DC, and despite having more colleges then Boston, areas of the city that bring back memories of the S Bronx, circa 1970’s, an Union that is doing all it can to force every business into the suburbs and worst of all, not a championship since 1980 – If not for Smarty Jones and Bernard Hopkins i don’t know what we’d do. Except for eat more cheesesteaks and get even fatter.

  17. Walter E. Wallis Avatar
    Walter E. Wallis

    W. Au and Gavin Newsom are precisely what is wrong with Frisco. I don’t care where or with whom someone sleeps, but I damn sure believe that anyone who shits on the sidewalk should be removed from the opportunity to repeat. It is not, however much the “Prpgressives” want to make it, political repression to house people who will not house themselves involuntarily, strictly for public health concerns.

  18. Easycure Avatar
    Easycure

    Jim hit the nail on the head. Socialism is a failed concept. It has failed not once, but repeatedly through history. The only thing that works is less government, not more.

  19. billg Avatar
    billg

    It’s interesting how most of these comments about SF turn on liberalism versus conservatism. More properly, how we’ve distorted our use of those words. Liberalism is used as an epithet meaning irresponsible tolerance posing as compassion. Conservatism is used an epithet meaning irresponsible intolerance posing as steadfastness. Both are lies.
    Liberalism has nothing to do with always saying yes; conservatism has nothing to do with always saying no. Both have everything to do with respecting and ensuring the rights and freedoms of American citizens.
    Yet, people called conservatives and liberals spend most of their time spinning twisted tales attempting to make reality conform to their alleged ideologies.
    Since the midlle of the 1960’s — when outright racists were wrongly called conservatives and white kids who would rather be high than useful were wrongly labelled liberals, these words have been used in a distorted fashion that has corrupted American discourse and politics. It allowed a racist proto-fascist like Nixon to pose as a conservative in order to attract both the traditional conservative vote and the white racist vote that assured his elections. The current incumbent has picked up that banner and wrapped it in the same cloak of religion that hide the intent of the segregation academies that dot the landscape, usually with the word “Christian” in the name. It has repeatedly led the Democratic Party away from its roots and into a morass of unprincipled acceptance of stupidity. As if to provide even more evidence, a radically conservative busybody like Ralph Nader is considered a flaming liberal.
    SF has always reminded me of an upper midwestern city plunked down in a stunning location. Whatever has gone wrong recently, it isn’t the result of liberalism or conservatism. It’s the result of bad judgment and incompetence.

  20. ed Avatar
    ed

    What the hell? New York is full of shit as well. There are parts of Soho where human shit is unavoidable. Dog’s go everywhere and the majority of dog owners sneak off before cleaning up the mess. It’s particularly bad in Brooklyn. In queens, my subway stop had a grate that was used as toilet almost every day. Don’t tell me New York has clean streets.

  21. Vicar Avatar
    Vicar

    Good god, in all the rants a couple voices of reason:
    billg – thank you for noting the polarization awar from reality by both sides (though this sounds like a decidedly right crowd). I’ll one up you by noting that people really confuse the issue when they split from liberal/converative when it comes to social vs. fiscal issues.
    W. James Au – took the time to answer with data, how unusual, and thank you!
    I loved SF and considered moving there for some time, but was driven off by the lack of employment (post boom) and insane housing prices. I found the city safe (at least where I went) and terribly entertaining. I could have lived w/o the homeless myself, but they didn’t pose any threat to me. If anything, they inspire hard work for those of us with jobs…
    I have a hard time trashing the homeless without reflecting on the years in which so many of them appeared as we kicked veterans out of the VA hospitals, though. I can only be outright cruel to them when I know they’re just lazy, rather than the majority that just seem mentally ill. I don’t want to kick a vet when he’s down.

  22. hen Avatar
    hen

    I lived in NYC for a dozen years, leaving in 02. I lived in 3 diff boroughs and never saw human waste on the streets, and in fact, not too much dog feces either (and i had a big dog, so i probably wd have noticed since i was cleaning up so much of it).
    Perhaps lib vs conservatism isn’t correct – what about Democratic leadership vs Repub?
    Vicar re: the homeless it has far less to do with poor vets getting kicked out of hospitals and more to do with drug and alcohol addicts who made a life of bad decisions.

  23. jackson Avatar
    jackson

    All I know is in NYC our homless ask for ‘spare change’. In San Fran I get asked for ‘a couple of dollars’, and they are far more insistant upon it.

  24. billg Avatar
    billg

    Hen, it isn’t liberal versus conservative or Democratic leadership versus Republican. It’s dealing with reality versus imposing your beliefs on others in the face of reality. This is the kind of nonsense that happens when people commit to an ideology that claims to have all the answers. It makes no difference what ideology. When people are True Believers, they are quite willing to force everyone else to behave in a way that accords with their ideology. Why? Because they know the Truth, and the Truth can’t be wrong. Anyone who isn’t behaving in accordance with the Truth must, by definition, be compelled to change their behavior.

  25. hen Avatar
    hen

    Bill – If this is true how was it that Guiliani turned NYC around in 4 years after taking it over from Dinkins who was a huge failure? And is it surprising that Dinkins was a perfect lib dem political hack, while Rudy was a con repub newbie to politics?
    I’ve never been to SF so i can’t say one way or the other but having moved from NYC to Philly, i can say with no doubt, Philly needs a Rudy and i wd guess so to does SF.

  26. billg Avatar
    billg

    Hen — It wasn’t Guiliani’s political beliefs that worked in NYC, it was the application of commonsense. Figuring out, for example, that putting more cops on the streets is likely to reduce crime isn’t exclusive to either right or left, It’s just competent civic management. It’s only because our use of conservative and liberal is so debased that standing up an adequate police force is seen as an act of ideology. Frankly, a mayor hiring cops when he needs them is no more ideological than me buying gas when the car’s tank is empty. (Of course, there are people for whom buying gas is an ideological statement: They drive SUV’s or hybrid cars, I suppose, depending on their notions of good and evil. That’s the kind of lunacy that leaves a sour taste in my mouth.)

  27. hen Avatar
    hen

    Bill not to beat the horse to death, but if NYC is a case in commonsense why didn’t it happen under Koch? Or Dinkins? And what is the difference between these former mayors (who were in office for 16 yrs) who did nothing while Rudy did it in 4?

  28. Sterling Avatar
    Sterling

    Koch was hamstrung by a lot of problems, not the least of which being that NYC was still broke and bleeding the middle class out to the suburbs. Koch was also beholden to the Democrat machines in the boroughs, which were and remain a huge part of the problem of city governance – Giuliani was not so encumbered.
    Giuliani’s real accomplishments were in using automation to assign NYPD tasking and reduce paperwork loads, and taking the leash off the cops to go after “quality of life” violations. He was the right man at the right time to make a difference.
    Giuliani deserves credit for what he accomplished, but there’s a danger in giving him too much credit, because at bottom he’s an egomaniac.

  29. foo Avatar
    foo

    The worst thing about SF these days is how angry everyone is. Angry. Shrill. Nasty. Venomous.
    They’re angry about their lot in life. Angry about politics. Angry about the cost of a home. Angry at the length of their commute. Angry that they didn’t grab the brass ring as dotComsRUs like their cousin’s wife’s best friend’s gardener did. They think “that guy didn’t deserve it any more than I did–how come *I* didn’t get rich!! It shoulda been ME!”
    The people there have more money, more opportunities, more lifestyle options, more scenery, art, culture, outdoor experience, intellectual stimulation, etc. than virtually ANYWHERE on the planet–and they spend their time being SO ANGRY THEY ARE SPITTING about “no blood for oil” or whatever slogan in on their lips that day.
    The anger is poison. And that poison makes people dislike, resent, or actively wish ill on the others around them so are different than they are.
    And the notion of compassion has become tossed on its head. people say “the homeless aren’t bothering ME”–but how can it POSSIBLY be humane to allow these people to live on the streets like this? like ANIMALS? but if you try to change that, to put them in a home, to take them off the streets, you’re a bad person in SF.
    The best thing to happen to SF would be for people to leave. Maybe then, maybe then, SF would realize it had destroyed itself from the inside.