Is the Bay Area pushing people to the breaking point?

[Swordsmyth]

Despite a booming economy, pleasant climate and natural treasures, nearly two-thirds of Bay Area residents say the quality of life here has gotten worse in the last five years, according to a new poll.
They cite a litany of reasons: high housing prices, traffic jams, the cost of living and homelessness. It’s so bad that about 44 percent say they are likely to move out of the Bay Area in the next few years, with 6 percent saying they have definite plans to leave this year.
https://i1.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/SJM-L-POLL-0324-91.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1 (https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/SJM-L-POLL-0324-91.jpg)The poll, conducted for this news organization and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, reflects the paradox of Bay Area life — how does a thriving job center with world-class universities and culture stir such dissatisfaction and misery in its people?
Home prices have risen at a record pace since early 2012. Commutes have grown longer and congestion has become worse as workers move farther away for affordable housing.
“It’s a mix of hopelessness and understanding,” said Clint Caldwell, 26, a recruiter at a San Francisco tech firm who grew up in the Bay Area and rents a home in Menlo Park with his wife and three children. “That’s the bargain you have to make living in the Bay Area.”
The dissatisfaction spreads across political parties and county lines, according to the poll of 1,568 registered voters in five counties. Just 7 percent of respondents said life has gotten better here in the past five years, and 23 percent said it’s stayed about the same.

Two-in-three renters sensed a decline in quality of life. And 64 percent of homeowners said things had gotten worse, despite massive and historic gains in property values and personal wealth since 2012.

San Francisco residents showed the most displeasure, with 72 percent saying life in the Bay Area has soured in recent years. Pessimism spread across ethnic groups, with black voters most often reporting a drop in the quality of life.
More than 7 in 10 respondents cited the high cost of housing and living, traffic congestion and homelessness as the region’s top problems.
“The Bay Area has tremendous challenges that we must address,” said Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino. “We should absolutely celebrate our strengths, but not working at our weaknesses will come at our own peril.”
About two-thirds of blue collar workers said they were likely to leave the region, far more than white collar professionals (43 percent) and service workers (44 percent). And more than half of the Latino residents and 7 in 10 black residents polled said they planned to move in the next few years.
Louise Compton, a mental health professional living in Clayton, said she and her husband expect to move after they retire. “I really like the area, of course. It’s really beautiful,” said Compton, 63. “Financially, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to stay here.”


More at: https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/24/is-bay-area-pushing-people-to-the-breaking-point/

[Anti Globalist]

Californians can complain all they want. They still won't leave the state.

[Origanalist]

I lived in Marin county out in a small town for one year(1984?). Great money, shitty commute, fantastic restaurants, great local music scene. My oldest hit the school system and I packed up and left. No way were my kids going to school in crazy land.

[brushfire]

Californians can complain all they want. They still won't leave the state.

More than anything, I wish that statement was true.

Wherever they do go, they're sure to take the state with them.

[Anti Globalist]

More than anything, I wish that statement was true.

Wherever they do go, they're sure to take the state with them.
Of course. No matter where they go they'll just vote the same way they did as if they never left.

[Brian4Liberty]

You know what would solve these problems? More people. Lots more people.

[Anti Federalist]

You know what would solve these problems? More people. Lots more people.

Damn right...that's just the ticket.

Lots more people that believe that lots more government will make it lots more livable.

[Zippyjuan]

High paying jobs and nice climate attracts lots of people to live there. That drives up the cost of things. High paying jobs and a beautiful place to live is a bad thing then?

[oyarde]

Well the graph would be more impressive if it covered the shitting streets .

[Brian4Liberty]

High paying jobs and nice climate attracts lots of people to live there. That drives up the cost of things. High paying jobs and a beautiful place to live is a bad thing then?

Thanks sunshine. It always helps to hear that the glass is a quarter full.

[Brian4Liberty]

Well the graph would be more impressive if it covered the shitting streets .

Just dance around them, like Zippy does.

[Swordsmyth]

High paying jobs and nice climate attracts lots of people to live there. That drives up the cost of things. High paying jobs and a beautiful place to live is a bad thing then?
The prices don't get driven up this high without government interference.

[Anti Federalist]

High paying jobs and nice climate attracts lots of people to live there. That drives up the cost of things. High paying jobs and a beautiful place to live is a bad thing then?

No.

High taxes, oppressive regulations and trillion dollar handout programs that prompt literal armies of bums and migrants to invade, make it a bad place to live.

[Danke]

No.

High taxes, oppressive regulations and trillion dollar handout programs that prompt literal armies of bums and migrants to invade, make it a bad place to live.

One of my Chinese FA from HKG recently had a flight into SFO, (she usually has ORD layovers). She couldn't believe how filthy SFO downtown is now. Chicago is clean and nice in comparison.

[ThePaleoLibertarian]

High paying jobs and nice climate attracts lots of people to live there. That drives up the cost of things. High paying jobs and a beautiful place to live is a bad thing then?
That's all well and good. The problem is how poorly run it is when people get there and how resistant the establishment is to actually build housing to get a market price for rent. I grew up there and still frequently go back. It has gotten much, much, much worse.

[Anti Federalist]

One of my Chinese FA from HKG recently had a flight into SFO, (she usually has ORD layovers). She couldn't believe how filthy SFO downtown is now. Chicago is clean and nice in comparison.

Good god...

[ThePaleoLibertarian]

San Francisco is probably the most poorly run major city in America, aside from Detroit and maybe Chicago. The shit on the streets should be a clue. I was in SF recently and was attending the symphony. Everything in San Francisco is on top of everything else. Blocks away from the people dressed nicely to see some classical music there was a homeless man among a squad of others shooting heroin, right there in the open. I had seen plenty of needles and nodding junkies, but this is the first time I had ever seen such a clear symbol of SF's degeneration. Women in dresses and men in suits walking down the street while disaffected addict injects poison into his veins. I can't think of a more perfect encapsulation of modern San Francisco.

[Zippyjuan]

That's all well and good. The problem is how poorly run it is when people get there and how resistant the establishment is to actually build housing to get a market price for rent. I grew up there and still frequently go back. It has gotten much, much, much worse.

So you know that there isn't a lot of space to build more homes for everybody who would like to live there. Now that it is crowded and expensive it will be less attractive and fewer will likely come and perhaps some start moving away. The market responding to the situation. Or should the government be doing something?

[Swordsmyth]

So you know that there isn't a lot of space to build more homes for everybody who would like to live there. Now that it is crowded and expensive it will be less attractive and fewer will likely come and perhaps some start moving away. The market responding to the situation. Or should the government be doing something?
Government should stop limiting the height of buildings among other things.
It should also cut spending and cut or eliminate property taxes and other taxes.

[Zippyjuan]

Government should stop limiting the height of buildings among other things.
It should also cut spending and cut or eliminate property taxes and other taxes.

Would eliminating property taxes discourage more people from moving there?

[Swordsmyth]

Would eliminating property taxes discourage more people from moving there?
Why do you think that is what should be the goal?

[ThePaleoLibertarian]

So you know that there isn't a lot of space to build more homes for everybody who would like to live there. Now that it is crowded and expensive it will be less attractive and fewer will likely come and perhaps some start moving away. The market responding to the situation. Or should the government be doing something?
That's absolute bullshit. First of all, people are moving away, but they're coming to the East Bay from SF which is just driving up the prices everywhere else too and turning every city into soulless, Godforsaken San Jose. Secondly, the problem isn't that it's too crowded and they can't build, it's that they won't. The local bureaucracy is nigh impenetrable and even if you can get everything in order to break ground, the leftist activists come out of the woodwork talking about how it's bad for the community because they have no understanding of supply and demand and often squash the development. So the voters vote for low-income housing. The money is allocated, spent, but the construction is almost never completed and when it is, it gets turned into a shithole.

It's actually all very Misesian. One unintended consequence after another generated from bad policy and awful culture.

[Zippyjuan]

Why do you think that is what should be the goal?

The complaints about it being too crowded and expensive in the OP. Your suggestion would not help that.

[Swordsmyth]

The complaints about it being too crowded and expensive in the OP. Your suggestion would not help that.
It would help with the expensive part and the crowded part would take care of itself.
TPL knows more about it than I do and he says getting government out of the way would solve the crowded part too.

[Anti Federalist]

That's absolute bullshit. First of all, people are moving away, but they're coming to the East Bay from SF which is just driving up the prices everywhere else too and turning every city into soulless, Godforsaken San Jose. Secondly, the problem isn't that it's too crowded and they can't build, it's that they won't. The local bureaucracy is nigh impenetrable and even if you can get everything in order to break ground, the leftist activists come out of the woodwork talking about how it's bad for the community because they have no understanding of supply and demand and often squash the development. So the voters vote for low-income housing. The money is allocated, spent, but the construction is almost never completed and when it is, it gets turned into a shithole.

It's actually all very Misesian. One unintended consequence after another generated from bad policy and awful culture.

The best example of that, that I recall is when they, the Bolshevik and Jacobin mobs of leftists, came out to the opening of a new restaurant-coffee house and, literally, flung their own shit at the owners, like poorly trained chimpanzees.

More than once, it appears.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/07/19/shouting-protesters-throw-feces-at-coffee-shop-because-owner-supports-trumps-immigration-stance

[Anti Federalist]

So you know that there isn't a lot of space to build more homes for everybody who would like to live there.

I know how to solve the problem.

Import 20 million dirt poor Guatemalans.

Yeah, that'll solve the problem.

[brushfire]

Those bleeding hearts


https://www.foxnews.com/politics/san-franciscos-wealthy-in-pelosis-district-raise-60g-to-oppose-homeless-shelter-as-city-struggles-with-homelessness

[Swordsmyth]

San Francisco has the highest Syphilis rates in the country (http://www.sfweekly.com/news/syphilis-persists-in-s-f/)

[Pauls' Revere]

It's the 21 st Century Gold Rush.

https://www.cnet.com/news/uber-lyft-ipos-to-mint-next-batch-of-bay-area-millionaires/

If all goes as planned, 2019 will be a year of tech IPOs. San Francisco-based companies including Airbnb, Pinterest and Slack are expected to issue initial public offerings, along with ride-hailing rivals Uber and Lyft. Analysts think Uber, the world's highest valued private company, could pull in as much as $120 billion from public funding, making it the biggest IPO in US history.

t's why fleets of corporate buses ferry thousands of SF-based tech employees 40 miles south to Google, Apple and other Silicon Valley workplaces. And it's why dozens of major tech companies -- many of which were able to negotiate significant tax breaks from the city -- relocated or opened new offices in San Francisco.

It's also why San Francisco has become a stark example of haves and have-nots: Where well-heeled employees walk past homeless people huddled in doorways and sleeping on top of warm steam vents. As more tech workers have moved into the city, home rental prices have shot up, vacancy rates have plummeted, and the homeless population has swelled.

Every year the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development looks at US cities' median income and average housing costs to calculate what constitutes low income. In 2018, the department concluded that a family of four earning up to $118,400 is low income in San Francisco. That number is the highest in the nation.

= food stamps making 118K, think about that.

San Francisco has also seen an exodus of its once thriving black population, according to The New York Times. Roughly 5 percent of the city is African-American, down from more than 13 percent in 1970. That means you're now nearly twice as likely to run into a millionaire in San Francisco than someone who's black.

In effect, 20- and 30-something tech workers have been displacing the people who gave the city its character. And now, with the upcoming surge in millionaires, that's just going to intensify.

Outlying cities are feeling the crush as well, as far away as Morgan Hill and the South Bay.


Question: are these negotiated tax breaks between government and corporations the problem? or at least a big part of the problem? I'd love to read your thoughts.

[Swordsmyth]

It's the 21 st Century Gold Rush.

https://www.cnet.com/news/uber-lyft-ipos-to-mint-next-batch-of-bay-area-millionaires/

If all goes as planned, 2019 will be a year of tech IPOs. San Francisco-based companies including Airbnb, Pinterest and Slack are expected to issue initial public offerings, along with ride-hailing rivals Uber and Lyft. Analysts think Uber, the world's highest valued private company, could pull in as much as $120 billion from public funding, making it the biggest IPO in US history.

t's why fleets of corporate buses ferry thousands of SF-based tech employees 40 miles south to Google, Apple and other Silicon Valley workplaces. And it's why dozens of major tech companies -- many of which were able to negotiate significant tax breaks from the city -- relocated or opened new offices in San Francisco.

It's also why San Francisco has become a stark example of haves and have-nots: Where well-heeled employees walk past homeless people huddled in doorways and sleeping on top of warm steam vents. As more tech workers have moved into the city, home rental prices have shot up, vacancy rates have plummeted, and the homeless population has swelled.

Every year the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development looks at US cities' median income and average housing costs to calculate what constitutes low income. In 2018, the department concluded that a family of four earning up to $118,400 is low income in San Francisco. That number is the highest in the nation.

= food stamps making 118K, think about that.

San Francisco has also seen an exodus of its once thriving black population, according to The New York Times. Roughly 5 percent of the city is African-American, down from more than 13 percent in 1970. That means you're now nearly twice as likely to run into a millionaire in San Francisco than someone who's black.

In effect, 20- and 30-something tech workers have been displacing the people who gave the city its character. And now, with the upcoming surge in millionaires, that's just going to intensify.

Outlying cities are feeling the crush as well, as far away as Morgan Hill and the South Bay.


Question: are these negotiated tax breaks between government and corporations the problem? or at least a big part of the problem? I'd love to read your thoughts.
They are one part of the problem, the rules should be the same for everyone.

[Pauls' Revere]

They are one part of the problem, the rules should be the same for everyone.

I think a flat tax is the way to go. Corporations and citizens pay the same tax rate and it goes before a vote, NOT negotiated by those in office.

[Swordsmyth]

I think a flat tax is the way to go. Corporations and citizens pay the same tax rate and it goes before a vote, NOT negotiated by those in office.
That sounds pretty good.

I'm not sure what you mean by a flat tax though, I am against income and property taxes but I am for sales/excise taxes.

[Pauls' Revere]

I also wonder how much of this was planned by design as higher property value brings in more taxes for the government. So, all they have to do is find a way to artifically inflate home value (corporate tax breaks so these companies can move in) employees buy the homes and pay higher taxes that the regular joe can't pay.

[Swordsmyth]

I also wonder how much of this was planned by design as higher property value brings in more taxes for the government.

Never attribute to stupidity that which is better explained by malice.

[Pauls' Revere]

That sounds pretty good.

I'm not sure what you mean by a flat tax though, I am against income and property taxes but I am for sales/excise taxes.

My apologies, like a flat rate income tax. In other words, the citizens should be allowed the same tax break the companies got.

[Pauls' Revere]

Never attribute to stupidity that which is better explained by malice.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Swordsmyth again

[Swordsmyth]

My apologies, like a flat rate income tax. In other words, the citizens should be allowed the same tax break the companies got.
I agree with the flat part but I can't agree with any income tax.

[Pauls' Revere]

I agree with the flat part but I can't agree with any income tax.

Agreed on both points, A matching flat excise and sales tax. 15% sales tax then becomes a 15% excise and visa versa. Can we call it the flat excisales tax?

[Swordsmyth]

Agreed on both points, A matching flat excise and sales tax. 15% sales tax then becomes a 15% excise and visa versa. Can we call it the flat excisales tax?
Sounds good!

[Swordsmyth]

By many measures, San Francisco is a world-class city. It’s a tourist mecca that boasts 25 million visitors each year. It’s home to wonders of the modern world – the Golden Gate Bridge and its iconic cable cars – as well as powerful progressive politicians, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Governor Gavin Newsom, and U.S. Senator (and presidential hopeful) Kamala Harris.
The broader San Francisco Bay Area can also claim Silicon Valley and its booming economy.
But the city itself is in trouble. Today, San Francisco hosts an estimated homeless population of 7,500 people. Affluent sections of the city have become (https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/sickening-problem-with-popular-tourist-city/news-story/50e808ac3971ad4dce24cc9344a38170) dangerous with open-air drug use, tens of thousands of discarded needles, and, sadly, human feces.


Since 2011, there have been at least 118,352 reported instances of human fecal matter on city streets.
New mayor, London Breed, won election by promising to clean things up. However, conditions are the same or worse. Last year, the number of reports spiked to an all-time high at 28,084. In first quarter 2019, the pace continued with 6,676 instances of human waste in the public way.
We reached out to San Francisco Mayor London Breed for comment regarding our findings and the continued trajectory of the human waste problem. This column will be updated with any response or comment.
Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com plotted (https://www.openthebooks.com/map/?Map=32504&MapType=Pin&Zip=94103) all reports of human waste since 2011 using latitude and longitude address coordinates of all cases closed by the San Francisco Department of Public Works.
Using our interactive map, just click a pin (https://www.openthebooks.com/map/?Map=32504&MapType=Pin&Zip=94103) and scroll down to review the results (all closed cases by neighborhood) rendered in the chart beneath the map. Available data is the result of resident reporting to the city’s 311 dispatchers during the years 2011-2019.
https://zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/https___blogs-images.forbes.com_adamandrzejewski_files_2019_04_S an-Fran-general-poop-map-FINAL.jpg (https://www.openthebooks.com/map/?Map=32504&MapType=Pin&Zip=94103)
There were 118 city neighborhoods affected. However, 72-percent of all cases since 2008 were reported in just ten neighborhoods: 1. Tenderloin (30,863); 2. South of Market (23,599); 3. Mission (19,150); 4. Civic Center (6,232); 5. Mission Dolores (4,096); 6. Lower Nob Hill (3,654); 7. Potrero Hill (2,489); 8. Showplace Square (2,022); 9. North Beach (1,826); and 10. Financial District (1,810).
Thirty ZIP codes in the city were affected. However, just four locations had the highest concentration of human feces – between 10,000 and 23,000 events each.
#1 ZIP Code 94102:
Since 2008, over 23,800 cases of human waste were reported in the heart of San Francisco. There were 13 reports of human feces in front of City Hall; 17 events at the U.S. Marshals office; and 67 reports at the Tenderloin police station on Eddy Street.
Affected neighborhoods include Civic Center, Hayes Valley, Tenderloin, Cathedral Hill, Lower Haight, and Downtown/ Union Square. Avoid the intersection of Eddy Street and Jones Street – this address was the third all-time with 366 cases.
#2 ZIP Code 94103:
Human waste was reported 19,275 times within this prominent San Francisco ZIP code. Roughly one in every three cases citywide occurred in the two ZIP codes of 94102 and 94103 – they border each other. Neighborhoods affected include Mission, South of Market, Mission Dolores, Showplace Square, and Mint Hill. Avoid the address 786 Minna Street, as it ranked sixth all-time with nearly 300 events since 2008.
https://zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/https___blogs-images.forbes.com_adamandrzejewski_files_2019_04_Z oom-San-Fran-Poop-Map-94103-1200x856.jpg
Plotting the case reports of human waste in ZIP 94103 since 2008. Click here (https://www.openthebooks.com/map/?Map=32504&MapType=Pin&Zip=94103) to review the interactive map.
#3 ZIP Code 94110:
Since 2008, there were 13,450 instances of human waste reported. That’s an average of 135 reports per month for the last 99 months in this area. Neighborhoods affected include Noe Valley, Peralta Heights, Mission, Potrero Hill, Dolores Heights, and Bernal Heights. The intersection of Mission Street and Sycamore Street was the all-time highest address with over 930 events – and 20 Sycamore Street was second all-time with another 450 cases.
#4 ZIP Code 94109:
A prestigious area home to such landmarks as the San Francisco Maritime National Park, Great American Music Hall, The Regency Ballroom, and the Liholiho Yacht Club. There were 11,287 instances of human waste within this ZIP code. Neighborhoods affected include Tenderloin, Cathedral Hill, Lower Nob Hill, Polk Gulch, Russian Hill, and Pacific Heights.
https://zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/https___blogs-images.forbes.com_adamandrzejewski_files_2019_04_F orbes_Frequent-SF-Feces-final.jpg


More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-16/behold-shit-map-mapping-san-franciscos-132562-cases-human-feces