I've traveled around the world and I gotta say there is nothing more grotesque than walking down market st in San Francisco. Why the heart of our city has to be overrun by crazy, homeless, drug dealers, dropouts, and trash I have no clue. Each time I pass it my love affair with SF dies a little.

The difference is in other cosmopolitan cities, the lower part of society keep to themselves. They sell small trinkets, beg coyly, stay quiet, and generally stay out of your way. They realize it's a privilege to be in the civilized part of town and view themselves as guests. And that's okay.

In downtown SF the degenerates gather like hyenas, spit, urinate, taunt you, sell drugs, get rowdy, they act like they own the center of the city. Like it's their place of leisure... In actuality it's the business district for one of the wealthiest cities in the USA. It a disgrace. I don't even feel safe walking down the sidewalk without planning out my walking path.

You can preach compassion, equality, and be the biggest lover in the world, but there is an area of town for degenerates and an area of town for the working class. There is nothing positive gained from having them so close to us. It's a burden and a liability having them so close to us. Believe me, if they added the smallest iota of value I'd consider thinking different, but the crazy toothless lady who kicks everyone that gets too close to her cardboard box hasn't made anyone's life better in a while.

10/6/2014 11:38:07 AM

yelp.com

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

10/6/2014 11:39:22 AM

I'm also fond of San Francisco, but what's with The Castro?

10/6/2014 11:59:18 AM

Yeah, Market St and parts of Mission are an open sewer- they have been for decades. The rest of the city is pretty nice though.

10/6/2014 12:45:41 PM

someone likes reading old shit and then pasting it here

10/6/2014 12:52:49 PM

I thought this thread was about Moore Square

10/6/2014 3:03:56 PM

Why did you post this?

10/6/2014 3:06:33 PM

walked up market street today, OP checks out

10/6/2014 4:12:22 PM

State409c / Chance / dtownral / JesusHChrist

...has a long sad history of hating many different types of people and sharing it here

10/6/2014 5:10:32 PM

If you dont like homeless people, support a free housing prigram.

10/6/2014 6:30:52 PM

this thread is because synapse/y0willy0/Smath74/A has a crush on me

10/6/2014 6:31:16 PM

My walk to work consisted of going over Nob Hill thru the Tenderloin and across Market St. It went something like this:

Bentley, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Bentley, Bentley, Porsche, Porsche, Guy with vomit all over himself, guy shooting heroin in his foot on the sidewalk, guy that hasn't bathed since the dot com crash, mentally disabled guy talking to himself, corner boy selling crack, startup guy with chrome bag and $5 cup of coffee ad nauseum.

It's wild the juxtaposition of the most opulent wealth you've ever seen with the most destitute homeless you've ever seen. It's seriously goes from Bentley to homeless in about 4 blocks.

[Edited on October 6, 2014 at 7:09 PM. Reason : a]

10/6/2014 7:08:28 PM

Quote :

"It's wild the juxtaposition of the most opulent wealth you've ever seen with the most destitute homeless you've ever seen."

I've seen a lot worse. Try visiting Latin America sometime.

10/6/2014 8:16:21 PM

San Francisco in 20 years will look like Detroit today, we're just a couple years away from the app store bubble bursting

10/6/2014 8:33:34 PM

10/6/2014 8:37:38 PM

Quote :

"San Francisco in 20 years will look like Detroit today, we're just a couple years away from the app store bubble bursting "

LOL yeah right. SF is backed by old money, the Italian mob, gays, and the Chinese. It's been one of the richest cities in the country for the past 150 years. Besides, all the blacks have already left, so there's no real threat of urban decay.

10/6/2014 8:41:42 PM

all of those people are being pushed out by gentrifying dot com-ers, and that bubble will pop within a few years

10/6/2014 9:45:05 PM

you mean like in the late 90s with the dotcom bust that was supposed to be the ruin of SF?

or maybe you just forgot that the #1 and #2 industries in SF aren't tech- they're tourism and medicine

10/6/2014 10:05:31 PM

tech isn't a bubble. its a cloud.

10/6/2014 10:11:09 PM

the late 90's didn't inolve SF like this bubble has, entire areas have been bought and redeveloped by tech companies.

Detroit also had tourism and medicine as top industries before that city collapsed too





[Edited on October 6, 2014 at 10:20 PM. Reason : most cities have medicine towards the to, hospitals employ a lot of people and medicine is expensive]

10/6/2014 10:16:38 PM

Detroit tourism? What in the fuck are you talking about? Name ONE tourist attraction in Detroit that's known the world over like the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, or Chinatown? I mean I get that you're trolling, but try harder.

10/6/2014 10:30:51 PM

greektown was one helluva gambling destination in its day.

10/6/2014 10:39:46 PM

We're talking about industries within the city, comparing to other cities is pointless. tourism and medicine were among the top industries in Detroit. Medicine was probably the largest employer after schools.

The app store bubble will kill SF, I'm sorry you've been spending $4k per month on a shitty apartment for nothing.

10/6/2014 10:50:58 PM

Yes, the downfall of the venerable Detroit tourism industry is what sent the city spiraling into disrepair. Not the failing automotive industry, white flight, and horrible weather.

And I don't live in SF. I pay way less living in Oakland

[Edited on October 6, 2014 at 10:57 PM. Reason : .]

10/6/2014 10:56:02 PM

CaelNCSU has never been to India

10/7/2014 7:43:22 AM

Eh, with the money SF has it can rest on its laurels for a long time. It still has the bedrocks of tech living in the city in droves. When the VC bubble pops you'll still have Google, Apple, MS, Salesforce, ebay, and the like making money hand over fist. Every social media startup copying Instagram will evaporate and that will have some effect, but not like if Google went bust.

10/7/2014 9:13:44 AM

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/11/business/la-fi-tn-tech-entrepreneur-apologizes-for-trashing-san-francisco-homeless-20131211

10/7/2014 9:34:39 AM

everyone knows hardcore pawn generated significant tourism interest in detroit

10/7/2014 10:34:06 AM

Quote :

"tech isn't a bubble. its a cloud."

10/7/2014 11:09:31 AM

^ you have to consider the source.

10/7/2014 11:20:19 AM

Quote :

"San Francisco in 20 years will look like Detroit today, we're just a couple years away from the app store bubble water supply bursting"

the detroit part still works.

10/7/2014 3:54:35 PM

Nah. Northern CA has better access to fresh water than Southern CA. I'm honestly more worried about an earthquake than a tech collapse or water completely drying up.

10/7/2014 5:26:10 PM

worry not. sf is ready for a quake

10/7/2014 5:51:53 PM

yeah that was kinda my point...

10/7/2014 5:57:16 PM

oh and not to pick on LA, but things are likely to hit the fan sooner down there than up in NoCal

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/us/report-finds-a-los-angeles-in-decline.html?_r=0

10/7/2014 6:07:45 PM

Quote :

"And I don't live in SF. I pay way less living in Oakland "

Also Oakland is much cooler.

Though I'm not sure I'm actually saving any money doing so. I just prefer Oakland to SF so far.

[Edited on October 7, 2014 at 7:25 PM. Reason : And by cooler I really mean 7 degrees warmer always]

10/7/2014 7:25:08 PM

Oakland is much more laid back and mellow and the weather is fantastic. I've been here 8 years and counting

10/7/2014 8:00:01 PM

Quote :

"It's seriously goes from Bentley to homeless in about 4 blocks."

Not even just regular homeless. TL homelessness is on a whole other level. I'm kind of shocked at how accustomed I've become to seeing the amount of mental illness and suffering I see going to work every morning.

10/8/2014 10:42:41 AM

I've seen the same thing in Seattle, Portland, San Diego and LA.

I think West Coast homelessness is a whole other beast than anything I've seen on the East Coast or Midwest. It's right on par with what you'd see in some developing countries.

10/8/2014 2:33:28 PM

Quote :

"It's seriously goes from Bentley to homeless in about 4 blocks."

We've got shit like that in Charleston...North of Broad of course.

10/8/2014 2:38:54 PM

^ Shooting heroin in their feet in the middle of the sidewalk and drenched in vomit from head to toe? Or just normal homeless?

10/8/2014 3:17:01 PM

Depends on which part of town.

10/8/2014 3:18:59 PM

http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2014/10/09/oaklands-uptown-named-2014s-best-neighborhood/

pretty cool for Oakland. Uptown was a total shit hole less than 5 years ago and now it's one of the hottest neighborhoods in the Bay Area.

10/9/2014 7:16:22 PM

There's a homeless man who lives directly in front of my apartment. I see him every morning immediately when I open my door on my way to catch the muni. I affectionately call him "Bubblegum," because when he gets high he has weird trips and starts swearing incoherently at parked cars and street lights, and it just sounds like he's saying, "Brahhbrahhh baah bubblegum bubblegum bubblegum brahhhh braahhh!"

But other than that he's actually a pretty kind and docile creature who listens to his walkman and reads random books that he finds scattered around the block. I try to not to disturb his living space when I get home from work late at night or from a run and he's sleeping/OD'd. I get worried when I don't see him for days on end. "Where's Bubblegum?" I'll think to myself.

Sometimes I give him an Odwalla if I have extra time in the morning. He seems to enjoy Mango Tango.

10/22/2014 2:09:11 AM

You shouldn't feed the homeless or give them juice. It just encourages them to hang around and be a public nuisance.

10/22/2014 10:34:44 AM

omg you guys, have some compassion for the downtrodden

10/22/2014 10:43:58 AM

If I had time, I bake them some Jesus biscuits. And then I'd give them an anti-freeze laced drink to wash it down with.

10/22/2014 10:48:42 AM

i've reported you to the SFPD for threatening to murder/poison the homeless

10/22/2014 10:51:05 AM

If SF is anything like DC, in being one of the most expensive areas to live in the country, many of these homeless have been pushed out of their housing by a rising cost of living. It is incredibly sad, only made worse by the lack of adequate shelters

10/22/2014 10:54:59 AM

It's worse than DC. And yeah, I feel bad, but this homeless situation is out of control and the product of shitty local politics.

10/22/2014 10:59:39 AM