Wither San Francisco

Stockton Street Tunnel

I hate to keep hammering on the precious 'City by the Bay', but please understand that I do it out of love. For many urbanists, there is usually one city, possibly one experienced during childhood, that remains close to heart and provides a lens through which to view other cities. For urban greats like Lewis Mumford and Jane Jacobs, that city was most obviously New York. In his book Invisible Cities, Italian writer Italo Calvino used Venice as the archetype for which a fictionalized Marco Polo describes the otherworldly cities he encountered during his travels. Being a native of the Bay Area, the cardinal influence on my early civic awareness is derived from none other than San Francisco. This is true so much so that back then we even referred to it just as 'The City'.

San Francisco continues to be an anomaly as it is the most famous city in a highly prosperous region (The Bay Area) where it is neither the most populous city nor the economic heart of the region. For a few decades now, the city's economy has been coasting on its 'post-card image' capital: beautiful scenery and charming Victorian architecture. Yet what has probably been most detrimental for San Francisco is its reputation as a bastion of liberal idealism.

The era of social progressivism has officially ended. What is left, especially in San Francisco, is nothing more than a farce-a postmodern bastardization of once noble ideals. The angry spirit of so-called 'progressives' (most often people who are not actually from San Francisco but move to the city so they can live what they think is a utopian 'urban' lifestyle) is embodied by a group of people who participate in events like the Critical Mass.

Critical Mass bikers taking over SF streets

I recall one beautiful October evening walking home from work down Market Street when the wave of Critical Mass bikers came rolling down the street, disregarding traffic laws and running through red lights. As I was crossing the street (legally, as I the pedestrian had the right of way at that moment), I was almost run over by about 10 rogue bikers. While I told them to please respect the pedestrian (hey I was being more 'green' than they were by walking...carbon was spewed into the atmosphere to manufacture those bikes), I got nothing more than a 'FUCK OFF' from one of the female riders.

This little personal anecdote is just one example of the entitled attitude that is pervasive in San Francisco. Much of the responsibility lies with the city's leaders, who have let this entitlement spirit spin out of control. Now, all my gripes have been affirmed by a recent story in SF Weekly titled 'The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S.' The authors, Benjamin Wachs and Joe Eskenazi really nail it with this one as they pick apart the complete dysfunction of the city at the government level. This is an excellent piece that is long over-due and one can only hope that this will be a wake-up call for everyone who cares about San Francisco's future.

Another item that has been circulating around the San Francisco blogosphere lately is the issue of street thugs in the Haight neighborhood. The issue was originally brought to attention last month by SF Chronicle writer C.W. Nevius who called out the thugs on being detrimental to quality-of-life in the area. Surely, anyone who has been down Haight Street in recent years has seen them: young and crusty wannabe pseudo-hippies with nothing better to do than to aggressively harass people just walking down the street.

Apparently, Nevius's story worked and now the issue is being addressed by the San Francisco Police Department. Much credit goes to the city's new Police Chief, George Gascón, who seems to be proactively bringing much-needed reform to the department. This is highly encouraging and I look forward to seeing more policies implemented that discourage harassment on San Francisco's streets.

Anyone reading this blog who does not know me personally might assume, based on what I have just written, that I am an ultra-conservative 'values' voter who would like nothing more than to see San Francisco fall into the Pacific Ocean. On the contrary, I am quite proud of the city's legacy of social justice. I take pride in San Francisco's influential role in the gay rights movement and being a place where diverse groups of immigrants have historically been able to establish communities and work their way up the socioeconomic ladder.

Yet what the city has become today is not acceptable. One should not have to worry about stepping on human feces when walking down the street or getting stabbed by a mentally-deranged person while riding on the Muni, San Francisco's public transportation system. These basic quality-of-life issues are often overlooked by the 'progressives' in City Hall, where money is often squandered on social services that do nothing to enhance livability for the typical resident. San Francisco is blessed to have the assets of natural beauty, architectural charm and a compelling historic narrative. It's time to stop taking these things for granted and respecting the city by making it livable once again.