OPINION: Good-bye, San Francisco, Hello, Hayward

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 4/7/5 | Cinnamon Stillwell

[SmithL]

Like most of the world's great metropolises, San Francisco is a city inhabited largely by pilgrims, émigrés and exiles from afar and abroad. Whether originating from other states or other countries, many a wanderer has made his or her way to the City by the Bay, looking for a new life.

Among their ranks are local migrants, the group to which I belong. I grew up in Marin County in a time when artists, hippie types and regular folk like my family could afford to dwell among the well-to-do. Needless to say, it made for a pleasant upbringing. But, like most young people, I eventually grew hungry for the excitement and opportunities of the big city. After some time abroad and a brief stint in Oakland, I found myself arriving in San Francisco, where I've spent the last 12 years.

When I was single and left of center, I fit in nicely with San Francisco's bohemian surroundings. But after getting married and then undergoing a post-9/11 political transformation, I became a stranger in a strange land. Living out at Ocean Beach for many years, on the fringes of the City and the very country, added to my seclusion -- a state I didn't entirely mind.

Like many a conservative in San Francisco, I've expressed a desire to move away on more than one occasion, and, judging by some of the responses to my columns, my critics wouldn't be sorry to see me go. Even well wishers seem perplexed about my choice of locale in light of my politics. But rather than caving into "Love it or leave it" arguments or abandoning the place as a lost cause, I was determined to stay and do my bit.

But circumstances finally forced my hand, and, last month,

[SmithL]

Welcome to my side of the Bay. Great read from one of my favorites at the Chronicle.

[Drango]

East Bay bump!

[martin_fierro]

Say hi to your new neighbor.

[Carry_Okie]

She was quite apparently not raising a child, else she would have left long ago with far fewer reservations.

[wideawake]

It's an interesting column.

Her husband is black, and he says he feels much more at home and comfortable in suburban Hayward than in ultra-sensitive lefty San Francisco.

I'm not surprised.

[KarlInOhio]

I certainly have no regrets about swapping the faded John Kerry bumper stickers of San Francisco for the yellow ribbon "Support Our Troops" stickers seen on cars all over Hayward.

Hayward must me the bay area's Sane Asylum.

[scott says]

I lived in Berkeley, Oakland,Emeryville and Walnut Creek from 1991-1994. I really did not like it at all,too much traffic,too many rude people,I am a carpenter and worked on the fire zone houses and as a Christian conservative did not fit in with all the left wing loonies. I now live in San Rafael and like it much more. I am a contractor now and Marin County is a great place to do my work, the weather, an abundance of wealthy people who have money to spend.I listen to Glen Beck and other "right wing" radio and you would be surprised how many people say " I thought I was the only conservative out here"

[Heartofsong83]

I thought the entire Bay Area was quite liberal...

[Owl558]

"Welcome to my side of the Bay."

I was born and raised in Castro Valley (next to Hayward) and have lived here all my life. I can relate to a lot of the things the author of the article describes - Not everyone on this side of the Bay is a lunatic and the living is far more pleasant than in that s***hole San Francisco.

The area has undergone enormous changes in the last 30-years. There has been so many people coming in from outside the area. In my neighborhood, I am the only Bay Area native and the ONLY person to whom Castro Valley is their home town. When I mention it, I get stares like I am some kind of mutant. It's funny. It is good environment for raising my kids (who are also hometown natives).

[Ignatz]

San Fran is a wonderful place to visit, but I sure wouldn't want to live there!

[Myrddin]

I spent most of 1984 living in the Union City Holiday Inn and working at the PacBell data center in Hayward. I can hardly believe it has been over 20 years. I was stuck in the area for 4th of July. The locals recommended watching all the fireworks around thd bay from one of the nearby hilltops. Great idea. Lots of fun until some idiot lit a Roman candle and set the dry grass ablaze. Fortunately, there were so many people on the hill that we managed to stomp the fire out quickly with just our shoes. Another more zealous group stomped the $hit out of the idiot who set the hillside on fire.

[L.N. Smithee]

As a SF native who is living in an undersized apartment close to the area Ms. Stillwell formerly resided, I concur almost completely with her dilemma. Not so her hubby's. I am a black man also, but having lived here all my life, I don't have any racial jitters. I don't know a lick of Chinese (the foreign language of predominance where I am), but I have gotten along with every neighbor I have ever had just fine. Perhaps the gap can be explained by my never having had the sense of community that he had as a black man in Detroit, and he had to learn to be friendly but not necessarily familial, like I am.

There was a family who briefly rented a house a few doors down from me that emigrated from the Netherlands. I will never forget meeting their adorable, pale-skinned blond toddler son for the first time. He gave me a wide-eyed smile and walked toward me. I knelt to shake his hand, and he reached out to touch my hair. I realized this was maybe his first experience with hair like mine!

[L.N. Smithee]

I listen to Glen Beck and other "right wing" radio and you would be surprised how many people say " I thought I was the only conservative out here"

I like Glenn Beck a lot. I wish KNEW hadn't moved him against Rush. I never thought we would have such an embarrassment of riches in conservative talk in the Bay Area.

[Alia]

Hailing also from the SF Bay Area: I was honored to be the first non-brown-eyed-person a 10month old Chinese Baby had ever met. She freaked! We became close friends after that.. :)

[telebob]

Hmmm....I know well of Hayward and its politics. It's just like any other Bay Area city, dominated by liberal Democrats and being infected with the Frisco virus at an alarming rate.

I don't think Cinnamon is going to be so enamored of her new town when she begins to realize that the murder rate, gang problem and general criminal behavior has been skyrocketing for the last several years.

Once she starts to follow the local politics, she may find out that the local council and mayor are just as brain-dead and lefty dogmatic as any SF supervisor.

But for now...enjoy!

[rahbert]

Isn't Don Perata from near there?

[telebob]

"Isn't Don Perata from near there?"

Perata is more a creature of Oakland politics. Hayward gave the world Fourtney 'Pete' Stark.

[scott says]

KNEW is really taking off! They got Savidge as his home base and Jeff Katz is an excellent local show-I like him a lot.KSFO has a couple of good weekend shows-David Gold and Barbara Simpson both are very good.The Bay Area isn't as left-wing as everybody thinks it is-- of course the local govt./city govt. is-probably worse than people even realize, but there are LOTS of people like you and me-not enough to change anything but a lot more than folks around the country know about.

[Citizen James]

several hours old, but a good thread...