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The Great San Francisco Bubble (FreeRepublic Mentioned)
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | day, May 9, 2003 | Mark Morford

Posted on 05/09/2003 9:35:47 AM PDT by nickcarraway

Edited on 04/13/2004 2:42:26 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

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To: belmont_mark
Correct. The primary cause is the unfortunate Asian tendency not to vote or put up candidates, the cultural experience being oriented to enduring bad governments rather than making good ones.
261 posted on 05/12/2003 11:46:53 AM PDT by buwaya
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To: dcam
RE: It's all these idiot "intellectuals" that have come from somewhere else!

BINGO!

262 posted on 05/12/2003 2:41:18 PM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Un-PC even to "Conservatives!" - Right makes right)
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To: buwaya
Well also, I think you are offending quite a few of us (including me to an extent) with your discounting of the experiences of the many of us on this thread who either grew up here (like me) or left many years ago then returned. I think for every arguable exageration on the part of someone who has left the City (or the Bay Area in general) regarding how much of a pit SF has become, there are equal exagerations on your part regarding how nice it is. Please do not read this wrong, but I think that what someone in the "Asian enclave" experiences in SF may be vastly different than what other groups experience. Part of it owes to having multiple generations of family around or a very family centric existence. The things you do are not juxtaposing you against people such as the troll who lived in the in law downstairs from us; she was the classic rebel without a cause from Long Beach who adopted a beret, Communism and a seriously bad attitude. She hung out at "Organic Grounds" on 9th Ave and voted Red. Just one data point of many. How many people such as this do you and your family typically run into? Maybe you do, but who knows. I personally straddle the fence between the "Asian enclave" and the white good old boy one, and therefore I feel I have a very unique perspective on this matter. Personally, I tend to fall in more and more with the white flight crowd on this thread than others here, and that's quite remarkable given that my wife and I still spend a fair share of time in the City and we, having lived there for years (and me for years in the past when I was single, late 80s - early 90s) still have many friends there and many businesses we patronize. I think it has definitely gone downhill and I blame the Leftward lurch of each mayor since Christopher (Jordan excepted) and each batch of increasingly gay supes for this. Heck they are changing the health plan of city employees to include sex changes when they should be worried about the 25% conviction rate by Hallinan that traitor to his fellows in the Sunset who has injected Marxist love of rebels and criminals into the DA's office. What a crying shame!
263 posted on 05/12/2003 2:58:47 PM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Un-PC even to "Conservatives!" - Right makes right)
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To: belmont_mark
No offense meant; just expressing serious incomprehension of perception. It also rubs the wrong way when people wish for the place to be visited with fire and brimstone, or somesuch all because they are pissed off by a minority tribe of nitwits.

It may well be I travel in different circles than you; maybe it a personality thing. But I have known a fair number of lefties in SF and at their worst (that I've seen) they are amusing. I've never, ever had a significant political conflict (that led to anger) with a neighbor or similar.

I used to hang out (when single) down by the lesbian coffee shops on Valencia, and geez, it was funny. Dated one once too, for a while. The epitome of either hope or futility. Too bad, she was pretty.

We've had a troll for a neighbor - kept many dogs, never cleaned up after them, played loud music late at night, etc. But it wasn't political. Thats something that happens anywhere.

Most people we know socially have kids and families. Maybe it is an Asian thing, though most are white.
264 posted on 05/12/2003 3:18:04 PM PDT by buwaya
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To: Burkeman1
Your entire response is on the mark. Good job!
265 posted on 05/12/2003 3:47:15 PM PDT by esoteric
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To: belmont_mark
I just got home from the City. I was there to see my baby sister graduate from ACT (American Conservatory Theater) with her Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting. She's now off to Hollywood. I hope she is able to remain conservative.

It was a nice day, so the bums were out in force. I even had one step out in front of my car. I had to lock my brakes to avoid hitting him.
266 posted on 05/12/2003 4:35:52 PM PDT by rivercat (Welcome to California. Now go home. (Why couldn't they have listened?))
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To: buwaya
RE: "Most people we know socially have kids and families."

Increasingly rare in the Bay Area in general. Increasingly unheard of in the City. I'd say that in my experience the only folks having kids these days in the City are Asians in the Sunset and Richmond, latinos and some whites in the Mission, blacks in the Bayview / Hunter's Point / Western Addition and a very thin scattering of various others elsewhere. Most of our friends there (including many who are considering having kids but refuse to even think about it until they get out of the City) are DINKs, typically with pets. At the time we left the Sunset a few years ago that was one of the few areas where you'd seeing normal families. When we first moved down the Peninsula all of the sudden it seemed like there were families all around us, it was a profound change; and mind you I am comparing with a very residential part of the Sunset with few multiunit structures (excepting in laws). Sadly, even where we have moved to, slowly but surely families are leaving and being replaced by other arrangements. As I see it, the remaining portions of the Bay Area that even come close to being as "family friendly" as other parts of the US (be they metros or rural) are parts of the South Bay, much of the East Bay and most of the North Bay. The City and the Peninsula are definitely not moving in a family friendly direction and it would take substantial changes in economics, demographics and local politics (including much loosening of Green wacko growth restrictions) to change the trend.

267 posted on 05/12/2003 5:46:44 PM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Un-PC even to "Conservatives!" - Right makes right)
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To: belmont_mark
By my estimates, based on public and private school enrollment, there must be at least about 150,000 kids up to 18 in SF out of 750,000 residents.

This is about 2/3 of what you would expect given the normal US demographic distributions, so you are right up to a point. But still, the family deficit is nowhere near as total as you perceive. And these enrollment numbers have only declined marginally since the early eighties.

The big crash was in the period 1969-75. I have an excellent chart of school enrollment that shows that its was almost certainly the various busing schemes that were most to blame.

The family neighborhoods in SF are very large, occupying most of the land area of the city as far as I can see.

I don't disagree with you about all the silly policies of local politicians, but the situation is not as dire as all that.
268 posted on 05/12/2003 6:34:34 PM PDT by buwaya
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To: nickcarraway
I just read this column. I can't believe this guy is a regular columnist for this newspaper. Well, maybe I can, it is, after all, San Francisco.
269 posted on 05/13/2003 7:29:53 PM PDT by Utah Girl
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To: nickcarraway
Nothing that a li'l ole earthquake wouldn't cure.
270 posted on 05/13/2003 7:35:59 PM PDT by Rocky
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