The Great San Francisco Bubble (FreeRepublic Mentioned)

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | day, May 9, 2003 | Mark Morford

[nickcarraway]

It's that odd dumbstruck jolting feeling you get as soon as you step more than 25 miles away from this most progressive and funked-out and deeply flawed and self-consciously screwy of kaleidoscopic American urban metropoli: oh my freaking God, what is happening to the world? This is what you say. To yourself. Probably.

[F16Fighter]

"I'm not so sure the 'pop the bubble' metaphor is quite appropriate, but it's close. I prefer 'lancing a boil.'"

"Boil" was my number one pick as well...

And within this boil is both the pathogenic physical slime AND festered corruptive moral elements which the AIDS-carrying author fantasizes about spreading to America's children.

In other words, the man awaits Satan's next order...

[Boot Hill]

Mark the muff diver says:   "[San Francisco is] indeed anti-gunlicking and pro-organic and avidly orgasmic. We are more flagrantly enthusiastically balls-out do-it-now feel-good suck-me hell-yes tolerant..."

The following pretty little rock and over one billion of his brothers (bigger than 100 meters in size) are currently orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. Occassionally their orbits cross paths with Earth.

Evidently, we don't cross paths often enough.

--Boot Hill

[ChuckMartelRox]

I wath biting a pillow rethently when my latetht column came (tee-hee) to me...

[GOP_1900AD]

Dude you are sure expending a lot of energy defending The City. I think you must be wearing rose colored glasses. While I agree there a some nice residential areas, culturally SF has been turned upside down for some time. Beyond all of the bums and freaks, even in "nice" areas the MANY usurpers, typically under 35 in age, and typically from other areas, have completely taken over. The cult of youth is THE SCENE just about anywhere in The City except for parts of the most outlying residential neighborhoods. When my wife and I moved out (to San Mateo County) we must have left you as the last Republican (at least I assume you might be)... well, I know that's slight exageration but I think you could not deny that SF have moved even further to the Left than ever thought possible even during the 1970s and 80s. Deny it though you may, SF has been seriously damaged by all the vermin who have infested it, be they bums or be they hedonists. It has become the peak of family unfriendly communities within the already family unfriendly overall metro. Just curious; how much time have you spent, with an open mind, in other parts of the US? I must admit when I was younger I used to say I'd never leave the Bay Area but these days there are a number of places out there which I know we could live in just fine where we would have a better house, more land and a much more truly American social environment that is 100s of percent more friendly for a growing family than ANYWHERE in the Bay Area least of all SF!

[nickcarraway]

Why is KSFO one of the most popular stations?

[SierraWasp]

"SF is relevant. The LP'ers go to SF NORML conventions to recruit new members."

Excuse me... I haven't read enough of this thread to determine the context of this comment to see if it's sarcastic, or not. I just thought it was such a prize winning comment that I wanted to be sure Grampa Dave didn't miss it!!!

It sure brought a huge grin to my face, so excuse me for my interjection without invitation.

Sincerely,

Sierra B. Wasp, B.U.Z.Z.E.R.D.

[45Auto]

The sign of a "progressive" city - human feces in the doorways of buildings.

[buwaya]

If you want an idea of what SF residents REALLY think, consider that they voted for Newsom's measure by a substantial majority. There is less leftist insanity than you would think by reading the papers.

[45Auto]

You're right - the bastards ruined a once-great city - where people could walk around anywhere at night safely. Now there are neighborhoods where people don't go in the daytime. The last time I was in the Mission, it looked (and smelled) like Tijuana. If someone was knocked out, and carried to the Mission, when he woke up he might think he was in El Salvador. My son lived for several years south of Market Street near the corner of 5th and Harrison; the bums stole his car registration sticker by cutting off a thrid of the license plate - twice! They broke into his car and stole - dirty laundry! San Francisco still has some nice places - but the list is getting smaller every year as the vermin, the gay jerkoffs and the commie politicians make it more of a cesspool than a city.

[buwaya]

I've lived in the US since 1986, mainly in SF, but for a few years in Sacramento, San Bruno, Belmont and San Carlos.

The people who have "taken over" in my experience are mainly very conservative Asians, like me.

Yes, I'm a republican. I think SF is at least 25% Republican in registration.

The main problem for families in SF is that the houses and lots are very small, the lots being laid out back in the 1880's-1890's, and built out with small row houses from 1920-1940 mostly. So its hard to find a large house with a yard, and if such a thing existed it would be very expensive. So this is not a matter of politics.

[American Preservative]

San FRancisco ping! : )

[buwaya]

Oh man !

The Mission is cool, dude.

Get off the train at 24th then I take my boy down the street there and buy pasteles and eat at a Taqeria, and then you can get polboron from the Filipino bakery. Nobody is going to bother you, its fun.

Hey, they're poor, but these people are making money, moving up. Some are moving to San Ramon, making room for the next guy off the plane. So it goes. There are 10,000 Horatio Alger stories there. The Mission is NOT depressing. Hunters point IS depressing. But then I understand it was always depressing. The Castro is just weird.

[WSGilcrest]

perfectly climated major metropolis in the nation

Even the weather's queer.


But seriously, you've got me rethinking going down and seeing the fireworks tommorrow night...



KFOG KaBoom, our free concert and fireworks show, is this Saturday, May 10, at Piers 30/32, at the corner of Embarcadero and Brannan Streets in San Francisco. Fireworks choreographed to a World Class Rock soundtrack plus a free concert with Steve Winwood, Susan Tedeschi, Nickel Creek and Keller Williams.

Check out all the latest information about KFOG KaBoom on our website at www.kfog.com.

Schedule:

Gates open at 4pm, the music starts at 4:15 with Keller Williams on Stage 2. Susan Tedeschi performs at 5:10 on Stage 1, followed by Nickel Creek at 7:20 on Stage 2. Steve Winwood performs on Stage 1 at 7:30pm.

Fireworks are scheduled for 9:15pm.

There's a Children's Stage with continuous performances from 4:30pm-8:00pm. Take a ride on the Kaboom Ferris Wheel, check out the great food and beverages that will be sold on the pier, and make sure to visit our sponsor booths for some fun stuff and free giveaways.

Enter to Win:

Stop by the KFOG booth at KFOG KaBoom, where we'll be doing a last chance drawing every half hour for Kaboom Box Seats - the best seats in the house for KFOG KaBoom.

Additional Information:

Public transportation is a great way to get to KFOG KaBoom, plus we have free, secured bicycle parking (Piers 30/32) and motorcycle parking (Pier 24). Transportation info, directions, what to bring (and what not to…) are all found on www.kfog.com.

Let's See Your Photos of KFOG KaBoom!

Email us at kaboompics@kfog.com with your photos of the event. We'll be posting a gallery of Fogheads on our new website at www.kfog.com - so check it out and see if we post your shot.

Our 10th annual KFOG KaBoom is our way of saying "thank you" to our Fogheads for listening to KFOG and supporting us all year long. So, join us this Saturday for a great time out. Make sure you bring your radio and set it to 104.5 KFOG for the World Class Rock soundtrack.

[Drango]

You cannot walk anywhere in SF downtown area (and lets face SF proper is only like 5 square miles) without bums owning every bus stop, accosting you, the stench of urine, and graphiti.

My wife won't go into SF after dark, and during the day will go only if I'm with her.

[Carry_Okie]

I grew up in San Francisco during the 60's and '70s. It was a great place to be a kid, but the predominant culture took an enormous toll on my life for which I'm still paying. I would never raise a child there now. It's just too risky.

We moved out in the early '70s. I lived on the water in Oakland for a decade and that was a unique experience. I still live in the Bay Area but I don't go to the city often. I guess my favorite place is still the Maritime Museum but I just don't like dealing with the creeps.

The gays don't bother me in practice as much as in principle. I've seen just about everything; It's the lies they tell and the damage they do to others to which I object and it's real. They don't make me squeamish no matter how hard they try. What's really funny is how they take it when you feed their crap back to them. That hard "balls out" exterior is really brittle, and beneath it is a self-hatred so deep that either real violence or deep depression isn't far behind.

The bums are just gross, and as a visitor you have to deal with them. It's different as a resident.

I miss the place, but I wish they'd go away.

Why did we ever let the sickos get the good real estate?

[Grampa Dave]

This to confirm cinfla great observation about SF: SF is Relevant. The LP'ers go to SF NORML conventions to recruit new members.

[LittleJoe]

I will always remember her as she was once in a beautiful long ago dream

You sure brought a tear to my eye! The beautiful old gray lady has passed away.

How long before the cancer that took her life takes ours?

[Sharpshot613]

I fear robbery and street-crime in Berkeley more than any place else. If I get a flat tire in the middle of Arkansas, I know that the person who stops is going to help me out, not steal my wallet for crank money and try to rape me, unlike Berkeley.

Why is it that the only places you want to be armed are the places where you can't be armed?

[buwaya]

Interesting. The problem with SF is it seems like as it has microclimates of the weather it also has social microclimates. For kids, for instance, it seems to be two entirely different cities, depending on where you live and who you know.

If we can use school test scores, which are about as good a proxy for the state of kid-culture as any, the school district is an entirely different animal on the east and west sides. On the east side the schools are almost unversally as dismal as in Oakland. On the west side they are about what you would expect in Novato.

Also note that SF has the best public high school in California, Lowell, better than those in Palo Alto, which is one of the best in the country as a whole. The Lowell graduating classes I've seen (my wife is an alumna) are so impressive in their intellectual horsepower as to be almost scary. I would be very proud to have my children go to Lowell.

The main reason I think the sickos got in was that the old mainly Catholic ethnic residents moved out to the suburbs. These politically active people formerly voted in rational governments. When they left they were replaced by a combination of politically inactive Asians and an assortment of malcontents from across the US, who achieved power by default.

[ladyinred]

And we were mentioned so nicely too! :-)