It feels like San Franciscans have pioneered a new anti-gentrification tactic: dramatically lower the quality of life until costs reset to 2008 levels.
But if costs aren't going down, then what? It seems like they've already reached an equilibrium, and the "exodus" is just normal churn (to be replaced by a roughly equivalent influx, keeping prices the same).
Great climate and gorgeous scenery but it is a city that lost a ground war with an army of homeless drug addicts.
Human feces on all of the streets, regular property crime, stores closing up and moving away, intense regulatory oversight for small businesses along with high costs.
No one I know who is starting something novel is doing it in California.
I guess it depends on what you mean by novel but the startup scene is very strong in the bay currently. I moved out to Utah last year for a cheaper place to live and obviously that’s nice, but the amount of casual racism and lack of diversity is shocking. I took things like tolerance and even basic regards for the planet for granted while I lived in the bay, and I’m dismayed at how rare that is across the rest of the US.
I wouldn't say SF's climate is that good - SoCal weather is far superior. And many of the San Franciscans I came across during my time there were pretentious and snobby. The rest of the Bay Area wasn't any better, and I'm much happier since moving to NYC.
I won’t argue about the climate, obviously SoCal is sunnier but I never was a fan of the heat waves and smog of LA. My own personal definition for a good climate is a temperature that gives the ability to do things outside year-round but I do love visiting that part of California!
Back in the 80's during the aids epidemic, conservatives used to complain about SF for being "gay" and "Sodom and Gomorrah" but then started getting called out for being homophobic in the 90's, so they had to come up with new ways to express their disdain for the city.
San Francisco is a beautiful city and I enjoy visiting. There are parts of it that are an absolute nightmare, but that's also true of any major city.
I didn't box everyone. I said conservatives. Fox News loves to bash San Francisco. I have to live around conservatives who are always bashing San Francisco. I think the source of it is homophobia. That's my opinion. I understand yours. Yes, I agree, it would be wrong to call everyone who has a criticsim of something in SF as homophobic.
Moving to SF (proper) for left wing ideals right now is a bit like being a staunch communist and moving to China. It's so over, thanks to the dollar (either respects, probably). Most of the bohemian, grass roots, critical thinking types have mostly moved on (or worse, joined the system). It's impossible to sustain a family there unless you've managed to get either rent control (years and years ago) or somehow won the tech and/or prop13 blood lotto. SF is ran by liberal-in-name-only (LINOs?) who block all housing then tax and ban plastics, then proceed to fly all over the globe, producing more co2 in a day than most people on the planet do in a year [1]. God help anyone rational left there tjat visits any other part of the country, even the south bay (San Jose) and see how other/families raise their children and how much more reasonable it is - i.e not having to constantly avoid subjecting yourself/family to the worst of the worst city garbage every day (the mental health crises and drug addiction epidemic, as well as crime are so heavily concentrated there its impossible to avoid). Most reasonable people opt-out and buy a huge house elsewhere.
It's got a ton of awesome history and venues, for sure, but its a place that exemplifies the problems of late stage capitalism. Foggy cold weather isn't that great either. My advice to anyone moving there chasing the money is to make as much as you can in 4 years and move out (if that's even a thing anymore going forward, with remote work being the norm).
/lived in Bay Area for 9 years, saw a friend get stabbed in the tenderloin, had someone throw a knife 9" across the street towards me when my wife and I were walking and watched it bounce in front of us, had someone throw a chunk of concrete at my windshild driving near union square.