| The market is telling you everything you needed to know. People aren't in San Francisco because they don't want to be in San Francisco. Even the people that "loved San Francisco" didn't even like things in the actual city limits, talk to nearly anybody about what they like there and they'll pick an endless list of things from the Pacific Ocean to the border of Nevada. Other cities aren't like that. Red Flag 1 through 10. There are people that like things in the city limits, 30 years ago. You'll know because they'll tell you about how a nice neighborhood used to be the most hellish thing you could ever imagine and would never visit, but at least artists used to lived there. Which is what they fawn over. As if someone else was going to pay for this $100 haircut, but if I see any gentrifiers I'll bark at them for you! scouts honor. And finally you begin to notice that almost all the other people that think they like(d) that city don't have an objective view of other metropolises to compare it with. Oh, I get it, this is "The City" for that region that people aspire for, because its 600 miles of frontier from there to Portland, Oregon. A couple aspirational people from Central Valley, "escaping" (their words), a bunch of economic migrants from across the US, visa holders that have no choice in the matter. Okay. Interesting. There were very few people from other cities that really just liked all the nature, and again, fewer of those are talking about the nature within the city limits. All that masked by actual geographic scarcity exacerbated by artificial scarcity to make the high prices seem like there was something to covet? Yeah, everyone that could leave has left. > The transit system’s looming deficit has given rise to whispers of a new regional tax to fill the gap. death spiral. Obviously this is just my experience, I bet many will have seen something similar. I don't think the city government policies are as big of a factor as people think. People saw an option to leave due to the nature of their work, and did. |
This isn't consistent with my experience at all. When I lived in SF, having moved to work for Salesforce, I spent a ton of time at street fairs, nightclubs, museums, concerts, parks, etc, and that's before I get to the food. Most of my friends seemed to be doing the same.
I mean, I have nothing against Lake Tahoe -- it's great -- but you could get that by living in Albuquerque, and the snow to jerry ratio is a lot better.