re: This is what downtown San Francisco looks like right now

I’ll begin by saying that I find the interest in this city from people who don’t live in San Francisco extremely fascinating.

As someone who has lived in San Francisco for 16 years now I can say that much of what is happening currently in Downtown SF is related to the series of smash mob style robberies that has been occurring in the Bay Area recently, although some buildings were partially boarded up dating back to the lockdown of 2020.

Things that are somewhat worse over the last 2 years:

homelessness has definitely increased but its not all that shocking to me given the economic downturn associated with the pandemic.

some crime #s, but if you look at comparisons to prior year this isn’t as large as what’s been made of it.

Overall downtown was hit hard by the pandemic and the fact that people left the area to work remotely. I biked to downtown to work at our office—as I’ve done once a week for the last 3 months or so—and its clear that things are picking back up with more people going into the office. With that said, most workplaces here are hybrid or full time remote so I’m not sure the Financial District will be what it was for some time.

I can say that crime isn’t something that I worry about and isn’t something that my friends and I discuss when we hang out. It’s not something I consider when making plans and isn’t something that impacts my day to day life or the life of my family of 4.

As with most things, there is some truth to these type of stories but also some hyperbole. People have spoke of California’s (and San Francisco’s) demise for years, but the world’s 5th largest economy (and the center of the tech world) continues to chug along and is set to have a $31 billion surplus at the state level and a $150+million surplus at the state level.

State and local officials have allocated surplus funds and federal funds to address homelessness and that is definitely something that needs to done and done properly. Beyond that, housing costs need to be addressed but I can say that the pandemic caused—at least temporarily—rental and mortgage prices to drop. However, rents are still high AF and houses are still being bought with cash above asking price so this place can’t be all bad, right? The weather, the parks, the surrounding areas (wine country, Tahoe, Yosemite, etch), the food, the beer, the herb, the diversity, and many other things will continue to draw people to live here.