I am a person very familiar with San Francisco. I lived there for two years many decades ago, before I was married. I grew up across the bay, and going to the City
was something we did often, even for just dinner.
My great grandparents were married in SF; my father
lived in SF as a youngster. I have deep roots in The SF Bay Area.
Today:
An immediate family member and his family live in SF now.
They bought a home six years ago, and absolutely love it there. Their children attend public school there, and they
are involved parents. I have asked them if they would ever want to move, and both parents say, "NO! We love it here."
The gentleman next door sold his home because he was
in his eighties, and moved to live with a relative.
Who bought the home? A family from the mid-west:
with two young daughters. I have asked them how they
like it there, and all of them have smiled and basically
said: are you kidding...we love it!
People have left the City often because they want to buy a home, and the prices now are prohibitive. Many have moved to Sacramento, Fresno, or other areas more affordable. This has been going on for decades. And now that homes are in the $1.5 million plus, buying a first home is for the well off.
When we visit, we frequent the local grocers, restaurants,
and stores. People know each other are friendly and
community oriented.
Does SF have problems? Yes, there are issues with homeless, which is all over our coasts due to our
services as well as mild climate. Even in Monterey,
there are homeless, and in our suburban shopping center we have begun to see a few.
As far as SF "supporting" shoplifting. That is ridiculous.
The Walgreens problems have been all over the local news for months.
And by the way, a Walgreens in a nice neighborhood closed less than a year ago in Berkeley. Every time I
went in to buy a few items, it had very few customers and
seemed like it was not doing well as a business.
The large supermarkets with pharmacies and drug store products had made Walgreens
less appealing as an option. The building is now being
designed for gym/rock climbing facility.
A lot of the comments here are thinly disguised SF bashing for political reasons.
One of our sons travels a lot, and he has come home with commentary about a few places he has said are just
"awful". None of these places are in CA or the west coast.
And, by the way, there are a few neighborhoods in SF that have always been unsafe. This goes back as far as I can remember. So waxing nostalgic about how SF used to be, is not completely accurate.
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