Stopped in at City Lights, bought a couple books, went for lunch, and walked through North Beach to the pier. Walked along Embarcadero to the BART station there and had a great (albeit short) layover there. I saw a few people who appeared to be homeless. No more than I see in Toronto or Hamilton—but I can’t speak to what kind of measure that is anymore.
And the stench. Nothing like the glorious smell of ocean breezes and human excrement in the morning!
And to think the Embarcadero is relatively clean by SF standards. The Tenderloin is where it gets real fun.
The second time I asked one of the guys trying to sell me coke why that was happening, he said it was really the only reason white people walk there.
The whole thing was very different from the super-liberal picture of SF I had in my head.
I just find much of the rhetoric makes it sound like the city is overrun and in shambles and that wasn't my experience. Of course, if I lived in those concentrated locales I might feel that way.
- Market St.
- Embarcadero & Washington St. intersection
- King St. (esp. around the CalTrain station)
- Pretty much all the BART stations within SF city limits
Those are the areas I'm in pretty frequently, at least.
San Fran doesn't care how terrible their city looks to tourists nor care for its people like NYC does? I don't get it ... uber super tech rich living in the most expensive houses in the US with human feces outside on their pavements or around the corner.
Whatever San Fran is doing and methodology it's following it doesnt seem to be working out for itself!
The way I see it, fundamentally, San Francisco views the homeless as part of it's people, many other places do not.
I guess that's now considered the charm of San Francisco. Disgusting!
People often say the same kinds of things about Toronto but the place is hardly overrun.
I just thought it would be a valuable single data point from a visitor’s perspective. No assumptions, just an experience.