> Those that owned houses also moved as they were fed up with crime and could get a way better house somewhere else.
How do the criminals afford to live in the area?
How do the criminals afford to live in the area?
The petty crimes are committed by a small but very vocal minority of homeless people who are severely mentally ill and/or severely addicted to meth/opiates. They can afford to live here because everyone has apparently decided the most humane thing to do is to look the other way while they struggle, freeze, and eventually overdose and die on the street.
The larger-scale thefts are committed by organized crime operations that essentially operate a business of stealing and reselling stuff because of notoriously lax law enforcement. Think the opening scene of Requiem for a Dream, except an entire crew doing that, over and over and over. They make a lot of money doing this -- and drive up the cost of basic essentials for other working class people who have to buy what they resell because they clear drugstores out. They make enough to live comfortably, despite the high cost of living, apparently.
My housemate's car was stolen about 15 years ago(!) and used for a bank robbery somewhere else on the peninsula (also close to a freeway) and abandoned in Oakland.
There's a regular sweep of my neighborhood on the peninsula for unlocked cars at night, they will take anything, and break into cars for visible bags. It's practically every third topic on Nextdoor.
I live in SF and would watch my old neighbor in the subsidized housing across the street park a new ebike in the garage every day. They would throw away random exhaust bits in the public trash can around midnight once or twice a week. Every few months they would have a “garage sale” and every item on the sidewalk was still new in box. All completely random stuff.
Everyone knew about it. People complained. The cops knew. The postman knew they stole packages. Nothing anyone could do. They still live there. Still stealing.