Hacker News Reader

Comment by arzanr | Hacker News Reader

Everyone commenting on here about how bad things are in SF has likely rarely or never stepped into the core parts of Protrero Hill, Noe Valley, Richmond, Sunset, Glenn Park, Forest Hill etc. SF is a tale of two cities divided by natural barriers. There is a side to the city where you see almost no drugs, or homelessness. This is not a dismissal of the real issues facing the city but an acknowledgement that it is still a very livable city.

View on HN

I lived in Potrero Hill (I see you misspelled it, are you familiar with the neighborhood?) for over a decade and can tell you it didn't feel safe at all.

Had a bike stolen from my garage with power tools, caught a man with an angle grinder in another garage cutting through locks and threatening my life, mentally ill people yelling in the street and saw a few people with machetes walking around.

I used to go to Whole Foods, to Chez Maman, to the library and the rec center all the time. I moved out in 2020 and will never return, my mental health has improved significantly and I'm not exaggerating. I feel so much better now, it's like a flip switched and I started appreciating the beauty of life and community again...

I've been to all of those areas and though they are nice, they are not as safe as I'd like. Especially compared to other major international cities.

I lived in two of those areas for several years, and still saw more scary things happening on the street than I have in significantly longer time periods in other major metro areas. (The biggest difference fwiw was whether I lived on a very steep hill or not; the hill reduced the amount of street-side madness that I saw to near 0).

The clean and safe neighborhoods of SF are livable (I loved living there), but at least personally I have found them to be notably sketchier than any other city I've ever lived in and I agree with you that the contrast is not particularly close. >95% of the shoplifting I've personally witnessed in my life happened in SF despite it being a relatively small part of my total life experience.

The block this happened on is one I think of as quiet. I think this is an uncommon situation.

I'm sorry, I'm glad you've had it fine but that's bullshit, I've lived in those areas and have seen rampant crime that would not be tolerated in most other cities.

This city has lost it.

Well this comment has aged well. I bought into the narrative. Hope to learn from this.

Though I supposed my concerns were misplaced, but not totally incorrect? Shrug.

Literally every generation of suburbanites and ruralites think cities are big scary places with violence and drugs on every corner. It's just being amplified in this thread because that's what social media does.

We have literal video proof that this is the case in a lot of American cities. Are you denying this reality?

I disagree with your premise so your question has no meaning.

Anecdote is on your side.

Facts are on my side: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/10/31/violent-cri...

Well no, it was the stabbing of a man in broad daylight that did it.

2:35 AM is now broad daylight?

While I agree those areas are much nicer, most people still need to commute to go work in, and spend considerable amount of time in soma, fidi, etc.

I used to live in one of those areas you talk about, yet still was attacked and threatened several times in the span of 6 months during my commute to our office on Market street.

You can not totally avoid the other side even if you are able to spend your way into the nice part.

Noe valley and Richmond have homeless people. In the Richmond, on geary you'll see a lot of homelessness and drugs, especially from 4th-10th. There are also a few near Safeway on cabrillo. In noe you'd definitely see it on 12th Street. I've seen some really unstable people clear out coffee shops because they we were ranting in the middle of the shop.

There aren't many homeless people in the purely residential areas, but they are definitely where the businesses are.

12th St isn't even close to being in Noe. There's usually two homeless people in Noe, one woman who always sleeps between Church and Noe on 24th St, and an older man. Outside of the misfortune of being homeless, they don't really cause any troubles, and most people in the neighborhood often give them food or a warm tea / coffee. There's not much we can do on our own, and the city doesn't really seem to help sadly.

>12th St isn't even close to being in Noe

The reality of the matter is that SF is the diametric opposite of NYC. In NYC, people live in Murray Hill for a year, move somewhere else and talk about their amazing experience in the UES for the rest of their lives.

In SF, they live in new builds (all of which are in former non-neighborhoods that were either highway overpasses or industrial districts), move somewhere else and talk about how they basically lived in Pac Heights and even there it's scary.

Sorry, you're right. I actually meant to write 24th street. Also, I do not blame homeless people for their situation. They are not getting the help that the state and city needs to provide, but aren't actually interested in providing.

Potrero is unsafe now. Noe and Richmond are also slowly getting unsafe, and Sunset isn't far behind.

All kinds of scary shit happened to me when I lived in Pacific Heights. Really nowhere is safe except maybe Seacliff or something.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com