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Comment by drunner | Hacker News Reader

I went to the bay area once for vacation, so I have no real horse in this race besides I wish the best for humanity.

Its tough to balance reading https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/San-Francisco-crime-Che... that kinda shows crime is average for a large US city with the Bell Riots in the DS9 storyline https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Bell_Riots as an outsider.

Either way, shouldn't San Fran have plenty of money from all the tech there and plenty of extra office real estate from covid to try and put a dent in all the circumstances that lead up to someone needing to steal or getting addicted to drugs? Probably too optimistic of a take ...

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Kinda silly to assume that the data is an exact reflection of reality when that link is reporting on "incidents". Especially when you can visit the city and witness stark difference compared to walking around somewhere like Miami, Houston, or New York.

Incidents are actual reports to police, not a log of all activities happening in the city. Several factors can influence reporting rates in a city, causing over or underreporting. Especially if you doubt the effectiveness and corruptibility of the police. Homicides are direct reports of victims and more accurate.

Plus, the linked article is based on the San Francisco Police Department website's crime data. Not saying that nefarious activity is the case, but has this data been audited by a 3rd party? There's definitely an incentive to show that things are better than they are if funding, elections, etc. depend on it.

I think the relevant distinction is concentration. In other US cities with relatively high crime - the crime is concentrated in certain neighborhood and is heavily related to gang activity. So you provided you can avoid certain areas, you generally are able to avoid most crime. In SF the criminality has spilt out to have a broader impact in a way the aggregate statistics might not show. Previous advice that you would probably be safe anywhere in the city other than the tenderloin no longer applies.

The number one driver of theft and drug addiction is poverty. Unless SF commits to ending poverty, which they likely won't or can't, they won't address the causes of homelessness.

SF is especially "bad" because it has an incredibly high cost-of-living. If you're living in the area without a high-paying (tech) job, you're very likely to be only one or two surprises away from losing your housing.

They are throwing tons of money at the problem, and it isn't helping. Money doesn't solve problems by itself.

I guess trickle-down economics doesn’t work.

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