San Francisco Died, Again

I thought this was a nice retrospective on how history rhymes. I think there’s no question in the long run, San Francisco will be just fine. It has too many inherent strengths for it to ever become a wasteland.

I do think the city has some pressing challenges in the near and medium term. On a recent visit, for example, I was wandering through the financial district and I was kinda shocked at just how much obsolete office space there is. To the extent that those properties were highly utilized five years ago and still a substantial component of the city’s tax rolls, that’s a problem. There’s going to be a period of painful adjustment as commercial real estate values are adjusted, and the cost of housing is only going to delay the completion of that reckoning.

It also seems like the city has a disproportionately large exposure to the homeless and untreated mental health issues that currently affect American society generally right now. I have no idea what the solution is here, and I feel pretty confident saying that San Francisco city leaders don’t either, but I’m not sure anyone else does for that matter. So I don’t really hold that against San Francisco or think that it’ll be the demise of the city.

There will be some years of muddling through, but I’d wager a decade from now the storyline today will seem as foreign as predicting NYC’s imminent demise in 1977 or 1989 or 2001.

I'm trying to negotiate my rent now. Thaaaaannnnkkkk you, sfgate.com. That's exactly the kind of article I like to see.

In all seriousness, SF has felt more alive than ever. Perhaps people are leaving, but after the pandemic, it feels great here.

What is really funny is this article is just another reporter arguing with other reporters and using examples of past reporters arguing with other reporters.

“You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.”