I am a NY resident but I was in SF this past summer. Regarding cleanness it depends on which neighbors you live in. If you live in Richmond or Outer Sunset like I was the neighborhoods should be pretty clean. Where I live now in NY is considered one of the safest neighborhood but with the ever increasing population the neighborhood is getting dirtier.
San Francisco shuts down at 10pm; New York truly is the city that never sleeps, and many neighborhoods feel busy and alive at all hours of the night.
True. Most local restaurants close around 10. Even those in the city closes early too. Usually I have to drive to Daly City to look for better and bigger restaurant.
But that's fine. I wouldn't want to dine too late. Now if you are looking for late night entertainment....
New York has probably the best public transit systems in the country
Also one of the dirtiest too. The problem with SF transit (subway) is that it runs on the street so they compete with cars and buses. Also SF subway trains are smaller and shorter so it can't take that many at once. So it's unfair to say SF doesn't have a good transit system.
SF's buses are quite on time, unlike NYC. I could check nextbus.com to confirm the next arrival and usually the bus can come within 2 minutes within the estimated arrival time.
The only pet peeve I have is there is very few bus sign. Looking for yellow paint mark can be tricky. When I was new to SF I was constantly asking people and looking outside the window to check whether I was approaching my destination. The only clue I had was to look at the street sign (X ave X street) and guess. Or I have to stare nextbus.com to watch for the next bus stop.