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Capitol Ideas
What’s Up in San Francisco?
Besides the World Series, in case you were wondering.
The evening before I was due to fly to San Francisco, with car rental a priority, my wife discovered that my driver’s license had expired. Brilliant. I flew out from Dulles the next day thinking I might have to cope in California without a car. But you can get a temporary license, it turns out. Jumping through the DMV hoops on Fell Street was an experience in itself. When I arrived at 9:30 there must have been 150 people ahead of me. Take a number, find a chair, wait. You pay a fee, take a written (multiple choice) test with 50 questions, and study the booklet. I did so for two hours. I nearly failed the eye test but emerged with the needed paper at 4 p.m.
I had plenty of time to observe my fellow citizens — or aliens, perhaps. It never ceases to amaze me that in one of the most expensive cities in the country, so many ruffians, ragamuffins, and street people are out and about. Why so many?
Turns out local taxpayers were making a cash payment of about $400 a month to anyone who qualified. Tramps and ne’er-do-wells were heading to the City by the Bay from all over the state. My wife suggested perhaps I should go and apply for some cash assistance myself. Good idea, but it entailed too many bus rides, and probably another take-a-number-and-wait situation.
I did go to the St. Anthony Dining Room on Jones Street, next to St. Boniface Church — a center of Catholic Charities activity. I went down an incline into a subterranean hall full of tramps, 95 percent male, who were partaking of a free lunch. I should have interviewed one or two but I wasn’t up to imitating George Orwell (in Down and Out in Paris and London). I will say this. The volunteers who work in these places — mostly they seemed to be women — deserve a medal because street people are not the easiest people to deal with.
A few years ago, a city supervisor named Gavin Newsom proposed a welfare reform called “Care, not Cash,” and it became law. Now the city still gives cash, but much less, and other benefits such as housing and food are thrown in.
Newsom used the publicity to run for mayor and won. Today he is running for lieutenant governor.
San Francisco is basically run by rich liberals and for them giving away other people’s money to the “needy” is a good idea. They can admire their own “generosity” without having to deplete their own bank accounts. But it turned out the street people were spending the money on drugs and alcohol (duh). That may have hastened their demise — a good example of an unintended consequence. But it also turned out to be bad for business. Too many tourists found drunks sprawled in their path, urinating (and worse) on the sidewalks. So the “business community” supported the change in the law and the number of street people has gone down.
I had to do some research in the San Francisco Public Library, quite an impressive structure near City Hall. On Fridays it doesn’t open till noon, and by the time I arrived a small mob was already waiting to enter. Street people? Hard to say, because almost everyone these days, male or female, seems to dress in the same nondescript outfit; mostly black or near black. Business suits are rare. An article in the Examiner — not the Hearst paper of old but the free paper also published in other cities — had a front-page story: “Ugly Chapter in Library Violence: Outreach efforts for homeless patrons have yielded successes, but assaults and thefts increase in the last year.” They’ve hired a social worker to “reach out” to the homeless, mentally ill, or drug addicted. I was working in Special Collections up on the sixth floor, where peace and quiet reigned.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the (free) Examiner wipes out the ($1) San Francisco Chronicle. Local news is what’s needed, but the issues of the Chronicle I saw mostly had the usual dull liberal slant on national and foreign news, already copious on the Internet.
I went to see my lawyer friend David, who works downtown in one of those skyscrapers at the foot of California Street where the incline seems to go straight up. (With snow and ice in the winter, San Francisco would have been impossible.)
“What’s up in San Francisco?” I asked.
“It’s mellow,” he said. “The men are poorly dressed, the gays are in charge, and the women are on Prozac.”
At a major law firm, he was wearing an open-necked shirt himself.
“Friday,” he explained. The dress code reflected “the general sloppiness pervading the modern era.”
The gays? “They have immense political power. But a lot of the teeth grinding has gone.” Don’t take your kids to the Gay Pride Parade, but on juries they are “not particularly liberal. They have to pay insurance like everyone else. They are not out to redistribute wealth.”
About the Author
Tom Bethell is a senior editor of The American Spectator and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages, and most recently Questioning Einstein: Is Relativity Necessary? (2009).
Letter to the Editor View all comments (60) | Leave a comment
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vtwin| 10.28.10 @ 8:25AM
hey tom,don't be too hard with my city You should see the view to the bay at dusk,it's stunning and while you were there on Jones St you should have walked to my favorite joint where my buddies and I hang around, The Bronze Rod. Don't let the bikes outside impress you,in Frisco we're a friendly bunch of people.Next time just look for an orange and blue Sportster next to the mail box and yell "vtwin, it's Tom from TAS!" and I swear I buy you a brew.
vtwin| 10.28.10 @ 8:32AM
plus you don't have to ride a bike or to be gay to feel at ease in the Bronze Rod,people will be nice anyway.don't get funny ideas about liberals riding bikes.we're just human,we ain't no teabaggers,er not the same type anyway.whatever.
Sam Vaughn| 10.28.10 @ 11:35AM
Too bad,,, I thought you were being friendly and conversational until you got to the end,,, tea-baggers is a highly derogatory and insulting term. Mighty insensitive for a supposed liberal who cares about the feelings of others. San Francisco used to be nice and part's of it still are, I would sooner take my kids to Las Vegas than San Fran.
Muckraker Teepee| 10.28.10 @ 12:51PM
A Tea Party U.S. Senate candidate stands accused of sex with a minor girl he met at church. Eric W. Deaton has some explaining to do.
the Ohio Constitution Party candidate for U.S. Senate who was indicted for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor -- met the victim at a church where he was an elder.
Deaton claims its a political ploy. He can kiss away any hope of office. Wait, no, he never had hope. But Sarah Palin will rush, rush, rush to his defence.
I don’t make this stuff up.
Tea, anyone?
Old Texas Trashcan| 10.28.10 @ 12:52PM
I'll serve you some tea . . . up side yo head!
Mother Hubbard| 10.28.10 @ 12:53PM
Please, children!
Behave!
Margie| 10.28.10 @ 12:55PM
As for Eric W. Deaton, even our Lord Jesus was falsely accused.
Coop| 10.28.10 @ 5:43PM
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO
RCV| 10.28.10 @ 5:36PM
Well Eric isn't Jesus by a long shot. The police statement indicates they have hotel receipts and video of the two to back up the indictment.
Claypoole| 10.28.10 @ 1:23PM
Bill Clinton, now being touted as the shining light of the Democratic party, is a rapist.
Eric Cartman| 10.29.10 @ 1:20AM
Looks pretty bad for Deaton. Just like this guy, Teddy Kennedy, I was reading about the other day. Let's see . . . where's that article? Here it is. I'm reading here where this guy drove drunk off a bridge and killed a girl he was diddling. Hmph. Imagine that. Says here he wasn't prosecuted and, not only that, the whole Democrat Party covered up for him and that he is now an highly praised icon of the Democrat Left. Hmph. Imagine that. Looks like Deaton is in the wrong party.
sinanju| 3.30.11 @ 11:14AM
Nice try, Muckraker. I looked it up. This Eric W. Deaton CLAIMED to have Tea Party support but was only the foremost of the three nutty third-party candidates for George Voinovich's former senate seat. Republican Rob Portman won that race.
Keep your eyes open boys and girls. This is how the trolls work. They toss out little bon mots like this to demoralize us and expect we won't take the trouble to take a closer look.
Their favorite tactic nowadays seems to be tossing out unsubstantiated accusations against conservative leading lights, insinuating they are not worthy of our support.
megapotamus| 10.28.10 @ 6:18PM
Better a teabagger than a teabaggee! Although in San Francisco, your actual mileage may vary, even if you are some tough-guy wannabe biker freak. Are even the HD fans gay in San Francisco? Statistically, it seems almost inescapable.
Alice Polarbear| 10.28.10 @ 6:52PM
I am always bemused by lefties referring to Tea Party people as "teabaggers." A true "teabagger" is someone who habitually engages in a particular deviant sex act, most typically performed by registered Democrats and other liberals in the kind of hookup sex bathhouses, pornie houses and bars such people typically frequent. Most Tea Party people had never even heard of "teabagging" until the overaged adolescent leftist pervs at MSNBC started using the term and the middle class Tea Party folk had to look up what it meant.
Sonny| 10.28.10 @ 11:19PM
lol.. once an intolerant and closed minded, far leftwing liberal, always an intolerant and closed minded, far leftwing liberal..
As "vtwin" just proves my point..
Mel Torme| 10.28.10 @ 9:12AM
"plus you don't have to ride a bike or to be gay to feel at ease in the Bronze Rod,..."
Yeah, but it sure helps, doesn't it Vtwin?
"... we ain't no teabaggers,er not the same type anyway." Too much information, Vtwin, for me; you can stop right there if you want.
San Fran Smarts| 10.28.10 @ 9:27AM
San Francisco! Love it!
San Francisco is the smartest city in the country. In an analysis of the number of people with college or graduate degrees per square mile, San Francisco edges out New York City and handily beats every other city on the list.
A plethora of universities and colleges exist in San Francisco. San Francisco State University has different graduate and undergraduate programs in over 100 specialties. There are also specialized centers of higher learning such as music schools, culinary schools and art schools. The Academy of Art University is said to be the largest of it's kind in the United States.
Old Soldier| 10.28.10 @ 10:09AM
College and graduate degrees are very poor measures of intelligence. Depending on the type of degree, I often find an inverse relationship.
Dave| 10.28.10 @ 11:02AM
Come on...I live in SF, and remember when this "study" came out. SF also has the highest number of drug dealers, prostitutes and dropouts per square mile. And chefs, dog-walkers and acrobats per square mile, for that matter. When you're one of the two densest cities in the country, you or NYC are going to be the densest in just about every category you can think of.
You would think that my fellow residents would be smart enough to realize this.
Albert| 10.28.10 @ 3:53PM
You left out mimes per square mile, although Paris, France may have an edge there.
megapotamus| 10.28.10 @ 6:20PM
San Francisco also has the highest human feces per square meter of any American city. You have to go to Calcutta or some such to approach it but at least there their lack of plumbing can be blamed.
Douglas| 10.28.10 @ 11:44AM
College education does not impart wisdom.
RalphSchmalph| 10.28.10 @ 4:10PM
I was appalled at the lack of wit when watching the signs at the World Series. What makes you think these people are smart when all they could come up with is "Posey for President". Give me a break!
Herb Caen| 10.28.10 @ 4:17PM
San Francisco might be a "smart city" as you call it, but they have the inability to to govern themselves in any logical manner with a dysfunctional board of supervisors and an incapable Mayor bound to political correctness. They have absolutely no common sense in dealing with any issue other than to throw more money at it. I know what I am saying, being a native San Franciscan. The City that knows how can no longer remember what made it a great place to live. It rests on its natural beauty and is the worst for it.
Alice Polarbear| 10.28.10 @ 6:56PM
There is a phrase I've heard recently and like:
"Educated into imbecility." I once knew a PhD who tried to light an electric stove by lighting a match!
Robert Wiseman| 10.28.10 @ 9:35AM
Hey, Tom Bethell,
You know this song; you and your garrulous readers sing along . . .
"I left my shit in San Francisco . . . it calls to me"
A lovely romantic ballad for the sorry right-wing jackasses who think as you do.
Douglas| 10.28.10 @ 11:45AM
I left my $hit in San Fran. That's right. That's all that's left there.
Albert| 10.28.10 @ 1:00PM
"I left my shit in San Francisco . . . it calls to me" This is San Francisco's problem. EVERYONE leaves their shit in San Francisco. Especially the mental patients who populate the streets and defecate there, in parking garages, and in alleys. A heavily used porta-potty at a Texas Barbecue Cook-Off scarcely smells worse than a downtown San Francisco parking garage. I have seen this once great city degrade from a cosmopolitan city for all, into an open sewer of filth and corruption that exists as a plaything for the cabal of leftist idiots who run it. San Francisco stinks, literally. (In spite of the city itself I have to say, "Go Giants!")
Curtis Rasmussen| 10.28.10 @ 3:52PM
I went to SF to buy a diamond wedding ring for my wife. Right across the street from the wholesaler market, out in the open and in plain view of all, a homeless man was pinching off a loaf, swaying back and forth from exertion. People walked by as if he was invisible.
That about sums up San Francisco. The liberals have turned the city into a cesspool by handing other people's money to those who can't make responsible choices with it, tapping the taxpayer even more in police, sanitation, courts, and hospital costs.
The hard working builders of that San Fran are turning in their graves.
Coop| 10.28.10 @ 5:49PM
Who served up the haterade today? Hate, hate, hate, hate...that's all I hear on this website!
Arnie from Pacific Heights| 10.28.10 @ 9:41AM
Nothing more tedious than reading geezer complaints about a beautiful city.
Tom, next time you come out to San Fran broaden your vision just a bit, and you will see the beauty.
You old, cranky curmudgeon.
Evelyn | 10.28.10 @ 9:57AM
" . . . the gays are in charge . . ."
Wish this were true here in beautiful Charleston. The gays have contributed enormously to the historical renovation and preservation of our beautiful city, but they are not as active in city government as I want them to be. If they were, the city's outskirts would look better, and there would be even more historical preservation in these areas.
The gays here in Charleston were instrumental in bringing the Spoleto Festival to town. You can count on gays for instituting quality of life ideas.
They are hard-working innovators with sometimes brilliant ideas
Bravo for their efforts. That's what I say.
ncatty| 10.28.10 @ 10:03AM
Yeah, but you still need heteros for the low end jobs, right?
79andfine| 10.28.10 @ 10:33AM
Evelyn, thanks for the input. What you say about gays in Charleston is true about gays in nearly all of our cities. They are the ones who move in to derelict areas, renovate (doing most of the work themselves) and gentrifying.
Yes, gays have gentrified areas in the inner city, and this causes resentment. Gentrification is a good thing in my opinion. But with it poor people--poor people with little initiative and know-how--are displaced.
Anyway, give credit to those who deserve it, and the gays deserve a lot of credit, no matter what your political persuation.
I'm tired of the gay-bashing on this blog. It's got to stop, or I won't continue reading it.
Sam Vaughn| 10.28.10 @ 11:43AM
79andfine I have seen more thoughtful conversation here than almost any other site. Sorry you're hallucinating, I see more conservative bashing and Christian bashing of the websites you like the Daily Kos. Perhaps that's where you usually spend your time. I had the opportunity to sit next to a couple of Berkely Prof.s at a Hindu wedding. When they found out I was Catholic the insults flowed faster than the booze. When they probed further and found out I was from the South the lid came off, they actually said we were too stupid and ignorant in the south to be allowed to vote -- they were serious. So much for warm liberal sensitivities towards the feelings of others. My wife and I were embarassed and felt mauled. As we were at wedding the male of the two was lucky he left with his front teeth intact.
f| 10.28.10 @ 11:48AM
A likely lie.
Sam Vuaghn| 10.28.10 @ 11:56AM
Sure call it what you like f. The truth hurts when you dont like it. Different handle same person.
Douglas| 10.28.10 @ 11:48AM
They also bring in some lovely family friendly entertainment like the pride parades.
Their filthy behavior also brings in plenty of diseases that require massive government money to treat instead of treating those deseases that behavior can't control.
Corey| 10.28.10 @ 9:58AM
Nice slice of life piece, but let's return to the question of what does the future hold? Given the financial toxic brew the progs/libs/dems have concocted -- check out, http://www.sfweekly.com/2010-1.....-it-bleed/ -- I'd say the future doesn't look so good.
sinanju| 3.30.11 @ 11:26AM
Incredible, Corey. I had no idea SF's financial picture was that bad. According to the article, services are already being cut back to feed the pension and benefit maw. Eventually, the city will cut and tax itself to oblivion. I guess in the near future the spectacle of that dysfunctional Alabama town that just simply cut off it's retirees--court order to the contrary notwithstanding--will become routine.
james| 10.28.10 @ 11:34AM
SF is like a beautiful young girl....with terminal bowel cancer and leprosy.
hunter| 10.28.10 @ 11:39AM
Just as before the fall of Rome, free food, entertainment, housing ...... The parasites invade the host. The stronger more substantial the host the longer it stands.... But in short time falls into utter destruction, eaten from within. The Ten Comandments have been intentionally left out as to not offend San Fransicko.
Jeremiah| 10.28.10 @ 12:01PM
Here are a few samples of gentrification:
http://fr.academic.ru/pictures.....ade_01.jpg
http://carnaval2010.org/wp-con.....12/161.jpg
Jeremiah| 10.28.10 @ 12:02PM
or these too:
http://souklaye.files.wordpres.....parade.jpg
http://moneypennydd.files.word.....parade.jpg
Old Texas Trashcan| 10.28.10 @ 12:41PM
Love those boobs.
Post some more photos, Jerry.
vtwin| 10.28.10 @ 12:05PM
sorry pal,i didn't mean to insult anybody with the teabagger joke,well maybe i did but you guys are like too soft skinned.can't take a friendly joke?don't go to the bronze rod.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.28.10 @ 12:15PM
Folks,
The San-Franciscan fruits and nuts are the low ground we need to drain off the productive land in the rest of the country.
They have the problem...not us. Hopefully they can afford it.
RCV| 10.28.10 @ 12:44PM
The reason the demographics of the city have changed is that the SF Bay area has been the center of the technological revolution since it began. Silicon Valley, just south of the city, has been the hub of the economic engine that has kept this country in the game.
Harrison | 10.28.10 @ 12:57PM
You should have gone to the Marin DMV you would have been done in an hour.
As to Care not Cash, that's why I don't live on Haight Street anymore... too many ruffians.
Pat| 10.28.10 @ 1:13PM
Imagine you’re a tourist strolling around San Francisco and find yourself over by their historic Civic Center, there’s a large green space there in front of the city offices, shambling just ahead of you are three gentlemen dressed in much heavier topcoats than the weather warrants, when, suddenly, one man stops, lifts his coat above his hips and urinates on the sidewalk. Nice memory for you wife and daughters to cherish and a chance to see one of San Francisco’s many homeless in action, although usually the action consists of trying to shake you down for money. Like the flying rats which infest the area, the homeless get fed by the locals and even more frequently than the pigeons and seagulls, so there’s no shortage of them.
With a sort of poetic justice, the city employees have a prime view of their homeless folks, which is probably why they keep their office blinds drawn – apparently, seeing a homeless man urinating or taking a dump on their lawn isn’t a big hit at city council meetings either. And if you’re excited about seeing a play or musical, have the taxi drop you off right in front of the theatre – you’ll be glad you did. And if the theatre is over on Market Street, you really don’t want to walk there from your hotel, unless you like stepping over homeless men and women sleeping off a high on the sidewalk.
The City by the Bay – none of the locals ever call it that and, in fact, they just call it the City because everyone knows which city without having to ask. But there is a big difference between San Francisco and your home town – in San Francisco no one has any long term roots in the area and nobody actually cares what happens to it. You may hate your home town at times but you probably have historical roots in the area. Checking Ancestry dot Com will most likely show your great grandfather moved there from a nearby farm or you still see your family’s original home in the old neighborhood occasionally. You have roots in your town and so do most of your childhood friends and neighbors. And you probably care about your community more than you’d actually admit out loud.
But in San Francisco no one has any ties to the area. Gays flock there from places like Omaha and Akron, they feel at home in the gay community and the promiscuous sex isn’t nearly the death wish it once was. Young children are a rarity in the City though; it’s too expensive to live there with a family, unless you’re a recent immigrant from Asia. Young 20 something folks love the City, they move there, take jobs in the shops and offices and pay much of their income in rent.
But nobody actually runs San Francisco, nobody is in charge and nobody cares about making it a wonderful town in which to raise a family. So don’t make the mistake of thinking this weird and bizarre urban area is a great place to live, maybe to visit if you’re careful and stick to the “safe” areas they set aside for you tourists – and you really don’t want to mingle with the locals and they really don’t want to get to know you; relieving you of your money is their primary, and only, goal.
Vern Crisler| 10.28.10 @ 1:30PM
I went to SF on business this last summer, and it reminded somewhat of college -- all kinds of freak shows going on, lots of entertainment, and the feeling that eventually, residents will have to grow up and leave their happy-go-lucky, let-it-all-hang-out city, for a real job somewhere else.
Plus, the wind was damned cold, even in summer.
vtwin| 10.28.10 @ 1:33PM
Pat,I resent that.we must not walk the same districts or shop in the same joints.Frisco as I insist to call the city,is the nicest place on earth.it ain't for rightwingers but it's a great place for sure.beats omaha and akron anytime. and if you like riding a bike this is a fantastic place.
ABNCP| 10.28.10 @ 1:45PM
It used to be known as "Bagdad by the Bay. It is better known as "Sodom by the Slew".
Anneke9| 10.28.10 @ 2:22PM
"... next time you come out to San Fran broaden your vision just a bit, and you will see the beauty."
You will see the naked man with a boner standing at a bus stop in North Beach. You'll smell the bum on the bus who's puked all over himself. You'll see the homeless guy laying on the sidewalk outside the Federal Reserve jerking himself off.
That was the beautiful city my nieces and nephew
got to see when they visited us from Boston last year. All of which spoiled the fun they had at Beach Blanket Babylon.
Ken Royall| 10.28.10 @ 6:04PM
If not for its natural beauty and the tourism busine$$ that comes with that, SF would be a dead city.
Ken Royall| 10.28.10 @ 6:06PM
BTW- The reason SF has fewer blacks if due to rent control and strict building regulations. There is no incentive to build lower income housing units.
RCV| 10.28.10 @ 6:55PM
No, it's due to the skyrocketing cost of housing as a result of the tech boom.
SF_Exile| 10.28.10 @ 7:38PM
The beginnings of this city were disreputable and nothing appears to have changed. People have always come here to escape their past and reinvent themselves. What I find appalling is that the Barbary Coast mentality seems to have spread beyond its historical borders and out into the rest of the city. The willingness to not only tolerate but blatantly support anti-social behavior is sending this city into the crapper. And it's not just the issue of bums and street people who flock here - I refuse to call them homeless; they never had one to begin with. They've chosen to check out of contributing to society and would rather sponge off the rest of us. It's also the willingness to tolerate prostitution - to the point of legalizing it which does nothing but promote brothels and trafficking; a lack of will in dealing with violent crime as well as a general malaise within the ranks of the police department. And even though I moved here from Boston, another decent city paralyzed by the intense navel-gazing amongst its leaders, I am completely flabbergasted by the levels seen here. However, compared to Boston, they do it so poorly. It's amateur hour by comparison.
Interestingly, those native multi generationed San Franciscans are a hard working, fairly conservative lot - you just can't find very many of them. If you do, you've probably found yourself in the far western reaches of the city limits, quite beyond the notice of City Hall. As far as they're concerned, there's nothing on that side of Twin Peaks except sand dunes and endless fog. Kinda why I like living there.
The article in this issue of City Journal really gets to the meat of the matter - there's way too much money to be made in maintaining the status quo of victimhood and the lefties who wail and gnash their teeth about the heartlessness of the free market get the good copy. Everyone loves a sob story.
http://www.city-journal.org/20.....eless.html
I find it ironic that a city which seems to think so highly of itself (to the point of calling itself the City, with a capital C) has no decent daily newspapers ( I refuse to call the Chronicle a decent paper), restaurants that are dirty and poorly heated and it is not uncommon for the stench of sewer gas to waft up across the intersections downtown. And if I were a 20 something single gal rather than the 40 something happily married one that I am, I'd be downright suicidal over the dating scene. Wow, slim pickings! But why then, you might ask, do I live here? Because the rest of California is so beautiful. Living here is just a temporary Purgatory - the weather's bloody grim, even if one doesn't have to shovel fog!
Sonny| 10.28.10 @ 11:32PM
lol.. once an intolerant and closed minded, far leftwing liberal, always an intolerant and closed minded, far leftwing liberal..
As "vtwin" just proves my point..
-
Now, with that being said.. although San Francisco is a great city, and has some of the best people and food in America, it has been dragged in the gutter, by these radical leftwing liberals, for decades now.. and it won't be ending anytime soon..
I remember San Francisco in the 60's and early 70's, and never remember it being as bad as it now.. It's such a shame...
But one thing will always be true.. like Mark Twain alleged quote; "The coldest winter I ever saw, was the summer in San Francisco."
This will always be the constant in San Francisco, the Cold Temperatures, the Fog, Rolling Hills, Sour Dough bread, and Liberals... You gotta love it..
pohknee| 10.31.10 @ 8:38PM
San Francisco is a joke! Only issue is who is up front and who is bringing up the rear (literally). Also, college is where rich parents send their kids when they won't work and they don't know what to do with them. Unfortunately, many still come home to roost even after graduation or drop out. Pretty city but the people are the pits.