New Yorkers: Look to San Fran for Inspiration
That’s what urbanist Joel Kotkin, author of The City: A Global History, suggests in the NY Observer. We might want to look, or look up to, San Francisco for its survivalist instincts and a model of “what we could evolve into.” Here’s more: You have to remember there’s a huge group of people in San…
That’s what urbanist Joel Kotkin, author of The City: A Global History, suggests in the NY Observer. We might want to look, or look up to, San Francisco for its survivalist instincts and a model of “what we could evolve into.” Here’s more:
You have to remember there’s a huge group of people in San Francisco who bought their homes when they were affordable. Then there’s a population [that’s] there for the San Francisco experience. Think of the country—there’s this country and then there’s these giant theme parks; and one is New York and one is San Francisco. … You go there; it’s a phase of your life. You live there for five years, 10 years. But then most people either don’t do well enough to stay, or get tired of it at some point and leave.
Hm. Is that what will happen?
Theme park? WTF? That Joel Kotkin is some kind of idiot.
SnarkSlope….could you see Russia from your house???
Homelessness in SF is chronic because of the cash benefits afforded the homeless. At one point, neighboring cities, in an effort to get rid of their own homeless population, were providing free bus rides to SF for the homeless.
The Care not Cash proposition in 2002 was supposed to address this issue. I think it’s had some effect though I haven’t lived there for a long time.
The point is that the high incidence of homelessness stems from benefits provided by an extremely liberal city government. It’s not an indicator of the city’s economic well-being.
i disagree – thanks for the link.
11217 – I lived in Alaska for about six months some years ago. It falls, shall we say, into the “nice place to visit” category for me.
I think it’s somewhat true, but changing. I think people used to come to NYC as a “phase” but since it’s been cleaned up, more people tend to stay. I also think a lot of people wanted to stay, but as this guy said, they simply couldn’t make it here.
I also believe politics play a role. I see this country becoming more and more polarized. The liberals in this country are on the rise and have only a handful of cities where they would choose to live anymore. NYC is at the top of the list for many of these people. If I didn’t live in NYC, I would live in Portland, Oregon. Those are the ONLY two cities I would consider living in, and I’ve been to and traveled throughout all of the lower 48 states. 2 left to go, but I’m pretty sure I won’t be moving to Alaska or Hawaii…
this kinda stuff has been happening for 100 years.
i think the guy is saying that’s already what happens. some people come to big cities for some phase of their lives, and then they leave. the observer interview is much less interesting than the newgeography.com article it refers to.
http://www.newgeography.com/content/00258-a-new-model-new-york-san-francisco-anyone
Wouldn’t you rather be homeless in SF than NYC? If I’m going to live outdoors, I’d opt for the milder climate.
Too funny, that was me, I lasted 5 years in SF. You know what I missed? Besides people/family? Bricks, seasons, warm summers. Otherwise, it was a stellar place to live.
Too true ENY – Polk Street was a catch all for the homeless – it was pretty rough, so was down by City Center. Mid-late 80s before they decided to try to ‘hide’ the homeless. [expletives deleted].
Poley is right, SF is actually smaller than Brooklyn. (Just, but still smaller – I may still have a map that showed the land mass as an overlay.)
Say…CobbleHilller – will you be attending the soiree?