Is San Francisco really that bad?

[bish0p]

I've lived in the Bay Area since 1979 and when I was young would often stay with relatives in the City. Unfortunately SF has changed for the worse. Be aware of your surroundings.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

I've lived in the Bay Area since 1979 and when I was young would often stay with relatives in the City. Unfortunately SF has changed for the worse. Be aware of your surroundings.

This is true of many places.

Loss of societal support structures, opioid addiction compliments of the pharmaceutical industry, and the sprinkling of fentanyl in all kinds of street drugs for it addictive qualities has made inner cities much more dangerous than in the 1970's...back when drugs were (relatively) clean and sex couldn't kill you.

A much more innocent time.

 

[Huss]

This is true of many places.

Loss of societal support structures, opioid addiction compliments of the pharmaceutical industry, and the sprinkling of fentanyl in all kinds of street drugs for it addictive qualities has made inner cities much more dangerous than in the 1970's...back when drugs were (relatively) clean and sex couldn't kill you.

A much more innocent time.

Yes, that was then and this is now.

Decide on how we are going to live our lives. Stay home and cower in front of our TVs? Or go out and embrace our passions?

Just don't be stoopid about it, ok?

 

[Richard Man]

No longer photographing in SF since 2021. Not worth it.

and I grew up in NYC

 

[Richard Man]

Last time I actually photographed there was the day they announced the winner of the 2020 election. I went up to photograph all the people dancing in front of the City Hall ;-)

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Anybody ever see those videos where parcels delivered to homes would later explode (confetti, dye, etc) if they were stolen by porch bandits or out of cars?

Maybe someone should start booby-trapping camera gear...

 

[madNbad]

Just a couple of thoughts. Things that have happened to other people are not necessarily going to happen to you. Take a minimal amount of equipment and be aware of your surroundings. Kansas is dangerous because of tornados but no one ever says they're not going to Kansas because it's too dangerous. Lastly, when the next big shake hits San Francisco, those folks in the Tenderloin will be the best prepared

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Just a couple of thoughts. Things that have happened to other people are not necessarily going to happen to you. Take a minimal amount of equipment and be aware of your surroundings. Kansas is dangerous because of tornados but no one ever says they're not going to Kansas because it's too dangerous. Lastly, when the next big shake hits San Francisco, those folks in the Tenderloin will be the best prepared

Good point.

I photograph solo in bear country and meander off trail frequently. Have never had a bad bear encounter since I started rummaging around in the bush in the late 1960's. ***Knock on wood***

 

[DREW WILEY]

Bears are easy to appease if you bring along a more bite-sized companion. They say never to run from one, but the last one that tried messing with my pack was such a Yogi Bear style, junk food addict, obese thing that he could hardly waddle away when I yelled at him. But as abundant as grizzlies once were here, the last one in CA died nearly a hundred years ago, old, lazy, and benign. Old timer stories of near-deadly maulings by grizz were still circulating in the mountains when I was growing up there. Nowadays, that daily latte just mentioned a few posts above is more likely to kill you.

Midwest ain't getting safer, not after pot legalization. That just leads to more illegal growers undercutting the market. And just this past week there were some serious incidents in Oklahoma reminiscent of Machine Gun Kelly days. I'm not trying to get political; but since that kind of thing is recurrent in our own rural narco counties here on the West Coast, it just makes plain that one needs to be aware of their surroundings and use common sense anywhere these days. Inner cities aren't the only risk factor. And never trust a bear, especially if he wears a Ranger hat, and is holding a shovel in one paw, and a book of matches in the other.

 

[Huss]

I'm serious here - all you people complaining about SF - don't go. Just don't.

There, problem solved.

I'll have the place all to myself!

 

[DREW WILEY]

...but you'll still get a parking ticket. Not all thieves steal purses, cameras, and laptops! One more typical hazard to think about visiting SF. Read the fine print on those meters.

 

[VinceInMT]

Crime can happen anywhere. Just a couple days ago, here in Billings, MT, not generally thought of as a crime-ridden community, a guy went out and started up his car and a low-life shot him in the head, stole the car, crashed it into several parked cars, ran to house where there was a kid’s birthday party, ordered everyone out, shot one of the adults, and then barricaded himself in the basement until the SWAT team got him out. No matter where you are, be aware and just realize that random events can strike.

 

[AnselMortensen]

I worked in SF for ~10 years as a mobile service tech, 2005-2014.
My work van was broken into ONLY once... lucky me!...(slider window smashed), and 2 toolboxes stolen.
I used to have to walk around all parts of town, including the 'Loin...but never had a problem, because I had a tool belt on with easy access to a hammer.
I saw enough weirdness there that I just don't go into the city anymore.

 

[Mike Lopez]

One of my favorite neighbors did that, and didn’t even bother with the falling part. Just died on the couch, sitting upright and still watching a movie on TV. He still had the remote in his hand too!

I pity the poor soul who discovered him in death. I once found a dead guy on the lawn outside the first apartment I lived in after college. He had gotten up to let his dog out in the middle of the night, apparently dropped dead, and was just waiting there for me (or someone) to discover his corpse in the daylight.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I pity the poor soul who discovered him in death. I once found a dead guy on the lawn outside the first apartment I lived in after college. He had gotten up to let his dog out in the middle of the night, apparently dropped dead, and was just waiting there for me (or someone) to discover his corpse in the daylight.

Definitely not something to bring up on the first date. What a bummer!

 

[Huss]

...but you'll still get a parking ticket. Not all thieves steal purses, cameras, and laptops! One more typical hazard to think about visiting SF. Read the fine print on those meters.

Hot tip - I park in Cow Hollow on Greenwich St by the Webster St intersection. No parking meters, free street parking. I'll unload my bike or take my skateboard and explore the city from there.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I haven't worked in SF in over 50 yrs. But my wife has just a decade ago; so I generally let her drive and do the parking there. When I'm out on my own, it's in Marin County instead, which is a lot faster and easier for me to get to anyway, using the Richmond Bridge.

 

[AnselMortensen]

Yes, SF is that bad.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I am of the mindset that you gotta live your life. Pretty much everything is rife with some kind of danger. Mitigate your risks and carry on.

 

[Daniela]

Anybody ever see those videos where parcels delivered to homes would later explode (confetti, dye, etc) if they were stolen by porch bandits or out of cars?

Maybe someone should start booby-trapping camera gear...

Yes, and that's all I've been thinking about while I read this thread 'cause one of the last ones was done in SF...
SF part starts at 9.55


Anyway, it's interesting to read that the locals seem to have different advice. I guess it's like in every big city, there are good areas and dangerous ones.

 

[Mike Lopez]

Definitely not something to bring up on the first date. What a bummer!

I didn't know whether to feel worse for his dog, who apparently roamed the apartment complex all night while its owner was dead in the grass, or his daughters, who were called in to clean his place out completely unexpectedly.

 

[Vaughn]

Bears are easy to appease if you bring along a more bite-sized companion. ...

I thought we were talking SF...the bears there are hungry but otherwise harmless.

I used to have to walk around all parts of town, including the 'Loin...but never had a problem, because I had a tool belt on with easy access to a hammer.
I saw enough weirdness there that I just don't go into the city anymore.

And you probably got tired of being told which way to the YMCA.

I use to wander around SF every once in awhile. I would drive in around 4am, park, and wander around the City, have breakfast eventually, back to the car and out of town early afternoon. Most dangerous thing to happen to me was in 1978...while in a bookstore, I accepted an invite for dinner from a young couple and ended paying 10 bucks a day (room/board) to stay at a farm in Boonville for a workshop or whatever...forgot what they called it. They took us in a small bus to the place. After three days I was out of there...found out later it was the Moonies.

When I got back to SF, it took overnite to find my car, so off I went -- to the YMCA.

 

[Richard Man]

The thread is called "Is SF really that bad", not "YOLO, I will do what I want". I mean, if that's your attitude, go for it ;-)

There are 16 - 26 millions of tourists to SF each year, and I'm sure as high as the break-ins and crimes etc., it still is a small number of victims. So chances are one will not get mugged, especially all the self-proclaimed careful ones. Live free or die!

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

The thread is called "Is SF really that bad", not "YOLO, I will do what I want". I mean, if that's your attitude, go for it ;-)

There are 16 - 26 millions of tourists to SF each year, and I'm sure as high as the break-ins and crimes etc., it still is a small number of victims. So chances are one will not get mugged, especially all the self-proclaimed careful ones. Live free or die!

"Live Free or Die" is the official motto of the U.S. state of New Hampshire.

 

[Vaughn]

For some reason that sounds rather Darwinish...