San Francisco a better fit for me? (San Diego, Oakland: home, live in)

[benlen]

Hey folks,

I'm located in Boston, and I haven't clicked with the city very well. This is not to bash Boston, by the way, but this has been my experience. I originally come from far up in Maine, where I was a real outdoor enthusiast. I love to hike, bike, ski and get away to the mountains.

I thought Boston would be a great place for me and my industry, and it is. However, the vibe of the town hasn't clicked with me.

I present the following, again, not to bash Boston but to see whether San Francisco, by comparison, is a place that would be better for me.


Here are my problems with Boston:

1) Location: It's a few hours drive from Boston to hit anything remotely natural. This is something I expect from any city, but Boston is really lacking in the immediate area around it the kind of nature I expect (big mountains, forests, more parks, etc).

2) Weather: The weather is extremely humid all times of the year, which means our winters are raw, and our summers are dreadfully muggy with frequent thunderstorms and heat waves. If I walk to work, I've ruined my shirt because of sweating from the humidity.

The weather in Boston is also extremely changeable at any given time of day. I have to pack a couple different coats/jackets when I go to work just in case we go from sun to hail.

3) Scenery: Contrary to what people told me, Boston really isn't that beautiful of a city. Once you've seen the museums and the historic sites once like a tourist, I really haven't found much else to see. I don't wake up in the morning, pull back the curtains and say, "wow, this is beautiful!"

4) People: I've met some good people in Boston, particularly the folks I work with and a few friends. But on the street, and out and about, I've encountered a lot of rudeness.

People think like me (liberal in politics) but they come off as stand-offish and there's no sense of street camaraderie. If someone causes you a bad day––too bad buddy if you can't take the heat.

And driving in Boston, let's put it this way: I've driven across Canada, the Americas and Europe, and I've never encountered more rude and dangerous drivers than in Boston. These drivers aren't just a danger to other cars, but also to pedestrians and cyclists.



So, with that out of the way, I want to know if San Francisco, and west coast cities in general, are DIFFERENT.

Here's what I'm looking for:

1) Liberal (but chiller) people: The Boston liberal is too uptight for me. I want to hang with people who can relax! There's too much politics and not enough fun to be had.

2) Closer to Nature: I want to feel like my city isn't downtown and then suburban wasteland, but a place that caters to natural things and also has easier access to natural wonders.

3) Better Weather: Not being the slave to eastern humidity would be really nice. I want a city where the weather is more consistent and mild and I can walk around comfortably most of the year.

4) Less Sports Culture: I love baseball like any guy, but seriously can we speak about something else?



If you read all this, thanks, and I'd love to hear feedback.

[pch1013]

1. There is an uptight, humorless political "progressive" sect here in SF, but most people don't take them too seriously. Unfortunately, they still have a great deal of clout -- as you'll see the minute you step off BART anywhere downtown and gaze upon the homeless people lying around everywhere. The "progressives" won't allow a Giuliani-style solution to the problem, so we're stuck with it and there's no end in sight. There are also rancorous political debates surrounding such issues as chain stores (progressives hate them, at the expense of allowing lots of retail property to remain vacant everywhere); gentrification; cyclist safety; and so on.

2. There is some great outdoorsy stuff right across the Golden Gate Bridge. In fact you don't even have to cross the bridge -- you could spend days exploring the Presidio and its beaches. Not to mention Angel Island. However, the nearest ski areas are about 200 miles away... which is 4 hours under normal circumstances, or 8 or more on a snowy Friday evening. Some people do manage to spend every weekend on the slopes, but those people have a very high tolerance for sitting in traffic.

3. Humidity is high when the fog's around, and a bit less so when it isn't. However, it's almost never muggy, though it can get a bit raw during windy rainstorms in the winter. "Consistent and mild" is a good way to describe the weather in SF, where it almost never goes below 40 or over 90. Most of the time it's between 50 and 70. Some people find that boring. Others love it.

4. Sports are easy to avoid, except when the Giants win the World Series. Looks like that won't be happening again anytime soon....

[04kL4nD]

I think you'd like SF better than Boston for the scenery and weather, but the people can be just as bad as anywhere. If you want REALLY laid back, you might want to consider some place along the coast like Santa Cruz or San Diego.

[benlen]

Thanks for the reply, folks! What's driving like in San Francisco? Do you find it to be worse than other areas?

I ask because I was (again) almost run down by a driver walking home in Boston. I'm really getting sick of that.

[04kL4nD]

A lot of people don't drive at all in SF. Public transit is the preferred poison for some, but SF is more dense/crowded than Boston. If you must drive in SF, don't expect a vast improvement.

[benlen]

Thanks 04kL4nD. How are drivers with regards to people on bikes/pedestrians? There's a lot of hate from Mass drivers towards people on foot or on bicycles here.

[04kL4nD]

I live in Oakland and drive to SF for work, but I've driven in the city enough to know what's up. As a driver, you have to be hyper vigilant. The other day I was driving around SOMA and a drunk/high cyclist cut over four lanes of traffic and right in front of me. He's lucky I was paying attention. I deal with the same type of thing in Berkeley, where entitled cyclists blow through stop signs and stop lights. Oakland isn't as bad. If you drive defensively and pay attention to your surroundings, Bay Area driving won't ruin your day, but you really have to pick your poison for rush hour commutes: gridlock when driving or zero personal space and a random schedule if you rely on BART/Muni

[Avalon08]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I think you'd like SF better than Boston for the scenery and weather, but the people can be just as bad as anywhere. If you want REALLY laid back, you might want to consider some place along the coast like Santa Cruz or San Diego.

I was thinking the same thing -- sounds like Southern CA would be perfect for you. Certain areas are very liberal. The weather is nearly perfect, with no humidity (i.e., nothing like East Coast). People aren't all consumed with sports because they're too busy doing individual sports like surfing. As for nature, you've got your beach, canyons, mountains, etc., as long as you can get through the traffic to get there. When I lived there, the drivers were totally non-aggressive (no one honked a horn), but last time I visited, that seems to have changed a lot.

[04kL4nD]

I actually think drivers in SD are a lot worse than Bay Area drivers. When I lived there, I encountered two types of drivers: those who went 90+ mph on the freeway and cut people off OR total slowpokes who were absent minded and indecisive. Maybe I've just gotten used to Bay Area drivers who don't seem overly aggressive or clueless. Traffic here moves, although at times slower than I'd prefer, but I can honestly say that traffic isn't a huge hassle for me since I've figured out ways to avoid it and keep my sanity. The most annoying thing about traffic is on the weekend when I'll be headed somewhere fun like Santa Cruz, Tahoe, or Sonoma and there's bumper to bumper traffic on a Saturday morning.

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by benlen

Thanks 04kL4nD. How are drivers with regards to people on bikes/pedestrians? There's a lot of hate from Mass drivers towards people on foot or on bicycles here.

SF has a vibrant and vociferous cycling community (ever hear of "Critical Mass") and a general attitude of tolerance toward lawbreaking that allows cyclists to do pretty much whatever they want without fear of being cited. Despite this, there isn't a huge amount of animosity toward cyclists -- though there certainly is some. The reason I don't ride my bicycle to work isn't because of cars, it's because of other cyclists.