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Don't worry about it then. SF's as tough as you want it to be.
here's the break down on SF's bad side:
SF sort of has two halves, geographically...there's the mostly white and asian half that takes up the north and western parts of the city (including all the tourist areas int he northern third...this is the part of SF most people are familiar with), which has around 500,000 people and in 2008 only 10 murders. Then there's the southern/eastern half of the city, which is more diverse and much more poor/blue collar with a population that's about 30% latino, 30% asian, 15% black and 20% white (almost all of SF's black and latino population live in this half). This southeastern half has about 300,000 people, contains basically all of SF's bad neighborhoods, linked together, from north-south and had 89 murders in 2008; Oceanview, the Excelsior and Visitacion Valley are the southernmost high crime hoods, which border Daly city in the south, which then link up with Bernal Heights, Potrero Hill, the Mission, SOMA, and finally the Tenderloin and Fillmore which are the northernmost ends...it's one contiguous chunk of high crime neighborhoods, or hoods with parts that are very high crime (including most of SF's housing projects), while the western/northern half of SF is basically one contiguous chunk of safe neighborhoods.
So you have the mostly middle class and affluent white and asian half of SF that has only around 2 murders per 100,000 residents...that's the safe SF people know about.
Then you have the more diverse and mostly middle class and blue collar part of the city which contains the racial/ethnic groups of SF that tourists don't see as much of, and has around 30 murders per 100,000 residents. I'm guessing most of SF's impoverished people live there too because most of SF's projects are located there.
It's basically two halves that are split on class lines.
Here's a map of the 200 murders to occur in SF in 2007 and 2008, which illustrates what i said. 90% of the markers are in the eastern/southern half (black = multiple victims, blue = justified):
As you can see, SF's ghettos aren't exactly small and isolated. SF has many high density/population hoods that are very nice though, and it off sets the bad which are generally less densely populated.
Becuase of the small nature of the city though, you can get robbed or have your stuff stolen or be assaulted pretty much anywhere though. The southern/eastern half the city is where 90% of SF's ghetto activity/murders/drug violence/gang violence all occurs though.
Spot on with all points. That's what I was saying buy his connotation about the small black population. I never, ever ride that muni metro. Generally the only muni bus I ride when there is the 5 to get to Golden Gate Park. I walk along the entire embarcadero.
What area was that where the guys were walking around terrorizing people with pitbulls? I only heard about it.
The muni is a mess. The pitbull thing, I think that was fillmore.
BTW, do they actually teach something in SF city college? I thought anyone with some intelligence will go to UC or Stanford and all the hopeless souls end up the City college and SFSU.
What's the point of that? I understand you enjoy complaining about San Francisco, but why sucker punch it? The reason I moved to the City was to attend SFSU, and I had to work very hard to get in. It's not the best school is the world, but it's good enough for me, and I'm a lot happier than you are!
Oakland is tough, but SF I'd have to see to believe.
The demographics in san fran don't match up, so its ghettos are probably small and isolated. Ghettos in the Midwest and NE take up entire sections of the city, Like Chicago's southside, or North Philly.
SF's ghettos could be just as bad, but they are not as wide spred, their demographics just don't support any claim of them havinng massive slums.
These are videos from a couple of documentaries made on San Francisco's Bayview/Hunter's Point Neighborhood. Actually watch them through and maybe your view will change. SF has problems that they have tried to keep from the public that run as deep as any other bad neighborhood in the country. It is serious out there. A lot of bloodshed and hopelessness.
Well said, jman. As a person who was born and raised on the East Coast, I've seen some pretty rough areas in places like Baltimore, Richmond, DC, and some further south in North and South Carolina, and Florida. After getting used to places like East Baltimore, or Richmond's Southside, it always seems like San Francisco is a walk in the park when one hasn't spent time in the City's more crime-filled neighborhoods. No one I know, myself included, on the East Coast associates SF with violence or crime, but posts like yours are quite eye-opening, and newcomers like me appreciate it. And I have to say, my initial view of San Francisco is changing, but there's nowhere I'd rather live. I'm happy to take the good with the bad.
That's the right attitude! You take the good with the bad.
I don't think most of my anecdotes were all that unique for big cities/major metros in the US, and I know these things happen everywhere. And I'm glad that SF isn't generally associated with crime, as it should not be more than any older, large city of comparable size. Its really not all THAT bad IMO for a big city in this country. But there is plenty of crime that does exist here and it has an image of being completely safe that just does not match the reality. Its neither crime-ridden nor Mayberry, and I'd prefer that people be aware of what it actually is rather than continue to be mislead.
See what to believe? Becuase it has a small Black population you don't think it can be that bad? Just come out and say it. San Francisco has housing projects with as much crime as any place in the country. Bad is Bad, it may not look as bad as North Philly or Detroit etc, but Sunnydale, Bayview, parts of fillmore etc are crime infested. It doesn't have to be wide spread, the city is so compact it affects everybody. You'll see plenty of crime in the Tenderloin, SOMA and other area's tourist get caught up in. Ride the Muni around the city and you'll be traumatized.
Ya gotta love the narrow view of our hoods supposedly not being that bad according to folks who either haven't been here to see them, or those that have but can't grasp the idea of a neighborhood actually being rough when it has been designed differently from what they associate with being "bad." And I'm with you - I think its unbelievably naive of anyone to assume that our crime levels can't be too bad b/c of our small black population. For starters that's a huge slap in the face to black folks! But the Bay is not lacking at all in crime, regardless of what race/races are committing it.
Its funny. Some of them think ours can't be that bad b/c our hoods aren't a bunch of relatively clean-looking brick high-rises (like many NYC projects), while others think that since certain places have more boarded up windows and older paint jobs that Bay Area/CA hoods are nothing serious. Lol how ridiculous! The mentality that the size of a project is the main criteria in determining its level of danger is idiotic to me. There's a larger-sized high-rise project in the Fillmore that's full of old people and doesn't really even have crime that I know of, and another one in SOMA just like it - am I supposed to be more fearful of them than Doublerock or Sunnydale since they're taller, and not take the shorter ones seriously?? LOL gimme a break!
The best one is how the presence of palm trees and sun automatically negates a hood/city/place from being rough according to some of these clowns lol. You know, b/c places like Juarez and Rio are devoid of danger and aren't rough at all thanks to the nice weather LMAO.
And before another misguided East Coaster, who lacks the sense of xGrendelx or Matt345, gets all jumpy about me pointing out facts and accuses me of "wishing SF is hard" or whatever, I'm not speaking in favor of it having dangerous areas. I'm not glad at all that it has areas that are this rough. In fact, it would be nice if it really were all safe and "Disneyland" like some folks seem to think it is b/c then we wouldn't have to take issue with all their ignorant comments. I'm just in favor of promoting the real, and I grow tired of clowns thinking they know the truth when they have their facts twisted. SF is neither Compton nor Disneyland, and parts of the Bay are much worse than many outsiders would think.
The West Coast is not immune to ghetto life, poverty and crime, as evidenced by CA having the highest yearly body count and highest prison population of any state. We have almost all of the most notorious prisons in the US right here in San Quentin, Pelican Bay, Folsom, Corcoran, etc., and we have the most dangerous county jail the US has to offer in LA County. How some of you tards get it into your head that the entire West Coast is rainbows and ponies is beyond me, especially when most of your cities have copied West Coast gangs! But the fact of the matter is that CA hoods are no joke, and just b/c some of them may have been built more recently than their Eastern counterparts doesn't affect the safety level one bit. So unless you suffer from a phobia of bricks and wooden boards, the hoods in CA can be just as scary as those in the East if you spend some time in them. Try scratching beneath the surface before making snap judgments.
What's the point of that? I understand you enjoy complaining about San Francisco, but why sucker punch it? The reason I moved to the City was to attend SFSU, and I had to work very hard to get in. It's not the best school is the world, but it's good enough for me, and I'm a lot happier than you are!
Don't mind him, that clown is a lost cause. I pity his life. Having no greater joy than to continually take cheap shots at SF just b/c he's too abrasive to fit in here is a sad, sad point to come to.
I'd be willing to put money on any SFSU or CCSF probationary student having a higher IQ and more sensibility than that guy lol. We all know that they aren't the ones whining day in and day out about all things SF!
And I second that, YOU ARE A LOT happier than he is! As are most, if not all of the rest of us!
I agree that San Francisco is a lot more dangerous than most people believe. I was born in SF, but I have lived in Maryland for most of my life. I have lived in Baltimore and know the ghettos of D.C. like the back of my hand. However, I frequently fly home to San Francisco because all of my family lives in The City.
The difference between Baltimore and D.C. is that if you don't really bother anyone, you won't have any problems. In B-More nad D.C., you have crazy homeless people who will beg you for change and such. But most people that killed in the ghettos of Maryland get killed over big drugs and big money; random innocent people are rarely victimized for no reason. SF is not like that. There are so many crazy people in SF. About two weeks ago, I was walking down Stanyan St. where it intersects with Haight St. across from Golden Gate Park which is a wild ass area filled with mentally ill homeless people, teenage runaways, rough road warrior/fresh out of prison looking types and weed dealers who sell bud basically right in front of the police station. I have seen rival weed dealers fist fight each other at this intersection and crazy street people harass normal people walking by. As I was walking across the intersection near the Haight Ashbury McDonald's, a Filipino or Mexican looking kid in baggy clothes with his hat turned sideways yells at me from across the street, "A yo A's hat! What nationality are you?!!" I was shocked that anyone would have the balls to yell something so brazen and offensive at me. I turn my neck and look at him and he is staring at me scowling stopped dead in his tracks with a menacing pose. I just kept on walking towards the hotel I was staying at right around the corner. In all of my years in the ghettos Maryland, I have never felt that threatened by a random stranger on the street.
A lot of violent street crime that I have witnessed with my own eyes in San Francisco doesn't make any sense. About a week and a half ago during the Gay pride parade activities, I was standing waiting for the 47 line bus on Van Ness near the Civic Center which was blocked off for the parade. There were gay people, lesbians and obvious transexuals flooding the sidewalks. As I was waiting for the bus, I saw a group of ghetto looking twenty somethings, one short Whited dude wearing a white T-shirt, a green and yellow Oakland A's fitted and light blue Girbaud shuttle jeans grabbed my attention for some reason. I felt a bad vibe in the air. Before you know it, that little ghetto White dude was punching a random White girl walking past him on the sidewalk. As she felt to the ground, he whipped out a camera and took a picture of her as she struggled lying on the sidewalk. No one came to help the girl. She ended up running frazzled, scared and crying trying to catch the bus as it drove away. In all of my years living in Baltimore, I have never seen thugs beat up random women on the street for no reason.
Last edited by goldenchild08; 07-07-2010 at 01:33 PM..
The Bay Area has long been more dangerous than LA. Its actually simple economics. The LA area has a more even distribution of income classes. You have a very healthy middle class, and smaller lower and upper classes amongst its cities. The Bay Area has two major classes- upper and lower. You see this all over the Bay Area, especially in San Francisco, where the very wealthy live within a baseball throw from the very poor. The lack of a middle class leads to higher crime rates, especially in terms of property crime. The same can be said for several Bay Area cities, including Oakland, which has a small upper class and middle class, but large lower class, Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, Santa Rosa, San Rafael, Redwood City, and many others.
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You take the good with the bad. 
And I'm with you - I think its unbelievably naive of anyone to assume that our crime levels can't be too bad b/c of our small black population. For starters that's a huge slap in the face to black folks! But the Bay is not lacking at all in crime, regardless of what race/races are committing it.
