Downtown San Diego is a disgrace (Los Angeles, San Jose: lease, home, cinema)

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by Tipmart87

San Francisco is a liberal hell hole and look at the homeless mess there. Nothing to do with capitalism

Well, two points about this. First of all, San Diego has now overtaken San Francisco in the number of homeless people, and even though our population is larger, our homeless people are still concentrated in the urban areas so our streets don't really look any better anymore. Second of all, although San Francisco is liberal, it is absolutely capitalist. No city has more billionaires and multi-millionaires living in ridiculously overpriced homes and condos than San Francisco. It is the Bastion of runaway capitalism gone amok. All the skyscrapers going up as we speak are temples to Big Business and big money. The whole city is about making fortunes. All the service apps like uber, Airbnb, or delivery services are all symptomatic of class stratification associated with capitalism. People who can't get full-time employment eke out a living humbly piecing together hours spent running errands for the wealthy Elite who created those apps to make their lives easier for the lowest cost possible, while touting an exciting new "sharing economy." So I could hardly think of a more capitalist city than San Francisco. Homelessness is not common in socialist countries, so if anything, the more capitalist you are, the more homelessness you will see. The reason for this is that we typically find that capitalism and individualism go hand-in-hand. So while we enjoy the greatest freedoms on Earth, we overextend those freedoms to the mentally ill who are not able to make decisions for themselves. Our society and government are not able to make decisions for them in a society as free as ours, and we can't force them into shelters or treatments, or get the medicated without their consent, which they are not able to provide. Homelessness is a mental health issue.

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by YoungTraveler2011

Notice how the cities with the highest amount of homeless are also run by Democrats.

Well, they are some of the biggest and wealthiest cities, and yes they happen to be run by democrats, but is that the correlation, or aren't big wealthy cities always run by democrats? And for other big cities that Have fewer homeless people, presumably places like Atlanta, Houston, or Dallas, since they are not on that list, are they run by Democrats or Republicans, and how are their policies different? Let's explore some of the differences so we can make sense of it.

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by YoungTraveler2011

Notice how the cities with the highest amount of homeless are also run by Democrats.

I notice that at least the top two are also the cities with the largest populations, so it's hardly surprising they also have the largest homeless population.

A per capita statistic would be useful towards understanding what's really going on with homeless populations. As would long-term statistics (for example, are the homeless really migrating towards some cities or is that just a claim made by people who are seeing an apparent increase in homeless populations).

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by tstieber

Well, two points about this. First of all, San Diego has now overtaken San Francisco in the number of homeless people, and even though our population is larger, our homeless people are still concentrated in the urban areas so our streets don't really look any better anymore. Second of all, although San Francisco is liberal, it is absolutely capitalist. No city has more billionaires and multi-millionaires living in ridiculously overpriced homes and condos than San Francisco. It is the Bastion of runaway capitalism gone amok. All the skyscrapers going up as we speak are temples to Big Business and big money. The whole city is about making fortunes. All the service apps like uber, Airbnb, or delivery services are all symptomatic of class stratification associated with capitalism. People who can't get full-time employment eke out a living humbly piecing together hours spent running errands for the wealthy Elite who created those apps to make their lives easier for the lowest cost possible, while touting an exciting new "sharing economy." So I could hardly think of a more capitalist city than San Francisco. Homelessness is not common in socialist countries, so if anything, the more capitalist you are, the more homelessness you will see. The reason for this is that we typically find that capitalism and individualism go hand-in-hand. So while we enjoy the greatest freedoms on Earth, we overextend those freedoms to the mentally ill who are not able to make decisions for themselves. Our society and government are not able to make decisions for them in a society as free as ours, and we can't force them into shelters or treatments, or get the medicated without their consent, which they are not able to provide. Homelessness is a mental health issue.

Would drugs and alcohol fall under mental health?

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

Would drugs and alcohol fall under mental health?

I believe so. When you look at Mental Health facilities, they typically treat drug and alcohol patience the same as strictly internal mental health patients, and they're usually all together. Part of the reason maybe because people with mental health issues self-medicate with excessive drugs and alcohol.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

Would drugs and alcohol fall under mental health?

Definitely, and should be dealt with differently in one way.

Drug and Alcohol problems came about due to bad choices, and other mental health issues are usually something the person has no control over.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by tstieber

I believe so. When you look at Mental Health facilities, they typically treat drug and alcohol patience the same as strictly internal mental health patients, and they're usually all together. Part of the reason maybe because people with mental health issues self-medicate with excessive drugs and alcohol.

True, but many get started on drugs by their doctors and then can't afford the costs so they Turin to illegal drugs and make it worse.

[Happy in L.A.]

Originally Posted by silverkris

Do you ever fly in and out of BUR? It's about 12-15 minutes from Universal City in light traffic on surface streets.

I use Burbank airport often for flights in the western US. For all other flights I fly out of LAX.

[Happy in L.A.]

Originally Posted by skankhunt42

Most of my summers as a youth in the West Valley were miserable due to the weather. Luckily we have always had daily access to a pool that would be used nearly everyday by us. The last few years, it has been humid as hell. At night I see a ton of huge roaches on streets here (in the valley but in PB too but I knew near a beach you usually always have them!). I'm visiting my parent right now and driving back to San Diego tomorrow.I have to drive back up here in a few days. Normally I'm really lazy and would have stayed but due to the weather out here, I'm ready to come by lol and don't mind driving and spending more on gas.

The drive from LA to SD is awful. If ever we needed a bullet train to connect two cities, it's the LA to SD route, not LA to SF route

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by Happy in L.A.

The drive from LA to SD is awful. If ever we needed a bullet train to connect two cities, it's the LA to SD route, not LA to SF route

Or you just take an existing amtrak. It's 3 hours, so 30 minutes longer than it takes, on average, to drive. Although I rarely find the drive "awful" since I take care to do it when it's not peak traffic hours.