Scary San Francisco (appointed, hotels, luxury)

[04kL4nD]

The Tenderloin has its name for a reason- it's the seedy underbelly of SF.

People who walk through it with their hipster blinders on are the ones most likely to get robbed, hassled or WORSE.

[rkwalton]

I grew up in a bad urban neighborhood though: south central L.A. which, unfortunately, is legend for its gang activity.

It's the same in almost all of them. You walk like you know where you're going. You stay alert. You don't disrespect anyone. Meaning if someone speaks to you, you speak and keep it moving. If you ignore them, just based on that things could escalate. There are issues about respect and many in situations like that feeling they don't get any from people. If you ignore someone when spoken to, it's on. If you speak to someone rudely, it's really on. I've seen that before as a random person just being in the wrong place and it happened to me once when I was a teenager. With me, it never escalated to a physical attack but the verbal one I got was bad enough that I never just stayed silent again.

When I lived in NYC it was the same thing. When I visited a more seedy area of D.C. it was the same thing. Hell, when I was in Bangkok one time (been there a couple of times, so this is just one experience). I was a little drunk and was lost trying to find my hotel it was the same thing.

I really think people who've not been in areas like this need to listen more than opine. I spent a few years going to school in the TL and, as I said, I didn't hear much about students being victimized. (There were a few stories but not many.) I can't speak for others though. I tell people to avoid the area unless they have a specific reason to go there or if I can sense that they're streetwise.

[NYSD1995]

I think it's interesting how few people on this thread have even attempted to answer my OP (thanks to the few who did)

What I'm seeing is a lot of denial... "it's not so bad/it's not bad at all/other areas are worse". Let's just assume for the sake of this conversation that it's "world-class bad" and then try to get back to the original question:

Why does it persist? Is it accepted culturally? Are the police unable to get a handle on it?

Based on the responses in this thread, it appears that both may be true.

[analyze_this]

I don't think that the Tenderloin is that scary. If you want scary try the NE part of DC or Camden, NJ.

[rah]

Originally Posted by analyze_this

I don't think that the Tenderloin is that scary. If you want scary try the NE part of DC or Camden, NJ.

Lots of people would disagree...at times it's just as "scary" as pretty much any ghetto in the US. I'll just quote Dave Chappelle on this one (he's a DC native, conveniently, since you mentioned NE DC):

"Went to that Tenderloin. Nothing tender about that motherf#@# at all! That sh#$ was rough! The opposite of tender"

[04kL4nD]

Before this thread devolves into a "I've seen scarier hoods than you have" contest, I think the OP brings up a great point.

The TL needs to be cleaned up. This live/let live attitude is okay for parts of SF, but when you've got an open air drug market that's right next to tourist areas, something needs to be done.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

Before this thread devolves into a "I've seen scarier hoods than you have" contest, I think the OP brings up a great point.

The TL needs to be cleaned up. This live/let live attitude is okay for parts of SF, but when you've got an open air drug market that's right next to tourist areas, something needs to be done.

Thank you. My point being... most large cities chose to close down their open-air drug markets over the last decade or two. San Francisco has not. My question is: why not?

[Isebiel]

My guess would be that shutting those down involves a "getting tough on drugs" stance, and working with federal authorities. And that's at-odds with the city's stance on marijuana. Tough-on-some-drugs, while totally reasonable, is harder to sell/fund.

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

Thank you. My point being... most large cities chose to close down their open-air drug markets over the last decade or two. San Francisco has not. My question is: why not?

It's part of the City culture for better or worse.

[04kL4nD]

The problem is the attitude about drug use in general in SF

There are plenty of people who use all sorts of drugs and hold down stable jobs and lead productive lives in SF. It would be hypocritical and inconvenient for them to rally against drug use and make it harder to get the drugs they enjoy by taking a hard line on the issue.

While execs and white collar workers enjoy their coke/acid/heroin/whatever binges in their apartments, not really bothering anyone, they see those on the street in the TL as misguided or unfortunate, and either either ignore them or give them a dollar or a bite to eat.

Personally, I think all drugs should be decriminalized and the money being spent on the war against drugs would be better served in rehab/education programs.