Perspective on the city after a four day visit (Richmond: neighborhoods, zoning)

[jeremyw90]

Originally Posted by ambient

Compassion? Really?

Not so sure I would spin it that way. This is a city going through a massive boom, tons of rich people, lots of development, tons of evictions by money-hungry landlords... not sure homeless people congregating on alleys is compassion. The city herds them all into the Tenderloin out of agreement that this is the area where tourists and business folks will venture into less frequently. Homelessness has been a massive, intractable problem here for a long time.

My take was that the Tenderloin occupies potentially prime real estate. I stayed near Twitter HQs. No way you'd see so many street people so close to downtown in a major Eastern city. The homeless advocacy in SF is strong, and the power structure allows it. I've seen NY, DC and Boston all experience massive gentrification. None of them would allow so many homeless within their CBD/ Downtown. A similar area to the Tenderloin would quickly be completely gentrified.

On another note, thanks for all of the suggestions! I have a Banking and Govt consulting business. I think SF may be my go to for banking contracts. It's warm and in California! And, it's not too far from SD, where I can potentially procure Naval contracts. Bicoastal living would be awesome!

[jeremyw90]

Originally Posted by tikkasf

San Francisco has mirco climates. The hills in the city are a big factor in that. On a day like today, if you lived in the Sunset District neighborhood, you might find yourself wearing a light jacket or sweater when going out......on the other hand, if you lived in Dolores Heights neighborhood, Mission, Potrero hill.....it might be a short sleeve shirt day

what are the areas with the most consistent sunshine? Are the Marina/ Embarcadaro, North/ South beach, SOMA areas typically sunny?

[gone down south]

Eastern cities have this thing that naturally checks the outdoors homeless population - it's called winter

Seriously, people with mental illnesses, addiction problems, fleeing abuse etc., tend to gravitate West, both for the climate that allows being outdoors most of the year and for the more open social norms. Once they get here, there's no more West left, so we they tend to concentrate and are highly visible.

[jeremyw90]

Originally Posted by gone down south

Eastern cities have this thing that naturally checks the outdoors homeless population - it's called winter

Seriously, people with mental illnesses, addiction problems, fleeing abuse etc., tend to gravitate West, both for the climate that allows being outdoors most of the year and for the more open social norms. Once they get here, there's no more West left, so we they tend to concentrate and are highly visible.

haha..good point about winter! Yea, it's pretty shocking to see so many homeless and mentally ill in California cities: SF, DTLA, DTSD. I feel bad for them. I always assumed that part of the reason they were there was because local Govts allowed them to stay. I'm also familiar with the climate reasoning, which makes total sense.

[TheCityTheBridge]

Originally Posted by jeremyw90

My take was that the Tenderloin occupies potentially prime real estate. I stayed near Twitter HQs. No way you'd see so many street people so close to downtown in a major Eastern city. The homeless advocacy in SF is strong, and the power structure allows it. I've seen NY, DC and Boston all experience massive gentrification. None of them would allow so many homeless within their CBD/ Downtown. A similar area to the Tenderloin would quickly be completely gentrified.

On another note, thanks for all of the suggestions! I have a Banking and Govt consulting business. I think SF may be my go to for banking contracts. It's warm and in California! And, it's not too far from SD, where I can potentially procure Naval contracts. Bicoastal living would be awesome!

Tenderloin's location is great, but the buildings are mostly one room motels with a bathroom down the hall. They're not terribly conducive to the early stages of gentrification you see before big developers are ready to tear down buildings and build luxury high rises. Even young couples on a tight budget probably want their own bathroom. SF is tough to develop when buildings are vacant (mid-Market, where Twitter is now, was littered with vacant buildings for years). An area like the Tenderloin, where some of the City's most vulnerable live, will be much, much tougher.

[jeremyw90]

Originally Posted by TheCityTheBridge

Tenderloin's location is great, but the buildings are mostly one room motels with a bathroom down the hall. They're not terribly conducive to the early stages of gentrification you see before big developers are ready to tear down buildings and build luxury high rises. Even young couples on a tight budget probably want their own bathroom. SF is tough to develop when buildings are vacant (mid-Market, where Twitter is now, was littered with vacant buildings for years). An area like the Tenderloin, where some of the City's most vulnerable live, will be much, much tougher.

hmm, I guess I don't quite understand the difficulty. If the market is there, developers could just tear down and rebuild large tracts; skipping the pre gentrification stage you mentioned. I mean it's not like SF is an up and coming market. Why is there a need for a pre gentrification stage? In fact, it would be far easier and quicker to empty a tract of concentrated SROs, tear them down and replace with new housing, than to do the same in a traditional 'ghetto' neighborhood.

It seems more likely that the city and advocates are stopping the developers. Again, East Coast cities wouldn't have the same hand wringing, it would just get done. Not saying I agree or disagree with that.

[modernist1]

A pretty succinct and balanced view from the OP there.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by gone down south

Eastern cities have this thing that naturally checks the outdoors homeless population - it's called winter

Seriously, people with mental illnesses, addiction problems, fleeing abuse etc., tend to gravitate West, both for the climate that allows being outdoors most of the year and for the more open social norms. Once they get here, there's no more West left, so we they tend to concentrate and are highly visible.

That's pretty much what my sister said when she moved out here from NYC. She said a lot fewer people allow homelessness to become their way of life in NYC because life on the street there is so much harder because of weather and less social tolerance. Less social tolerance is not always a bad thing IMO. At some point, tolerance just becomes a form of enabling.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by jeremyw90

It seems more likely that the city and advocates are stopping the developers. Again, East Coast cities wouldn't have the same hand wringing, it would just get done. Not saying I agree or disagree with that.

When it comes to development in California, it's nothing but zoning regulations, delay tactics, and hand wringing. That's part of the reason why the cost of housing is so high out here.

[tikkasf]

Originally Posted by jeremyw90

what are the areas with the most consistent sunshine? Are the Marina/ Embarcadaro, North/ South beach, SOMA areas typically sunny?

If sunny days are important to you, then the western neighborhoods would not work for you: Inner & Outer Richmond & Sunset Districts, Parkside. Mission, Potrero, Dog Patch, SOMA are sunshine neighborhoods in my experience...Generally, eastern half of the city has more sunny days....some neighborhoods more then others
South Beach is often sunny too