I have lived in San Francisco for about 3 years now but I can't shake the feeling that I am not a native. For all its faults it's got a lot of nooks and crannies to explore. If you're lazy like me that's a lifetime of new brunch places, and fun little parks. The feeling of not being a native, or more to the point being a "foreigner" is not one that is new to me, but it is more confusing here because almost everyone is not a native. And they are even less invested in the city than I am ...
Let me explain.
SF is a small city with a large tax base. Banks are based here as are numerous technology firms, finance firms, and the like. In addition, being one of the most expensive places to live in America, it follows that the per capita income here must be high, and hence the tax revenue must also be substantial. It has tourism! And yet ...
Yet SF is dirty, and unpardonably so. It's unsafe both in real, we-were-shot-at-during-a-post-doc-party-and-the-police-were-no-help terms, as well as quality of life, I-had-my-bike-stolen-3-times-from-my-own-home terms. It's crumbling, and falling apart only to be rebuilt blandly by unscrupulous developers. Finally, it's got bad schools (though I'll admit that's mainly anecdotal, I don't have CA Dept of Ed numbers or anything like that). All of this at a not insignificant price.
Now I realize that SF is burdened with a large number of residents who are far below the poverty line, and a large indigent population. This puts great strain on city government, and that's understandable. What isn't understandable is the sloppy attitude of the Board of Supervisors and the general laxity surrounding these issues from most of the city's "citizens". This, I think, is due to the transient nature of the majority of the "citizens".
We can break the city down into several segments, each with a reason to be involved or not involved:
- Too young: who cares about school funding when you just got out of school yourself (barely) and made it out to the Big City. Wouldn't you much prefer to push for turning Alcatraz into a "Peace Center"? That sounds much cooler.
- Too provincial: I always wanted to move to the Big City, because ever since I was a little, and growing up in Topeka/Boise/Tuscaloosa I felt different! So I came here, and I want to live in a real city (cf. no real rules and responsibilties)
- Too yuppie: San Francisco is great, but there's no way I would want to raise children around all the people I spent my youth hanging out with. I grew up with a front yard and a dog, and I want that for my kids (never mind how desperately I wanted to escape that all my life)
- Too self-important: What the world really needs is San Francisco's opinion on the Iraq War. I think we should table the sanitation issues in favor of a vote on a resolution to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - where goes San Francisco, there goes the neighborhood.
- Too ambitious: I want to be President one day. I'll unilaterally declare gay marriage legal and ensure that it in fact becomes illegal for the next 8 years or so (you know who you are Gavin Newsome - moron).
- Too poor: please, just leave me alone.
Which leaves those few of us who have lived in real cities, and would like to see streets cleaned before we start setting up peace centers and other fantasies. And we're in the minority.