'Is San Francisco dying?' Americans are googling some strange questions about SF

[Rasulis]

The article linked is more of a comic one about silly Google lookup results about San Francisco, a slow news day I'm guessing. It isn't seriously proposing any idea that the city is 'dying'. San Francisco is one of the top cities in the world.

As for some restaurants taking cash only, fyi that has absolutely nothing to do with tech adoption. A lesson in street smarts, there is a very good specific reason why certain places, especially small mom+pop restaurants, only take cash. I'll give you a hint, it has something do with April 15th.

I started the first sentence with “tongue-in-cheek.” So I hope people did not take the article seriously.

To me the “cash only” businesses are pretty amusing. My wife used to complain all the time that I never carry cash with me. Well, the problem is fixed now.

The Mong Kok incident was real. We were ordering take out dim sum. The Mastercard/Visa logo was prominently displayed. So I pulled my card to pay, and the lady at the counter glared at me and ripped the card out of my hand. When I finished paying and turned around, I swear everybody standing in line, which stretched outside the restaurant, were looking at me weird.

- - - Updated - - -

Sharecare releases new well-being research revealing broad improvements in US metro areas in 2020 while gaps increased for rural America

Turned out my wife and I are not the only ones that think San Francisco is a great city to live.

San Francisco leads nation in community well-being

The Greater San Francisco area’s community well-being was bolstered by strong performance across the Index’s domains, in particular housing and transportation (#1); food access (#4); financial well-being (#3); physical well-being (#4); social well-being (#4); and purpose well-being (#5).

The following MSAs round out the top five positions on Sharecare’s Community Well-Being Index:


San Francisco-Oakland- Hayward, CA
San Jose-Sunnyvale- Santa Clara, CA
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Boston-Cambridge- Newton, MA-NH
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT


Conversely, the five MSAs ranked lowest on the Index are:


McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
Las Cruces, NM
Sumter, SC
Farmington, NM
Pine Bluff, AR

[BeepBoo]

Turned out my wife and I are not the only ones that think San Francisco is a great city to live.

Happy for you, but whatever they use for "wellbeing" calcs probably aren't things I value. Different strokes.

[Elegiac]

Happy for you, but whatever they use for "wellbeing" calcs probably aren't things I value. Different strokes.

Sharecare’s Index measures the overall health of communities on the basis of 10 domains representing individual well-being factors – physical, community, social relationships, financial, and sense of purpose – and social determinants of health – healthcare access, food access, resource access, housing and transportation, and economic security.

Glad to know you don't value any of those things, I guess.

[Rasulis]

Happy for you, but whatever they use for "wellbeing" calcs probably aren't things I value. Different strokes.

Both the ShareCare and TimeOut reports offer a different perspective of life in San Francisco. Personally, I felt that the city has been unfairly maligned by both sides of the aisle. To the far left it is all about the big tech overlords, spoiled tech workers, NIMBYism and income inequality. To the far right it is all about the homeless, poops on the sidewalks, unmask dancing mayor and ultra-liberal DA (which most of our new friends regret voting for).

It is really too bad. Beneath all the negative rhetoric, San Francisco is one of the most beautiful and friendly city in the world.

Basically west of Van Ness you have sprawling suburbia. No building over 4 stories. Tight knit communities. Neighbors that actually like each other. Community watch meetings where people actually showed up. The high level of community and civic involvement can be annoying sometimes.

Lots of old timers. The newest Inner Sunset Census Data show 20% lived here for more than 25 years, 68% between 5 and 24 years, and 12% less than 5 years. The techies mostly stay on the East Bay side.

Generous community. When the City wanted to build low-income housing in Sunset, the community came out in support of that. When the City of San Diego tried to build low-income housing on their OWN property in Point Loma, the community was dead set against that. The City had to cancel the project. When my daughter tried to do that in Austin, the community turned hostile during the public hearing. Median home sale price in Sunset is 2.51M for the first six months of 2021. Much higher than Point Loma and Austin. The people in Sunset had much more to lose from declining property value.

Unlike most US suburbs where people have to use their cars for even the most menial task, because of the mix residential/commercial zoning, people here can walk for all their daily tasks and entertainment.

Abundant parks, open spaces and beaches within minutes of walking. Extensive bike and pedestrian infrastructure. Fairly decent public transportation. Drivers that actually stop for crossing pedestrians and are hyper-aware of cyclist. Only 3 pedestrian/cyclist fatalities in 2019.

Then there is the FOOD scene.

[Deus Mortis]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/theft-pla...050634127.html

Theft-plagued Walgreens closing 5 more San Francisco stores

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Walgreens said Tuesday that it will close five more stores in San Francisco next month because of organized retail theft in another blow to a city that has earned an embarrassing reputation for widespread and brazen shoplifting.

The stores will close down next month, SFGATE reported. It said Walgreens has closed at least 10 stores in the city since the start of 2019.

“Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average" despite large increases in security, Walgreens spokesperson Phil Caruso said.

San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safai said he was devastated by the loss of a Mission Street store that “has been a staple for seniors, families and children for decades."

“This is a sad day for San Francisco,” Safai told SFGATE. “We can’t continue to let these anchor institutions close that so many people rely on.”

Last year, Walgreens closed one store where the chain said it was losing $1,000 a day to thefts.

Frustration and fear over thefts have been fueled by widely circulating images of shoplifting caught on video. This summer, shoplifters in masks carrying armfuls of designer handbags sprinted from a downtown Neiman Marcus department store and into getaway cars.

[PhaelixWW]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/theft-pla...050634127.html

Theft-plagued Walgreens closing 5 more San Francisco stores

ORC is bad everywhere, though, not just San Francisco.

[Deus Mortis]

ORC is bad everywhere, though, not just San Francisco.

Thanks for the link. I have a bad dislike for thieves, it is sad to see places close because of scumbags.

[Flarelaine]

ORC is bad everywhere, though, not just San Francisco.

Fuck them.

[Rasulis]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/theft-pla...050634127.html

Theft-plagued Walgreens closing 5 more San Francisco stores

Property crime in San Francisco is high. No denying that. Partly due to both the community and PD ignoring petty crimes for decades. Also the current dysfunctional relationship between the PD and DA office does not help the situation. However, the city is seeing changes this year. The PD started investigating and arresting repeat perpetrators, and the DA started prosecuting them. Property crimes in SF is down 6% from last year, and larceny theft which includes shoplifting is down 18%.

As for Walgreens, shoplifting may be a factor for closures. However, declining revenue is a much bigger factor. Even with these closures, there are still 53 Walgreens in the city. Between Walgreens, CVS and the independents, we have over 150 pharmacies in the city. San Francisco is a small city with only 46.7 sq. miles of landmass. A big chunk of it occupied by green areas, beaches, golf courses, zoo, etc. (see below). Only around 32 sq. miles are for human habitation. That’s around 5 pharmacies per square mile. Lots of competitions. Not to mention the competition from online pharmacies. All the insurance companies are pushing hard for people to switch to online pharmacies now.



- - - Updated - - -

ORC is bad everywhere, though, not just San Francisco.

‘Retail theft on a massive scale’: father-daughter duo sentenced in multi-million dollar shoplifting scheme

A father-daughter duo from Atlanta have been sentenced to more than five years in prison for deploying an army of professional shoplifters to steal millions of dollars of merchandise from retailers such as CVS and Target and then selling the goods online.

Robert Whitley, 70, and his daughter, Noni Whitley, 47, were accused of running the scheme for nearly a decade and organizing the theft of $6.1 million worth of merchandise before being busted in 2019, prosecutors said.

The pair pleaded guilty in April to interstate transportation of stolen property. Prosecutors at the time described the Whitleys’ operation as a “well-organized criminal enterprise disguised as an apparently legitimate small business.”

“This is retail theft on a massive scale,” said Kurt Erskine, the acting U.S. attorney for the northern district of Georgia.

Robert Whitley was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison and Noni Whitely was sentenced to five years. They were also ordered to pay $4.35 million in restitution.

Seems like pretty light sentences considering the dollar amount.

Prosecutors say Robert Whitley — who also went by Mr. Bob — and his daughter would give shoplifters lists of items they were looking for, like razor blades, toothpaste, cosmetics and over-the-counter drugs such as Prilosec, Rogaine and Claritin.

The shoplifters would steal the products from big retail chains including CVS Walgreens Target Kroger and Publix, and return with garbage bags full of boosted items to an Atlanta warehouse run by the Whitleys, who would pay for them in cash, according to court filings. Representatives for CVS, Walgreens, Target, Kroger and Publix did not respond immediately for comment.

The Whitleys would then remove all price tags and anti-theft devices from the stolen goods, and sell them at steeply discounted prices through third-party e-commerce platforms including Amazon Marketplace, Walmart Marketplace and Sears Marketplace, as well as on their own websites, Closeout Express and Essentials Daily Discount.

The rest of the article is the sob story why they went bad.

[StillMcfuu]

I liked SF when I was there, wasn't too bad (2013-2014 and a bit in 2009). I don't know if I would want to live there, it's one of those places that if I were essentially rich and could easily afford an apartment in the city for a year, I would do that before moving some place else, just for the full experience. To be fair, I wouldn't do that with NYC because yeah I lived that life sort of, and NYC doesn't attract me in that type of way. I'd give Chicago a go as well, Seattle, some EU/UK cities.

[Rasulis]

I liked SF when I was there, wasn't too bad (2013-2014 and a bit in 2009). I don't know if I would want to live there, it's one of those places that if I were essentially rich and could easily afford an apartment in the city for a year, I would do that before moving some place else, just for the full experience. To be fair, I wouldn't do that with NYC because yeah I lived that life sort of, and NYC doesn't attract me in that type of way. I'd give Chicago a go as well, Seattle, some EU/UK cities.

Yeah. Rent or mortgage will be the one biggest expense of living in San Francisco. Everything else is pretty reasonable and actually quite low.

Here are some of our expenses.

Electricity and gas - $60 – $70 per month during the summer for our 2,400 sq. foot condo.

Water – I have no idea. It is covered by the HoA fee. We pay $200 per month which covers water/sewer, earthquake insurance and common area maintenance. Our downstairs neighbor pay $320 because their unit is larger and they have 4bdr/3.5 bath vs. our 3bdr/2bath.

Transportation – We have a Honda Insight that we rarely use. It is still on the same tank of gas when it was delivered. Because of the low annual mileage on the car and we have a private garage and we live in safe neighborhood, car insurance is less than $400 per year. We use bicycles and public transportation a lot. Bicycle insurance is $28 per month for 4 bicycles. Monthly Clipper card “A” fast pass is $98 for me and around $30 for my wife (senior discount).

Grocery - $200 to $400 per month for two people. We don't go to Whole Food. Which would be expensive. We usually take multiple small trips over the weekend to either Trader Joe's or one of the local Chinese and Middle Eastern supermarkets. All within walking distance. Prices are quite good.

Dining out – depends. If you like hole-in-the wall places like Mong Kok, Original Bakery, Lou's Sandwich, Beep, Cafe Bakery, Noodle King, etc., then it is cheap. Fully loaded Banh Mi sandwich from Saigon Sandwich is $4. Twelve inch sandwiches from Lou's are $9.40. Except for the seafood sandwich. Most of the dishes from Sam Wo and Original Bakery are around $ 5 - $7. Two pork buns plus a bunch of dim sum from Mong Kok which is more than enough to feed two people are less than $15. Fish roe noodle from a place which I can't even pronounce is $5.40.

Entertainment – depends. Lots of free and cheap entertainment. Hardly Strictly Blue Grass Festival was free. Flower Piano was free for resident. Nightlife at CA Academy of Science is $17. Free concerts every weekend in Golden Gate Park. Alcatraz is free for my wife because she has the National Park lifetime pass (you can get those after you turn 62) and $40 for me. The De Young and Legion of Honor Museums are free to resident every Saturday.

San Francisco is land of the free. Mostly. We did spring for $365 each for Outland Music Festival three-day general admission tickets.