Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/16/inequality-vs-city-streets.html
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“Congestion may be a sign that your city is thriving.” That sounds like a winning bumper sticker slogan. I’m going to shout it at people who tailgate me, too.
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I hate to say it, but maybe some “broken windows” policing might help?
I often find myself taking Lyfts in SF for journeys I probably could have made by foot but chose not to for safety reasons.
Maybe if tourists felt more comfortable walking to the 16th & Mission BART, or suit and tie types felt comfortable walking back to their Tenderloin-adjacent hotels in Union Square after a hard day’s work in the FiDi.
Obviously this won’t solve congestion issues on the 101 or 280, but it seemed weird to me when I’ve visited that I often found myself taking rideshares for safety reasons when I could have spared the 30-45 min to walk in the mild weather.
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Not a SF resident so I’m curious, is pedestrian crime a problem in those areas?
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Yes. Type “Union Square” into Google Maps. Ask it to give you directions to the Tenderloin.
The first is a shopping district with lots of tourist stuff and a lot of fancy hotels. The second is the most crime ridden section of San Francisco. They’re right next to each other and the difference is night and day - step one street in the wrong direction and you can tell you’re in a baddddd neighborhood.
The Mission is a historically hispanic neighborhood that’s gentrifying, but still can be dangerous late at night - mostly due to homeless drug users who can be chaotic and aggressive. It’s also known that many bars are cash only, so it’s my understanding muggings can be more common since they know you probably will have cash.
Large chunk of the city, chunks tourists don’t interact with as much, are very safe, but these two areas have a disproportionate share of violence/mentally ill.
It’s kind of like how people stereotype NJ as smelly etc because the parts you drive through on the way to NYC are, even though large chunks are beautiful forest (“Garden State”)
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Our sick love affair with automobiles is coming to a screeching halt.
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Uh, no, we aren’t going to throw more black and brown and poor people in jail because you’re too afraid of them to walk someplace. This city is SO much more peaceful than it was when I moved here. Homeless people aren’t going to hurt you.
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No, it’s not.
The most common crime in the TL is quality of life stuff. Drug use, public urination/defecation. I live and work in the ternderloin, it’s definteily not safe for your psyche to LOOK at it all day, but I’ve never been harassed in 10 years of working at Civic Center. It’s a public health issue first and foremost. These folks aren’t violent.
anyways, the biggest thing we can do to fix it is PASS FUCKING PROPOSITION C AND TAX THE SHIT OUT OF WEALTHY COMPANIES TO HOUSE THE HOMELESS.
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A older relative and I visited the Asian Art museum. We took public transit and had to walk a few blocks to the museum, past drug deals, people lighting up crack pipes on the side walk and dodging urine and feces. We walked back a different way. Same thing. Never subjecting her to that again. Definitely taking a cab or Uber/Lyft straight to and from the front door of the museum in spite of the extra cost if we should visit it again.
I warn tourists away from SF these days. Just too much filth and too many auto break ins.
If you want a seat on BART making BART free is not going to help you with that. Reducing vehicle congestion doesn’t mean you get a seat on BART. You need to upgrade the BART system.
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I can fully and completely corroborate this statement as someone who spends a lot of time walking around these neighborhoods for fun and exercise. The only crime you are likely to experience are the ones perpetrated on your nose and eyes. Most of the actual crime (robberies) are at 1 to 4am.
There is a police station in the dead center of the Tenderloin.
And thank you Mr. Benioff, for the $2 million contribution to prop C and for putting Jack Dorsey in his place.
As for Uber/Lyft, yes they are the lion’s share of the traffic problem, not shipping companies.
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What’s also striking is that this museum is across the street from the city hall. The transit stop is called “civic center.” I always wonder what tourists think when they get off at that stop expecting to see the heart of the city…
But that region has been disgusting my whole life. Parts of mid-market actually used to be worse when there were fewer yuppie bars…
Gotta go all local on ya:
The photo at the top of the article is not, in fact, San Francisco – it’s Berkeley’s Eastshore Freeway, looking south(ish) on Hwy 80/580 (the Bay Bridge is off to the right, out of frame; the water to the left of the freeway is the Berkeley Aquatic Park).
Fun fact: This stretch of freeway is BOTH 80 East/West and 580 West/East. So, if you’re driving in the direction of the image (i.e. in the right lanes of the image, toward the buildings) you’re going east on 580 and west on 80 at the same frickin’ time.
Caltrans – they’re miracle workers.
Also, the traffic in the photo is not even remotely congested. The left side is probably moving at, or very close to, the limit; the right side, maybe 5-15mph slower.
How do I know: there’s space between the vehicles. Lots of space. When this stretch is actually congested, it’s a literal parking lot – nothing moves but the birds.
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It’s extra impressive given that that stretch of freeway is actually going North/South.
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I don’t understand, if the property values are SO high, and you have so many rich companies there, why is there so much squalor in SF? Use that tax income to hire full time city cleaning crews.
Then again, I don’t know why the take-home from the original broken windows research was to lock up black and brown teenagers rather than to fix the damn windows. What if we took the extra police force money and spent it on revitalizing and cleaning the city instead? (Plus homeless housing. And public toilets.)
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Exactly, and the post’s statement that
San Francisco’s public transit is markedly over capacity
surely should say the opposite. The system demand is way over its capacity, the system itself is under capacity, given the usage/demand (as evidenced by standing room only)
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I’ve literally been assaulted (spit on) by a homeless person. They asked for money, I politely said no (sorry just have my card). They spit at me then followed me to the bart station, only backing off when they saw a cop outside. I was shocked - I purposefully use the “no cash” line since it’s a bit softer than no - implying maybe I would have given cash if I’d had it.
Maybe broken windows is a bad terminology. I absolutely think there should be a focus on violent crimes - smashing car windows, muggings, assaults. If someone says they were punched or spit on, the police should track that person down and jail them. In the longer term they can get treatment or whatever but violence is not ok, period!
When I tried to report the issue I was told they didn’t have te resources w/o a photo or CCTV of the assailant. If the cop had walked with me I could have pointed out the man, he just stood across the street glaring.
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BART cops often injure / kill fare jumpers. I’m willing to stand on the BART if it avoids some homeless guy being murdered for not having fare money.
What kind of crime are you seeing? I’ve looked as the saferspace index and other info and SF is listed as very safe with pickpocketing being the primary danger and then only in the tourist areas.
That was my impression but I wasn’t sure.
Thanks
Is this a realistic fear?
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If you really want to see an end tho this problem treat the disease not the symptom. Vote Yes on Prop C and Yes on Prop 10.
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