# Goddamn I hate San Francisco **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 6, 2005, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023 "2005-04-06T12:09:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/81 "2005-04-07T07:28:32Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Here’s what I hate about SF: > > 1. “If we don’t like it, then you have to live without it.” SF has no through Freeways. > > 2. “The City”. It’s not. It’s smaller than San Jose, and not even up to being a borough of a great Metropolis like LA or NYC. One fun thing- San Fransciscans that move to NYC and still call SF “the City”. 😛 Yes, the more freeways and urban sprawl a city has, the better. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > 1. NIMBY- terrible cell phone reception because there are luddite morons who live in SF and block new cell phone towers as they think the waves are “dangerous”. Really. :dubious: > [@](#): > > 1. Parking- SF encourages illegal parking as parking violations are a significant source of City funds. How, exactly, do they “encourage” illegal parking? It stands to reason that giving citations would DIS-courage it. The parking does suck, but it’s a finite land mass,a not a very big one; there’s nowhere else to build parking lots. Besides, they have very good public transit. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/82 "2005-04-07T15:48:26Z")
Anybody else feel like they have learned more about **mswas** than about San Francisco from the OP? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/83 "2005-04-07T16:59:01Z")
I dn’t have cites handy, but yes, more than one cell phone antenna site has been nixed due to neighborhood fear of radiation. Then, yes, they do have the gall to neep about bad phone reception. Illegal parking isn’t so much encouraged as impossible to avoid. Again, I don’t have cites, but for some time, “They” have said that there are more vehicles registered in San Francisco than there are legal parking spaces. I have no idea if this includes people’s driveways and public garages, though. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/84 "2005-04-07T17:13:03Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > 1. “If we don’t like it, then you have to live without it.” SF has no through Freeways. This kills several dozen San Francisans a year, and causes an hour delay for those who need to cross the Golden Gate to go North or South- causing more pollution and traffic. But SF thinks that freeways are ugly, thus no matter how many dudes die, and how much it incoveniences the entire rest of the freaken State- there are no through Freeways. Every other city that tried this was over-ridden by the State (Santa Barbara being one of the last hold-outs) but for some reason, the State gov’t doesn’t cram this down the throats of SF. I was hoping the Governator would, but… So take 880 or 580 through the East Bay, or if you can’t, don’t drive like a fucking douche on City streets. > [@](#): > > 1. Parking- SF encourages illegal parking as parking violations are a significant source of City funds. I’d _love_ to hear this one explained. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/85 "2005-04-07T17:19:16Z")
I’d just like to report that Fresno Area Rapid Transit just made me snort. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/86 "2005-04-07T17:39:02Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Illegal parking isn’t so much encouraged as impossible to avoid. Yeah, except you distinctly used the word “encouraged”. > [@](#): > > Again, I don’t have cites, but for some time, “They” have said that there are more vehicles registered in San Francisco than there are legal parking spaces. I have no idea if this includes people’s driveways and public garages, though. Yes, it was all a conspiracy they thought up by choosing a land mass surrounded by water. “Ha, ha - when they invent cars, they aren’t gonna have anywhere to park them; then we clean up.” Those conniving bastards. What exactly would you have “them” do? Ban people from owning cars? C’mon, then you’d be bitching TWICE as much. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/87 "2005-04-07T17:40:26Z")
Oops, sorry - you didn’t say “encouraged”, it was DrDeth. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/88 "2005-04-07T17:55:37Z")
If you leave a piece of food out in San Francisco, I bet you that there will be more homeless people crawling over it than ants. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/89 "2005-04-07T18:06:10Z")
You all forgetting one simple thing. New York is WAAAAY better than San Francisco. I actually had a distinct advantage over most tourists in SF. I was plugged into the local population before I got there. I know a lot of people in SF, and would have plenty of people to hang with any time I went there. There are a lot of cool things about SF. I wouldn’t go to the clubs, that’s a waste of time, the cool parties are always the private loft parties, and there are plenty of artist warehouse communes that I can just go to a party there. One of my best friends who moved there from NY lives in one. I also have a couple friends that live in a high rise downtown in a Penthouse apartment with a fireplace. I stayed with them, and at my friend’s parents house. It was all nice. There was good food, I ate down on the mission. I wanted to go to this outdoor party outside of the city limits where the area was bought up by this group and turned into the ideal outdoor party spot supposedly. I wasn’t able to make it. I really like the street fashion in SF, and the bars are done up really nicely in some places. I hate the smarmy liberal passive aggressive attitude. I prefer active aggression, that’s probably why I like New York better. Though NY is more passive aggressive these days than it used to be. My impression of San Fran comes from a lot of people that have moved from SF to New York. I have actually heard people say comments about how living in San Francisco makes one enlightened, and that’s just something that is gonna play on my bullshit meter. I wasn’t stating this like it was objective fact, and I would most definitely go back to San Francisco. I just like to hate on it because the people who really love it get all pissy about it. When I went to SF, we drove cross country, and went to the Rainbow Gathering in Modoc National forest in the northern part of the state, went to see the Sequoias, then headed to SF, and then drove my friend Mike back home to LA and hung out in LA for a day. I don’t ACTUALLY hate San Francisco. There are a lot of cool things about it, and the New York music scene is pretty tied to the San Francisco scene. Erek ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/90 "2005-04-07T18:08:42Z")
By the same token, there are a lot of people moving to SF from NY who cannot seem to go ten minutes without saying “let me tell you why NY is so much better than SF…” Which this seems to be. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/91 "2005-04-07T18:09:36Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > If you leave a piece of food out in San Francisco, I bet you that there will be more homeless people crawling over it than ants. Ha ha! Hungry people are funny! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/92 "2005-04-07T18:09:44Z")
Oh yeah, it’s not the homeless people that bother me, it’s that SF gets sold as some sort of holy city by liberal hippy types. I was just using the homeless problem as an example of it NOT being such a Mecca. I give money to panhandlers here in New York all the time, and hang out with em from time to time. I’ve even been quasi-homeless, and had to sleep on the train and in the park a couple of times. People just sold me on some perception of San Fran as something it didn’t end up being, so I chose to bitch about it. Erek ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/93 "2005-04-07T18:33:06Z")
Aaaaaaaah, I see. Well, it is one of those towns you either love or hate. And if you go in with preconceived ideas, you’re probably going to be let down. Just like NY (which, incidentally, I loved when I visited last year.) It actually ended up shattering some of my preconceptions and reinforcing others. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/94 "2005-04-07T18:37:11Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > They shut down the bathrooms when the security alert level goes to orange. At other times, they’re open. Other stations may have the bathrooms shut down any time for some other reason. So they shut down the bathrooms just when people are about to start shitting themselves. San Francisco is great in many ways, but does have problems. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/95 "2005-04-07T18:40:01Z")
I like both NYC and SF; I don’t see why one has to pick on or the other, as if they were in a competition. I didn’t think the bum population was excessively higher than in any other city, although certainly the West has more bums than the East for the reasons previously enumerated. Vegas and New Orleans IMO have the worst bum problems; I found it diffuclt to move more than a block without getting panhandled. SF has beautiful old buildings, a mellow atmosphere, outstanding restaurants, and skyhigh costs. I live in the metro DC area which is by no means cheap, and I had sticker shock at how much things cost in SF–how do you people pay rent or eat out regularly? ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/96 "2005-04-07T19:26:18Z")
mswas, you sure you’re not thinking of L.A.? You want passive-aggressive, come visit _here_. San Francisco doesn’t hold a candle to it. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/97 "2005-04-07T19:35:26Z")
I had a good time in LA, we hung out in Echo Park with my friends and had an absolute blast. Erek ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/98 "2005-04-07T19:42:09Z")
See, I just think you hate liberals. L.A. is more conservative; that’s probably why you like it. ---
**Author:** ![Boldface\_Type](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@Boldface\_Type](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boldface_Type)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/99 "2005-04-07T20:00:31Z")
> [@scout1222](#): > > I’d just like to report that Fresno Area Rapid Transit just made me snort. Yeah, well what about the Toronto Area Rapid Transit? Not to mention the offshoot, the Toronto West Accessible Train Widerange Overland Rapid Transit Highspeed Yat. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023/100 "2005-04-07T20:44:32Z")
I have travelled extensively, both in the US and abroad, and I like SF just fine, thank you very much. I even take my kids and walk around all day! There are certainly some concerns- the agressive homeless contingent, the seemingly high level of random violent crime (“seemingly” because I have no cite, but I remember a high incidence of casual violence), damned high prices around Union Square. But it is unique and I love that. Take our last trip, when we introduced our five year old to SF- up early, cable car rides to the Buena Vista for breakfast every morning, the little aquarium on “that” pier (!), a boat ride, lunch at Hunan Home in Chinatown, dinner at Sam’s Grill, wandering around Golden Gate Park, the Imaginarium, the carousel over by Buena Yerba, a little shopping, showing him where his great-great grandfather used to be a hotel manager (The Palace). That kid loves SF! He asks to go back almost every damn week! It’s not the town, it’s the traveller. Always. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-i-hate-san-francisco/298023.md?page=6)