A San Francisco Chamber of Commerce poll of registered voters in that city found that more than 40% of residents said that they planned to move in the next few years. Looking at some of the other poll results, it’s not hard to see why.
The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce wrote in a press release:
For the second year in a row, 70% of residents feel that the quality of life in San Francisco has declined. Considered in light of the pandemic, these views are somewhat unsurprising. However, what stands out in the polling results is the strikingly high and consistent number of respondents who now view homeless and crime as the leading problems facing the City.
Roughly 88% see homelessness as having worsened in recent years, and an overwhelming 80% see addressing this homelessness crisis as a high priority.
…76% of San Franciscans believe that it should be a high priority for the city to increase the number of police officers in high-crime neighborhoods.
First of all, let me tell you something you don’t hear a lot of other conservatives say; I love visiting San Francisco. It is a gorgeous city. For example, I took all these pictures the last time I was there in 2019.
John Hawkins — View of San Francisco
John Hawkins — Seals at Pier 39
John Hawkins — Japanese Tea Garden
John Hawkins — Muir Woods
Beautiful right? Plus, you have the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Twin Peaks, Fisherman’s Wharf, perfect weather, and some of the best food you’re ever going to get in any city. It sounds almost too good to screw up, doesn’t it? So, why would anyone want to move?
Well, even setting aside the draconian COVID regulations of the last year, it is an incredibly expensive place to live. Depending on the year, because of rent control, San Francisco either has the highest rent in America or very close to it. Combine that with high prices that go along with the high taxes and ordinary people have a lot of difficulty making enough to live there. When I was there in 2019, I made a point of asking my uber drivers if they lived in San Francisco. Not a single one of them did because they couldn’t afford it, even with a day job and doing Uber at night.
When you combine a wealthy city with amazing weather, permissive police, and generous liberal efforts to cater to the homeless, it’s no surprise that the place is a homeless Mecca. Some neighborhoods are overrun with the homeless, and the city does nothing to combat the problem. Imagine barely making ends meet even though you are making more than $100k per year and experiencing that problem in your neighborhood – alongside rising crime, and streets that are so regularly covered in human excrement that the city has to spend $3 million a year to clean it up.
It’s easy to see why a lot of people would be ready to check out. San Francisco is a wonderful place to visit, but I would never live there. Apparently, a lot of the people that do live there are also starting to come to the same conclusion.
John Hawkins is the author of 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know. You can find him on Parler here and on Twitter here.
