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San Francisco: One of many historical footnotes for liberalism
28 Aug2007
(usatoday.com) SAN FRANCISCO  Wayne Cooksey joined the flight of African-Americans from this city last year to escape soaring rents and buy a home. Michael Higgenbotham left six years ago for a safer neighborhood and better schools for his three children. Adell Adams retired and wanted to downsize but knew her home’s equity wouldn’t go far in a market where decent condos start at $500,000.
Aubrey Lewis was among the first to go, to nearby Oakland in 1977. “We left because of the housing situation,” says Lewis, 77. “And that was early. It hasn’t gotten much better.”
African-Americans are abandoning this famously progressive city at a rate that has alarmed San Francisco officials, who vow to stop the exodus and develop a strategy to win blacks back to the city. In June, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed a task force to study how to reverse decades of policies  and neglect  that black leaders say have fueled the flight.
[...]
No single cause explains the continuing exodus, according to city officials, leaders in the black community, demographers and current and former black residents. The high cost of housing  one of the highest in the nation  is a dominant theme, but there are other factors:
•The loss in the 1950s and 1960s of a key black enclave to urban renewal.
•High crime rates in some of the city’s surviving black neighborhoods.
•Substandard public housing, as acknowledged by city officials.
•Dissatisfaction with underperforming urban schools.
[...]
At $9.14 an hour, San Francisco has one of the nation’s highest minimum wages. It offers a tax credit to working families. As of July, uninsured residents under age 65 became eligible for universal health care. Preschool is available free to every child. The city has approved more affordable housing in the past few years than at any other time in its history, Newsom says.
Many blacks here shun buying affordable housing because those homes have “equity restrictions” to keep them affordable, which means they can’t be resold at market rates. (more…)
As a resident of California, I can tell you that what this article says about the cost of living in places like San Francisco is no joke. What would be considered a shack of a home in other states can easily sell for well over a million in San Francisco. I have met countless numbers of Blacks AND WHITES who have been leaving that city along with others like Los Angeles and San Diego who have all told me the same thing: “It’s just too expensive.” These cities are quickly becoming the home of the two extremes: The very rich and the very poor–a divide that Liberals claim they want to bridge.
When I first visited S.F. a few years back, I immediately fell in love with it because it sorta reminded me of a New York on the west coast–except cleaner. However, the longer I stayed the more homeless folks I saw all over the city. Certain areas reeked with the smell of piss. Couple that with cost of living, one of the highest gas prices in the nation, ridiculously high rent and we quickly concluded that it was not the best place for us to raise a family (if you are single, typically these are just minor issues).
What I bolded above is what I typically base my opinions on when listening to liberals spout off about the utopia they can create if elected. I, along with many other Black folks have seen this ‘world’ first hand and have fled from it like the plague.
One more time–
At $9.14 an hour, San Francisco has one of the nation’s highest minimum wages. It offers a tax credit to working families. As of July, uninsured residents under age 65 became eligible for universal health care. Preschool is available free to every child. The city has approved more affordable housing in the past few years than at any other time in its history, Newsom says.
Read it slowly and ask yourself who is going to get your vote this coming election season (that goes for both sides of the political playground).
Related:
Does this mean that the city of Oakland is racist?
Liberalism’s crown jewel pushes out Blacks
The co$t of taking care of the homeless
Black folks to the public school system–â€ÂPeaceâ€Â
Liberalism and predominately black public schools
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10 Responses to San Francisco: One of many historical footnotes for liberalism
Wizz
August 28th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
What does livable wages, healthcare, and tax credits have to do with high home prices. The prices in the decent neigborhoods are high because people WANT to move there. The problem with blacks in these neighborhoods is that many blacks historically and currently don’t own shit… If you are renting then all of a sudden an area gets hot, for whatever reason (i.e. it becomes the heart of Silicon valley) then rental prices and mortgages prices are going to go up. If you can no longer afford it then you have to go. Simple economics. I would think you Cons would not see a problem with this. If they could afford the rents and mortgages then I am sure most of them would stay.
Duane
August 28th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
What does livable wages, healthcare, and tax credits have to do with high home prices.
It doesn’t. However, they are all stated goals of liberals who feel that these things are the sign of a ‘properly’ engineered society. When it doesn’t work—IT’S BUSH’S FAULT!
The problem with blacks in these neighborhoods is that many blacks historically and currently don’t own ****
Sorry, but many of the Blacks in these communities (Los Angeles, San Francisco) DO own property. The problem comes with folks who don’t know how to take care of what they have/had. Couple that with government officials that keep getting elected for doing squat and you have the mess that many of these cities are finding themselves in today.
Purple Avenger
August 28th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I would think you Cons would not see a problem with this.
Ummm, its the liberals who are complaining about it…unless Newsom has suddenly turned conservative and I didn’t get the memo.
MIB
August 29th, 2007 at 6:18 am
“… they are all stated goals of liberals who feel that these things are the sign of a ‘properly’ engineered society.”
None of those programs are goals of liberals, or Liberalism. In fact, it can be argued universal health care, tax credits, and a ‘living’ wage are neither liberal nor conservative in theory, but pragmatic solutions to the problems associated with a gentrified metropolitan area — as is San Francisco.
Duane
August 29th, 2007 at 7:26 am
It can also be argued that I saw an image of Mary in my grits this morning.
MIB
August 29th, 2007 at 8:51 am
You didn’t see a solution to homelessness or the other by-products of gentrification in your bowl of grits, did you?
Wizz
August 30th, 2007 at 7:58 am
However, they are all stated goals of liberals who feel that these things are the sign of a ‘properly’ engineered society. When it doesn’t workâ€â€IT’S BUSH’S FAULT!
Trust me, no one is blaming Bush for creating a city that lots of people want to move to… The market would not allow a price of a million dollars for a shack if there were not people willing to pay it in order to move there.
Sorry, but many of the Blacks in these communities (Los Angeles, San Francisco) DO own property.
Of course I’m not saying ALL black people don’t own… My point is MOST in these rising price neigborhoods don’t. Which is why they are not benefiting from the price rise.
Purple Avenger
August 30th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
I’d put those grits up on eBay. Gotta be worth a fortune ;->
JimDesu
January 1st, 2009 at 3:47 pm
As a former San Franciscan (a white guy) I find the idea that blacks are leaving the city because of substandard public housing to be borderline racist. Who in hell would want to be dependent on the public dime for their own home? The idea that somehow blacks should like being economically dependent is ridiculous. It seems pretty clear to me that blacks have abandoned San Francisco, not because of insufficient hand-outs, but out of god-given self-respect. And rightly so.
Barry Coughlan
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:51 pm
I came over to SF for the summer last year (from Ireland) and lived in Hunter’s Point. It has the highest percent of home ownership of any of the neighbourhoods and my observation is that it’s mostly families around there. I don’t know where you’re getting your ideas from. There was a big campaign to make sure that the new houses being built were at least 50% affordable houses.