{"id":24736,"date":"2023-01-12T21:12:55","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T05:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=24736"},"modified":"2023-01-12T21:12:56","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T05:12:56","slug":"would-a-bust-be-all-bad-for-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/01\/12\/would-a-bust-be-all-bad-for-san-francisco\/","title":{"rendered":"Would a bust be all bad for San Francisco?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul><li><em>By Lincoln Mitchell | Special to The Examiner |<\/em><\/li><li>Jan 10, 2023\u00a0<em>Updated\u00a0<\/em>Jan 11, 2023 (SFExaminer.com)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/1\/47\/1472a448-83ff-5c31-a1b7-46a2cbedbed4\/63be14951d2c0.image.jpg?resize=400%2C300\" alt=\"City Lights\"\/><figcaption><em>City Lights Bookstore in North Beach was founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin at a time when real estate was cheap and artists had a large influence on The City\u2019s sense of itself.<\/em><em>debaird<\/em><em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>San Francisco has been a boom-and-bust city for its entire history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the late 1840s, San Francisco, then known as Yerba Buena, was a tiny outpost with fewer than 1,000 residents. By 1870, it had become the most important city in the western U.S., while&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggestuscities.com\/city\/san-francisco-california\">its population<\/a>&nbsp;had grown by more than 14,800% to 149,473. World War II was another boom time for San Francisco as shipbuilding and other war-related industries buoyed The City\u2019s economy leading to a population increase of 140,000 between 1940 and 1950.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the early 1960s, San Francisco was in the midst of an economic bust that led to joblessness and population loss not fully reversed until the 1980s. For much of this century, San Francisco has seen a tech-related boom, but due to COVID, the changing nature of the tech sector and other related variables, it now appears we are likely heading toward another bust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is easy to see these economic downturns as bad for San Francisco, but the reality is a little more complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dominance of the tech boom, and the money it has brought into San Francisco politics, has meant that the primary framework for understanding San Francisco has become economic growth. There has always been more to San Francisco than that, but the space for saying it out loud and for building politics, and culture, around things other than wealth accumulation has been shrinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For many San Franciscans, particularly those whose roots are deeper than the most recent tech boom, what makes The City so wonderful are not high-end boutiques, endless conversations about real estate and business and the desire to get rich fast. That worked out for a few people, but it changed The City, pushing out much of the character, vibe and people who had characterized San Francisco for much of the previous half century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Long traditions of tolerance, progressive social movements, avant-garde arts and culture \u2014 and being a place where people seek to find themselves rather than their fortune \u2014 are what makes San Francisco special. And none of that can flourish when boom times render The City unaffordable and business pushes out culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So much of what San Francisco contributed to the rest of the world from roughly 1960 to 2000 would not have been possible if the local economy had been booming that whole time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The gay rights movement, the women\u2019s, Black, Native American, Chicano liberation movements, the music and social changes that have emanated from The City could not have taken place in a San Francisco that was so expensive that everybody had to work all the time just to make rent, and where there were no empty or cheap spaces to rehearse, hold meetings or concerts or otherwise put culture and politics, rather than commerce, at the center of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent years, as rents went up, lower income people were forced out, which moved San Francisco\u2019s politics rightward, making it a less appealing destination for the kinds of migrants who have contributed so much to this city, and beyond, over the years. The result of this was that large parts of San Francisco began to feel like just another affluent North American or European city \u2014 not least because of the political energy and financial power seeking to make The City become just that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is also true that an economic bust is not going to be good for real estate prices, many retail and tech businesses or aspiring tech billionaires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The impact of that, particularly with regard to The City\u2019s tax base, is real. However, a reassertion of San Francisco as a place people come to because they want to feel a little freer, live a little more unconventionally or put some distance between themselves and their homes and families in other parts of the country or globe would be welcomed by many in The City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, an economic downturn will mean a loss of jobs, wealth and tax revenue for The City. However, the economic boom has not exactly made San Francisco more affordable for longtime low-income residents or alleviated longstanding problems such as homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A city as wealthy as San Francisco could have used the previous boom decades to reinforce the infrastructure and services that will be so important if the economic downturn is real. Instead, San Francisco did little to invest in, for example, affordable housing and better public transportation, so these problems will linger or get worse during the coming economic bust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tech layoffs mean that San Francisco may no longer be a draw for smart college graduates in search of their fortune, but they might be replaced by the kinds of people who were coming to San Francisco long before anybody sent in a Tweet or rode in an Uber and who have made this city a special place far beyond the riches it has brought to some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The San Francisco that is emerging will not be the boomtown we have experienced for the last few years, but it might be a more interesting, vibrant and exciting city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Lincoln Mitchell has written numerous books and articles about The City and<\/em> <em>the Giants. Visit<\/em>\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/lincolnmitchell.com\/\">lincolnmitchell.com<\/a><\/em>\u00a0<em>or follow him on Twitter @LincolnMitchell.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lincoln Mitchell | Special to The Examiner | Jan 10, 2023\u00a0Updated\u00a0Jan 11, 2023 (SFExaminer.com) San Francisco has been a boom-and-bust city for its entire history. In the late 1840s, San Francisco, then known as Yerba Buena, was a tiny outpost with fewer than 1,000 residents. By 1870, it had&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/01\/12\/would-a-bust-be-all-bad-for-san-francisco\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24736"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24737,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24736\/revisions\/24737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}