So Sad Because They Got What They Wished For

(Chronicle image)

A Chronicle poll finds San Francisco residents filled with "pervasive gloom": [bold added]

Roughly one-third of the respondents said they were likely to leave within the next three years. A large majority, 65%, said that life in the city is worse than when they first moved here. Less than one-quarter of respondents said they expected life in San Francisco to improve in two years. More than one-third said it would worsen.

San Franciscans were largely in agreement about the city’s biggest problems: Homelessness took first place, followed by public safety and housing affordability. When asked if, three years from now, those problems would be significantly less severe, nearly 70% of people said either “slightly likely” or “not likely at all.”

The overall population of San Francisco fell during the pandemic, and a disproportionate percentage of the departed consisted of those most able to fix the City's problems, i.e., the young and the wealthy.

San Francisco hasn't hit bottom yet. We know this because the proposed nostrums are simply more of the same; spend more money on more redistributive programs that expand the bureaucracy. As we noted in April

George Christopher lured
the Giants from New York.

the San Francisco voters seem to approve these policies on homelessness and crime because they keep re-electing leaders who spend $billions and not only do not fix the problems but make things worse.

George Christopher (1907-2000), the last Republican mayor of San Francisco, left office in 1964.

As a believer in democracy, I say let's continue to give the voters what they asked for, good and hard.