The Future of San Francisco
Am I sitting on the deck of the Titanic watching the ship go down?
There has been a definite seachange in the sentiments of the future of San Francisco since I moved here ten months ago. At that time San Francisco was poised for recovery like any other city. However, San Francisco is heavy in both technology companies headquartered here and their workers that not only easily adapted to remote work they relished it. Today, they continue to fight for it and resist coming back to our crime-riddled city. Because the tech workers did not come the darker side of San Francisco moved in spilling into Union Square, the public transit system that serves these businesses, and into the luxury stores, hotels, and restaurants around Union Square. One day I found a homeless man asleep in the Macy's upstairs housewares department. On another day I saw a man set up shop selling the things he had just stolen from Walgreens. He was right outside their door. Another time I found a man smoking crack in the Nordstrom elevator. As for the transit system, it was full of many people smoking, doing drugs, and screaming. I actually had to buy a car to drive to Berkeley to teach my classes.
The financial district remains a ghost town and soon the retail shops that remain will all follow suit as leases expire. Because of this and other factors, San Fransisco did not come back like Chicago or Miami. You can’t blame everything on tech because those cities don’t have the lenient attitude toward drugs and crime that is prevalent here, or the unfortunate juxtaposition of luxury hotels and retailers blocks from needle exchange sites, consumption centers, and homeless encampments. Yet, I don’t think anyone could have predicted how quickly San Francisco would unravel.
The last thing I expected to be doing was moving just one year into my move back to San Francisco. Currently, I am seeking new opportunities and talking to companies from Mountain View to Singapore. I try to remind myself that this is an exciting time, but I also have the recent memory of packing and unpacking, sorting and putting things in storage, and the amount of time and thought that moving entails. I entertain the thought that I could sell everything I have in my apartment and travel. When I return I can have new furniture delivered which is what I did when I moved here.
When I said I wanted a fresh start last summer I sincerely meant it. My traditional home was full of family heirlooms and furniture that was bought specifically for that type of house, and also for the comfort of the family I raised there. Luckily, my renters were willing to use much of my furniture and it has remained in place. The rest was given away or put in storage. What I’ve learned in this process is that I am not attached to things. I am attached to people and the work I love doing. I am making changes professionally because when my daughters were living at home I didn’t need co-workers. I ran my own company Ocean SF and taught at UC Berkeley. On the daily, I interacted with my vendors, customers, and students. However, rarely would I see my students after the term ended no matter how much I enjoyed them. My pattern makers, vendors, and interns at Ocean SF were also a revolving door.
Life with my daughters was consistent. We cooked together and watched movies together and shared that familiar sense of intimacy you have in families. You also have this with your coworkers when you see them day after day. Now, I live alone and have meetings on Zoom and spend time with my neighbors. I have met some really fascinating people here. They are from all around the world. I have made friends from China, Trinidad, India, and the Philippines. They work for Google, Apple, Tesla, and a host of cybersecurity companies. On Fridays, we have a happy hour in our building on the Mezzanine level, our bartender or mixologist makes amazingly creative drinks and the drinks are free. It’s ridiculously convenient to attend. In the afternoon I will text my friends in the building to see who is going, but I almost always make new friends once I am there as well. This is something I will really miss. The rest of my social life takes more planning and commitment. Seeing my old friends requires reservations and a car or Bart ride. Now, this will be the case with my new friends. There won’t be impromptu drinks on the terrace or a trip across the park to get tacos and burgers on a random Thursday night. As I adapt to being an empty nester I realize that I won’t have the same sort of relationships I’ve had in the past. Our kids won’t go to school together for 12 years. We won’t own homes in the same neighborhood and run into each other at Safeway. It will take a different type of effort to stay in touch.
I had lunch with my neighbor over the weekend. He broke the news to me that he is moving to New York City. He said San Francisco is dead, the vacancies will continue to increase and most of the stores and restaurants will close. I took a look around and it made me feel like I was on the Titanic. The popular North Beach Restaurant where we sat on a holiday weekend was only half full where it once would have had a line around the block. But still, it was hard not to be charmed by San Francisco. After a delicious lunch that included a very generous double scoop of gelato (pictured above), we walked around North Beach and then walked down to the Ferry Building to buy wine. We leisurely sat in the wine shop tasting wine carefully curated from around the world. Then in the late afternoon, we walked home under a blue sky with high white clouds. It was a very quintessential San Francisco day. The type of day that people move here for.
The next day my friend from New York City called me and together we looked at apartments for me in NYC, but still, I can’t image leaving San Francisco. When I left San Francisco the first time it was because my mother was dying and I moved home to take care of her. It was a very gut-wrenching time. When I came back to Northern California I was engaged and it made sense for us to buy a house in the suburbs and start a family. I have always felt that I had unfinished business in San Francisco. I didn’t want to leave the first time and I don’t want to leave now.
My lease is up in seven weeks…