"Nuttin Left to Grab"
How San Francisco turned into a war zone
The leprechaunish fellow standing next to me is Aaron Peskin.
He ran for Mayor of San Francisco. Early indications are, he lost.
I bumped into him last Saturday night at the at the Dia de los Muertos Parade in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Dia de los Muertos means Day of the Dead. This festive celebration of life and death is a big deal in Latin culture. San Francisco’s Mission District has one of the largest parades outside Latin America.
I don’t have Latin American ancestry, that I know of. And I’m not mourning a recent personal loss. My friend Erik asked me to join him in the parade. The event marked much-needed closure for him and his family. I gladly made the trip…with the Tucker kids in tow.
Altogether, there were about fifty of us supporting Erik. They gave us a green sash so we wouldn’t get lost in the massive parade. They had one gold sash reserved for me. For better or worse, the group referred to me as, “the gold guy.”
“Scared To Death”
Like me, Aaron Peskin has no Latin ancestry. He’s Jewish. The carnation pinned on his lapel and the bouquet of marigolds are merely props. His team stood by to make sure he looked the part of a parade participant.
I immediately recognized him as a mayoral candidate. His staff assumed I was a big supporter, and offered a photo opp.
With the little guy hugged in close I said, “Tuesday’s the big day!” His response caught me off guard…“I’m scared to death.”
I didn’t know how to respond. It seemed to be a comment about national politics, implying we may not survive an upset at the White House. The tone was typical of status quo thinking this year. There’s only one opinion allowed around the high-end cocktail party circuit.
But scared to death is what residents of San Francisco likely feel. A few weeks ago, a 17-year-old tried to rob 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall in Union Square. It was 2:30 PM, mid-afternoon.
Pearsall is a top-ranked professional athlete, a big guy. He resisted the perp’s attempt to take his wristwatch. The teenager pulled out a handgun and shot Pearsall the chest, leaving him in critical condition.
A back-alley drug deal gone wrong in the Tenderloin would be one thing, but this was Union Square, in broad daylight.
Union Square, if you’re unfamiliar, is the corner of Main St & Main St in San Francisco. Right now, it’s completely vacant.
I took the Tucker kids to see the vacancies. There are entire city blocks with not one retail tenant.
And you have to assume the owners of these empty buildings are the Blackrocks, Blackstones, and Brookfields of the world. Mega-corps that don’t seem worried about the fate of the city. If they are, they’re quiet about it.
We’re not quibbling over minor municipal issues. The current mayor, London Breed, protected the city’s bizarre policy of, “open air drug markets.”
This gentleman offered parkgoers a variety of psychedelic mushrooms, delivered to anyone who waived him over after noticing his sign.
And while drug laws are draconian, and ineffective, there’s a problem with facilitating open-air drug usage. This mushroom vendor is tame. It’s the tolerance for public use of intravenous drugs or smokables like cocaine base where things tend to get messy, often violent.
“Nuttin Left to Grab”
I travel constantly. There’s something about being in motion I find comforting.
It doesn’t matter where I go, it’s always the same format. I walk a lot, ride public transit, and interact with people. I’m eager to learn how things work in a new place. In San Francisco, they don’t work very well.
The city has extreme changes in elevation. Iconic Lombard Street, or walking Nob Hill from one side to another mean traversing a deceptively steep incline.
To compensate, they installed a cable car system along key cross-city routes. It’s the cars featured in the 1980s television commercials for Rice a Roni, “The San Francisco Treat.”
Spiral-wired metal cables run under the street. The car has a clamp, or grip, that grabs the cable pulling it up or down the hill almost like the rope ski lift on the beginner slope. It’s a remarkably simple system, and fun to ride.
I’m shocked these cars still exist in an era of hyper-safety. For starters, they operate and stop in middle of busy intersections, picking up and dropping off passengers. They’re open-air, with clunky mechanical equipment exposed. They have two skilled operators. You can, and are encouraged to, hang off the side like a sanitation worker standing on the rear bumper of a moving garbage truck.
At $8 per ride, the Tucker kids couldn’t get enough of this sporty way to cross town. Plus, their pint-sized legs mean it takes two steps to keep up with their over-caffeinated father on foot.
As we entered Union Square, I asked the “grip operator” running the car about the state of things. I mentioned it seemed calmer, quieter, with no commercial storefronts. He said, “Yeah, aint nuttin left to grab.”
The reference was the cities decision to waive prosecution of retail theft under $1,000. This essentially meant you had no obligation to pay for items unless they totaled $1,000 or more. And even then, you could make two trips to the store, splitting the theft to avoid violating the law.
Worth a Visit
Even with the unusually high odds of encountering violent crime, I enjoyed San Francisco. There’s something interesting to me about a city that seems to have found its intellectual rock bottom.
We stayed at the Fairmont on Nob Hill. It’s where the President stays. The lobby proudly displays photos of all but one U.S. President visiting the property. I’ll let you guess which one they left out…
As the staff prepares for the holiday season, a team of construction workers on ladders builds a life-sized gingerbread house, with giant sheet cookies glued together with frosting. This is a timeless, luxury hotel.
As a consequence of disregarding safety, city cleanliness, and an array of modern quality of life standards, hotels in San Francisco are cheap.
I avoid chain hotels at all costs. If there’s a points program, I won’t stay there. It’s a personal bias against “points people.” They sacrifice style, character, and experience for reward points…which they often hoard.
Instead, I prefer boutiques, or timeless luxury, like the Fairmont perched atop Nob Hill. The staff there are seasoned professionals, who dress the part. They miss the old days.
Under Mayor Breed’s leadership, corporate conventions abandoned the city. After uncomfortable altercations in public, three American medical societies recently canceled conventions set to occupy ~106,000 rooms next year. That’s on top of Meta, Google, and other home town companies canceling events.
While the Fairmont clings to the memory of better days, chain hotels appear disemboweled.
Both the Westin and the Marriott near Union Square have active protests underway. They clog the entryway to each hotel making it tough for loyal reward point hoarders to access the lobby.
The chant is, “Number 2 on strike…all day, all night.”
And these blockaded chain hotels have no character, charm, or history. They’re franchised brands with rooms that feel like a fully-lit surgical theater. The workers want more, and the franchisees might not have it to give.
Then there’s the transit system. We had a BART train ride across from a man who took his pants down, slouched sideways, and discarded candy and wadded trash across the car. He did rise up to exit the train at what appeared to be his intended destination.
Most sensible single fathers would hire a rideshare car. But it’s a far less interesting experience. Plus, no driver to talk to. The streets of San Francisco are increasingly filled with autonomous rideshare cars. As a Lyft driver told me after the parade late Saturday night, “They don’t need breaks, they never go on strike, and they never disobey traffic laws.”
That likely is the future of San Francisco. Reduce humans, reduce headaches, and automate life.
My advice for eager travelers is, visit while you can. Enjoy Nob Hill, Russian Hill, and the Marina for their unique character and charm. Ride the cable cars, and enjoy the cuisine. I had the best cup of coffee I’ve had all year there…which is saying a lot.
If you visit, do your best to avoid violent, drug-crazed, armed, teenage, watch thieves. Also, be careful where you step, people who live outside do everything outside.
But, when the price of first-rate accommodations undershoots the conditions, it can make for a fun travel experience.
However, my advice to the residents is, elect a new mayor…and move out of downtown.
Things Change
The gentleman above is a software salesman in Silicon Valley by day. He spends the weekend manning the free advice table in Dolores Park. My estimate after our conversation is his table is a ploy to meet prospective dates.
I try to avoid giving advice. People don’t want it. In fact, they tend to resist it so vehemently they’ll lash out at the advisor.
Instead, I try asking questions, as if I’m confused. This gives them the microphone, so to speak. It puts them on the spot. Like the poorly behaved kid in grade school, give them a job and they tend to pacify quickly.
I do occasionally have suggestions. Today is one of them. I hope you’ll consider it. Try avoiding future display of political signs and bumper stickers in your yard or on car.
I’ve seen dueling neighbors with exotic displays for their favored candidate. They try to outdo each other. It’s tacky, and confrontational.
I have a lawyer in New York City working on something for me. In several Zoom calls and in emails, he’s taken time to make fairly abrasive political statements. He’s older, and should know better. Plus, I’m the client. He doesn’t consider I might disagree. While I don’t care about the topic, some people do. And if you truly care about fostering intellectual freedom, give people the space to be wrong. Hoisting signs, banners, and the like infringes on the right for others to be wrong. Try to avoid it.
Because once things change, it’s our job to quickly change with them. Fighting an ideological battle for another reality is foolish, and expensive.
There’s a point where we all need to decide if we want to be right, or we want to be financially successful. I’ll choose the latter. You’re free to choose either.
That said, being financially successful would give you more money to throw at your ideology. So, there is a benefit to clear thinking, even when it feels hopeless.
Our job during regime change is to change with it, quickly. But we need to see the change first, and it’s not clear yet.
We do know a few things. And we’ll know more soon.
For starters, there’s one thing we did this year that paid off big Wednesday…it gave us a huge boost during a monster stock rally.
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