Middle Class Exodus

Middle class families are fleeing SF in droves because of housing prices and bad schools (oh gee, you think?).

"Many worry it's increasingly turning San Francisco into an enclave of the rich, where nurses, firefighters, cops, teachers and other professionals aspiring toward homeownership or in need of cheaper rent can no longer afford to stay.

"A kind of derogatory term for the city would be Disneyland for yuppies," said Hans Johnson, demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California. "There is a legitimate public policy concern when a city that many people have lived in for many years and regard as their homes becomes so expensive they can't afford to live there anymore."

Maybe the comments on the article say it best:

"People also leave San Francisco because the Newsom administration has made pets of precisely those who should be forced out, illegal immigrants and welfare bums."

"All that's changed is that Newsom and Brown have prosecuted their campaign to turn the city into a theme park successfully and the impacts of that project are becoming known. These people have no love for our city, it is all a game of politics and building a base for future runs for higher office by courting developers."

"The liberals protect the lowest common denominators of society. People who want to raise kids get sick of their kids seeing a guy peeing on their front porch, so they leave for the burbs. When you lose the family base, the entire commercial base only supports singles and dinks. Then you become a magnet for the yuppies and dinks and prices sky rocket. When you don't have kids, you have a ton of disposable income. I'm not complaining, I'm just pointing out the cause and effect situation. The city council has been hell bent on protecting the cities least deserving citizen, so this is what you get."

Honestly, reading comments on the Chronicle page give me just a little flicker of hope for this city because it's obvious that at least *some* people have their neurons fully connected. Of course, those people could all be commenting from their almond farms in Modesto and laughing at us city folk, but I like to think there are a few out there like me.