I’m all for it. But please don’t make it about gender. Contrary to what people think, constantly pushing that women are equal to men actually makes women seem less equal.
It is indeed a US problem. Just look at the depressed areas of the US on the east coast and south.
However, SF brands itself as the city of the future, innovation, and progress. Because it is the epicenter of the worlds technology startup scene.
But this darker aspect of the city contradicts that positive brand. You can’t be the city of progress and innovation if half of your people are subsisting in third world pits of despair. I mean you can try to be, but it doesn’t quite work. Something is wrong.
It gets worse. I had hoped to show off Silicon Valley to them as a place that is, well, pretty awesome. Having spent their entire lives in Germany though, they didn’t come away very impressed. When we took the Caltrain from SF down to San Jose they laughed, saying how the rickety slow, old train reminded them of the Soviet-era trains they had in East Germany in the 70’s. I couldn’t disagree.
Later, we took BART. Let’s just say they were so put off by the stench and the filthy condition of the train car, they refused to even sit down, held a handkerchief in front of their face, and couldn’t wait to get out.
Needless to say, they were unimpressed by their visit to the Bay Area.
This description of Rome is how I see San Francisco. Formerly such a beautiful city, now all I see is garbage.
Recently my grandparents, who had never been outside of Germany before, visited me in San Francisco. As we left SFO by car and drove into the city, they eagerly took in the new sights. Everything they saw was new to them. After a long period of silence, they asked me, with a certain level of disbelief in their voice, “Why is there so much garbage on the streets in America?” I was stumped. Later, recounting their experience, they told me, “Driving into San Francisco felt like entering a land fill.” I will never forget those words.