It was a refrain I heard with regularity from those who’ve lived in San Francisco for more than a few years: The city’s changed, and those changes have robbed it of its soul. The advent of our tech-centered economy has left San Francisco irredeemably addicted to the vast sums of money that continue to pour in from the tech boom. Because of that addiction, its very soul has been altered irrevocably.
No matter what part of the city you may find yourself in, evidence of the changes taking place are hard to miss. From Soma to Russian Hill to North Beach to the Tenderloin, new office buildings and apartment complexes reach ever further skyward. If you’re fortunate enough to ride the Google shuttle, or those from any number of other tech firms that provide transportation from downtown San Francisco to Silicon Valley, the building boom probably looks like a pretty good thing. Progress is always hard on some, right? Besides, all those techies with a ton of disposable income need apartments and condominiums and high-end shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues. If you own property in the city, why wouldn’t you want to get into whilst the getting’s good? How can catering to the whims and tastes of wealthy tech entrepreneurs not be good for your bottom line?
The downside of these changes is that many San Franciscans, some of whom have lived in Baghdad by the Bay (apologies to the late Herb Caen) for generations, are being pushed out. Not blessed enough to be one of the young, brilliant, aggressive, and wealthy techies San Francisco has become famous for, they’re quickly becoming obsolete and pushed aside as gentrification creeps over the city. As that’s happening, the city’s losing its soul as it becomes a mecca for those obsessed by and completely devoted to the pursuit of profits and The Next Big Thing. They know little and care even less about the city’s history and character…and why should they when they can help reshape it? In a very real sense, San Francisco and Silicon Valley have become the center of the universe. With companies like Facebook, Google, and Apple headquartered in the Bay Area, the epicenter of the digital age, and thus the world, is in San Francisco. It’s a very modern time for very modern people in a city racing to modernize. That charge to the future is in many respects coming at the cost of its past and its people.
The homeless and mentally ill have no place in a city dedicated to meeting the needs of the nouveau riche. History is just one damned thing after another, an impediment to creating a city better suited to our new tech overlords. San Francisco isn’t the same city it was 10 years ago, and it’s difficult to visualize what it will look like 10 years from now. It’s probably be a safe bet that it will be even more expensive and inhospitable to those not blessed with youth, brilliance, and wealth.
I’m glad I was able to see the city while it still retains some of its charm. Before long, it may have completely morphed into just another overcrowded ugh-end shopping mecca, with too many people and too many four-star restaurants.
