Back in early 1996, I got extremely lucky. I had been a contributing writer for The Torch, the school newspaper for Bergen Community College, for a while. But I got a bit excited when they were trying to determine who would be going to a journalism conference out in San Francisco. It seemed really far-fetched to think that the trip would actually take place, much less that I would be going. Still, when they announced it, I could not help but feel hopeful. The top people deliberated, and when they came back inside, specifically to talk to me, I was surprised, and remember feeling, for the first time, that this was actually going to happen, that I was going to get to San Francisco.
What they asked me was this: was I willing to become the sports editor? They made it sound like it was a condition for me to accept before being considered as one of the candidates to go out to San Francisco for the school newspaper.
This, to me, was an honor in it's own right to me at the time. Had they asked before announcing the trip, I believe that I would gladly have accepted. But when it seemed that they were offering this while dangling the carrot of a trip to San Francisco, all expenses paid?
Well, let me just admit to not hesitating for a moment. I said yes, they left the room, and then it was indeed a done deal. I still feel extremely fortunate to this day for having been a part of that trip, and for the experiences while visiting that city. It was one of the major American cities that I had always only dreamed of going to at that point in my life. This was my first trip to San Francisco, and to the West Coast more generally. It was my first taste of getting to see the famous hills of the city, the Golden Gate Bridge, the cable cars (which I rode on), Alcatraz, Lombard Street, and Fisherman's Wharf. It was also the first time for me seeing actual palm trees that were not specifically planted and taken in for the winter, and the first time seeing a green and lush landscape in the middle of winter (we went in latter half of February).
Really, it was only an extended weekend. If memory serves correctly, we headed west on a Thursday, and came back on a red eye on Sunday evening, landing early on Monday morning. Not even four full days, and we never left the city, other than maybe to get to the airport. We did not see Yosemite. We did not see the Redwoods, or any other part of California.
Still, I was happy. Elated, even! How often will you get a chance - as an adult! - to get an all expenses trip to such a beautiful city, especially when you are young and full of energy, and otherwise have no money to make such a trip yourself?
Truth be told, I fell in love with the city. It was amazing to me, this city that felt almost like eternal spring, year round. A gorgeous city with water all around it, some truly beautiful sites and views, and close proximity to natural wonders which included, but were not limited to, the Redwoods, Yosemite National Park, the gorgeous Pacific Coast, majestic and towering snow-capped mountains, and the desert. Frankly, I felt ready to move there.
Fast forward to 2016, and my own preparations to take my son to see San Francisco. While the prior trip has been amazing and fun, and again, something I still felt (and still feel) extremely grateful for, planning the second trip was a much different experience. That last trip had been when I was much younger and, admittedly, far more naive. It had been an all expenses paid trip, other than some of the souvenirs that I picked up, as well as a couple of meals. This time, however, I was paying for everything, obviously. And there was one thing that anyone planning a trip to San Francisco could hardly fail to notice: it was extremely expensive!
This time, I wanted to make a point of going to some of those other places that I had so wanted to see. That included Yosemite National Park, as well as the Redwoods. As it turned out, both of those places were relative breaks, compared to San Francisco, at least in terms of the financial burden. We stayed at a cheap place in Fort Bragg, California, and I found a relatively reasonable lodging just outside of Yosemite. But San Francisco was quite expensive, and I really only managed to get camping well outside of the city, across the bay in Oakland.
San Francisco was still undeniably beautiful. But what I could hardly fail to notice was just how ridiculously expensive it was! A tourist agent casually asked me if I wanted to book reservations to visit Alcatraz for almost $160 per person, which would have cost well over $300 for my son and I combined, even though we were on a shoestring budget. The hotel prices had been off the charts, and I soon found parking to be ridiculous, as well, at $10 an hour near Fisherman's Wharf.
Indeed, this trip was very different than the prior trip, when all of those expenses - or the vast majority of them, anyway - had been taken care of already. With me now bearing the financial burden, I reluctantly left the city after it had drained my wallet of some much needed resources for the duration of the two-week trip, which we then had still mostly only begun.
Perhaps my naivete had led me to believe that I would be able to enjoy it as effortlessly as I had during that earlier trip in 1996. Fact of the matter was, that trip had been one of the most fun times that I had had to that point. Going out west for the first time really stuck out as something special, and it made the whole trip feel magical. In fact, 1996 wound up being a great year for me, with a lot of great things, including some great trips, all taking place in that calendar year. Yet, San Francisco remains probably the biggest single highlight of that year, the one thing that stands out more than all of the others, most likely.
So, I had high expectations of a repeat. But this time around, my experience, while mostly pleasant - San Francisco is undeniably a beautiful and pleasant city overall - was nonetheless tinged with an awareness, and a weariness, that I was spending far too much more, far too fast. Everything was just too expensive. Hotels, even camping, which was more than most hotels that we had booked. Food was more expensive. The tolls were not so bad, although my experiences with the tolls of New York City probably had something to do with that. When I left San Francisco in 2016, heading towards the Redwoods, it was with a kind of bittersweet feeling. I was glad to have visited the city, and to have done so especially with my son, to have shared that with him. Yet, it felt somehow more stressful than I had envisioned, which definitely detracted from it on my end. Yes, I looked forward to the Redwoods, and the other parts of the trip. But San Fran was supposed to be one of the major highlights. Instead, it had largely been a major headache.
Indeed, this trip was very different than the prior trip, when all of those expenses - or the vast majority of them, anyway - had been taken care of already. With me now bearing the financial burden, I reluctantly left the city after it had drained my wallet of some much needed resources for the duration of the two-week trip, which we then had still mostly only begun.
Perhaps my naivete had led me to believe that I would be able to enjoy it as effortlessly as I had during that earlier trip in 1996. Fact of the matter was, that trip had been one of the most fun times that I had had to that point. Going out west for the first time really stuck out as something special, and it made the whole trip feel magical. In fact, 1996 wound up being a great year for me, with a lot of great things, including some great trips, all taking place in that calendar year. Yet, San Francisco remains probably the biggest single highlight of that year, the one thing that stands out more than all of the others, most likely.
So, I had high expectations of a repeat. But this time around, my experience, while mostly pleasant - San Francisco is undeniably a beautiful and pleasant city overall - was nonetheless tinged with an awareness, and a weariness, that I was spending far too much more, far too fast. Everything was just too expensive. Hotels, even camping, which was more than most hotels that we had booked. Food was more expensive. The tolls were not so bad, although my experiences with the tolls of New York City probably had something to do with that. When I left San Francisco in 2016, heading towards the Redwoods, it was with a kind of bittersweet feeling. I was glad to have visited the city, and to have done so especially with my son, to have shared that with him. Yet, it felt somehow more stressful than I had envisioned, which definitely detracted from it on my end. Yes, I looked forward to the Redwoods, and the other parts of the trip. But San Fran was supposed to be one of the major highlights. Instead, it had largely been a major headache.
Now, I had heard that it was an incredibly expensive city. The fact that the first trip had been paid for had more or less hidden the significance of this from me the first time. Also, living in the New York/New Jersey area - not known to be cheap - also altered my understanding of just how expensive it was. Surely, it could not be worse than here, right? My assumption was that it would be similar, but worth it.
The inescapable truth, though, was that San Francisco, while blessed with arguably the most natural and architectural beauty of any corner in the United States, was just unbelievably expensive. On this trip, I began to pay attention to what I had heard about over the prior years and decades since my first trip, about how this city was so costly. There had been a fire in Oakland where a number of people had been killed. They had been renting there, in a building that clearly was not meant to house so many, and which did not have enough fire safety nets in place. The people were there because they could not afford anything else. After all, an average house in San Francisco, at the time of my trip in 2016, cost roughly three-quarters of a million dollars. Again, that is the average price of a house, not a sparkling new mansion with a two-car garage and a swimming pool and a spacious back and front yard. Soon, I learned that a family making under $117,000 in San Francisco could be regarded as "low income." Mind you, in most of the rest of the country, and almost anywhere else in the world, you are probably not only doing well, but living very comfortably, if you make $117,000 per year. In San Francisco, you might need government assistance if you "only" make that much. It took planning a trip of a mere couple of days in the city (I had initially hoped to stay longer, but simply could not afford it) to finally allow the reality of just how expensive San Francisco was to finally dawn on me. It took the planning for the hotels, then scrapping that idea after seeing the prices, and being shocked at the costs of camping, and then going there and being appalled at the cost of parking, at the cost of food, at the cost of boat rides and tickets to Alcatraz that we never went on, and the costs of what were considered cheap souvenirs, for me to fully grasp just how absurdly expensive San Francisco was.
When I think of San Francisco, I try to remember how beautiful it seemed during that 1996 trip, and how pleasant it felt, from beginning to end. But the reality is closer to the 2016 trip;. Don't get me wrong, we got to enjoy ourselves. We saw some beautiful things, from the Palace of the Fine Arts (it is blessedly free to visit those grounds, at least for now), to some of the parks which give views of San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. We visited Signal Hill, underneath Coit Tower, and I took the shot of the Transamerica Pyramid Building draped in fog. We enjoyed Fisherman's Wharf, and ate the same kind of New England Clam Chowder in a bowl of sourdough bread that I had thoroughly enjoyed during the '96 trip. The weather was so much more blessedly cooler than the desert temperatures that we had endured, including earlier in the morning before arriving in San Francisco, when it was quite hot and relentlessly sunny in Sacramento. I actually drove on the Golden Gate Bridge, and my son and I took pictures of us together, with the famous and beautiful bridge shrouded in fog in the background.
Yet, I was kind of glad to leave, all the same. Literally, I could not afford another day there. Not on my limited budget. Already, I missed the beauty of the city, and almost somehow felt cheated that I had not been able to mindlessly lose myself in the pleasantness and beauty of the city, as I had managed to do so easily twenty years earlier.
The inescapable truth, though, was that San Francisco, while blessed with arguably the most natural and architectural beauty of any corner in the United States, was just unbelievably expensive. On this trip, I began to pay attention to what I had heard about over the prior years and decades since my first trip, about how this city was so costly. There had been a fire in Oakland where a number of people had been killed. They had been renting there, in a building that clearly was not meant to house so many, and which did not have enough fire safety nets in place. The people were there because they could not afford anything else. After all, an average house in San Francisco, at the time of my trip in 2016, cost roughly three-quarters of a million dollars. Again, that is the average price of a house, not a sparkling new mansion with a two-car garage and a swimming pool and a spacious back and front yard. Soon, I learned that a family making under $117,000 in San Francisco could be regarded as "low income." Mind you, in most of the rest of the country, and almost anywhere else in the world, you are probably not only doing well, but living very comfortably, if you make $117,000 per year. In San Francisco, you might need government assistance if you "only" make that much. It took planning a trip of a mere couple of days in the city (I had initially hoped to stay longer, but simply could not afford it) to finally allow the reality of just how expensive San Francisco was to finally dawn on me. It took the planning for the hotels, then scrapping that idea after seeing the prices, and being shocked at the costs of camping, and then going there and being appalled at the cost of parking, at the cost of food, at the cost of boat rides and tickets to Alcatraz that we never went on, and the costs of what were considered cheap souvenirs, for me to fully grasp just how absurdly expensive San Francisco was.
When I think of San Francisco, I try to remember how beautiful it seemed during that 1996 trip, and how pleasant it felt, from beginning to end. But the reality is closer to the 2016 trip;. Don't get me wrong, we got to enjoy ourselves. We saw some beautiful things, from the Palace of the Fine Arts (it is blessedly free to visit those grounds, at least for now), to some of the parks which give views of San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. We visited Signal Hill, underneath Coit Tower, and I took the shot of the Transamerica Pyramid Building draped in fog. We enjoyed Fisherman's Wharf, and ate the same kind of New England Clam Chowder in a bowl of sourdough bread that I had thoroughly enjoyed during the '96 trip. The weather was so much more blessedly cooler than the desert temperatures that we had endured, including earlier in the morning before arriving in San Francisco, when it was quite hot and relentlessly sunny in Sacramento. I actually drove on the Golden Gate Bridge, and my son and I took pictures of us together, with the famous and beautiful bridge shrouded in fog in the background.
Yet, I was kind of glad to leave, all the same. Literally, I could not afford another day there. Not on my limited budget. Already, I missed the beauty of the city, and almost somehow felt cheated that I had not been able to mindlessly lose myself in the pleasantness and beauty of the city, as I had managed to do so easily twenty years earlier.
San Francisco is a wonderful city, but it is restricted to those who can afford it. Like New York City, it offers some incredible perks, but those perks are largely reserved for those with enormous bank accounts, and with easy access to tremendous funds. If you do not have that readily in hand, good luck to you. In that, New York and San Francisco are pretty much the same. There is a lot to see and a lot to do in both, but you better damn well have the money for it. Otherwise, you better damn well limit your time there. Period.
Bill Clinton was President back in 1996. About five years later, once he moved out of Washington, he moved to New York City. To a part of Harlem, to be specific. And his move there began what some called a new renaissance. Except this was almost like a reverse white flight renaissance. People with money moved in, and forced the people without to move away. Gentrification.
It is still happening, and the old Harlem is shrinking. I remember as a kid, many viewed Harlem as somewhere you stay away from, because there was a lot of poverty, and all of the negatives that went with it. Now, Harlem is still somewhere you stay away from, and there are still all of the negatives that go with it. Only now, it is because it is becoming too expensive, too elitist.
The same thing is happening, and has already happened, in San Francisco. A gorgeous city, to be sure, blessed with architectural beauty and wonderful natural surroundings. But a city that you either have the money to enjoy, or the knowledge to stay away from if you do not.
And wealthy San Francisco residents apparently want to keep it that way.
Recently, I came upon this article that revealed that wealthy San Francisco residents had put together $60,000 to prevent a homeless shelter from being built in the city. The mayor of the city said that this was "incredibly frustrating and disappointing."
Personally, I would agree.
This also goes against what most people think about San Francisco, which is one of the most liberal cities in the United States, and possibly the world. For years, it was the only city in the world with a majority of residents being homosexual. Not sure if it still holds that status or not, but it is seen as a very progressive-minded city, and is very socially liberal.
Yet, it also has a serious housing shortage problem. At some point, this is an issue that will need to be addressed.
To me, it feels unfortunate that wealthy residents decided to pool resources together and raise money not so much to help people, but to prevent poorer people in their city from being helped. This feels like it is exclusion based on economic class, a problem that is growing in the world, and especially here in the United States.
Apparently, nowhere is this as much of a problem as in San Francisco, where the cost of living is already astronomical and ridiculous. This story would seem to suggest that it is only getting worse, to boot.
Wealthy residents raise $60,000 to stop homeless shelter being built in San Francisco Campaign ‘incredibly frustrating and disappointing’, says mayor of city gripped by housing crisis Chris Baynes Friday 29 March 2019
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