Frank Lloyd Wright, the so-called father of American architecture, knew something about urbanism and urbanity.
“San Francisco is the only city that I think can survive all the things that people are doing to it and still look beautiful,” he said a few decades ago (he died in 1959). His phrase is fully valid, as if he had pronounced it today at lunch.
The pearl of the Californian bay, once praised as paradise on earth, is the summary of all the evils attributed to large cities in the United States, especially due to the impact of the zombie plague of fentanyl and massive presence of homeless people, which spoils the sense of good taste for many, specifically those who look the other way and hold their noses, and those who live far away, go from time to time and visit the theme park of the horror.
For a few years now, a univocal narrative has been established about San Francisco, as if everything were hell.
This is based on undeniable facts. The number of overdose deaths is among the highest in the country and tents line the sidewalks of one of the metropolises with the highest percentage of billionaires.
Hotels and commercial areas are closing in downtown, according to the headlines this past week. Companies are cutting space in their headquarters with the excuse of remote work and there is a shortage of police candidates because housing is expensive and the outlook is bleak.
The loop broadcast of the same or similar images also contributes to this catastrophic vision – something that excites Fox and others imitate it to be in tune –, from almost always identical places (Tenderloin, in the center) that seeks to show “the destruction ” what liberal policies are causing in the United States.
That city, of which Mark Twain confessed that “I have always been treated better in San Francisco than I really deserved,” now represents dirt and dystopia in the collective imagination. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan bank, said the other day that “San Francisco is in worse condition than New York.” He attributed his criticism to the fact that “the municipality is not doing a good job” and that is why it has lost population since 2020.
It is the poster city for petty crime (big crime is below the national average, which has fallen overall), drug trafficking and street encampments. However, based on the analyses, the quality of life in most neighborhoods has not changed significantly.
What if San Francisco is something more? What if a good part of its 800,000 residents feel pride in their city and the effort being made to update it?
Despite the bad global reputation, many residents express their disagreement with this utterly fatalistic vision.
When traveling for leisure or business to the Big Apple, and this metropolis does not enjoy good publicity among the usual Trumpism either, those residents in San Francisco often encounter comments about the depopulation of downtown and the decay of the city. . As if they were expressing compassion for them.
A common response from appellees is that this only affects part, not the entire city. An illustrative reply they make is that they talk to them as if all New Yorkers lived in Times Square and were dressed as Cookie Monster or naked like the guitar cowboy.
So it has jumped from the summit, for being a city that was roaring with technological development, to the bottom of the abyss.
This univocal narrative threatens to prevent the recovery of lost conventions and tourist traffic. For this reason, the City Council hired a public relations company to relaunch the image and convince the world that San Francisco is not doomed to perdition.
This effort was launched in view of last November’s convention of the countries integrated into the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, a meeting that brought together the top leaders of twenty countries and which facilitated face-to-face between presidents Joe Biden, the host, and the Chinese Xi Jinping.
Jason Mandell, head of the campaign, wrote this: “Unfortunately, San Francisco is singled out and falsely portrayed by the media, commentators and politicians as a failed city overrun by crime, homelessness and drugs,” he stressed. “I asked myself what they are talking about,” he insists, without denying that problems exist in some neighborhoods. “But that the city as a whole is unsafe is massive hyperbole. “San Francisco continues to be one of the most vibrant cities in the country and the world,” he added.
Thanks to the APEC meeting, the number of tents was reduced to 508. Although that number has increased in recent weeks, those who knew the city before and have returned this Christmas assured that “more cleanliness” is observed in the downtown area.
Guitarist Paul Kantner, co-founder of Jefferson Airplane, once ventured: “San Francisco has 49 square miles surrounded by reality.”
