The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S.

[Craig234]

Also one of the most "segregated" cities. Sure, you have a bunch of rich people in Nob Hill, Richmond district, blah blah blah, but there are also a lot of places that are sh!tty (like Tenderloin).

Gavin Newsom is a failure and he is running San Francisco into the ground. Bring back Willie Brown please.

Let's see your evidence for "one of the most" segregated.

Not like every big American city has that from our century of legal segregation. New York with Harlem, Los Angeles with Watts, Compton and such, Chicago with its areas, Washington D.C., New Orleans...

San Francisco is actually, because of its liberalism, making a lot of efforts to improve things on this issue.

 

[heyheybooboo]

So you're going to tell me that the main example in the article earned his job due to his qualifications and kept it because he was doing such a good job? Really?:\

We don't really know that, do we?

That's the issue. And the conundrum his boss had to deal with.

Agunbiade may have been getting great performance evaluations and was making a big difference in departmental accountability. BUT ...

the letters about revealing clothes and Jesus!

C'mon, guys. Be honest. I know we gots a few men here who would be 'distracted' by such a lovely attraction



-

 

[Genx87]

I have to give you credit in this post for ackowledging that this is an issue not about 'liberal' and happens elsewhere. Of course it's not limitefd to government either. Private has plenty of problems.

At some point people need to get past the simplistic 'oh my gosh look at the anecdote' approach and recognize there's 'waste' inherent, and deal with just reducing it and more important issues.

What's better, an ineffiicient project for somethig useful or efficiency for a 'bridge to nowhere'?

The obvious difference between public and private is in a private setting people do get fired for incompetency and if they dont the company folds and the owners are out their investment. Public institutions continue to rape the taxpayer while providing very little in return in instances like this article points out. They dont go away and the issue and waste and corruption continues.

 

[CycloWizard]

We don't really know that, do we?

That's the issue. And the conundrum his boss had to deal with.

Agunbiade may have been getting great performance evaluations and was making a big difference in departmental accountability. BUT ...

the letters about revealing clothes and Jesus!

C'mon, guys. Be honest. I know we gots a few men here who would be 'distracted' by such a lovely attraction
-

If you had RTFA, you would know that, wouldn't you? Even this brief article gives a litany of reasons why he should be fired - any one of which in and of itself should be more than enough to get someone canned in a setting with a modest degree of accountability. Instead, they had to wait until he did something that wasn't PC to fire him because that's where they have drawn the line in the sand. The harassment appears to be relatively minor compared to the rest of his body of work.

 

[Steeplerot]

Also one of the most "segregated" cities. Sure, you have a bunch of rich people in Nob Hill, Richmond district, blah blah blah, but there are also a lot of places that are sh!tty (like Tenderloin).

Gavin Newsom is a failure and he is running San Francisco into the ground. Bring back Willie Brown please.

Segregated? You have obviously never lied in SF, hell, everyone is a minority here there are so many types, and yes, regardless of the joke name of "specific whites" working class people live in Pacific Heights also.
My friend that is over right now is from Pac Heights and is working class Mexican family.
The tenderloin is kinda ghetto lower but the rest of it is a art school college district/hipster nightlife trendy dive bars. You hear the term Tendernob more then 'loin.

The days of Willie Brown are long gone.

 

[Steeplerot]

There are flaws here and there and our city council are eccentric as hell, but it is still the best place in the USA in my opinion.
I am not going to rub in the fact that its beautiful, (mountains/sea) perfect weather year round and we are just downright a wealthier/diverse city with a pretty good 24/7 public transit system. Nope.
The western rebellious spirit of the city embodies what is good about the USA to me.
So suck it haters.

 

[Craig234]

The obvious difference between public and private is in a private setting people do get fired for incompetency and if they dont the company folds and the owners are out their investment. Public institutions continue to rape the taxpayer while providing very little in return in instances like this article points out. They dont go away and the issue and waste and corruption continues.

That's too nonsensical to repond to. For just a couple things, there is alll kinds of 'waste' in private business for many reasons, and businesses vary greatly in the value to society.

Goldman Sachs runs around helping rich people evade their fair share of taxes, pushing schemes bad for the public, is involved in gambling and profit from influence, among other things. Is 'efficiency' the relevant question about them, even if they had no 'waste', which they do? The public agencies typically serve some public need and despite whatever inefficiency are mostly useful. I think I recently posted that your position was too simplistic and that applies here too.

I'd like to put some righties in charge of some government services some time and require them to both serve the people they're supposed to serve well, and to do so on a shoestring budget.

I think they'd get an education into why their armchair whines are largely off base. I'm all for demanding quality and efficiency from government, but treating it fairly in return, not like lepers as the right does.

 

[irwincur]

The worst part is, these are the types that will eventually leave their liberal dream city (that they have bankrupted by way overstepping their mandates) and move to working cities. Once settled, they will undoubtedly push for the same crap that bankrupted the other city. Then complain because it is a broke mess. Move, repeat, move, repeat.

 

[marincounty]

The worst part is, these are the types that will eventually leave their liberal dream city (that they have bankrupted by way overstepping their mandates) and move to working cities. Once settled, they will undoubtedly push for the same crap that bankrupted the other city. Then complain because it is a broke mess. Move, repeat, move, repeat.

Attention fool, SF still has tons of international and domestic tourists who pour billions into the city's coffers. SF is far from bankrupt. It gives the city the luxury of funding all kinds of pet projects. Other cities do not have this luxury. Other cities are tanking far worse than SF.
SF is very expensive and has lots of corruption and lousy politicians, it is not bankrupt or a broke mess. I understand that you hate SF but that doesn't mean they are broke. You would like to make the connection between the liberal policies and bankruptcy but you failed.
Actually, several years ago Orange County (right wing area) went bankrupt. There's a lot stronger correlation between right-wing politics and bankruptcy than that of liberal politics and bankruptcy-compare the Clinton administration with the GWB admin.

 

[Drako]

Attention fool, SF still has tons of international and domestic tourists who pour billions into the city's coffers. SF is far from bankrupt. It gives the city the luxury of funding all kinds of pet projects. Other cities do not have this luxury. Other cities are tanking far worse than SF.
SF is very expensive and has lots of corruption and lousy politicians, it is not bankrupt or a broke mess. I understand that you hate SF but that doesn't mean they are broke. You would like to make the connection between the liberal policies and bankruptcy but you failed.
Actually, several years ago Orange County (right wing area) went bankrupt. There's a lot stronger correlation between right-wing politics and bankruptcy than that of liberal politics and bankruptcy-compare the Clinton administration with the GWB admin.

If the current budge deficit trend continues, SF will be bankrupt.

2009: -438 million
2010: -615 million
2011: -745 million

These are estimates from the City Controller's Office, so in reality it's probably worse.

 

[Genx87]

That's too nonsensical to repond to. For just a couple things, there is alll kinds of 'waste' in private business for many reasons, and businesses vary greatly in the value to society.

Uh you brought private waste into the argument. Now your own point is too nonsensical to respond to? lmao you truely are a piece of work.

Goldman Sachs runs around helping rich people evade their fair share of taxes, pushing schemes bad for the public, is involved in gambling and profit from influence, among other things. Is 'efficiency' the relevant question about them, even if they had no 'waste', which they do? The public agencies typically serve some public need and despite whatever inefficiency are mostly useful. I think I recently posted that your position was too simplistic and that applies here too.

Goldman Sachs would be history if it werent for govt coddling them along. Govt decided to let Goldman Sachs be run like a public organization and not die. So what is your point?

I'd like to put some righties in charge of some government services some time and require them to both serve the people they're supposed to serve well, and to do so on a shoestring budget.

If I was allowed to actually cut costs and not be bent over by unions and special interest groups it wouldnt be as hard as you make it out to be. Nor would I be on a shoestring budget either. Considering lefties cant even deal with their own union creations. Chances will be a real small anybody to the right of them will get far.

I think they'd get an education into why their armchair whines are largely off base. I'm all for demanding quality and efficiency from government, but treating it fairly in return, not like lepers as the right does.

Considering your complete denial of the article and govt in general. And your attempt to somehow pin public organization breakdowns on private enterprise. I highly doubt you truely care about govt being efficient with its resources. All you care about is who gets to drive the out of control train as it rides off the cliff.

 

[alphatarget1]

Let's see your evidence for "one of the most" segregated.

Not like every big American city has that from our century of legal segregation. New York with Harlem, Los Angeles with Watts, Compton and such, Chicago with its areas, Washington D.C., New Orleans...

San Francisco is actually, because of its liberalism, making a lot of efforts to improve things on this issue.

I put "segregated" in quotes because I couldn't think of a better word.

Combine the high immigrant population (a lot of them don't speak English) and racial tension between minority groups, I would argue that San Francisco is not a fucking paradise as you liberals so love to claim it is. How do I know? Well, how about the fact that I lived there (briefly) and went to a ghetto school? My family got the hell out to the suburbs as soon as humanly possible.

Come to think of it, I really don't hate all Democrats. I might vote for this Democrat for TX governor (Bill White) just because I hate Rick Perry. I just don't like liberal douches like you who can't understand why places like San Francisco is absolutely being ruined by your extreme leftist ideas.

 

[alphatarget1]

If the current budge deficit trend continues, SF will be bankrupt.

2009: -438 million
2010: -615 million
2011: -745 million

These are estimates from the City Controller's Office, so in reality it's probably worse.

I need to short San Francisco's muni bonds!

 

[alphatarget1]

Actually, several years ago Orange County (right wing area) went bankrupt. There's a lot stronger correlation between right-wing politics and bankruptcy than that of liberal politics and bankruptcy-compare the Clinton administration with the GWB admin.

OC got pwned by investing in the stock market or something. No one lost a penny as they were all paid back with coupon and principal AFAIK.

Vallejo on the other hand... lol.

 

[marincounty]

OC got pwned by investing in the stock market or something. No one lost a penny as they were all paid back with coupon and principal AFAIK.

Vallejo on the other hand... lol.

The citizens of Orange County are still paying for this.

http://www.erisk.com/Learning/CaseStudies/OrangeCounty.asp
Orange County supervisor Jim Silva reminded local reporters that the county itself was still paying off some $1.2 billion of the recovery bonds issued in 1995 and 1996 and would be for several decades, unless it was able to speed up repayments.

Citron eventually pleaded guilty to six felony counts. However, the charges were largely to do with a misallocation of returns between the county and other municipal entities, and Citron does not seem to have been motivated by personal gain of any direct and obvious kind. He paid a $100,000 fine and spent less than a year under house arrest.
If that seems a lenient sentence, then Orange Countys recovery was also swifter than might have been expected. It had to cut back on spending and social service provision, and in 1995 and 1996 it took on massive additional debt in the form of special long-term recovery bonds to cover its losses. But thanks to increased tax revenues from a buoyant local economy, it was able to exit from bankruptcy in only 18 months.

But it is wrong to blame one individual. The risk managers of Canadian investment bank CIBC recently compared the Orange County failure to that of Barings Bank, pointing out that in these otherwise very different debacles, the man in charge showed excellent results at first, and was therefore allowed to transact without proper surveillance or controls (Crouhy et al, 2001). Orange County is primarily a story of what happens when the desire for excess returns overrides risk oversight

 

[werepossum]

San Francisco is Mecca for liberals. To some extent it has to do those crazy things or it will lose its holy status and the associated tourism dollars. Firing people for incompetence would be so bourgeoisie and judgmental.

Agunbiade should have said "get right with Allah." He'd be teaching diversity training making twice the money.

 

[marincounty]

San Francisco is Mecca for liberals. To some extent it has to do those crazy things or it will lose its holy status and the associated tourism dollars. Firing people for incompetence would be so bourgeoisie and judgmental.

Agunbiade should have said "get right with Allah." He'd be teaching diversity training making twice the money.

If this dude was a Republican you would be calling him Senator Agunbiade or Justice Agunbiade. Right wingers should never again raise the issue of competence when talking about liberals after the last 8 years.

 

[BudAshes]

They need to sprinkle some meth on all those hippies weed so they will actually do something.

 

[Rainsford]

SF is a popular target for conservatives because it's the stereotypical liberal city...but here's something to keep in mind, virtually ALL major cities in the US, regardless of state, are liberal. Big cities in red states are STILL blue, they are just sometimes less blue and sometimes overwhelmed by the redness of the surrounding area. But "liberal big city" is redundant...and there is a reason.

 

[werepossum]

If this dude was a Republican you would be calling him Senator Agunbiade or Justice Agunbiade. Right wingers should never again raise the issue of competence when talking about liberals after the last 8 years.

Yes, we can all be thankful at how much better things have gotten in the three years liberal Democrats gained back the purse strings and in the eleven months since they've gained back the presidency. Twice as many Americans now have a lot more time to enjoy thinking about how competent are liberals.

 

[CPA]

Damn, I felt I was reading Atlas Shrugged all over again.

 

[CPA]

SF is a popular target for conservatives because it's the stereotypical liberal city...but here's something to keep in mind, virtually ALL major cities in the US, regardless of state, are liberal. Big cities in red states are STILL blue, they are just sometimes less blue and sometimes overwhelmed by the redness of the surrounding area. But "liberal big city" is redundant...and there is a reason.

Agreed, and the reason is that's where the money is at.

 

[fskimospy]

Damn, I felt I was reading Atlas Shrugged all over again.

Ouch, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Whether you agree with Ayn Rand's politics or not, that is an awfully written book.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-12-16/news/the-worst-run-big-city-in-the-u-s/

What an interesting an stomach turning article, the people of San Fran are must be in some sort of bubble outside of the real world for this crap to go on for so long

However badly San Francisco is run, it cannot be worse than Detroit. The people of Detroit even elected a gorilla named King Kwame to be their mayor.

Did anyone read the comments to that article? Detroit was mentioned heavily in the comments with references such as, "If the rich leave the city, it will become Detroit on the Bay."