San Francisco

The Limits of Rhetoric

Homeless_tents_and_flag_under_CA-87_in_San_Jose.jpg

Deep-blue cities and states are eager to declare their social-justice credentials.  read more »

The Roots of California's Tattered Economy Were Planted Long Before the Coronavirus Arrived

los-angeles-skyline_dave-reichert.jpg

California is in far worse shape economically than the great majority of other states also struggling through the pandemic. COVID-19 may be the primary cause of our current distress, but the evolving structure of our economy has exacerbated this calamity. The worst part is our state leaders should have known this all along.  read more »

Blade Runner Meets Old Testament

fiery-sky-sanfran-ca.png

I took these photos at midday as I went about my usual chores. The forest fires that have been burning across California sent ash over San Francisco turning the sky a freakish shade of orange.  read more »

This is the Great Reshuffling

for-rent-sf-sign.jpg

The Interwebs are abuzz over the mass exodus from cities triggered by the coronavirus. Cue up the images of Moses parting the sea for a caravan of U-Hauls destined for the verdant cul-de-sacs of the Promised Land. This outward population migration is quantifiable and real. You’ll get no arguments at all from me. But the nuances are being lost in the chatter.  read more »

Lazaretto Dining

lazaretto-dining_08.jpg

Last week a friend asked me for help in his back garden. This is the first time he’s owned a proper home rather than a condo and he’s not sure how to manage the yard. We’re in a part of the world where it doesn’t rain for most of the year and hand watering gets old fast. I brought over samples of the irrigation tubes and drip emitters I like to use and walked him through the installation process.  read more »

The Twilight of Great American Cities is Here. Can We Stop It?

southern-manhattan-sunset_ed-yourdon.jpg

The dreadful death of George Floyd lit a fire that threatens to burn down America’s cities. Already losing population before the pandemic, our major urban centers have provided ideal kindling for conflagration with massive unemployment, closed businesses and already rising crime rates.  read more »

COVID Work Trip Reduction Estimates: CSAs with Transit Legacy Cities

chicago-central-business-district_082020.jpg

America’s elite central business districts have symbolized the ascendency of big cities, epitomized by soaring office towers. But today, due the COVID-19 pandemic, so much office work performed in these CBDs can be done remotely, that their future seems far less towering than in the past. In contrast, less dense areas, notably exurbs, appear to have suffered less loss in their employment patterns.  read more »

California's Woke Hypocrisy

Gov_Gavin-Newsom.jpg

No state wears its multicultural veneer more ostentatiously than California. The Golden State’s leaders believe that they lead a progressive paradise, ushering in what theorists Laura Tyson and Lenny Mendonca call “a new progressive era.” Others see California as deserving of nationhood; it reflects, as a New York Times columnist put it, “the shared values of our increasingly tolerant and pluralistic society.”  read more »

Is the California Dream Finished?

HB-homes-billboard.jpg

For all the persistent rhetoric from California’s leaders about this state being on the cutting edge of social and racial justice, the reality on the ground is far grimmer.  read more »

Neo-Feudalism in California

jobless-men-go-home.jpg

From the beginning, California promised much. While yet barely a name on the map, it entered American awareness as a symbol of renewal. It was a final frontier: of geography and of expectation.
—Kevin Starr, Americans and the California Dream: 1850–1915  read more »