Won’t you save me San Francisco
July 20th, 2011 -- Posted in san francisco, the city, the future | 1 Comment »
Twenty percent of the people in San Francisco leave every year. Statistically that means the entire city turns over every five years. I read a quote once that in order to have staying power here, you’ve got to accept that while SF is awesome, she’s also cold and hard; that these young, bright-eyed kids come to the city for various reasons - as recent grads, to be near Silicon Valley, to experience a city without committing to a place like New York - but they get easily disillusioned when the raw grit emerges after the shine wears off.
I came to the city as one of those wide eyed recent grads, but I’ve managed to stay here for five years - the longest I’ve lived anywhere in my life ever - and that to me is staying power. Natives get defensive when you start talking like a local after making it past the typical breaking point, and I understand that. But San Francisco will always be the place I broke some of my nomadic tendencies, and that is a personal milestone.