Just under two weeks ago, I published this post about being in-between jobs and looking for work. And I want to say thank you to all of you who connected me with people you know and have been looking out for me. It means a lot to me - thank you!
I am fortunate to have been offered (and accepted) a job this past weekend. It's true! I start in 3 weeks and am very excited both for the work that I'll be doing and for the ability to better support myself financially going forward. All good things. :-) I won't go into the details of the work right now, but suffice to say that it builds on my analytical and policy background and is an excellent place to get started in Los Angeles.
That said, I am definitely still looking for different ways to connect and plug into the LA community, so if you you know if people you think would be good for me to talk to, please let me know! While my new job did not come through the networking that I've been doing, I do credit that networking for giving me a much better sense of the community and ways to get involved. Every reference sent my way (so far) has been super, and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has been so supportive of me in my journey.
Thank you!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Your home... You're home
This past weekend was a big moment for me. I had my housewarming, which involved inviting lots of friends over and commiserating over gnoshes and drinks. I also played host to my mom and her friend, with whom I drove to LA after a quick flight up to San Francisco to surprise my brother for a live jazz recording he was doing.
I was nervous, honestly, to show my mom my place. It wasn't even just my apartment that I was nervous about sharing as much as showing her my new city. At the brunch that my mom hosted a couple months ago on the day that I moved here, one of her friends blurted out how awful LA was and how he just loved SF so much more. Readers of this blog know that I've heard this sentiment a lot, but coming from one of my mom's closest friends, and in the context of my final brunch in San Francisco before I moved to LA, it was more jarring than usual. I'm certain this is a sentiment that mom has heard time and time again, as have I.
As we made the long slog southward down the 5 toward the grapevine, I began to worry. What if mom thought LA sucked? What if the air was horrible and aggravated my mom's friend's breathing issues? What if our visit would just be a slog from one destination to the next?
As it turned out, not only were my worries unfounded, but my mom and her friend had a great time. Mom was ecstatic about being in Hollywood and walking along the Hollywood Walk of Stars. She and her friend loved the view from Griffith Observatory, and mom and I had a lovely walk to my garden and onward to get some herbs and seeds to plant. While our time together was short, we did make the most of it and saw a few different parts of LA - enough to give my mom a sense of a city she admits she'd never visited before (quite smartly, she doesn't include a three-day trip to Disneyland a few years ago as being a visit to LA). Mom and her friend enjoyed the warm sunshine, the walkability of my neighborhood, and the overall accessibility of LA that I have been enjoying myself.
What struck me most, however, was our first evening here after finally finishing our long drive, after mom had briefly seen part of my neighborhood and also walked around my new apartment. She looked up at me and said, "Luke, this is truly your home... Your home." And the restatement of "your home" was inflected in a way that meant "You are home," which gave me pause for a moment. It was a recognition from her that I had not anticipated, and it meant so much to me to know that she could see what I have begun to understand in my couple months here, even as I have struggled to find work, and routine, and friends. That recognition was that I am home. And I am really happy to be here.
I was nervous, honestly, to show my mom my place. It wasn't even just my apartment that I was nervous about sharing as much as showing her my new city. At the brunch that my mom hosted a couple months ago on the day that I moved here, one of her friends blurted out how awful LA was and how he just loved SF so much more. Readers of this blog know that I've heard this sentiment a lot, but coming from one of my mom's closest friends, and in the context of my final brunch in San Francisco before I moved to LA, it was more jarring than usual. I'm certain this is a sentiment that mom has heard time and time again, as have I.
As we made the long slog southward down the 5 toward the grapevine, I began to worry. What if mom thought LA sucked? What if the air was horrible and aggravated my mom's friend's breathing issues? What if our visit would just be a slog from one destination to the next?
As it turned out, not only were my worries unfounded, but my mom and her friend had a great time. Mom was ecstatic about being in Hollywood and walking along the Hollywood Walk of Stars. She and her friend loved the view from Griffith Observatory, and mom and I had a lovely walk to my garden and onward to get some herbs and seeds to plant. While our time together was short, we did make the most of it and saw a few different parts of LA - enough to give my mom a sense of a city she admits she'd never visited before (quite smartly, she doesn't include a three-day trip to Disneyland a few years ago as being a visit to LA). Mom and her friend enjoyed the warm sunshine, the walkability of my neighborhood, and the overall accessibility of LA that I have been enjoying myself.
What struck me most, however, was our first evening here after finally finishing our long drive, after mom had briefly seen part of my neighborhood and also walked around my new apartment. She looked up at me and said, "Luke, this is truly your home... Your home." And the restatement of "your home" was inflected in a way that meant "You are home," which gave me pause for a moment. It was a recognition from her that I had not anticipated, and it meant so much to me to know that she could see what I have begun to understand in my couple months here, even as I have struggled to find work, and routine, and friends. That recognition was that I am home. And I am really happy to be here.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
In-between jobs
Perhaps the biggest challenge in moving to a new city has been finding work. And it's not even just that I don't yet have gainful employment, but that I also have very few elements of a routine - something that I took for granted before moving here. I have always been very involved, had lots of people to spend time with, and any number of activities on my plate, and now that I'm in a new city a lot of that has changed.
As you probably know from personal experience, being unemployed is tough. To make matters worse for me, I was told just a couple weeks ago that the job that I'd been promised before I moved here, that I understood would start in late October, has no funding. So now I am doing everything I can to change that situation for the better.
In keeping with that effort, I'm putting this out there, in case someone is reading this and has any ideas or people they would be willing to connect me with as I continue to get settled in my new home:
I'm looking for work.
I've got my resume and bio up on my fairly barebones website. Every day I'm applying for a new job. And although the job market sucks and looking for work is a trying experience, as my boyfriend encourages me to do every day, I'm focusing on the positive.
I've had a number of meetings with different movers and shakers in the Los Angeles area, all of whom have been incredibly friendly and helpful. I've been looking into consulting opportunities and trying to find opportunities to provide financial, analytical and communications contractual services. I've already had a preliminary job interview this week for an opportunity about which I'm very very excited. And I've even been reaching out to organizations that are doing work that I care about so that I can plug into different volunteer opportunities, since those are another way to get involved, create a routine, and meet other people with similar interests.
That said, I am still [very much] in-between jobs.
So... I'm asking for your help. If you know of someone in Los Angeles who you think would be good for me to talk to. If you've heard about an opportunity you think is worth exploring. If you think there is some organization or two that I ought to check out. Please tell me.
My resume and bio explain a lot about me. My passions are building community, empowering people out of power, truly understanding key issues (i.e. knowing the second, third, fourth, etc. layer beneath the public story about any issue), developing sustainable transportation systems and land use patterns, providing high quality education to all people, and providing equal rights to the disenfranchised. My background is policy and financial analysis, with a focus on local government and nonprofits. I love working on teams, and thrive in an environment where people are encouraged to speak their minds so that everyone can learn from each other.
My email is lukehklipp [at] gmail [dot] com. You can find me on Facebook. You can check out my website. Please let me know if you have ideas to share.
Thank you!
PS - I will get back to sharing about my experiences in Los Angeles shortly. Frankly, it was around the time that I learned that I didn't have this previously-promised job opportunity that my blogging petered out, as a lot of my time has since been dedicated to my job search. That said, I continue to have any number of experiences that I would love to share, and will share... soon. :-)
As you probably know from personal experience, being unemployed is tough. To make matters worse for me, I was told just a couple weeks ago that the job that I'd been promised before I moved here, that I understood would start in late October, has no funding. So now I am doing everything I can to change that situation for the better.
In keeping with that effort, I'm putting this out there, in case someone is reading this and has any ideas or people they would be willing to connect me with as I continue to get settled in my new home:
I'm looking for work.
I've got my resume and bio up on my fairly barebones website. Every day I'm applying for a new job. And although the job market sucks and looking for work is a trying experience, as my boyfriend encourages me to do every day, I'm focusing on the positive.
I've had a number of meetings with different movers and shakers in the Los Angeles area, all of whom have been incredibly friendly and helpful. I've been looking into consulting opportunities and trying to find opportunities to provide financial, analytical and communications contractual services. I've already had a preliminary job interview this week for an opportunity about which I'm very very excited. And I've even been reaching out to organizations that are doing work that I care about so that I can plug into different volunteer opportunities, since those are another way to get involved, create a routine, and meet other people with similar interests.
That said, I am still [very much] in-between jobs.
So... I'm asking for your help. If you know of someone in Los Angeles who you think would be good for me to talk to. If you've heard about an opportunity you think is worth exploring. If you think there is some organization or two that I ought to check out. Please tell me.
My resume and bio explain a lot about me. My passions are building community, empowering people out of power, truly understanding key issues (i.e. knowing the second, third, fourth, etc. layer beneath the public story about any issue), developing sustainable transportation systems and land use patterns, providing high quality education to all people, and providing equal rights to the disenfranchised. My background is policy and financial analysis, with a focus on local government and nonprofits. I love working on teams, and thrive in an environment where people are encouraged to speak their minds so that everyone can learn from each other.
My email is lukehklipp [at] gmail [dot] com. You can find me on Facebook. You can check out my website. Please let me know if you have ideas to share.
Thank you!
PS - I will get back to sharing about my experiences in Los Angeles shortly. Frankly, it was around the time that I learned that I didn't have this previously-promised job opportunity that my blogging petered out, as a lot of my time has since been dedicated to my job search. That said, I continue to have any number of experiences that I would love to share, and will share... soon. :-)
Monday, November 1, 2010
VOTE
Tomorrow is a big day for our country. Every two years it seems like people are saying "this is the biggest election ever;" and this is a year that I wish I could say, "this election isn't as important as elections past." But I don't think that I can say that, because I'm not sure that would be right.
Take the "tea party," for example. This is one of the most ginned-up phenomenons I've seen in my lifetime. The "tea party" is a well-financed grasstops (as opposed to grassroots) cadre of organizations run by people whose primary motivator is cutting taxes for the wealthy and eliminating the social safety net (in other words, the economic self-interests of the few people financing the "tea party"). Contrast statements by "tea party" candidates Sharron Angle (AK) and Joe Miller (AK) who want to gut Social Security and Medicare with all the health care town hall protesters who simultaneously lamented "government-run healthcare" while vigorously defending their own medicare. In a genuinely grassroots operation, the message being spoken by the people at the "bottom" of the organization is the message of the organization, by definition. In the case of the "tea party," the message from people at the "bottom" is the opposite of those at the top.
Take social issues. This election is particularly notable for the level of vitriol being spoken by people who claim to have god on their side. A candidate for Congress compared LGBT people to alcoholics and another candidate defended his choice to dress up as an SS guard (i.e. Hitler's army), and both of these men continue to have the support of the GOP leadership. Nearly all the "tea party" candidates for Senate oppose a woman's right to choose, even in the case of incest or rape, which is such an extreme anti-choice position that very few elected officials have been willing to venture that far outside the mainstream until now.
Take anything you care about. Access to college? The wealth gap? Don't Ask, Don't Tell? A woman's right to choose? Tax fairness? You name it.... it appears to be on the line this election with a cohort of some of the most extreme candidates for office we've ever seen.
I am sad, because it appears that Democrats will handily lose the House tomorrow, which will mean that one of the most outspoken and powerful advocates for equality and fairness - Nancy Pelosi - will lose her ability to keep moving the national needle toward equality. That needle will be left with Barack Obama who, quite frankly, has been disappointing in his willingness to buy into the GOP narrative. I am sad, because it appears that people like Pat Toomey, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio will dominate DC for at least the next two years, with their primary intent being to undermine this President (even as the President doesn't seem to fully get that this is in fact their primary intent). I am sad, because Democrats had a unique opportunity to create a sea-change in our national narrative since 2008, and instead they punched a couple times and then crawled back into their collective shells, surrendering to the GOP months before their time was up, and basically handing over the keys to the Capitol without a real fight.
I hope I'm wrong about what appears to be the certain outcome of tomorrow's election. I sure would like to be. And one way you can change that is to get out and vote. There's so much at stake, and it is through our vigilance and commitment to sticking with it, even (and especially) when times are tough, that we shift the narrative and the direction of our country toward increased fairness and equality for all.
Vote.
Take the "tea party," for example. This is one of the most ginned-up phenomenons I've seen in my lifetime. The "tea party" is a well-financed grasstops (as opposed to grassroots) cadre of organizations run by people whose primary motivator is cutting taxes for the wealthy and eliminating the social safety net (in other words, the economic self-interests of the few people financing the "tea party"). Contrast statements by "tea party" candidates Sharron Angle (AK) and Joe Miller (AK) who want to gut Social Security and Medicare with all the health care town hall protesters who simultaneously lamented "government-run healthcare" while vigorously defending their own medicare. In a genuinely grassroots operation, the message being spoken by the people at the "bottom" of the organization is the message of the organization, by definition. In the case of the "tea party," the message from people at the "bottom" is the opposite of those at the top.
Take social issues. This election is particularly notable for the level of vitriol being spoken by people who claim to have god on their side. A candidate for Congress compared LGBT people to alcoholics and another candidate defended his choice to dress up as an SS guard (i.e. Hitler's army), and both of these men continue to have the support of the GOP leadership. Nearly all the "tea party" candidates for Senate oppose a woman's right to choose, even in the case of incest or rape, which is such an extreme anti-choice position that very few elected officials have been willing to venture that far outside the mainstream until now.
Take anything you care about. Access to college? The wealth gap? Don't Ask, Don't Tell? A woman's right to choose? Tax fairness? You name it.... it appears to be on the line this election with a cohort of some of the most extreme candidates for office we've ever seen.
I am sad, because it appears that Democrats will handily lose the House tomorrow, which will mean that one of the most outspoken and powerful advocates for equality and fairness - Nancy Pelosi - will lose her ability to keep moving the national needle toward equality. That needle will be left with Barack Obama who, quite frankly, has been disappointing in his willingness to buy into the GOP narrative. I am sad, because it appears that people like Pat Toomey, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio will dominate DC for at least the next two years, with their primary intent being to undermine this President (even as the President doesn't seem to fully get that this is in fact their primary intent). I am sad, because Democrats had a unique opportunity to create a sea-change in our national narrative since 2008, and instead they punched a couple times and then crawled back into their collective shells, surrendering to the GOP months before their time was up, and basically handing over the keys to the Capitol without a real fight.
I hope I'm wrong about what appears to be the certain outcome of tomorrow's election. I sure would like to be. And one way you can change that is to get out and vote. There's so much at stake, and it is through our vigilance and commitment to sticking with it, even (and especially) when times are tough, that we shift the narrative and the direction of our country toward increased fairness and equality for all.
Vote.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
My new garden
A few days ago I made the unfortunate error of locking myself out of my apartment. Exactly how that happened is irrelevant to my story, but suffice to say it ended up necessitating a mile-long stroll to my landlord's office to get a spare key (all the while I was wearing my workout duds because I had originally been on my way to hit the gym). What is relevant is that, along the way to the landlord's, I walked past the Fountain Community Gardens, which is a relatively new (like just a couple years old) community garden just a short 15-minute walk (or 5-minute bike ride) from my apartment.
I took note of the contact info posted outside the gardens and sent them an email when I got back home, and today I dropped by for their garden work day.
One of the garden's boardmembers greeted me at the gate and showed me around, including pointing out several plots that were available to rent by those on the garden waitlist. I was very interested in getting a plot and wondered how long the waitlist might be. My experience in San Francisco was that these sorts of things could take years to get a plot after putting your name on a waitlist, so I checked out the plots without any keen interest, only making note of different plants, herbs, and vegetables that the gardeners were growing throughout the garden.
We strolled around to the common spaces, including the sheds with tools and soil. This particular boardmember had been instrumental in growing and tending to a communal herb and citrus garden. After taking me around, she showed me the garden work day project, which was weeding out nut grass (thus buggers are tough to pull!), and then asked me if I wanted to get a garden plot before doing the project. I told her that I definitely wanted to, and she directed me to the garden treasurer, who was standing nearby.
The treasurer asked me, "which plot would you like? They're $10/month." This caught me by surprise. While there had been about 5 vacant plots out of 65, I did not expect that I could just show up and rent one on the spot. And sure enough, I could! So.... I did! :-D Plot 21 is my new garden, and I'm super stoked about it.
One of the things I've been saddest about in the transition from my previous apartment to my current apartment has been the loss of garden space. While I love my new apartment, I did really enjoy poking around my garden in San Francisco, planting different herbs and flowers, and clearing out the various weeds that relentlessly regrew every few months. I've noticed that LA homes generally have a lot more green space on their properties than did homes in SF, but, at least in my neighborhood, they're not often well-tended. In the nicer parts of town it's fairly apparent that the homeowners pay someone else to tend to their properties, which to me is a big loss because there's little else like digging your hands in the ground and tending to the growth of plants to feel connected to nature.
So, stumbling upon this community garden and now being the proud renter of a 5' x 15' garden plot - just a few days later! - has me pretty stoked. For those of you wondering, here's my new garden...
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| Luke's new garden :-) |
The prior plot renter left behind some tomato cages, so I'll definitely be using those next year! Just about everything currently growing in my new plot is a weed, so next time I get to the garden I'll be tearing out those weeds and putting down a new bed of soil.
Can I just reiterate how excited I am about this? For a mere $10/month, I now have a garden where I can grow my own fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. There won't be as much weeding of this plot as my garden in SF, since it will be pretty clear once I tear out what's there now, and that will free me up to spend more time getting my plants to grow nice and strong. I am also thinking that I might do more work in the garden communal areas, helping spruce them up and making the garden better for everyone who comes there.
Why does SF hate LA so much?
I've already blogged about this topic a few times, but it just keeps coming up. Today it's this article in the San Francisco Chronicle which goes out of its way to snarkily mock Los Angeles. Just another in a long line of "SF is so way much cooler and better and funner than LA" articles/stories/etc. I've heard over many many years. So, in much the same style as the Chronicle's story, here's my response...
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Signs on the Muni buses proclaim San Francisco as "The City that Knows How," which is ironic considering that it took 10 years and 3 elections to decide if "the City" (which is how residents of this 700,000-person town refer to San Francisco in a geographic region where the largest city, of more than 1 million residents, is actually San Jose) would tear down a five-block section of elevated freeway and replace it with essentially a freeway with traffic lights at street level. Sure, you can stroll along the Octavia boulevard today and not feel as threatened by shadows and dirty underpasses as you once were, and now you just have to navigate the shopping carts and cars that don't understand what the extra alleys are for along each side of the 6-lane road. Still, the new Patricia's Green is a beautiful space with a temporary art exhibit that brings a little bit of Black Rock City to the neighborhood.
The gold leaf covered dome of City Hall - the leafing which was paid for using city funds designated for creation and maintenance of open space - is about the most striking architectural element anywhere for miles in the Tenderloin, where the majority of people strolling the streets are more likely to panhandle, stare or yell at you than they are to simply ignore you and go about their business. But don't let that distract you from the aromas of urine and feces that greet your nostrils as you stroll the streets, only to come across any number of nooks that often serve as open-air toilets. And the "real" public toilets that dot the landscape are not for the faint of heart. For just 50 cents, you too can have your senses accosted and your mind blown by the sight of needles and vomit while you attempt to do your business without touching anything for fear of what may linger afterward.
So for $2 you head down into the Muni, San Francisco's version of a subway, where the half-mile ride from Civic Center to Powell station can take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes depending on the time of day, the day of the week, and myriad other totally unrelated factors that make each and every day a special one on Muni. Sometimes it's that someone got caught in the door and almost slammed into a station wall; other times it's that the doors simply stopped working on one train, backing up the entire single-line subway; and other times there's just no explanation (which seems to most often be the case). But hey, you only paid $2, so suck it up. It's not like you were going to drive, right? And, if you did drive, good luck affording (or finding) parking, so you're probably best off walking - it's free and can actually be quite pleasant.
You arrive at Powell station and are greeted first thing out the gates by panhandlers at the base and top of the escalator out of the dingy "plaza" which features a below-street-level "coffee shop" that is sometimes open, sometimes not, and always patronized by more pigeons than people. Now that you're here, though, it's time to ride one of the cable cars, which are San Francisco's world-reknowned moving national historic landmarks (the only moving national landmarks in the country). However, be prepared to wait in a long line and pony up $5 for a one-way trip, for if there's anything that "The City that knows how" knows how to do it's empty out your pockets and make you gladly do it.
Once you get to the end of the cable car line, 2 hours later (of which one and a half hours were spent in line), you arrive at tourist hell, also known as Fisherman's Wharf. Yes, this was at one time a functioning wharf, for fishermen even, and it basically still serves that purpose. But, like all things San Francisco that once were just functional things that people used to get their work done, it has been commoditized and commercialized and now you can watch the fishermen doing their work as if Disneyland relocated from Anaheim to SF and this is part of the "small world" exhibit. And that is something San Francisco knows how to do... take once ordinary things and make them spectacularly exciting. It's like being in a place where everything we generally take for granted elsewhere is so different and glorified. What? You want to repaint your house? That'll be at last a half-dozen neighborhood group meetings, a historic preservation permit, and one year later you'll just be going from one shade of dark blue to another.
Take another example: big box development. Want to hit the Home Depot, or Ikea, or Target? You'll have to leave the City. And now Target likely won't get a store in SF because they gave $150,000 to a major a*hole anti-gay candidate for governor in Minnesota (yes, this caused even yours truly to boycott them). On the other hand, for many years Target has consistently been one of the country's most LGBT-supportive companies for their employees. And the alternative to a Target or Home Depot is... what exactly? How are you going to know if every single purchase you make was manufactured, distributed, and sold by good progressive-leaning companies?
San Francisco's tendency is to oppose all things corporate and big, even though these things can sometimes serve as magnets or vehicles for development in areas that otherwise are falling apart at the seams or totally unappealing to small business for any number of reasons. Areas like the Bayshore corridor, or the incredibly empty, and spacious, Metreon. Large and small business can and do co-exist, even as they compete for market share. In San Francisco, however, anything that can be construed as a "chain" must jump through additional hoops, essentially having to get the sign-off of the neighborhood, which in some cases has meant San Francisco-founded and based companies that have prospered using successful models have found themselves unable to open new storefronts in their hometown because they've grown too big and have become the "big, bad other."
Once you've strolled the urine-stained Civic Center, panhandler-filled Union Square, and tourist-centric (and also panhandler-filled) Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39, you might make it to the Ferry Building, which is indeed one of San Francisco's treasures. The food may be a bit pricey, but the open-air halls and brickwork do hearken back to days of old, before the bridges were built, when people took the ferries to get to and from SF. It's a step back in time, redone for a new era, and it is a beautiful anchor at the heart of old San Francisco.
It's worth noting that almost every day of the year in San Francisco is jacket weather. There are certainly a handful of days when you can wear shorts for more than a few hours without risking getting goosebumps by 4pm. But very little else demarcates a tourist like uniform of cargo shorts and joined with an "SF" parka, which was probably purchased at no small cost at a hole-in-the-wall shop along Powell Street. Not only do the temperatures rarely rise above 70 (or fall below 50), but the wind will almost always send a chill through you. So, like a good boy scout, be prepared.
All this and more can be yours if the price is right. For San Francisco's landlords, home sellers, and hoteliers, the price is nearly always right, because about the only place in the entire country that is more expensive to live than San Francisco is Manhattan. For the low low price of $1,200 a month, you too can share an apartment with a perfect stranger and haggle with your landlord over things like... painting the walls, or, getting a pet. If you want your own place, be ready to pony up more than $2,000 a month, or compromise substantially on location and/or space.
Let's say you want to buy your own slice of heaven? In a decent neighborhood your one-person pad will cost you close to half a million dollars. In a fancy neighborhood it's more like $700,000, at least. If you're willing to forgo parking, you can lop off about 10% of that price, but about the only thing more scarce in San Francisco than land is street parking, so it's good to know these things going in. Spend a little time in San Francisco, and you'll find those people who bought their home before "the market exploded," (where their homes are now worth 3-10 times what they originally paid) but more often these days it's the folks whose mortgages are eating up more than half their paychecks, and they're the lucky ones.
San Francisco, "The City that Knows How." So much can be said, but I'll close with this...
With all this to offer and more, one wonders why so many residents, let alone media, feel compelled to trash talk SF's sister city to the south? Having been one of those trash talkers for years, the reasons seem too many to count to someone in love with the fog, the hills, the colors, and the people of San Francisco (and there are many many reasons to love SF). On the other hand, it does seem just a touch ridiculous to focus so intently on all the things going wrong with someplace else when one's own city could use a few nips and tucks of its own, and no one seems to know the first thing about fixing those (or if they do then they must accept that it'll probably take 10 years and 3 elections and hundreds of thousands of dollars to get it done).
So, lay off, San Francisco. You got a good thing going, really. Revel in that and, as Tim Gunn would say, make it work. And next time you want to trash talk Los Angeles or any other city, first think to yourself, "Am I in a position to criticize another given my own foibles?" If the answer is ever anything other than "no," get a second opinion. And if the answer is still "no," get to know your city a little better.
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I love San Francisco and, above all else, miss my friends and family. What I've written here is from a place of love, recognizing that we all got our stuff to take care of, and I truly hope that SF figures out some solutions, particularly to its most vexing issues. In the meantime, I hope that papers like the Chronicle will stop feeling the need to give voice to mocking Los Angeles or any other city. It's unnecessary and unwarranted. The people in LA didn't make it the way it is anymore than the residents of San Francisco could all claim responsibility for it being the way it is. But every day we can and should seek to make our respective communities better.
Ironically enough, today's Chronicle features another article bemoaning the challenges with attracting entertainment business to the City from Los Angeles and elsewhere. This is just a case of too much work for too little benefit relative to the cost - or at least the perception of it - as well as city leaders who, as a whole, aren't compelled to find ways to get more entertainment business in SF. And it's just one example of when it's better to discuss ways to improve oneself than to throw stones from one's glass house.
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Signs on the Muni buses proclaim San Francisco as "The City that Knows How," which is ironic considering that it took 10 years and 3 elections to decide if "the City" (which is how residents of this 700,000-person town refer to San Francisco in a geographic region where the largest city, of more than 1 million residents, is actually San Jose) would tear down a five-block section of elevated freeway and replace it with essentially a freeway with traffic lights at street level. Sure, you can stroll along the Octavia boulevard today and not feel as threatened by shadows and dirty underpasses as you once were, and now you just have to navigate the shopping carts and cars that don't understand what the extra alleys are for along each side of the 6-lane road. Still, the new Patricia's Green is a beautiful space with a temporary art exhibit that brings a little bit of Black Rock City to the neighborhood.
The gold leaf covered dome of City Hall - the leafing which was paid for using city funds designated for creation and maintenance of open space - is about the most striking architectural element anywhere for miles in the Tenderloin, where the majority of people strolling the streets are more likely to panhandle, stare or yell at you than they are to simply ignore you and go about their business. But don't let that distract you from the aromas of urine and feces that greet your nostrils as you stroll the streets, only to come across any number of nooks that often serve as open-air toilets. And the "real" public toilets that dot the landscape are not for the faint of heart. For just 50 cents, you too can have your senses accosted and your mind blown by the sight of needles and vomit while you attempt to do your business without touching anything for fear of what may linger afterward.
So for $2 you head down into the Muni, San Francisco's version of a subway, where the half-mile ride from Civic Center to Powell station can take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes depending on the time of day, the day of the week, and myriad other totally unrelated factors that make each and every day a special one on Muni. Sometimes it's that someone got caught in the door and almost slammed into a station wall; other times it's that the doors simply stopped working on one train, backing up the entire single-line subway; and other times there's just no explanation (which seems to most often be the case). But hey, you only paid $2, so suck it up. It's not like you were going to drive, right? And, if you did drive, good luck affording (or finding) parking, so you're probably best off walking - it's free and can actually be quite pleasant.
You arrive at Powell station and are greeted first thing out the gates by panhandlers at the base and top of the escalator out of the dingy "plaza" which features a below-street-level "coffee shop" that is sometimes open, sometimes not, and always patronized by more pigeons than people. Now that you're here, though, it's time to ride one of the cable cars, which are San Francisco's world-reknowned moving national historic landmarks (the only moving national landmarks in the country). However, be prepared to wait in a long line and pony up $5 for a one-way trip, for if there's anything that "The City that knows how" knows how to do it's empty out your pockets and make you gladly do it.
Once you get to the end of the cable car line, 2 hours later (of which one and a half hours were spent in line), you arrive at tourist hell, also known as Fisherman's Wharf. Yes, this was at one time a functioning wharf, for fishermen even, and it basically still serves that purpose. But, like all things San Francisco that once were just functional things that people used to get their work done, it has been commoditized and commercialized and now you can watch the fishermen doing their work as if Disneyland relocated from Anaheim to SF and this is part of the "small world" exhibit. And that is something San Francisco knows how to do... take once ordinary things and make them spectacularly exciting. It's like being in a place where everything we generally take for granted elsewhere is so different and glorified. What? You want to repaint your house? That'll be at last a half-dozen neighborhood group meetings, a historic preservation permit, and one year later you'll just be going from one shade of dark blue to another.
Take another example: big box development. Want to hit the Home Depot, or Ikea, or Target? You'll have to leave the City. And now Target likely won't get a store in SF because they gave $150,000 to a major a*hole anti-gay candidate for governor in Minnesota (yes, this caused even yours truly to boycott them). On the other hand, for many years Target has consistently been one of the country's most LGBT-supportive companies for their employees. And the alternative to a Target or Home Depot is... what exactly? How are you going to know if every single purchase you make was manufactured, distributed, and sold by good progressive-leaning companies?
San Francisco's tendency is to oppose all things corporate and big, even though these things can sometimes serve as magnets or vehicles for development in areas that otherwise are falling apart at the seams or totally unappealing to small business for any number of reasons. Areas like the Bayshore corridor, or the incredibly empty, and spacious, Metreon. Large and small business can and do co-exist, even as they compete for market share. In San Francisco, however, anything that can be construed as a "chain" must jump through additional hoops, essentially having to get the sign-off of the neighborhood, which in some cases has meant San Francisco-founded and based companies that have prospered using successful models have found themselves unable to open new storefronts in their hometown because they've grown too big and have become the "big, bad other."
Once you've strolled the urine-stained Civic Center, panhandler-filled Union Square, and tourist-centric (and also panhandler-filled) Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39, you might make it to the Ferry Building, which is indeed one of San Francisco's treasures. The food may be a bit pricey, but the open-air halls and brickwork do hearken back to days of old, before the bridges were built, when people took the ferries to get to and from SF. It's a step back in time, redone for a new era, and it is a beautiful anchor at the heart of old San Francisco.
It's worth noting that almost every day of the year in San Francisco is jacket weather. There are certainly a handful of days when you can wear shorts for more than a few hours without risking getting goosebumps by 4pm. But very little else demarcates a tourist like uniform of cargo shorts and joined with an "SF" parka, which was probably purchased at no small cost at a hole-in-the-wall shop along Powell Street. Not only do the temperatures rarely rise above 70 (or fall below 50), but the wind will almost always send a chill through you. So, like a good boy scout, be prepared.
All this and more can be yours if the price is right. For San Francisco's landlords, home sellers, and hoteliers, the price is nearly always right, because about the only place in the entire country that is more expensive to live than San Francisco is Manhattan. For the low low price of $1,200 a month, you too can share an apartment with a perfect stranger and haggle with your landlord over things like... painting the walls, or, getting a pet. If you want your own place, be ready to pony up more than $2,000 a month, or compromise substantially on location and/or space.
Let's say you want to buy your own slice of heaven? In a decent neighborhood your one-person pad will cost you close to half a million dollars. In a fancy neighborhood it's more like $700,000, at least. If you're willing to forgo parking, you can lop off about 10% of that price, but about the only thing more scarce in San Francisco than land is street parking, so it's good to know these things going in. Spend a little time in San Francisco, and you'll find those people who bought their home before "the market exploded," (where their homes are now worth 3-10 times what they originally paid) but more often these days it's the folks whose mortgages are eating up more than half their paychecks, and they're the lucky ones.
San Francisco, "The City that Knows How." So much can be said, but I'll close with this...
With all this to offer and more, one wonders why so many residents, let alone media, feel compelled to trash talk SF's sister city to the south? Having been one of those trash talkers for years, the reasons seem too many to count to someone in love with the fog, the hills, the colors, and the people of San Francisco (and there are many many reasons to love SF). On the other hand, it does seem just a touch ridiculous to focus so intently on all the things going wrong with someplace else when one's own city could use a few nips and tucks of its own, and no one seems to know the first thing about fixing those (or if they do then they must accept that it'll probably take 10 years and 3 elections and hundreds of thousands of dollars to get it done).
So, lay off, San Francisco. You got a good thing going, really. Revel in that and, as Tim Gunn would say, make it work. And next time you want to trash talk Los Angeles or any other city, first think to yourself, "Am I in a position to criticize another given my own foibles?" If the answer is ever anything other than "no," get a second opinion. And if the answer is still "no," get to know your city a little better.
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I love San Francisco and, above all else, miss my friends and family. What I've written here is from a place of love, recognizing that we all got our stuff to take care of, and I truly hope that SF figures out some solutions, particularly to its most vexing issues. In the meantime, I hope that papers like the Chronicle will stop feeling the need to give voice to mocking Los Angeles or any other city. It's unnecessary and unwarranted. The people in LA didn't make it the way it is anymore than the residents of San Francisco could all claim responsibility for it being the way it is. But every day we can and should seek to make our respective communities better.
Ironically enough, today's Chronicle features another article bemoaning the challenges with attracting entertainment business to the City from Los Angeles and elsewhere. This is just a case of too much work for too little benefit relative to the cost - or at least the perception of it - as well as city leaders who, as a whole, aren't compelled to find ways to get more entertainment business in SF. And it's just one example of when it's better to discuss ways to improve oneself than to throw stones from one's glass house.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Welcome home!
The past few days I was doing a lot of traveling. When the cabbie picked me up to take me to LAX for the start of my travels, he asked me if I wanted him to take the freeways. I later understood why, as the freeways were a bit of a slog, but everything worked out fine in the end.
This was the first time that I've flown out of and back to LAX as a resident of my new city. After ten years of an established pattern, including lots of flights in and out of SFO for visits to my boyfriend in LA, I was keenly aware that this was different. From the trip down (and later back via) the 101, 110, and 105 to get to and from LAX, to seeing downtown both on the way down and back, and the much more expensive cab fare than that to which I've been accustomed, I was noticing the differences each step of the way.
As we landed late last night, I was reminded of how I used to look forward to seeing the lights and familiar sights of the Bay come into view as my plane made its final descent into SFO, particularly as I tried to figure out where we were over the LA region as we got closer and closer to landing. At some point, I finally figured it out, but by then the fog was beginning to obscure the landmarks and eventually turn the whole scene into a blotchy tableau of yellow light and grey wisps.
My boyfriend left me a voicemail message welcoming me "home" while we were en route, and I listened to it as our plane taxied to the gate. My initial reaction upon hearing him use the word "home" was a bit of confusion. Yes, this is where I live, but can I really call it home after only being here a month? When I don't presently have steady work? When my circle of nearby friends is a fraction of what I once knew? When for the first time in my life I'm more than an hour drive from my nearest family (and that was only for college... otherwise either living with or within a mile or two of at least one family member)?
It got me thinking... what does it mean to be home? Does Los Angeles yet fit that definition for me?
...And yet, when I stepped out of the cab last night in front of my place, the warm moist air spun around me, the familiar smell of the air greeted me, the grass shined under the yellow streetlights, my mind finally began to rest after a long journey, and I knew it. I was home.
This was the first time that I've flown out of and back to LAX as a resident of my new city. After ten years of an established pattern, including lots of flights in and out of SFO for visits to my boyfriend in LA, I was keenly aware that this was different. From the trip down (and later back via) the 101, 110, and 105 to get to and from LAX, to seeing downtown both on the way down and back, and the much more expensive cab fare than that to which I've been accustomed, I was noticing the differences each step of the way.
As we landed late last night, I was reminded of how I used to look forward to seeing the lights and familiar sights of the Bay come into view as my plane made its final descent into SFO, particularly as I tried to figure out where we were over the LA region as we got closer and closer to landing. At some point, I finally figured it out, but by then the fog was beginning to obscure the landmarks and eventually turn the whole scene into a blotchy tableau of yellow light and grey wisps.
My boyfriend left me a voicemail message welcoming me "home" while we were en route, and I listened to it as our plane taxied to the gate. My initial reaction upon hearing him use the word "home" was a bit of confusion. Yes, this is where I live, but can I really call it home after only being here a month? When I don't presently have steady work? When my circle of nearby friends is a fraction of what I once knew? When for the first time in my life I'm more than an hour drive from my nearest family (and that was only for college... otherwise either living with or within a mile or two of at least one family member)?
It got me thinking... what does it mean to be home? Does Los Angeles yet fit that definition for me?
- This is the first time in my life that I've had an apartment that really felt like my home. I couldn't afford something like this in SF, and I have felt tremendous excitement making this place my home.
- This move is the first time that I've taken such a big risk to be with my boyfriend. While having been with and loved some great guys in SF, this is the first time I've felt not only "in love" but also "freely loved" (in no small part because of my own maturity).
- This is the first time I have had both this degree of uncertainty about what lies ahead in my future and also lots excitement about encountering it and taking on new challenges as life comes at me.
...And yet, when I stepped out of the cab last night in front of my place, the warm moist air spun around me, the familiar smell of the air greeted me, the grass shined under the yellow streetlights, my mind finally began to rest after a long journey, and I knew it. I was home.
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