Children aged 17 and under are “fleeing” San Francisco, with the city recording a a continuous decades-long drop in young people. In 1960, SF counted 181,532 kids; now it’s down to 107,524. You could point to how ridiculously expensive it is for residents to afford the living space required to raise a family, or you could do what I do: blame all those wealthy gays for snapping up all the duplexes and then jetting off, sans dependents, to their third and fourth homes.
Fagburn
If I wanted to read simplistic bullshit blaming raising property prices on “wealthy gays” I’d visit a Christian Right website…
Charlie
@Fagburn:
sar·casm
–noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark: a review full of sarcasms.
Cam
Not a huge reason for young people to stay in SF. By itself it doesn’t have a great school, nearby there are Berkley and Standford, but the state school there is overshadowed. It is phenominally expensive. Most of the jobs are nearby in the silicone valley. So familes with kids are most likely moving to where the jobs are. Additionally, it’s expensive, younger couples can’t afford an $800,000 “Starter Home”.
Fagburn
@Charlie: Oh, I thought it was just Queerty’s usual feigning dissent.
Maybe they could flag these.
Cam
@Fagburn: Snicker
Mike
you could also point out that the public schools can be scary, and that private schools run $10,000-$20,000, per kid, per year.
Jim D
@Cam: Cam, Cam, Cam. No great schools in SF except for the nearby “Berkley and Standford”, er, presume you mean Berkeley and Stanford. All the jobs are in the “silicone valley”, er, presume you are referring to the Silicon Valley. But you are right in that it’s “phenominally” expensive.
Too bad I went to one of those really bad schools where they taught me how to spell.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@Jim D: I thought he was referring to the place where all those flat chested women suddenly emerge with a full bust……….. :p
rhydderch
@Jim D: I’m glad you went there because I wasn’t feeling up to my usual catty self but for the love of God I was about to summon the strength to unload on Cam
Ian
As a former SF resident I feel safe to say that over 60% of the schools there aren’t that great for kids, the housing prices are one of the highest in the nation, and the primary economy is actually in my opinion renting landlords. Gay men in a number of areas act all pissy & nasty towards gay parents with children in tow ’cause it gets in the way of their whore-grooves going to the gay clubs & bars. So no, take away the beauty of the area (which is second to none) and SF really is NOT that gay friendly a place for anyone that isn’t rich.
I think young gays are starting to look around the nation and realize that there are places like Minneapolis which has the 4th largest gay population in the US and IS gay family friendly. SF, NY, Chicago, & Atlanta aren’t the only places in the entire US for young gays and family minded gays to look towards anymore.
TMikel
“or you could do what I do: blame all those wealthy gays for snapping up all the duplexes and then jetting off, sans dependents, to their third and fourth homes.”
You seem to know a far different class of gay person than I do. I live in rural Virginia – after leaving Manhattan where I owned my apartment – because I was weary of the congestion of the city. You might also point out that gays and often lesbians are not allowed to have children unless they are closeted. You seem to be a very bitter person. I also wonder how “children” younger than 17 can flee any city.
Ron
I recently visited San Francisco, and it is NOT a family-friendly place, with the exception of the “touristy” areas like Lombard Street, Coit Tower, and the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Castro neighborhood is particularly bad. Maybe the Irish-American traditional families who lived there previously, were on to something when they fled as the promiscuous gay men started moving into the area in droves in the 1970s.
During my visit to the Castro, I saw gay men wearing leather pants with nothing covering their buttocks. These men were kissing each other and propositioning other men for sex in broad daylight. On Castro Street, near the Castro Theatre, I saw a man with a dog collar, crawling on all fours on the sidewalk like a dog. Another man was holding him by a leash. A woman outside the Walgreens was smoking marijuana, and I was almost chased by a nun; she had a hairy beard and her makeup made her look like a clown.
Is this the kind of place most people in “middle America” would want to raise their children? Absolutely not.
I believe that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect. But I plan to teach my children that heterosexuality is God’s ideal plan. I want my son to date girls — not other boys.
TheRealAdam
@Ron: Why are you here?
KBKBKB
@ Ron: You seriously have issues if you feel this way, and seek out Queerty to post comments such as “Maybe the Irish-American traditional families who lived there previously, were on to something when they fled as the promiscuous gay men started moving in…”
Please. I live in San Francisco, and it is NOTHING like it was in the 1970s.
As The Real Adam says, “WHY ARE YOU HERE?”
christopher di spirito
The price of housing in San Francisco is too high for most middle class and working class gay and straight people to live.
Just about everywhere I’ve travel in the U.S., when I talk to gay men they invariably say, “Oh I used to live in ‘the City’ but, I wanted to buy a house and couldn’t afford a modest 2 bedroom for $800,000, so I relocated to…..,” wherever, Atlanta, or Las Vegas, or Dallas, and no one seems to particularly regret their decision to leave.
OhYeah
And when a place gets too expensive and old-timery you never see anyone hot there. It’s still a fascinating city, visually, but all the guys in San Francisco look like they have no testosterone. It was cooler in the “Dirty Harry” days.
Barry
@OhYeah: That’s cuz all the hot guys are in L.A., or end up moving there from SF. Why the hell would they stay in SF over L.A.?
Spike
@TMikel:
” . . . and I was almost chased by a nun; she had a hairy beard and her makeup made her look like a clown.”
Now there’s a visual! Another Sister terrorizing the str8t tourists!
Can’t wait to hear about Ron’s next ‘accidental’ visit to SF the last weekend in Sept. when he ‘accidentally’ wanders down Folsom St.
Bill
I am 65 years old. I lived in “The City” from my very early 20’s until my late 40’s. What made San Francisco “great” was the diversity of the population, the ability to find affordable older housing, The climate, The public Transportation system and the great number of diverse “mom and pop” stores that made finding a great cafe, restaurant, upholster, bar, bakery, used book store, delicatessen, or whatever you wanted easy to find. It was like having all the Internet shopping sites available in one city. Sadly the housing crunch and inflated prices of housing drove many people from The City. Initially many people migrated to nearby areas, Oakland and the East Bay, Marin, and down the Peninsula. This allowed them to remain near th City, to enjoy for the most part the stores, shops and restaurants of he city, and also a similar climate. I bought a pair of Victorian flats in the Haight back in 1974 fr $19,000. I see where they recently sold, having been broken into condos, for a million five each! Normal people, Gays, Straights, and families cannot afford such prices. Now days those who once populated or would have populated San Francisco and who would have enjoyed all of it’s diversity have either moved or stayed in other parts of the country. Those who like the sun and warmth have migrated to cities like Phoenix, which has a large stock of affordable housing, or for those who like the “country” life (like me) have migrated back to the center of the country like the Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and the Missouri Ozarks, and still others have migrated back to Northern cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland. None of the locations where gays now congregate offer the same advantages as those that San Francisco once did, but in these areas we are able to fond affordable housing and modest employment.