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Comment by raincom | Hacker News Reader

You can't even go to rest rooms, without leaving laptop bags in cars. That's what California has become these days. Not just San Francisco, every city in California is like that.

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I’ve had a much more mixed experience than this, personally. Most cities in California are very nice and very safe.

Please give evidence and data, like GP did.

GP gave a anecdote, which while it is valuable, it is not evidence and data.

But it is a datum.

I've lived in Palo Alto and Menlo Park since 1987 and I go to San Francisco a couple times a month. I had my bike stolen at a Caltrain station. Someone yelled at me once South of Market. I've seen drug usage in UN Plaza. I've walked through the Tenderloin sometimes which has been unpleasant but uneventful. BART can be scruffy. Maybe I've been lucky.

I could list fifty highly positive experiences but the current narrative seems to focus on being negative.

I like the quote from Paul Kantner (of Jefferson Airplane): "San Francisco is 49 square miles surrounded by reality."

Not sure what to say? I’ve visited and lived in cities around California, and lived in SF itself for two years, in the Panhandle. It was one of the safest and most beautiful places I’ve ever lived in. My wife would regularly go for walks and runs on her own. I know “I lived and visited these places and nothing happened” is less bombastic than the opposite, but it doesn’t make it less true.

Cleveland, Dallas, Chicago, Denver? Every large city is like that.

You can totally leave your bag in the car and it'll most likely be fine in Santa Barbara, Pleasanton, Livermore, Truckee, ... (outside tourist areas).

As others said, it's about social cohesion of which there is little, especially in large cities but more and more small towns as well.

We are not even talking about large cities. Cities like Pleasanton, Santa Clara, even Tracy have problems. We went to a restaurant in Santa Clara, just across Kaiser; a couple of guys came in, broke into four/five cars and stole laptop bags. Yes, there are cameras everywhere. So, it is mandatory to carry your laptop and other valuables, whenever you want to go to shop/eat etc.

you cannot go to the rest rooms. period. doors locked. need special key. at least where i live. didn;t used to be this way. that is what happens when social trust goes to zero.

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