I suspect that the quantity of homeless folks in the bay area is due in part to the weather. It is pretty difficult to die of exposure here given the relative narrow temperature band we stay in (30 - 95 degrees F with rare excursions outside that) A warm coat and blanket in the winter, a place of shade and fresh water in the summer, and you're pretty much protected from dying of exposure.

I found the comment about the dirt and the street repair interesting because I've heard the complaint in reverse, which is that the peninsula / south bay cities are 'too clean and neat, almost like plastic.' For those people they were looking for the 'gritty urban appeal' of San Francisco which, as the author points out, it has in some places.

It is interesting the competing memes about what a high tech utopia should look like, Blade Runner or Logan's Run? Or somewhere in the middle? I sometimes wish I could get Californians to have the same courage as the Swiss do when zoning towns which require only walking. I would love to see one of the Peninsula cities commit to that, create people mover transport to the edges and then ban cars in the interior. Imagine that your kids can ride their bike anywhere in the neighborhood or city and not be threatened by a car on its way to work? Don't have the stones for it though.