San Francisco Becomes Fastest-Shrinking U.S. City

Yahoo News/Reuters ^ | Thu Jul 10, 5:00 PM ET | Andrea Orr

[hattend]

San Francisco Becomes Fastest-Shrinking U.S. City Thu Jul 10, 5:00 PM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Andrea Orr

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - I left my forwarding address in San Francisco.

The foggy city by the bay, which has lost jobs and income in the technology industry bust, saw the largest population decline of any major city in the United States last year, according to U.S. Census data.

San Francisco's population declined by 1.5 percent or nearly 12,000 between July 2001 and July 2002, making it the biggest loser among 242 U.S. cities with more than 100,000 people, a report released on Thursday showed.

San Francisco, with a population of about 776,000 in mid-2002, joins some other famously depressed U.S. cities, including Flint, Michigan, which ranked 240 on the list with a population decline of 1.4 percent or 1,687 people, and Gary, Indiana, which came in at 227, losing 0.8 percent of its population, or 793 people. San Francisco lost 11,929 residents over the same one-year period.

But the exodus from the San Francisco Bay Area appears more pronounced considering all the other surrounding cities that also suffered big population declines.

Second to last on the list was Sunnyvale, California, a Silicon Valley city about 50 miles south of San Francisco, and the home to number of high-tech companies and high-tech workers, who were hit hard by the dot-com bust. Sunnyvale's population declined by 1.4 percent, or 1,830 people, the report showed.

DOT-COM ADIEU

San Jose, California, also a key Silicon Valley city, ranked near the bottom of the list, at 220, as did Daly City, just outside of San Francisco, which ranked 236. San Jose lost 5,740 people or 0.6 percent of its people and Daly City 1,089 people or 1.1 percent.

Hundreds of high-tech start-up companies based in northern California have closed their doors during the past three years, sending many people out of town in search of work.

California's Employment Development Department said San Francisco had a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.6 percent in May, compared with a national rate of 6.1 percent. The jobless rate in Santa Clara County, encompassing Sunnyvale and much of Silicon Valley, was 8 percent.

This recent exodus marks a stark reversal of trends seen in the late 1990s when engineers and recent college and business school graduates thronged to the Silicon Valley region seeking work at high-tech companies that offered generous compensation and stock option packages.

Although San Francisco has not ranked among the fastest growing cities at any time in recent history, it did show healthy expansion throughout the 1990s, with its population growing 7.3 percent over the course of that decade, census data show.

Most of the fastest growth in the United States meanwhile, is occurring in southern California and throughout the Southwest. The Census report ranked Gilbert, Arizona, with a 10.3 percent population increase last year alone, as the fastest growing city in the U.S.

North Las Vegas, Nevada came in second with Rancho Cucamonga near Los Angeles; Henderson, Nevada; and Joliet, Illinois rounding out the top five.

[Drango]

For those who don't know "Treasure Island" the ex-navy base, in the SF Bay has some of the greatest views and real estate potential in the world (well they got to clean up some waste first and then the lots coud be worth a million each) This is what the've done with it

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ISLAND BAY HOMES
TREASURE ISLAND

In the fall of 2002, the Community Housing Partnership opened is newest housing development on Treasure Island, which was once used as a Naval base. In the fall of 2002, seventeen formerly homeless families with children moved into newly rehabilitated two-bedroom apartments.. By the end of 2003, an additional fourteen three- and four-bedroom units will be filled. This project is part of the Treasure Island Homeless Development Initiative (TIHDI), a collaborative of over twenty organizations that have procured leasing options, employment contracts and economic development opportunities on Treasure Island for homeless people. Formerly homeless individuals will be employed to rehabilitate the apartments, which once housed Navy personnel. Residents will have access to a community center with conference rooms and office space for support and employment services. Tenants pay no more than 30% of their income in rent.

[The Human G-Nome]

Who wants to live in a pro-gay community if you're straight? That's really what SF has become!
>>>>

ya, it sucks that so many of the males aren't interested in the same women you're interested in. having more to choose from is a real bummer.

[Drango]

ya, it sucks that so many of the males aren't interested in the same women you're interested in. having more to choose from is a real bummer.

A significant amount of the women don't swing that way...

[Grando Calrissian]

I guess all those fools who took administrative assistant jobs at vanitycalculator.com for $75,000 a year are heading back home. It's hard to pay $2,400 rent on a waiter's salary. Good riddance.

[Drango]

Besides even if the women are straight they have gone native and don't shave...Who wants to date a women that looks like she has Buckwheat in a headlock?

[The Human G-Nome]

A significant amount of the women don't swing that way...>>>>>

and you know that because...... you've been watching a lot television or something? you have these incredible articles detailing the breakdown that you've clipped from the internet?

[Grando Calrissian]

Where the hell do you hang out, man?

[The Human G-Nome]

Who wants to date a women that looks like she has Buckwheat in a headlock?
>>>

beautiful...yet another myth perpetrated by the uninformed. thinks about it this way - if rent cost $2400 a month, how many "hippies" are going to be renting these places? do you still think it's the 60's and folks are living in Golden Gate Park. it's like saying "I would never live in Texas in the wild, wild west. Some outlaw would come and kill me with his six-shooter and all the sheriffs are crooked."

[The Human G-Nome]

A significant amount of the women don't swing that way...
>>>>>

trust me... if you lived in San Francisco for any siginificant period of time, you'd realize that the single, attractive women outnumber the single attractive men 2 to 1. it's a little gem of a fact of which some folks are more then happy to take advantage.

[gubamyster]

The foggy city by the bay, which has lost jobs and income in the technology industry bust, saw the largest population decline of any major city in the United States last year, according to U.S. Census data...

...Most of the fastest growth in the United States meanwhile, is occurring in southern California……

It would be interesting to see the demographics on these two populations. I would imagine those moving out would tend to have a higher education and income level and would also tend to hold higher skilled jobs than those moving in.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[Michael.SF.]

My Mom is from Oakland, my Grandfather worked 40 years for Chevron, my Uncle was a Col. stationed at the Presido and later at Letterman. I always enjoyed "The City". A day game at the stick with my grandfather, the three M's in the game Mays, McCovey and Marichal. But alas great memories of a once great city are all that remains. Replaced by scenes like these:

I moved to the bay area in 1991, by that time The City's glory had long faided. Replaced by decay, desecration and city government more concerned with sensativities then common sense. Moving to the City was not an option. My kids were young and no way was I going to raise them there.

What surprises me still today is that whenever I visit the City, as I often do, is the tremendous ego of the people who call it their home. They really believe that the City has a superiority over any other city in state, especially anything south of Santa Barbara.

Sure SF has perhaps the most beautiful natural settings for a city in the country, but after that? Yes, there are many good things about SF, but it is difficult to overlook the neglect, the filth, the mindset of it's people and the coruption of the city government, starting with "Da Mayor".

It comes as no surprise that people are fleeing.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Yep. I saw it. They are getting what they deserve. Problem is now all that's left are the criminals, the homeless and the leftists who enable them. I love SF but I don't plan on spending much time there until they clean up their act, literally.

[arkfreepdom]

again, what are you talking about? what have "they" done?

the libs.....high taxes, allowing street trash to roam.

[Drango]

trust me... Nope

if you lived in San Francisco for any siginificant period of time,
First moved to SF in '71 and have lived or worked in the city a significant part of my life.

you'd realize that the single, attractive women outnumber the single attractive men 2 to 1.
This is actually correct. However, while attractive, many of the women are very liberal and a bore to be with.

[GOP_1900AD]

Well since I was a Jordan voter, yes! (Although we no longer live in the City).

[GSWarrior]

Actually, Willie Brown, despite all his faults and cronyism, has downtown business interests in mind. It's the Tom Ammianos and the other far-lefties that sit on the Board of Supervisors that have had a bigger hand in bringing down the city.

[GOP_1900AD]

Except that most of the single women (and even some of the married ones!) in the City seem to want to emulate the polygamous wenches in that bit of debauchery known as "Sex and the City." They are into the notion of "Soho without any snow" what a total joke. You can have them....

[adaven]

The big questions are where are these people moving to and when they get there will they turn it into a liberal-socialist hell hole like San Francisco

Nevada. And yes.

[BIGZ]

Not true! Lawyers are living proof that one gender can procreate.