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December 31, 2007You CAN go home again…But should you?YOU WILL PAY THE CONSEQUENCES3950, 2300, 2800, 2450, 1300, 3200, 4550, 4395, 1350, 3795, 2695, 7995, 4500. What’s all this? The top hits on San Francisco Craig’s List rental rates as I write on Christmas Eve. There are also listings at 6000, 6900, and 20000. That’s $20,000 a month. Anything in the $1K’s or below is where I don’t want to live. I look at this crap every day and I am weary like the fellow who has miles to go before he sleeps. I thought I’d found my forever home, and I never thought I’d say it, but I’m losing interest. San Francisco, you bitch, are you really worth it? BULLYfor the Bored of Soups charter amendment to “establish a baseline appropriation and set aside the equivalent of the available annual tax of two and one-half cents ($0.025) on each one hundred dollars ($100) of assessed property tax valuation for the next fifteen (15) years to support affordable housing programs; require the Mayor’s Office of Housing, in cooperation with the Department of Public Health and Department of Human Services, to prepare an affordable housing plan every three (3) years and an annual affordable housing budget; affirm City policy urging the Redevelopment Agency to use at least fifty percent (50%) of its tax increment funds for low and moderate income housing; and set an expiration date of July 1, 2024. “That one’s meant for people like me, lower/middle class working stiffs and artists, so we can afford to live here. But sorry, for this Citizen Artist, it’s a case of too little, too late. Why did it take all the way to 2007 for somebody (Chris Daly) to think of this? If introduced 20 years ago it might have had an impact. By the time that thing gets onto the ballot and goes into effect, if it does, I and many others may be long gone with the wind. I know there’s a flat or apartment out there for me, but do I want to bother to find it? San Francisco, am I getting bored with you? Have you run out of surprises?A friend wants to live in Berkeley because San Francisco is too urban. Too? Not enough, maybe… “YOU CAN GO HOME AGAINBut should you?” asks the New York Times review of Pinter’s “The Homecoming.” “You will pay the consequences,” they warn. I couldn’t wait to get back to Philly for Christmas, New Year in New York. I need an east coast vibe vacation from SF. I have to look at this insanity from a distance. But back in the bosom of my family, I am only reminded that that is exactly why I left the east coast for the left. I had to look at this insanity from a distance, as long a distance as I could get without falling off the mainland. SHE WON’T STAY IN PHILADELPHIAThat is blogger Robert Solis’s forecast for me (I’d signed off last time with “Off to Philly!”), after describing me as “wordsmith nonpareil.“ That might end up on my calling card (I have no business card as I have no business). “So what do you do?” asks a person attached to a cocktail. “You could say,” I say, sipping my own libation, “I’m a wordsmith nonpareil.” Thanks, Robert. h brown in his review of 2007 missed out on lauding me as best underpublicized stick-to-it writer on a website whose publisher does nothing to promote it, including not posting anything of his own on it since 9/27/07. I left Philly at age 26 and exactly twice that lifespan later, at 52, I am still holding my childhood against my hometown. I came home again, and I am paying the consequences. Anxiety roils in my stomach, an actual physical pain. I sit with head in hand, wondering, how did I ever survive my childhood? How does anyone? And then I think, maybe I didn’t. Maybe I didn’t survive my childhood. Just like my family didn’t survive World War II. I spent 26 years on the east coast, and 26 on the west. I need to sell my flat. Is it time for a tidal shift? Maybe I’ll be overjoyed to come back to SF—but back to Craig’s List? Please. SAN FRANCISCOyou are not The City. You are a city. If we’re going to talk about The City, we know what City we’re talking about, and it’s not you. So as I told Robert, no of course, I won’t stay in Philadelphia. The real question is, will I stay in San Francisco? Catching the 9:20 New Year’s Day train to The City, to try it on for size. SAN FRANCISCOseems like the right place for you, said Robert. Hm. I no longer know about that. Last year about this time (”You’re not the only one I love”), I claimed that I could out-bitch San Francisco. Oh, I can be as big as bee-yatch as anyone I know; you do not want this ax to come down on you. But it just might come down on you, San Francisco, you bitch. This ax might just chop you right out of her life. Stay tuned in 2008.
The author says, “See you tomorrow, Jon!” ------------------------------------------------------------ Should I stay or should I go?
How about those Patriots? copyright Alexandra Jones 2007 |
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