I'm no fan of what Guilliani did in New York. The man has zero class or scruples. Yes, New York got cleaned up, but now Times Square has been turned into a Disneyfied, soulless version of New York. In any case, New York is not San Francisco.
I first moved to S.F. in the early 80's and it was a great place to live then. It had a vibe, it had artists, it had musicians. Now it's a very strange mix of corporate tidiness, outrageous housing costs, and a homeless situation that is totally out of control. Crime, especially quality of types of crime, is just out of hand.
Blaming the liberals? It's San Francisco, not Dallas! The libs had nothing to do with any of this, it's grossly incompetent politicians and a huge, huge lack of leadership. To be blunt, the REAL problem is the google types that have moved in en mass and have absolutely nothing invested in the city. It's all about money, and it's a shame what has happened to the old guard who lent character and an artistic vibe to the Bay Area.
They're all gone now, priced out and fled to Albuquerque and places like it where they can afford to live and still speak their own mind w/o the politically correct intellectual terrorists telling them what to say and where to go. What replaced them are private corporate buses that pick up only their own work force, illegally block city buses to prevent the working class from getting back and forth, and a horde of yuppies who smugly sip their $12 a glass craft beers while rooting for the Cubs, the Red Socks, or whoever they rooted for when they still lived Back East.
These are not the people that made S.F. a great city, they're the people trying their best to turn it into Seattle, Boston, or Portland, and that's where they really belong. What have they contributed in terms of music, art or style? Not one thing. Your typical visitor won't see most of this, they'll just see the beautiful buildings and hills, as well as the in your face poverty and lack of compassion that these self satisfied corporate types could care less about. The area is still beautiful, but has become badly frayed around the edges, and it's 100% due to greed.
I really like their new mayor, and think she'll turn things around.