Yeah. Kind of an embarrassment that some of the country’s most self-avowed “progressive” locales have so gentrified that they’ve become, in essence, that second America John Edwards is always going on about.
It’s one thing to rule the proles. But another thing entirely to have to live near them, what with their plastic lawn furniture and their 40 oz bottles of Schlitz tucked inside paper sacks.
From USA Today:
African-Americans are abandoning this famously progressive city at a rate that has alarmed San Francisco officials, who vow to stop the exodus and develop a strategy to win blacks back to the city. In June, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed a task force to study how to reverse decades of policies  and neglect  that black leaders say have fueled the flight.
Black flight can alter a city’s character. “It’s important for a city’s future that it be a diverse place, and San Francisco is drifting toward being an upper-middle-class city,” says Ed Blakely, director of Katrina recovery for New Orleans.
According to Census estimates, the number of blacks here shrank from 13.4% of the population in 1970 to just 6.5% in 2005  the biggest percentage decline in any major American city.
[…]
n Los Angeles, the proportion of blacks is 9.9%, just over half what it was in 1970, although the number of blacks remains relatively high  366,000, according to 2005 Census estimates. And in Chicago an estimated 1 million blacks remain  about one-third of the population  even though more than 55,000 have left since 2000, says Kenneth Johnson, a Loyola University Chicago demographer who analyzed 2005 Census data.
“The flight is certainly more intense in San Francisco than elsewhere,” says Hans Johnson, a demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California here.
No single cause explains the continuing exodus, according to city officials, leaders in the black community, demographers and current and former black residents. The high cost of housing  one of the highest in the nation  is a dominant theme, but there are other factors:
•The loss in the 1950s and 1960s of a key black enclave to urban renewal.
•High crime rates in some of the city’s surviving black neighborhoods.
•Substandard public housing, as acknowledged by city officials.
•Dissatisfaction with underperforming urban schools.
“Black people really don’t matter in San Francisco. It’s what this generation of political leadership inherited,” says Chuck Collins, president of the YMCA of San Francisco. “There’s been a very uneasy truce with the black population.”
The task force “ought to study what’s wrong with the white power structure, why they can’t be responsive to the African-American community,” says Amos Brown, pastor of Third Baptist Church and president of the local NAACP chapter. “They didn’t need us anymore.”
Stopping black flight will be “an uphill battle,” Blakely says.
You’d think with all those “progressive” taxation schemes, the rich folks of San Fran would easily be able to bring that substandard housing up to par. Or hire a few more police to keep the riff raff in line.
But then, who would pay for government employees to have elected sex reassignment surgery?
Really, this is quite the dilemma for the committed progressive.
No worries, though. Perhaps Nancy Pelosi can pull a few strings and bring in a pro basketball team.
Adding 12-15 wealthy black men to the city’s roster just like that? Why, it’d be positively Lincolnesque!
(h/t Pablo)
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update: related?
I bet they could get Michael Vick if they want him.
San Francisco hates black people? They have something in common with George Bush after all? Who knew!
Of course, the one reason they don’t mention for “black flight” is because this city has become, and always will be, one giant insufferable white liberal snob-atorium echo chamber whose wealthy elite would rather cruise for dirty needles in Golden Gate Park than acknowledge and accept the existence of Hunter’s Point (predominantly black neighborhood near the former Candlestick Park) as being even remotely associated with their beloved city.
But I love the Fillmore and the Great American Music Hall.
Solve the “problem”? Hell no, just find a way to pin it on Bushitler or the Republicans.
“Black flight can alter a city’s character. “It’s important for a city’s future that it be a diverse place, and San Francisco is drifting toward being an upper-middle-class city,†says Ed Blakely”
As mentioned at Ace’s place, this is an extraordinary comment. First off, SF is already an upper middle class city, but the inference that there are no blacks in the upper middle class is interesting. What? Black folks that are actually in the upper middle class are no longer black? RACIST! Or do they just want poor black folk? Can’t keep up with the prog’s demands.
On the plus side, Golden Gate park is a no smoking zone.
Professor Caric lives in one of the few places in the country that has less blacks per capita than San Francisco. And we are racist. How is that again?
Wait – so the reason for Black Flight is the collapse of government-provided housing and services. The same services which attracted low-income blacks to the cities and led to much hand-wringing over White Flight?
Are we really supposed to believe this shit? Is it possible that the blacks, having improved their lot in life, have decided to get the hell away from insufferable left-coast liberal elitist crackers?
I think blacks ought to be able to fly if they want to.
Matbe it’s teh Ghey. You know how the brothers loves them teh Ghey.
Jeff is just giving rhetorical cover to the overt racists. h/t Professor Douchenozzle
Their “Whiter Than Colorado Springs!” tourism ads during Will & Grace reruns are especially annoying.
No single cause explains the continuing exodus
Really? Really?! Because I was born in San Francisco, and I lived in the negro concentration camp they keep next door, and I think I can solve this impenetrable mystery.
The Bay Area, like every “blue” metro, is more segregated than a ’60s Greensboro lunch counter. The subsumption of supposedly “radical” gay politics into local establishment vanguard/crony-leftism (“the white power structure”) hasn’t gone unnoticed either.
As black mobility increases (slightly), they’re getting the hell out — and moving to Greensboro.
Good for them. And suck it, Whitey.
Because it’s the job of government to decide where the black people need to live.
I just can’t believe we’re having this conversation sixty-odd years since the Tuskegee Airmen.
And suck it, Whitey.
Of course in this case, the odds are good that Whitey likes to “suck it”. Just sayin’.
ThomasD – They can’t decide for themselves. That’s why we need AA and preferences and stuff. Becuase of the OPPRESSION.
Don’t you read Perfesser Caric?
No worries, though. Perhaps Nancy Pelosi can pull a few strings and bring in a pro basketball team.
Not with another team (Golden St. Warriors) one bridge crossing away she won’t. Pelosi thinks she is powerful? As far as David Stern is concerned, she might as well be handing out trays at Golden Corral.
Maybe the SF city council could hire Caric to guide their approach to increasing the minority population – just not too much, cause then they’re not a minority anymore…
I know the real reason people of color are leaving San Francisco. It’s sort of like the reason Lot and his family left Sodom or Gomorrah or whichever of those they lived in.
Only instead of God’s wrath, they’re leaving before the city is inundated because of the melting polar ice caps.
It would appear, from the Hot Air link, that the poor folks are only affecting poverty, because they obviously have enough wherewithal to donate big coin to Hillary.
However, I call bullsplat on the story:
Hello? Isn’t San Francisco known for its abundant rainfall and cool temps? There’s no way those plants could dry out.
BECAUSE OF THE JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY!
Er, no, SF does have cool temps, but minimal rainfall. Fog doesn’t count.
So where are they moving to. . .?
Ah, gentrification! Personally, I’m all for it, but you’ve got to love it when a bunch of rich white liberals move into a neighborhood, price the locals out of the market and then complain about the lack of diversity. It’s a perfect cycle of irony.
It might help to identify where they are going.
“San Francisco hates black people? They have something in common with George Bush after all? Who knew!”
The above may be the STUPIDEST comment I’ve ever seen. I would say that the President who had not one, but two black Secretaries of State, one of them a woman, can hardly be described as hating black people.
Commenter #8 has it right. I have actually LIVED in San Francisco and it IS an insufferably smug place to live. And I’m not a minority, unless you count having functional brain cells as placing me in that category!
Gayle
I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that the comment you are referring to is a riff on the Kanye West claim that George Bush hates black people as was apparently proven by the fact that New Orleans was hit by a Hurricane.
I understand Larry Craig is looking for a nice condo…
He’s a colorblind racist, worst kind according to Perfesser Caric. Besides, I’m pretty sure that Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice aren’t authentically black. After all, they’re smart, they’re successful, and they’ve served a Republican administration. Come to think of it, that probably means Condi isn’t an authentic woman either.
Never question teh narrative, Ms. Miller.
You’d think with all those “progressive†taxation schemes, the rich folks of San Fran would easily be able to bring that substandard housing up to par.
Well, you might think… except limousine “progressives” know perfectly well their scheme doesn’t bring the downtrodden up, it only brings the slighly better off down. Conveniently it never messes with their kind, who already got theirs.
People don’t live in cities anymore, they live in media markets, which would include Oakland and like almost a dozen counties, so I think they’re analyzing this wrong. You can’t discern a decline in the African American population if you look at it at the level of the SF media market. I think these people have issues with change is all.
Dan C. It’s not about blacks flying, it’s about blacks flying first class!
Is it black people they want in San Francisco or is it ghettos?
What it sounds like to me is that the think they are lamenting is the loss of distinct communities with a separate and unique culture. Like Chinatown. Only black.
And I will admit that this is one of the things that makes San Francisco an interesting place. Immigrant groups and others moved into their own distinct neighborhoods, retained their cultures and languages because of prejudice and predator pressure, and the result of that is the ability to travel, in some senses travel the world, within the city itself. Other big cities also have similar “towns” within them.
They are the remnants of discrimination and oppression, no matter how colorful and quaint they are today. Segregation leads to/maintains cultural diversity… is cultural diversity worth it?
So what does San Fran really mourn the loss of? If wealthy black people move back but move into trendy renovations the “character” of the city will still have changed.
I modestly propose that San Franciscans take a leaf from the former East Germany and build a wall around their fair city. This structure will be known as the “Tolerance and Diversity Wall,” which will have the specific purpose of keeping minorities within the city limits. Such a structure, if built in an environmentally-friendly manner, will ensure that the proper ratio of minority individuals remain in the city even if they develop incorrect thoughts and attempt to flee elsewhere.
I furthermore propose that San Francisco erect (no pun intended) a fortified border crossing in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge. This structure will be officially named “Checkpoint Cha-Cha.”
Needless to say, construction costs for the Tolerance and Diversity Wall (TDW) will be significant, so I suggest San Franciscans finance it with a 1,000% tax on all tobacco, alcohol, BB guns, Starbucks coffee, country music CD’s, and copies of “National Review” given official authorization to enter city limits.
However, I’m recommending marijuana and peyote should NOT be taxed since those are “culturally appropriate” items.
Sounds like the city needs to bring back more blighted areas and public housing to attract the black folks. We all know that blacks are naturally poor and want poor-looking areas and good ‘ole public housing. Sometimes I wonder if these reporters and editors actually think about what they are writing. I want to know if black-flight and white-flight look similar, i.e. are they both escaping the moral cess (read progressive policies) that liberal enclaves seem to collect?
MarkJ
Yup, snorted stuff out my nose. It was only pure luck that I was drinking water at the time. Part of the problem is that my wife works for a Latino cross dresser and I visualised him “manning” the checkpoint.
All 5’3″ of him. BWAAA HAHA!!!
Er, no, SF does have cool temps, but minimal rainfall. Fog doesn’t count.
Denier! Debunker! I had that reporter dead to rights, and you’re trying to undermine my Very Kewl Theory with, with…
…facts.
Rats.
Maybe not as expensive as you might think. After all they are already well stocked with leather for the guard uniforms.
1.”White power structure” run by Democrats.
2.Black citizens fleeing for the suburbs.
3.?
4.Republican victory.
SF is changing with long time black residents who own homes selling and moving to lower cost areas — Oakland, Hayward, Sacramento or out of the Bay Area. It should be noted that San Francisco is not becoming more white. The percentage of white residents is fairly stable. It is becoming significantly more Asian — Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Indian, etc.
There are way too many white trustafarians, here, however.
USA Today: “San Francisco Hopes To Reverse Black FlightÂ 
As Glenn Reynolds writes, “Black people are fleeing San Francisco”. But then, who isn’t? Update: On the other hand, San Francisco does have some surprisingly encouraging economic signs, if you just know where to look; elsewhere, Jeff Goldstein calls…
One factor not mentioned is the lack of manufacturing jobs and jobs for unskilled workers in SF. Not to say that blacks are capable of only unskilled work or manufacturing work, but when you look at the quality of SF schools, there’s probably not much that most public school students are prepared for. In addition, there’s lots of competition for those jobs from immigrants, legal and otherwise, but it wouldn’t be PC to say so.
But hold on here, just a few weeks ago the SF Chronicle ran a story on the Castro district’s gay community lamenting the fact that “breeders” are starting to move in. Where’s the tolerance? Why no cheers for such “diversification”? What task force does Gavin “My Friend, His Wife, My Target” Newsome form for this conundrum?
So what does San Fran really mourn the loss of?
Trendy, guilt-assuaging soul-food restaurants… and Jerry Rice?
Isn’t it the job of white liberals to tell blacks where they can live?
Looks like blacks got tired of taking it up the ass from the gay mafia in SF.
Thanks EG. You are on the right track.
Who is Newsom screwing these days, apart from the taxpayers of San Francisco?
So, black people are leaving cities for the exact same reasons everyone else is? This is news? Cities have become places for single people. If you want a family, that means suburbia.
“…
•The loss in the 1950s and 1960s of a key black enclave to urban renewal.
•High crime rates in some of the city’s surviving black neighborhoods.
•Substandard public housing, as acknowledged by city officials.”
Dear God I have to ask. The above was referenced in the press release. But I wonder if the order was out of kilter, to wit:
“•The loss in the 1950s and 1960s of a key black enclave to urban renewal.” Code Word: We progressives felt you were being shafted with homes built in the 20’s, possibly substandard and all. Besides we got offered a hell of a deal for all that land by a developer.
“•Substandard public housing, as acknowledged by city officials.” Code Word: We progressives feeling all high and mighty, and flushed with cash from that developer we might add, stuck all your sorry asses in public housing. But being good stewards we awarded based on lowest bid offered. Sorry, if you think it is now our fault we can’t maintain it. We never budgeted for that because we never thought repairs were necessary.
“•High crime rates in some of the city’s surviving black neighborhoods.” Code Word: Oh, well like we said, we progressives thought all you conforming turkeys would just sit down and be quiet. Don’t you know crime is not in your ‘economic best interest’? But don’t tell anyone but we didn’t budget for additional police for your project either, ok?
Change the order to the above and you have a prescription of exactly how the city got to where they are with this ‘problem’. But I guess I have to ask, why is it a problem? But I will leave that for another thread.
There is a far more traditionally San Francisco solution to this urgent problem. I am qualified in such matters, having been born in San Francisco myself. My maternal grandmother was likewise born in San Francisco, and was woken up by the Great Earthquake as a young girl. And my maternal grandfather operated the polo grounds in Golden Gate Park in the 1930’s.
This truly historic San Francisco solution to the black exodus entails keeping out the ethnic group most responsible for the underlying cause of black flight, i.e., soaring property values. Keep this other, less desirable, ethnic group from buying San Francisco property to live in it and maybe the more favored blacks will stay. So let’s hear it for:
another Chinese Exclusion Act.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act
Rather than ask what the city will for them, why don’t blacks do something for their city? Perhaps if some black leader somewhere would preach self reliance instead of reliance on uncle government, then they would start to get what they want.
elected sex reassignment surgery
How do you even campaign for that?
Why don’t they just pay the remaining blacks to have more kids? It could solve the problem of middle-class blacks moving out if all the remaining non-middle-class blacks had at least 7 or 8 kids. There is very little chance that in that case many of them would move up to the middle-class and then move out of SF. It’s a win-win, sort of.
We can’t lose Hunter’s Point! That’s the starter precincts for Democratic politians.
When Barbara Boxer moved up to Congress from Marin County supervisor, her custom-made starter district included Ross, the wealthiest town in the wealthiest county (Marin) and leapted across the Golden Gate to include Hunter’s Point, the poorest precincts in San Francisco. Of course, it was linked via Alcatraz.
Without the poor black folk in Hunter’s Point, where would she be today?
JorgXMcKi,
We do pay blacks to have more kids already.
They got rid of the military, too.
Well, for gosh sakes, all San Francisco needs to do is apply some of those tried and tested progressive solutions to the housing market!!
In other words, every tenth house sold in San Francisco must be sold to a person of color. Every 10th condo/apartment rented must be to a person of color.
If the racist/bigoted apartment owners can’t find a black person, they will just have to leave the apartment vacant until they can get an authentic person of color. And if you’re the 10th person trying to sell their house in SF, and the previous nine all sold to white folk — you will have to sell to some authentic people of color or just not sell it.
And if you don’t agree with this plan, you are a racist bigot!!
Is anyone else a little uncomfortable that these things are openly tracked, much less using the information to manipulate demographics at the local level?
Also, while the source of imformation may be usable (though not really ethical in my book) in a comparison with other locals, I have doubts about the accuracy of racial cencsus. For instance, how many Americans are products of interracial relationships, and how do they check THEIR surveys?
Anyway, I’ve personally concluded SF is an interesting place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. I hope the reason for the alleged ‘black flight’ is upward mobility.
In the American way, not the progg way.
The news is the rate of departure.
And I guess one can say if it is fitting to included the (R) designation in a story about gay bathroom cruising, but not the (D) in a story about bribe taking — because Republicans hate the gays, while Dems love the corruption — then it fitting to note that the rate is occurring in one of the country’s most “progressive” cities, whose denizens are among the loudest to extol “diversity.”
It’s an HYPOCRISY thing, I guess.
9 “I think blacks ought to be able to fly if they want to.”
The problem is that their bones are too dense. Not racism, just genetics
[…] towns an cities end up housing the more affluent of the “two Americas.” Jeff Goldstein has an idea how to lure upscale blacks to SF: just start an NBA […]
My theory? Not enough coffee joints.
My theory? Not enough coffee joints.
Don’t black people roll their coffee in blunts? Joints are a white thing these days.
There is a simple way to destroy a city. Build public housing.
Dicentra? As someone with a lot of grounskeeping/landscaping exprience, I have to pick a nit here
Er, no, SF does have cool temps, but minimal rainfall. Fog doesn’t count.
Ummm….Yes it does. while it ‘s obvious that a plant can dry out,fog is a moisture giving relief to many plants out here on the right coast. On the Cape? many plants survive due to the fog in dry years.
When I lived in Monterey, the early morning fog was a thing of beauty. From the Presidio, we could look down on the fog, which obstructed our view of the Bay until around 10:00, and then burnt off for another picture perfect central coast day.
Sorry Dicentra, just reread the thread…you were commenting on the story. I really shouldn’t post while stupid…
How about the fact that the place is such a damn Soddom and Gomorrah that nobody in their right mind with children would want to live there? That would seem to be a pretty obvious reason.
<choke>
When I was growing up in Sacramento, it was “out of the Bay Area” (you could just ask Herb Caen!). When did they move it in?
Thomas Sowell pointed out the problem of black flight from SF a few years ago. It’s nice to see that the MSM is finally acknowledging that it’s a problem.
Look, SF was way beyond too expensive 20 years ago. Anyone with any sense–and that would include most Black people–lives in the towns around SF. Oakland, for instance, has a much larger Black population.
I’ll bet if they analyzed their figures a little more carefully, they’d discover that middle income people–period–are leaving SF. It’s just too, too, expensive.
The thing about it is, it costs just about the same to live in SF and commute to Silicon Valley as it is to live in like San Jose. Silicon Valley is really not a nice place if you like places that are nice.
“I’ll bet if they analyzed their figures a little more carefully, they’d discover that middle income people–period–are leaving SF.”
Ah, now THERE”S some concerns I can see tracking. Trying to change even. Genetics shouldn’t be the governments concern.
Holy mackerel, I’ve still got tears in my eyes over “Checkpoint Cha-Cha.”
This is the funniest blog in the ‘sphere. And no disrespect Jeff, because you are quite funny yourself, but it’s the comment section that gets you the title.
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When I lived in Monterey, the early morning fog was a thing of beauty. From the Presidio, we could look down on the fog, which obstructed our view of the Bay until around 10:00, and then burnt off for another picture perfect central coast day.
****
Went to DLI?
Many blacks here shun buying affordable housing because those homes have “equity restrictions” to keep them affordable, which means they can’t be resold at market rates.
“They see homeownership as a chance to gain assets that will grow. So they’ll go outside the city,” says Ed Donaldson, counseling director for the San Francisco Housing Development Corp.
—–
Black people want to advance economically. They know one way to do so is to develop equity. They see the city employing measures that close off that avenue of wealth-generation. They rationally choose to invest elsewhere.
And in the afterlife, Adam Smith bitch-slaps Karl Marx. Again.
Gidgiddoni – Sure did. Modern Standard Arabic. You?
Steve – We keep waiting for good ole Karl to tap-out, and he never does. Adam Smith has had him in every conceivable submission, and the damn Marxist just refuses to go away.
Yep. MSA. If you graduated, mabruk. That course is a bitch. Love the weather here, though. Al-shams leisa sadiqi, wa la ashhadhu katheer huna.
Where have you gone, Willie Brown?
Our city turns it’s lonely eyes to you.
Wooo, wooo, wooo…
Gidgiddoni – I was there, in the Air Force, from 1990-1992. Shukran, ya sadeek.
Gidgiddoni or JD, the sun is not my friend and it’s not very ashhadhu here. Please tell me what ashhadhu is.
Shukran.
JFP – I thought that ashhadu was the 2nd of the prayers, but I could be wrong.
Something like that. The root sh-h-d means “seeing” or “witness” generally, so it’s probably the part that goes, “I witness that there is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet.”
Oops, misunderstood. “la ashhadhu” in that context means “I don’t see it”. Arabic is hard to transcribe because I always forget to include short vowels.
Shukran jazeelan.
“Ed Blakely, director of Katrina recovery for New Orleans”
Who would listen to HIM, of all people?
Afwan.
Arabic is difficult to put into our characters.
People that think uncoerced migration of a group is a problem are idiots.
If your looking for even more information on PC security then I would head over here as they have plenty of stuff on identity theft, antivirus software etc.