I was born in San Francisco in 1948. I left to live as an ex-pat in 2018, where I can afford to live a lower middle-class lifestyle on my Social Security Pension. Even have a little extra to travel, if that is ever a possibility in my remaining lifetime. Europe is still closed to Americans, even if vaccinated.

I miss San Francisco, but I can no longer afford to live there. The only jobs for older people are commission only car or real estate sales working nights and weekends.

Here's the problem with San Francisco, besides the massive homeless population, many of the people suffering from severe mental or addiction problems. Those poor folks will never be able to work and support themselves.

Take the famous Victorians. They cost millions to buy. Should we tear them all down and build high-rise glass and steel boxes, so more people can afford to live in San Francisco? How about the less quaint Sunset, Richmond, or Outer Mission? Tear down single family to build high rise? High density housing in Sausalito?

Making San Francisco just like Phoenix, Kansas City, or Boston only destroys San Francisco for everyone.

Imagine San Francisco without BART. And BART is only making a tiny dent in the problem, and it is already over capacity. CalTrain? $12 OW SF to SJC.

To save San Francisco for generations to come requires building higher density affordable housing in the thousands of acres of available land surrounding San Francisco and then build high-speed rail to bring these people into the city for work, culture and recreation in less than an hour, not 2.5 hours.

Europe has amazing rail networks in all its major cities. There is the tube or underground or Metro.

Then there are the suburban trains. Most are not high speed, but they are fast, convenient, frequent and comfortable. Never a problem getting a seat. Late night "owl" service is provided by buses.

Intercity trains are high speed 200 mph bullet trains. Downtown London to downtown Paris with transit times similar to flying, when you add in getting to and from the airport.

America is a mess, well on its way to third world status, with 95% of the wealth held by 5% of the population.

The only way to save America is massive investment in Public Goods, massive cuts to military spending, and a much fairer taxation system.