San Francisco, you are not forgiven
But we mean that in a good way
Roger Cohen is a columnist for the New York Times. Last week he did something that always pisses other writers off.
He wrote a drop-dead, glorious column about New York City in a time of quarantine. I actually found it first as a podcast on The Daily. Hearing it read aloud only made it sound more lyrical and poetic.
You can listen to it here and I recommend that you do.
It’s a great idea for a column. Cohen says he is forgiving New York for “your snarl, your aggression, your hustle and hassle.” Now that the city is silent and shut, Cohen says he misses those distinctive city moments and forgives them.
Great concept. And I had one thought. Why didn’t I think of that?
But of course, there is no point in beating yourself up because someone had a smart idea. There’s a more mature way of handling this.
I could just steal the idea and pretend I came up with it.
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But I ran into a problem. We don’t need to forgive San Francisco.
She (and I always think of her as “she,” nurturing and open-armed. Your results may vary.) hasn’t changed.
And if we’re here, and call it home, we long ago made peace with that. We know about the quirks and odd pursuits of this city. And we gave up on changing them.
Now we just tell tourists that the Folsom Street Fair may not be what they have in mind when they think of a “Fair.”
We know that the Central Subway exists as a concept, not an actual reality. Kind of like Emperor Norton.
We fan ourselves and remark on the heat when the thermometer hits 65. We intend to complain about the traffic, but happen to be walking along the Embarcadero, catch a glint of sun off the waves and forgot what we were saying.
Granted, right now San Francisco is going through a weird, tough time. The Coronavirus changed everything. And remarkably, overnight.
Always a great walking town, now planning your daily stroll is critical. Walking is a city-wide passion.
And who knew that your neighbors would turn out on the street each night to bang on pots, applaud and howl at a given hour (ours is 7 p.m.) to cheer health care workers?
But I am also here to say — and hope I am utterly incorrect — this could get a lot worse. And that is when we will see the real San Francisco. We have a legacy of resilience and strength.
Certainly COVID-19 is the immediate matter at hand. We can only hope for fewer cases, less death and hope.
But it is always important to remember that the No. 1 driver of the San Francisco economy is tourism. It’s mega-conventions and visitors from all over the world. San Francisco Travel says the revenue in 2019 was $10.3 billion — from over 25 million visitors
Do you think tourists are going to travel here — or any destination spot — this summer? Airline travel has already nose dived. Hotels have scads of spare rooms.
Restaurants are not only not open yet, but when they do, will patrons will show up? And even if they do, can the place make a go of it with occupancy cut to 50 percent?
The shocker has been how big box downtown department stores have folded up like lawn chairs. Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Barneys and Macy’s have either filed for bankruptcy or had to answer rumors that they were.
It points to some difficult times financially. It will be especially unfair for all the people working in the service industry. A lot of those jobs may dry up.
And if you’d like to go full tin-foil hat, my real concern are the reports of a shortage of some food, like meat, because of the closed packing plants. A food panic is the last thing we need.
All of which is why I am glad I am here. I feel safe in San Francisco. Or as safe as you can in a pandemic.
There’s a confidence to this city that can’t help but transfer to those who make it their home.
After all, this is a city that rose from the ashes of a natural catastrophe. That 1906 earthquake was no blip, you know. The city was virtually destroyed.
So I believe we get through this. It may take some odd twists and turns. We may find ourselves doing things we didn’t expect. But this place was founded on embracing the odd twist and the unexpected turn.
As Tennessee Williams supposedly said, “American only has three cities: New York, New Orleans and San Francisco. Everywhere else is Cleveland.”
Man, I wish I’d written that.
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Re-considering Michael Jordan
Like presidential press briefings, documentary films may not have the effect the main character was expecting. As I wrote in Sunday’s column in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the unspoken idea of ESPN’s “The Last Dance,” was to re-crown Michael Jordan — who was deeply involved in the production — as the once and future king of basketball.
The 10-part series — that’s right, 10 one-hour episodes — chronicles the amazing run by the Chicago Bulls in the 90s, when they won six NBA titles. The name comes from the final championship season.
It has been a rating hit, averaging about six million viewers over the first four episodes.
But the Jordan we have been seeing in the first four episodes is not especially likable. We’ve all heard about Jordan’s fierce competitiveness, but this film reminds you he could be a horse’s ass.
Jordan seems to have realized it too. He doesn’t really apologize for the way he browbeat teammates and mocked his sworn enemy GM Jerry Krause, but at least he concedes viewers may not find it endearing.
“When people see this, they are going to say, ‘Well, he wasn’t really a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant,’” Jordan told a CBS Sports reporter last week. “Well, that’s you. You never won anything.”
The irony, out here on the Left Coast, there is somebody who has won, but doesn’t feel the need to turn every slight into the lifetime grudge.
Steph Curry may be the new NBA model, a team leader who makes a point to encourage and cheer for teammates. Last week when a minor figure in the LeBron James camp made a crack about Curry’s lack of defensive ability, reporters ran to Curry for a reaction.
“I’m either agreeing with you or laughing,” he said.
The Last Dance could use more laughing.
Matt Haney, eyes on you
Politicians in San Francisco tend to bubble up to the top from lower levels. You’ve got to put in your time in the basement before you get an office upstairs.
Take Supervisor Matt Haney, who went a familiar route, running for and winning, a seat on the School Board in 2012. He then he made a splash in 2016, when he got the endorsement of presidential candidate Barak Obama for re-election and was eventually President of the School Board.
Haney has since moved to the Board of Supervisors, representing District 6, which is my district. So I’ve been keeping an eye on him.
I think he bears watching. I am not the first to write this, the Chronicle had a story back in February about Haney aspirations. He’s certainly ready to wade into a controversy. There’s hardly an issue from, Navigation Centers, Uber Eats and mental health, that he hasn’t weighed in on.
But in our neighborhood we have seen him at town halls and on the sidewalk when he was campaigning.
He joked that he shook so many hands near the Caltrain Station that people started telling him, “Yeah, you shook my hand two days ago, remember?”
He even showed up at our door one night during the run for office. He definitely is working his butt off.
There’s remarkably little personal information about him, and we’re just starting to see where he is going to land on the progressive to moderate scale. But for now, he’s an interesting prospect. Worth watching.
Contact C. W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Suggestions and compliments cheerfully accepted. Complaints not so much. Twitter: @cwnevius