Tuesday, October 08, 2002

The New York Press, a dog of a free weekly, runs an annual Best of Manhattan issue.

*barf*

As Dori said.. Who actually *reads* the Press?

(As a reason to dislike it - they routinely bad-mouth every writer, paper and publisher in the city and the publisher gets into excruciating detail of every meal he eats. A paper that insults every oily linen by being a rag. Plus, they smell funny.)

Anyway, included in the rankings is The Best Reason to Leave New York.

Lets just say Mayor Bloomberg is not popular and becoming increasingly less so..

The writer left NY and ended up in .. Oakland.
The sky goes on forever. The climate is inarguably the finest in the Lower 48. There’s a real safety net for people; I won’t die simply because I have no insurance. If I have a heart attack, my chances of survival are about 10 times greater than yours simply because of the speed with which an ambulance can convey me to a hospital. The smoking regulations are absurd and draconian, but at least the air is breathable, it isn’t the equivalent of a pack of full-strength Marlboros a day. I am a half-hour’s drive from Mount Diablo, a true wilderness area, and I can get to downtown San Francisco in 15 minutes during off-peak hours.


*cough*

The fucker bogarted my plans.
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After learning that I was coming in from New York, the bouncer at the coffee shop/Marijuana medicinal club in downtown Oakland (more on this later) asked me if Oakland and the Bay Area seemed like a small town to me compared to new York.

I blinked at the question...

I had to say no. But the question surprised me. A small town??

What did he mean? Did I think the place is provincial? No. A quiet burg? The scale of things smaller?

Maybe he was asking me if San Francisco was on the same scale as New York. Apart from the expense of living, I would say no.

Actually, I think Ive been asked that question on more than one occasion.

If Im reading it properly, I would say the underlying question is..

"Does San Francisco measure up to New York?"

Ah. Good question.
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Pages from an SF Weekly...
















































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