Cities and civilizations rise and fall throughout history. You are just watching the fall of one. It is inevitable; there is no reversing the tide. Enjoy the ride and stay safe.

I live in San Jose and visit San Francisco maybe 20 times a year and every time I am amazed at how beautiful a city can be. Coming from the East Coast, the crime is really fine, the topography is stunning, the people are smart, stylish and interesting. There are homeless people, but I have never lived in a place without homeless people, so it just seems to be the price of a bad social safety net, which my fellow citizens seem happy about. The murder rate in 2020 was 5 per hundred thousand; DC would declare violence over if it ever had that low of a murder rate. Alabama has a rate of 12 per hundred thousand.

Every murder is sad, but if you want safety and beauty SF is a good choice. Bob Lee was very unlucky, but I don’t think the choice of city was a problem.

The reasons you get will depend highly on one’s own political opinions.

Increased productivity => increased rent => increased inequality

Everyone except the landed class loses. It's a story as old as agriculture, pretty much.