“Do you know what happens when the majority of people don't show up for work and whine about their job like a two year old. They get fired.” – Be realistic

“Negotiations have gone on for months. During the worse of the recession BART workers took no raises, (even though rent and other things went up). How are they not going to get screwed? They have tried asking politely, it didn't work.” – chrisfs

“chrissfs: you continue to say "no raise", well most of us consider receiving Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) as a raise, since we are making more money than we did before the COLA. BART employees received a 1% raise the first day of the strike!” – Brian D.

“Someone with courage should free the BART workers from their selfish labor union and let them choose their own destiny, freely.” – JFK

“The union was voted in freely by the workers it represents, and can be voted out at any point in time by those same workers. Without a union, workers would have no bargaining power, as the company could just fired them at will and replace them with lower paid workers.” – chrisfs

“Both management and Workers are greedy, Public is getting screwed because of two cats fighting for their Fish” – Andrew Susanto

“the median salary in the Bay Area, in 2012, was $48,000 per year. BART employees receive $113,000 per year. That is a 235% disparity to those who pay their compensation. I have to live on a fixed income, pension and my Social Security. Where do you think I am going to get the 23% INCREASE they are asking for?” – Brian D.

“That's what I'm talking about.... Not fair for those of us on fixed income or that haven't seen raises for over 10 years. Who exactly do these people think they are?” – GoodGod

“Average pay of High School Grads is about 30,000. What BART employees are demanding is tantamount to economic terrorism… These people shame the history of the first union organizers and have come full circle from the oppressed to oppressors. Who do you think is most dependent upon BART. Right- the real working class, elderly and poor. Who pays for the extravagant salaries of these workers as as well as the thugs of BART Management? Fire everyone, management and staff.” – hadEnuff

“I have been commuting from East Bay to SF for over thirty years during which time we have faced the threat of BART and AC Transit strikes several times--actually only twice with AC Transit. Nobody wins if there is a strike. Commuters are screwed during the strike and after (with fare increases --BART employees and families ride free--and increased taxes.) Union members lose wages. Only the district wins because they save when they are not operating. For me, the big question is why don't they escalate talks sooner?” – Librarybeadlady

Ouch: San Francisco Rated No.1 Snobbiest City in America

“I find this surprising! Coming from the South, I feel SF is especially friendly, cultured and extremely diverse…If amazing food, great cultural attractions, giving a crap about the environment and making a good living means we are snobby...well, then, I'm a snob.” – DJ

“I think a first step towards better integration into the community would be to ask Google et.al. to drop the shuttle buses. Let the techies actually live in and commute from the community, paying into and supporting our public transit system, instead of isolating themselves. Google should be paying for monthly CalTrain passes and bikes instead of those buses.” – Patsy Fergusson

“The city was once a blue-collar town with a heart of gold. Now it's a white-collar town full of posturers and posers. The folks who made this city great were evicted and financially unable to sustain themselves in the new economy, and now the city is full of self-congratulatory rich kids.” – Redraike

“No surprise here. I've loved this city for 32 years, and will stay as long as I can. But, San Francisco has passed the community-vs.-greed tipping point: Those primarily white, young and self-involved techies who believe their absurdly inflated salaries give them the right to buy and displace entire histories and cultures in a matter of months, well, just are not that nice. And they don't realize they're consuming the seed corn of the community. Everything that made SF 'cool' will be gone. We'll just be Westchester by the Bay. Yes, it'll be a great place to be LGBTQ, but only if you're rich, which, let's face it, shuts out a pretty significant portion of that community.” – Julie Levak-Madding

" I have lived in SF many, many years, and I find myself agreeing in some ways with both of the two main sides of the debate, contradictory as that may seem. I'll only add that I've been here since 1969, and my experience is that SF was a more friendly, tolerant, and easy going, live and let live a place before "tolerance" became a sort of official doctrine. Now it is suffocating in a miasma of political correctness, intolerant of anyone who isn't a party line leftist. I mean, I don't even dare express some opinions, or broach certain subjects anymore in social settings, because its just not worth it. " -- Mark

"You see Lamborghinis in the mission these days" -- Mr Brut

"I believe the real answer for dealing with "newcomers" is to promote the local culture and support integration with the local community. I don't think it's productive to generalize the tech industry (and races). Sure, there are some newcomers that are jerks, but then again, there are jerks in every category of people. The problem is that jerks usually leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth, so it's easy to overgeneralize. But I think some newcomers really do care a lot and others would care more if they learned about the local culture and issues. For example, it would help if tech companies hosted and sponsored more local artists. It would also help to invite these new techies to town hall meetings and forums in the neighborhoods so they understand the issues facing the community." -- Quarup Barreirinhas

"Being a "snob" and "snobbery" have negative connotations and this is clearly meant as an insult. Strangely, this survey uses criteria like fine dining to rate "snobbery". Why should good food or nice restaurants indicate arrogance and judgmental behavior towards others?" -- Stephen

"I'm ok with the snobbiness. I love almost everything the city has to offer. The food, the culture. The variety of things to do at pretty much any time." -- Agent Catbot

snobby citysnobby city

Readers Vigorously Debate BART Strike, 'Snobbiest' Survey