社評0629 褪色的美麗城市舊金山

褪色的美麗城市舊金山

十九世紀之淘金熱使大批華人移居加州， 加上修建鐵路之勞工， 使這座美麗城市舊金山烙下了早些華人移民之腳印。 七十年代初期， 我們也隨著追求美国夢之步伐來到這塊既陌生又熟悉的土地 。

今天的舊金山正在面臨嚴峻之挑戰， 疫情後之辦公大樓出租率下降 ，高物價及天價的房子廹使市民外移 ，包括近年搬到舊金山的高科公司， 更令人擔憂的是全美各地的遊民流浪漢己經佔領了市區許多主要街道， 毒品氾濫， 簡直是第三世界之翻版 。如果流浪漢遊民問題得不到解決 ，這座美麗的城市還將不斷衰落下去。

舊金山擁有歷史最悠久之中國城， 更是美國人瞭解中國美食及文化之窗口， 華埠都板街上數十棟之大樓皆屬於各宗親會之財產， 是一項非常重要的歷史記憶。

這座在退色的城市， 曾經是高科技及金融重鎮。 近年領導市政的政客多屬民主黨自由派，對弱勢團體特別照顧， 因而市政財政不堪負荷， 造成令人遺憾之塲境。

當年我們唸書时的大學生， 首選就是到美國留學。 因而當年馬英九之內閣閣員百分之九十以上都是留學美國的博士生， 也是創造台灣經濟起飛之主要動力。

The Fading Beautiful City Of San Francisco 

The gold rush of the 19th century caused many Chinese to emigrate to California. In addition, the labor of building the railroad gave the beautiful city of San Francisco a lasting brand with the footprints of the early Chinese immigrants. In the early 70’s we also came to this strange and unfamiliar land to pursue our American Dream. 

Today’s San Francisco is facing severe challenges. After the epidemic, many companies moved away from the city with its high vacancy rates and sky-high housing costs and many residents also just moved away to differ places. What’s more worrying is that many more homeless people are now moving into the city. They are occupying many of the streets. With drugs flooding in, it looks like a third-world country.

San Francisco has the oldest Chinatown which has also become a window to Chinese food and culture. We don’t see any politicians in the city who can handle the current crisis of the city at all. 

When we were in our college days in Taiwan, our first choice was come to America to seek our dream. But if we look at San Francisco today, it is very regrettable that the city is fading.

We might need the federal government to step in and help to solve the country's homeless problem as a most serious national crisis.