社评0629 褪色的美丽城市旧金山

褪色的美丽城市旧金山

十九世纪之淘金热使大批华人移居加州， 加上修建铁路之劳工， 使这座美丽城市旧金山烙下了早些华人移民之脚印。 七十年代初期， 我们也随着追求美国梦之步伐来到这块既陌生又熟悉的土地 。

今天的旧金山正在面临严峻之挑战， 疫情后之办公大楼出租率下降 ，高物价及天价的房子廹使市民外移 ，包括近年搬到旧金山的高科公司， 更令人担忧的是全美各地的游民流浪汉己经佔领了市区许多主要街道， 毒品氾滥， 简直是第三世界之翻版 。如果流浪汉游民问题得不到解决 ，这座美丽的城市还将不断衰落下去。

旧金山拥有歷史最悠久之中国城， 更是美国人瞭解中国美食及文化之窗口， 华埠都板街上数十栋之大楼皆属於各宗亲会之财產， 是一项非常重要的歷史记忆。

这座在退色的城市， 曾经是高科技及金融重镇。 近年领导市政的政客多属民主党自由派，对弱势团体特别照顾， 因而市政财政不堪负荷， 造成令人遗憾之塲境。

当年我们唸书时的大学生， 首选就是到美国留学。 因而当年马英九之内阁阁员百分之九十以上都是留学美国的博士生， 也是创造台湾经济起飞之主要动力。

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.