Editor:

Designer Heidi Carey and I moved back to San Francisco after 22 years expecting the worst and discovering the best. 

Braced for crime, filth and lawlessness, Heidi and I, her husband, moved her family and business back to the City from the suburbs and are thrilled with their decision. 

We moved to San Francisco from New York 33 years ago with the idea we would stay three years and return to New York. We fell in love with the City and stayed for 10 years before decamping to the peninsula to raise three boys (all three were born in the City). Fast forward 22 years, the children mostly out of the house and we were getting an itch to move back to city life. 

We were faced with a tough decision – where to move? New York and San Francisco were the only real contenders. Heidi has a six-year-old fashion business that would really be helped by the New York ecosystem, and we have lots of family there. New York seemed like the right place to go. Besides, San Francisco had gone to hell while we were away, right? 

Being from New York and having all our family there, we were affected by the negative national press San Franicisco has gotten in the last 10 years – more than most. Every time a story broke about the “dirtiest city” or “drug infested” neighborhoods or the brazen lawlessness, our phones would ring off the hook! “What happened to SF?” our relatives would ask. Don’t go near that place they would infer; It’s dangerous. Our next move could not possibly be back to San Francisco. 

Well, we decided to rent for a few years and give San Francisco a try. We have so many friends and in our heart of hearts it still felt like home. How bad can it be? It’s actually great – really great. What a surprise. 

What we never heard about was all the incredible things that changed while we were gone that make the City so liveable and enjoyable. We moved back to the Richmond District where we had owned a house previously. We love having so much of Golden Gate Park closed to cars, slow streets to bike on and bike lanes that make the City almost like a Blue Zone (healthiest places on earth to live). When we left, electric bikes were not a thing. Now the hills of San Francisco are never a worry. The de Young and the Academy of Sciences have grown into fantastic places to visit and draw so many young families. It’s wonderful. The food scene, coffee scene, bread scene, were all good before we left, but they are all world class today. Farmers markets seem to be everywhere and are teaming with people. 

There are a million other things we’ve noticed that have gotten better, but we never heard about them in the press much and none of it goes national. We think it’s time to start telling the other side of the story, our side of San Francisco. Yes, we know there are still lots of problems. We run a young business which is self-funded, so we know how to look at problems and see them as opportunities to grow and become better. We have no choice and neither does the City, we would not have it any other way. There is no magic wand, we just all need to do our part to make the city we love better every day.    

Ward Carey