“San Francisco has become a city where anything is possible — but not in a light-hearted way,” said Lisa Mirza Grotts. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
- In this essay, Lisa Grotts describes leaving San Francisco after loving it for years.
- The crime and disorder she saw made it difficult to live there and makes it difficult to visit now.
- She never imagined leaving town, but she has no regrets about the move.
This essay is based on a conversation with Lisa Mirza Grotts, 60, a former San Francisco resident who now lives in Healdsburg, California. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I moved to San Francisco in 1984. My husband and I loved our town for many years, but in November 2021 we sold our home and moved 70 miles away to Healdsburg, California.
I never thought I would leave the city, but for us it’s a simpler lifestyle. We can spread; We grow our own vegetables.
Nor do we have to worry about the problems developing in the city: thefts, tent cities for the homeless and drugs on the streets.
San Francisco has changed a lot
Lisa Mirza Grotts said she never expected to leave San Francisco. Courtesy of Lisa Grotts
San Francisco has been going downhill for years, even before COVID-19. But in recent years lawlessness and disorder seem to have taken over. It has become a city where anything is possible – but not in a carefree way.
Chain pharmacies in San Francisco have closed because they are losing money. A Whole Foods on a main street just closed. Nordstrom and Williams-Sonoma also just pulled out.
A big problem was Proposition 47, a 2014 law that recategorized nonviolent crimes and raised the threshold for shoplifting.
I worked in San Francisco politics for many years, including for a city manager and as protocol director for former Mayor Willie Brown. So not only was I based there, but I was there to see how things work.
The clutter made it difficult to live there – and makes it difficult to travel there now
The city feels broken because it seems like there are no consequences for anything.
I recently walked into a large clothing store and saw a couple walking around wearing down coats stuffed with clothes. As they left, all the security bells and whistles blew, and I said to the guard, “You just let them walk free?” He said, “I hate this town.”
A tent city in San Francisco in the former Grotts neighborhood. Courtesy of Lisa Grotts
Before we moved away, my husband and I walked into a safeway one night and saw two guys with switchblades. In the park across from our house, someone died of a drug overdose. In Union Square, San Francisco’s shopper’s paradise, some stores give out brown paper bags to cover grocery bags to prevent robbery. I stopped wearing my engagement ring openly.
We finally decided that we couldn’t do it anymore. I can think of 20 other families who also left the Bay Area.
I never thought I’d ever leave town, but I’m comfortable in my new world
Healdsburg is a small town of about 11,000 in wine country. It’s very trademark. We don’t have to worry about our cars being broken into. I don’t miss that, nor the traffic.
I now work as an etiquette expert and can zoom in with my clients from anywhere. My husband works as a general manager and either meets his customers virtually or travels to them.
Now that I’m not a San Francisco taxpayer, I don’t have to complain about what’s going on. I can come into town to meet friends or go to dinner and we’re back home in Healdsburg to catch the 10pm news.
I’m enjoying my former city a lot more now – because I can return home.
Have you recently left San Francisco? Or do you have a moving story to tell? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@insider.com.
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