I never thought I'd leave San Francisco but the city feels broken. I'm glad I moved out and have no regrets.
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- In this as-told-to essay, Lisa Grotts describes leaving San Francisco after years of loving it.
- The crime and disorder she saw made it hard to live there and make it hard to visit now.
- She never saw herself leaving the city but has no regrets about moving.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lisa Mirza Grotts, 60, a former San Francisco resident who now lives in Healdsburg, California. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I moved to San Francisco in 1984. My husband and I loved our city for many years, but we sold our home and moved 70 miles away to Healdsburg, California, in November 2021. We had been spending time there during the pandemic, going back and forth to the city, and it sealed the deal for us: We wanted to move permanently.
I never thought I'd leave the city, but it's a simpler lifestyle for us. We can spread out; we grow our own vegetables.
We also don't have to worry about the problems we've seen developing in the city: smash-and-grab thefts, homeless tent cities, and drugs on the streets.
San Francisco has changed a lot
Courtesy of Lisa Grotts
Things in San Francisco have been on the decline for years, even before COVID-19. But over the last few years, lawlessness and disorder seem to have taken over. It's become an anything-goes city — but not in a happy-go-lucky way.
Chain pharmacies in San Francisco have closed because they're losing money. A Whole Foods on a major street just closed. Nordstrom and Williams-Sonoma just pulled out, too.
A major issue has been Proposition 47, a 2014 law that recategorized nonviolent offenses and raised the felony shoplifting threshold.
I worked in politics in San Francisco for many years, including for a city supervisor and as the director of protocol for former mayor Willie Brown. So I've not only been a resident, but I've been on the inside to see how things work.
The disorder made it hard to live there — and makes it hard to visit now
The city feels broken, because it seems like there are no consequences for anything.
I went into a major chain clothing store recently and saw a couple walking around wearing puffer coats stuffed with clothes. Every security bell and whistle went off when they left, and I said to the security guard, "You're just going to let them run loose?" He said, "I hate this city."
Courtesy of Lisa Grotts
Before we moved away, my husband and I walked into a Safeway one night and saw two guys with switchblades. We had someone die from a drug overdose in the park across the street from our house. In Union Square, which is San Francisco's retail haven, some stores give out brown paper bags to cover shopping bags so people don't get robbed. I stopped wearing my engagement ring out.
We finally decided we couldn't do it anymore. I can think of 20 other families that have also left the Bay Area.
I never thought I'd see myself leaving the city, but I'm comfortable in my new world
Healdsburg is a small town of about 11,000 people in wine country. It's very Hallmark. We don't have to worry about our cars getting broken into. I don't miss that, or the traffic.
I now work as an etiquette expert and can Zoom with my clients from anywhere. My husband works as a managing director and either meets his clients virtually or travels to see them.
Now that I'm not a San Francisco taxpayer, I don't have to complain about what goes on. I can come to the city to see friends or go to dinner, and we're back home in Healdsburg for the 10 p.m. news.
I enjoy my former city a lot more now — because I can go home.
Did you leave San Francisco recently? Or do you have a moving story to share? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@insider.com.
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