Instapundit linked to this story in the LA Times about San Francisco tourism down. I can't help but think that if I were from the so-called "Red States", San Francisco would be the last place I'd want to go: Liberal politics run amok (9th Circuit Court, anyone?), homeless people running amok, anti-Semitism, lots of rundown areas, a city government that oozes corruption, etc., etc. This quote probably says it all:

Patrick Tierney, a tourism and hospitality professor at San Francisco State University, said that at least until business travel fully rebounds, the city may have to do more to position itself as a family-friendly destination.

The city's reputation as an adult playground, with its pricey restaurants, urbane nightlife and sexually liberal ambience, may not be the most desirable in a climate in which families are looking to spend less money--and more quality time together--on vacations, Tierney said.

"Forget about business travel meltdowns and the dot-com exodus," he said. "To survive right now, you have to be affordable and you have to have a family market. San Francisco is becoming a little more affordable--but only out of desperation. So now it has to highlight its family attractions too."

As I said before, the city is where Philadelphia and New York were in the late 1980s. If even a liberal Republican like Guliani is unelectable, is there a West Coast equivalent to the former mayor of Philadelphia, Democrat Ed Rendell, who will step forward and try to clean up the mess?

(By the way, the LA Times email registration I had to go through is just silly. I simply used my rarely checked Yahoo email address, registered my name to John Doe at 123 Any Street, Beverly Hills 90210 and registered to read the article. If the LA Examiner had had enough of it quoted, I wouldn't have even bothered to do that.)