Why Losing the SF Bay Guardian is so Terrible for San Francisco

I actually cried this morning. I’m a grown-ass man, I can’t remember the last time I cried, but today I found myself whimpering and making snuffling noises as tears came down my face and I looked out my window onto Folsom Street.

To say that the closing of the San Francisco Bay Guardian is bad news for San Francisco is an understatement. It’s worse than bad news; its no news. Whether or not you agreed with the Guardian’s views, it was San Francisco’s conscience. They called out motherfuckers who needed to be called out and they did it fearlessly since 1966. With the Guardian gone, who will do this? Who will be there to point the finger at Ron Conway and show the world that he’s a plutocrat trying to buy San Francisco? Who will be there to run stories about how the influx of wealth is pushing out the working class people and the artists who make San Francisco special? Who will be there to steadfastly push progressiveness and transparency in San Francisco’s Politics?   

Of course there are other publications who touch on this stuff and run the occasional story about the changing nature of San Francisco, but the Guardian saw it as its sacred duty to dig as deep as possible and fight for the little guy.

Maybe the Guardian was a bad name for the publication because, in the end, it wasn’t strong enough to actually guard San Francisco from the forces that are tearing her apart. Maybe a better name would have been the San Francisco Bay Mirror since really, what this publication did, was hold The City’s politicians and citizenry accountable for sad and terrible things they might do.

But here’s the thing: at a time when so many people are being evicted from their homes and so many of the things that we consider fundamental San Francisco values are being sold to the highest bidder, we need the Guardian more than ever.

And it’s fucking gone.

Who will stand up for us and be our voice now that the Guardian is gone?

This is not bad news for San Francisco, this is no news. And that’s the scariest part of it all.

What did the Guardian mean to you? Please tell us in the comments below

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