Prosperity is the sound of jackhammers and pile drivers in the morning.
Across San Francisco, cranes loom and the noise from construction sites can sound “like the city is being bombed,” as one manager of a senior center near downtown put it recently, or like the amplified cork-popping of a decade-long party.
Since 2000, median home prices in the city have nearly quadrupled; city coffers have doubled. Tech workers from the likes of Google, Facebook and Twitter line up at high-end restaurants and seek out trendy ice cream shops for a scoop of Balsamic Caramel.
And the cherry on top?