A visitor from Portland, Maine posted a glowing thank-you to the city this week after spending what they described as a "10/10 week" in San Francisco. They came to escape a stubbornly late New England spring, got perfect weather every single day, and — oh yeah — proposed to their partner while they were at it. So now they have even more reason to come back.

Congratulations to the happy couple, and congratulations to San Francisco for simply being itself.

One local with roots in both cities put it well: "As a Mainer who's been out here for forever — Portland is under appreciated. You live in a gem of a city too!" Another Portland-to-SF transplant chimed in: "I'm from Portland now living in SF, this makes me so happy!"

Here's the thing we keep saying at The Dissent: the best economic development strategy a city can have is not being terrible. You don't need a $200 million tourism marketing campaign or another task force with a thirty-word name. You need clean streets, public safety, and the natural assets this city was born with — the bay, the fog line, the food, the architecture, the impossible light at golden hour.

San Francisco's tourism sector generates billions in tax revenue without raising a single resident's taxes. Every visitor who has a great week here is doing more for the city's fiscal health than most Board of Supervisors resolutions. That's not a joke — hospitality tax revenue is one of the few bright spots in a budget that bleeds red ink.

So maybe the lesson is simple: protect what works. Keep the parks beautiful, keep the streets safe, let small businesses thrive without suffocating them in permits, and trust that a city surrounded by water and lit by that ridiculous golden sun doesn't need much help selling itself.

SF still has it. We just have to stop getting in our own way.