This is a great article in the July 2008 edition of Vanity Fair by Christopher Hitchens:
However, the "message" from San Francisco is not coming from its City Government. San Francisco officials continue to lop the City's cultural history and identity with the same model of development that's being incorporated in Manhattan. These city plans could easily be compared to Brazil's Rio de Janeiro in which the urban center becomes a gated community for the wealthy and the surrounding areas become the favelas for the poor, who provide the services and cultural entertainment for those with money.
I'm currently writing an article for publication on the discrepancy between what San Francisco has on paper for tenants' rights and the reality. The truth is that the "laws" that are supposedly in place to protect tenants/residents rights are filled with loopholes that the City uses to protect those with money/power.
