San Francisco is undeniably having a moment. <\/p>\n
Over the past year, headlines claiming the city is caught in a spiraling \u201cdoom loop\u201d\u00a0have become so prominent that\u00a0a city commissioner\u00a0<\/strong>decided to cash in on downtown San Francisco\u2019s storefront vacancies, homelessness and opioid issues\u00a0by anonymously advertising\u00a0an hour-and-a-half long tour showcasing \u201cdoom and squalor.\u201d For $30 a person, you could see the city\u2019s \u201copen-air drug markets\u201d and \u201cabandoned tech offices\u201d first-hand. <\/p>\n However, just before it was scheduled to take place, the tour was canceled\u00a0(and the commissioner ultimately resigned). Instead a\u00a0more \u201cpositive\u201d walk\u00a0organized by a local nonprofit\u00a0guided participants\u00a0through the city\u2019s Tenderloin, highlighting a neighborhood that\u2019s long been a poster child for the city\u2019s hardships. <\/p>\n While people sleeping on sidewalks and drug use were still visible, it focused on the community\u2019s more positive attributes, including a rich history, art and a\u00a0career center that\u2019s working to get struggling San Franciscans back on their feet. <\/p>\n Still, for many would-be visitors, it\u2019s San Francisco\u2019s more discernible difficulties that are the real deterrents. <\/p>\n \u201cMy clients who\u2019ve recently been to San Francisco have never said they felt unsafe,\u201d says Alana Scalise Livingston, owner of Wander Spokane tours in Spokane, Washington (and a former San Francisco resident). \u201cThey just say it\u2019s not as nice as it used to be, and there are many homeless people flooding the streets.\u201d <\/p>\n Joshua Hirsch, owner of Sidewalk Food Tours SF, has received much of the same feedback. \u201cAccording to our tour participants, the homeless people in cities like San Francisco and New York seemed to have become more brazen and outspoken since the pandemic,\u201d he says. \u201cThey think it\u2019s their neighborhood, and you don\u2019t even have the right to be walking on the sidewalk.\u201d <\/p>\n Additionally, there\u2019s the city\u2019s so-called \u201cdeath spiral\u201d or \u201cdoom loop\u201d touted by news outlets (including the city\u2019s own) \u2013\u00a0in which remote work leads to empty real estate, resulting in less foot traffic and then shuttered restaurants and reduced public services. This in turn leads to more overt drug activity as well as unhoused individuals congregating in front of unoccupied spaces. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not that the tales of downtown retail stores closing in bulk and vacant office buildings are untrue, nor are the stories of drugstore chains such as Walgreens locking up most everything in the store behind see-through cabinets, though the latter <\/strong>is occurring in other big cities nationwide. <\/p>\n San Francisco has also been experiencing a rash of car break-ins, including this SF Whole Foods garage break-in video that went viral in Indonesia, that many fear could have long-lasting effects on the city\u2019s tourism. <\/p>\n This past June, the investment firm behind the Hilton San Francisco Union Square (at 1,921 rooms, it\u2019s the city\u2019s largest hotel) and the nearby Parc 55 hotels announced that it is stopping payments on a $725 million loan and surrendering the remaining debt to its lender. Tech companies such as Red Hat and the SF Bay Area\u2019s own Meta have decided to cancel their 2024 conferences in San Francisco as well, citing ongoing concerns over safety and the cleanliness of downtown streets. <\/p>\n It seems like everywhere you turn, the news about San Francisco just keeps getting worse. Or is it just the news we\u2019re reading? <\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely feel like there is a significant misconception of what is really happening on the ground,\u201d says Dina Belon, chief operating officer at Staypineapple Hotels, which has a property in San Francisco\u2019s Union Square district. <\/p>\n Yuki Hayashi, a Toronto-based marketing writer and editor who visited San Francisco in late July for the city\u2019s annual marathon, agrees. \u201cBased on what we saw on Reddit, my family and I thought the city had turned into some post-apocalyptic hell zone,\u201d she says. \u201cBut instead it felt vibrant and alive.\u201d <\/p>\n The San Francisco hoteliers and restaurateurs interviewed for this article acknowledge that a drop in the city\u2019s tourism this summer has been evident. That\u2019s the result of a combination of factors, they say. They include the negative headlines and fewer full-time office workers, \u201cwhich has significantly reduced our business and corporate travel,\u201d says Belon. There\u2019s also the absence of Chinese tourists \u2014 which pre-pandemic was one of the city\u2019s top international markets \u2014 because of Covid and flight restrictions. <\/p>\n But they also agree that many of the gloomy headlines have been misleading. <\/p>\n \u201cYes, there are parts of San Francisco that need work,\u201d says Marc Zimmerman, owner and executive chef at Gozu, a modern Japanese eatery located in the city\u2019s East Cut neighborhood. \u201cI don\u2019t think we should pretend that the city doesn\u2019t have issues. But the whole idea that, you know, everybody\u2019s just laying around every SF street with needles hanging out of their arms is definitely a stretch.\u201d <\/p>\n Ben Parks, board chair for San Francisco City Guides, feels similarly. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like, if the negative media coverage is all you pay attention to,\u201d he says, \u201cyou just really miss out on everything the city has to offer.\u201d <\/p>\n His all-volunteer organization has been leading free walking tours citywide for nearly five decades and currently has 79 offerings. Parks says that these days, their attendance has actually been increasing, with what the organization suspects are more local residents interested in learning about the city\u2019s neighborhoods, which in many cases are where San Francisco continues to impress. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many good things happening in many of our neighborhoods and communities,\u201d Grace Horikiri, executive director of San Francisco\u2019s Japantown Community Benefit District, \u201cand it often gets overshadowed by all the non-positive news.\u201d <\/p>\n Within the past year, Japantown has welcomed new restaurants such as Copra and Fermentation Lab, saw the opening of the Kimpton Hotel Enso in its former Buchanan Hotel space and watched the growth of its popular monthly Mini Art Market in the community\u2019s Japantown mall. <\/p>\n The city is also seeing new life in some of its major tourism hubs. <\/p>\n This August, IKEA bucked the trend of major retailers moving out of downtown and opened a San Francisco store focusing on small-space living along Market Street (between Sixth and Fifth streets), while more than 15 local small businesses, including Devil\u2019s Teeth bakery, Holy Stitch! apparel and The Mellow, are setting up pop-up shops in vacant downtown storefronts, beginning mid-September. <\/p>\n Over in Fisherman\u2019s Wharf, San Francisco\u2019s iconic Ghirardelli Chocolate Company hosted the grand reopening of its Original Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop in July after a six-month renovation. The city\u2019s LUMA hotel, which opened in 2022 adjacent to the city\u2019s Chase Center sports and entertainment area, even won Tripadvisor\u2019s 2023 Travelers\u2019 Choice Best of the Best award, despite San Francisco\u2019s negative narrative. <\/p>\n Chinatown, a neighborhood especially hard-hit by the pandemic, is hosting a series of new festivals, including a Halloween Festival on October 28. In January, the community also saw the long-awaited opening of its Rose Pak Muni metro station, providing Muni light-rail riders direct access to the heart of Chinatown\u2019s streets. <\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s Golden Gate Park\u2019s 1.5-mile stretch known as JFK Promenade, with its Adirondack chairs; street art and playable pianos, which became permanently vehicle-free during the pandemic; or city stalwarts such as Amoeba Records in the Haight-Ashbury (which Santa Cruz bookseller Liz Pollock says is still filled with people \u201cflipping through LPs\u201d every time she visits), the city is in many ways just going about its business. <\/p>\n Homelessness has been an ongoing issue in San Francisco, with thousands of homeless people sleeping on the streets on any given night, and the effects of the pandemic have brought it even more to the city\u2019s forefront. \u201cThe challenges that San Francisco has always had are just more visible,\u201d says Belon. <\/p>\n However, when it comes to violent crimes in US cities, San Francisco\u2019s numbers are comparatively low. Larceny, such as car thefts and break-ins, is what really drives up crimes figures in the city and at the same time drives away visitors. <\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t just act like nothing is wrong,\u201d says Zimmerman, \u201cbut for whatever reason, that\u2019s the direction we went. But I feel like we needed a kick, and we got it. This is a great and resilient city, and now we\u2019re seeing a big push to bring it all back.\u201d <\/p>\n To help curb auto break-ins, the San Francisco Police Department is beginning to deploy bait cars that can help identity and arrest thieves, notably in tourist areas such as the Palace of Fine Arts, Alamo Square and Fisherman\u2019s Wharf. <\/p>\n Getting homeless people off the streets and into places where they can get viable help (mental and physical) isn\u2019t so easy, but that\u2019s not to say efforts aren\u2019t being made.\u00a0In December 2022, a federal judge effectively barred the city from breaking up or sweeping tent encampments until there are more shelter beds than individuals, but the issue isn\u2019t so cut and dry. <\/p>\n While the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team works collaboratively with the Department of Public Health\u2019s Street Medicine team to address the medical and behavioral health needs of many of the city\u2019s homeless residents and also to offer them volunteer overnight shelter, many would rather stay on the streets for reasons such as feeling unsafe in shelter and the inability to keep their belongings with them. <\/p>\n Still, says Zimmerman, \u201cIt\u2019s a different experience for those of us who walk around San Francisco every day. Yes, there are parts of the city that need work. But just in the neighborhood of Gozu, you\u2019ve got Salesforce Park that is beautiful. The ballpark is beautiful. This is the perfect opportunistic position for San Francisco to bounce back.\u201d <\/p>\n While raising capital for his newest venture, Yokai, a new hi-fi listening bar with cocktails and food that\u2019s scheduled to open just a short walk from Gozu in mid-September, Zimmerman first heard a term that he\u2019s since adopted as his own: \u201cSF long,\u201d which investors and other long-term San Francisco residents have been using to show their commitment to the city. <\/p>\n \u201cIt means, \u2018we\u2019re weathering this out together, and we\u2019re not going anywhere. We\u2019re in it for the long haul,\u2019 \u201d Zimmerman said. <\/p>\n For all of San Francisco\u2019s perceived and more evident troubles, the city still has a lot going for it. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have the geography,\u201d says Zimmerman, \u201cthe location \u2014 with both Napa and Sonoma both an hour north \u2014 the restaurant scene, some great museums, and this awesome cultural melting pot of people. The whole thing is very unique.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong> <\/p>\n Others such as Belon, Pollock and Livingston feel the same. \u201cIt\u2019s the whole experience of it,\u201d says Pollock, \u201cand you can\u2019t find it anywhere except San Francisco.\u201d <\/p>\n Laura Kiniry is a freelance journalist and 28-year resident of San Francisco. She lives in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n San Francisco is undeniably having a moment. Over the past year, headlines claiming the city is caught in a spiraling \u201cdoom loop\u201d\u00a0have become so prominent that\u00a0a city commissioner\u00a0decided to cash in on downtown San Francisco\u2019s storefront vacancies, homelessness and opioid issues\u00a0by anonymously advertising\u00a0an hour-and-a-half long tour showcasing \u201cdoom and squalor.\u201d For $30 a person, you <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} \u2018It felt vibrant and alive\u2019<\/h2>\n
New businesses, new life<\/h2>\n
\u2018We needed a kick, and we got it\u2019<\/h2>\n