San Francisco stinks
But you knew that
This morning I’ll be discussing this column, “San Francisco Does Detroit,” with John Batchelor, on his John Batchelor Show podcast.
The column is about the decision of Nordstrom to shutter its downtown store. I believe that in the future, that decision will be considered the city’s Day The Music Died. Because without a retail anchor, 5th and Market is going to get more sticky, smelly and squirrelly.
UPDATE: The taping is over. You can heart it on CBS radio tonight around 9:30 p.m. Eastern or listen to John Batchelor’s podcast.
Last week I reached out to former Mayor Art Agnos, who told me he is no longer has access to data that would inform his thinking, but Hizzoner kindly responded after my deadline. This was his take:
"I think that this move is part of what is or soon will become a significant new trend throughout the country. Companies are struggling to adjust to a weak economy impacted by inflation as well as new shopping trends dominated by internet shopping.
Many companies were slow to react to the "Amazon" challenge. And once again, San Francisco, which offers the most freedom to creative entrepreneurs, is at the center of testing new emerging strategies. Some will work and some will not...but other cities will watch and benefit. Petty crime...dominated by shop lifting and car break-ins... are dismaying and troublesome for sure... but over emphasized by media for morning headlines and the six o'clock news on tv. Do not be distracted by the loss of population. This is a rebalancing process that periodically occurs in our country usually driven by employment and real estate prices."
Any thoughts?
The implosion of San Francisco was caused by policies pursued by its political leaders. Rudy Guiliani proved that such dysfunction could be turned around via his "broken windows" policy in New York City. San Franscisco proves his hypothesis from the other direction, by pursuing a "let windows stay broken"policy. Until that changes, SF is doomed. s
This is happening in the East Bay as well. NextDoor is a great source for finding things out. A woman parked her car to do errands (10 minutes tops) in a shopping center in Pinole (I live in Hercules, the next city over) and she came back to find her passenger window smashed in. Catalytic converter thefts are on the rise and tow trucks are towing cars for no reason except to scam owners out of money to get their cars back. If you file a police report to get insurance reimbursement, your insurance premium will either be raised or cancelled. Get rid of the soft on crime DAs and make people accountable.