San Francisco Whole Foods Closure Reflects City’s Economy and Crime Woes
City leaders face some limitations. A federal judge in April determined that San Francisco cannot clear homeless people from public spaces because it has not done enough to provide shelter. Mayor Breed is backing bills in the State Legislature that would make it easier to force mentally ill people into treatment. The mayor has also proposed addressing homelessness by building more: slashing the permitting process for construction with the goal of building 83,000 additional homes and apartments — a 20 percent increase from the city’s current total housing stock — in eight years.
Even though the downtown is plastered with “for lease” signs, the city’s unemployment rate is under 3 percent and the mayor and other officials say the engineering talent pool remains the city’s top asset. And there is much more to San Francisco than its downtown. It has always been a constellation of very different neighborhoods, some of which have very few of the social ills that afflict the area near the closed Whole Foods.
Officials add that the downtown may ultimately emerge more resilient if it attracts industries like life sciences and bio-tech whose employees still need work space. There is growth in the tech industry, too: The development of artificial intelligence, which promises to transform the way that people live and work, is centered in San Francisco.
Garry Tan, the president of Y Combinator, a prominent venture-capital company, says he sees signs of renewal in San Francisco. “It’s the gold rush over and over and over again,” he said.
Mr. Tan is part of a generation of tech workers who are more assertive in their demands on city officials, unafraid to take sides in the city’s internecine politics and funding organizations that press for more emphasis on public safety.
“Now the narrative out there for some of the founders in our community is, I’m not sure if I feel safe here. I’m not sure if I want to stay here. The quality of life issues are the question. Can I raise a family here?”
Source: The New York Times
