Mayor Breed’s latest plan to revive downtown S.F.: Moving city workers into empty buildings

J.K. Dineen July 18, 2023Updated: July 18, 2023 6:01 p.m. (SFChronicle.com) Could city office workers help revive downtown San Francisco? In an effort to both pump new life into downtown office buildings and create opportunities for housing development elsewhere, Mayor London Breed on Tuesday asked the city’s real estate-owning agencies to look into whether they might… Continue reading

Downtown SF heads toward mixed-use future with new legislation

Downtown SF heads toward mixed-use future with new legislation

The future of downtown is mixed-use. City leaders are addressing downtown’s high office-vacancy rate and a slew of retail closures with legislation that will eliminate the red tape of zoning and make it easier to convert vacant spaces into housing and event venues. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the… Continue reading

How downtown San Francisco faces the prisoner’s dilemma

How downtown San Francisco faces the prisoner’s dilemma

We’re thinking about the problem San Francisco faces in bringing people back downtown all wrong. It’s not about the doom loop. It’s the prisoner’s dilemma. Game theorists came up with this idea almost three-quarters of a century ago: It seeks to explain how rational people make collectively irrational decisions. Start with two… Continue reading

‘Pop-up’ businesses could soon breathe life into downtown S.F.

Noah Arroyo April 17, 2023 (SFChronicle.com) With half-empty office buildings and vacant storefronts dotting downtown San Francisco as it continues to struggle with post-pandemic recovery, it can be hard to envision a future for the area as once again thriving and full of people. But a city program launching this week hopes… Continue reading