by Randy Shaw on November 20, 2023 (BeyondChron.org)
APEC’s dazzling fireworks show
A Resident and Business Backlash
It’s time to assess how APEC impacted San Francisco’s residents, workers, and international image. And to ask: Should the city compensate businesses for their losses? Did APEC impact Mayor Breed’s re-election chances? Can sidewalks cleared for APEC remain so?
Here’s our breakdown. Let’s start with the negatives.
A Deserted City
San Francisco seemed empty last week. Many businesses closed down or had workers stay home in response to warnings that getting anywhere in the city would be a nightmare.
APEC was projected to bring $36 million to San Francisco. If so, little went to small businesses, non-luxury hotels, and other venues that did not serve the visiting elite. The Fairmont, St. Regis, and Marriot did great; giant corporations were APEC’s primary economic beneficiaries.
I lunched last Wednesday in a normally popular Civic Center spot. Few tables were occupied. I asked the waiter if it had been a slow week due to APEC. She said “it’s been dead.” A representative of Super Duper Burgers in SOMA told the SF Chronicle, “It’s 12 o’clock and no one’s here.”
Restaurants were hurt by APEC. So were hotels catering to regular tourists. Owners of Lombard Street hotels and other non-luxury tourist lodgings told me that business was dead.
The message encouraging people to avoid the city worked all too well.
Dignitaries vs Residents
Many believe APEC benefited dignitaries and official visitors to the detriment of “those who live or work here every day.” Photos of long troubled areas cleared of tents and trash for APEC fit a narrative Marc Benioff promoted: “It is important to ask why the city cannot be this clean and safe every single day?”
The SF Chronicle spoke with visitors like Vietnam resident Desmond Lin, who first saw San Francisco in 1988. “Before, it is the best city…. This time, I think, is way worse.” Lin told the Chronicle he “thinks the city has fallen to the worst state he’s ever seen, even compared with his visit last year.”
Many MUNI routes were closed or re-routed due to security. Those advised to take public transportation rather than drive confronted a challenging transit situation—-it did not leave them happy about APEC.
I don’t know how many visitors saw drug activities. If any dignitary came by the drug-filled 300 block of Hyde in the Tenderloin they would have been left perplexed as to why San Francisco allows this.
Compensation for Businesses?
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to compensate businesses for their revenue losses during APEC. Mayor Breed said she wanted to wait and see how it played out. Well, we now know that many businesses lost money. And these losses were felt well beyond the SOMA security zone.
If hotels and restaurants across the city can show a big drop off in business last week why shouldn’t they be compensated? Millions were raised for the city to meet APEC’s logistical costs. To the extent these costs were borne by small businesses, they deserve compensation.
The Positives: San Francisco Looked Great
San Francisco put on a great show. The lasers made Market Street look incredible. The fireworks were fantastic. None of the protests had the world questioning the city’s handling of the event. Many sidewalks were the cleanest they had been in years.
Leading up to APEC Chinatown had a hugely successful Friday Night Market. UN Plaza continued its revitalization with a packed Saturday night concert. Mid-Market had a weekend art walk.
People saw two to three uniformed officers on seemingly every Market Street block. I read no reports of visitors not feeling safe, realizing of course that most spent their time in protected areas. The robbery of a Czech news crew in North Beach sent a bad message about the city’s safety but seemed unrelated to APEC.
Most of the media feedback viewed APEC as a huge success. Will Mayor Breed get credit?
Mixed Message for Mayor
Mayors love putting on big events. But the primary economic beneficiaries of elite gatherings are not local voters. They are the ones negatively impacted by lost business, transit delays, and other APEC-related restrictions. They are the group who will pick a mayor next November.
London Breed’s challenge is clear: she can rebut those who said the city was only made safe for APEC by continuing the enforcement measures and sidewalk cleaning that preceded the event. If the city regresses, the mayor will be blamed. If progress continues, she will have shown voters that she can deliver on the core issue of public safety.
The DEA and U.S. Attorney’s office played major roles in the pre-APEC improvement. Both seem committed to the long haul.
The biggest question concerns Chief Scott’s failure to ensure that drug users and encampments cleared one day don’t simply return the next. That still happened during APEC. After all these years San Francisco still lacks the coordination and strategy necessary for permanently removing tents, drug users and trash from sidewalks—the federal injunction can no longer be blamed.
APEC raised expectations about San Francisco. Mayor Breed now much show voters she can meet them.
Randy Shaw
Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco
