{"id":27046,"date":"2023-06-22T13:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T20:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=27046"},"modified":"2023-06-22T13:56:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T20:56:01","slug":"drug-markets-are-killing-sf-retail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/06\/22\/drug-markets-are-killing-sf-retail\/","title":{"rendered":"DRUG MARKETS ARE KILLING SF RETAIL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by\u00a0Randy Shaw<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0June 20, 2023 (BeyondChron.org)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nordstrom’s closure could trigger Westfield’s demise<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Safety is Key<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Westfield, Nordstrom, Walgreens, Whole Foods\u2014retail closures are San Francisco\u2019s new story line. Will it have a happy ending?.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some blame the city\u2019s retail decline on work from home, the rising online economy, and internal corporate business decisions. Others see public safety concerns as the common denominator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m solidly in the latter camp. Open air drug dealing is a public safety menace. A menace that deters customers from coming to parts of the city where retail long thrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Westfield Center was not primarily dependent on downtown office workers. Its customers came to the 5th<\/sup> and Market mall to shop. Those feeling unsafe at Civic Center or Powell Street transit stations or walking around the surrounding area stopped coming to Westfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing open air drug markets is an essential economic strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealers Damage SF\u2019s Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retail closures are bad\u2014equally troubling is resistance to new investment in the Mid-Market\/Civic Center\/Powell Street area. Building owners are offering tenants bare bones prices and getting turned down. Nobody wants to invest in an area that has been plagued by drug dealers and public safety problems for over two years\u2014with no clear end in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investors have lost confidence. And should Westfield Center close\u2014a likely prospect considering only 40% of businesses remain and the anchor tenant Nordstrom has left\u2014restarting the area\u2019s economy will be even more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid-Market office space succeeded prior to COVID as an affordable alternative to downtown. But rents on downtown spaces have declined. This has left the Mid-Market office market effectively dead. For example, last I checked the 16- story office building at 6th<\/sup> and Market was still entirely vacant. That\u2019s a huge loss of business for nearby cafes, restaurants and entertainment venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody will invest in Mid-Market so long as open air drug markets proliferate nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing Drug Markets Kickstarts Investment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the best way to send a message to investors that San Francisco\u2019s retail environment has improved? How about photos and billboards of clear sidewalks and public spaces where drug markets once operated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Governor Newsom and Mayor Breed have said they wants drug markets closed prior to November\u2019s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders\u2019 Summit, or APEC.<\/em> The last thing San Francisco\u2019s economy needs is international coverage of its open air drug dealing. Media covering APEC will be seeking stories that confirm what they have heard about San Francisco\u2019s public safety crisis\u2014think of the surprise that would follow if drug markets were closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many are skeptical. They argue that if city political leaders wanted to close drug markets it would have happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I understand such doubts.  But the past two weeks has seen a commitment of 130 deputy sheriffs by the end of June and new federal resources. San Francisco\u2019s retail crash has triggered a new seriousness as to the resources needed to close drug cartels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will San Francisco finally get its retail house in order? If so, we should start seeing a meaningful reduction in drug activities in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone should be watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco\u2019s 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<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Randy Shaw\u00a0on\u00a0June 20, 2023 (BeyondChron.org) Nordstrom’s closure could trigger Westfield’s demise Public Safety is Key Westfield, Nordstrom, Walgreens, Whole Foods\u2014retail closures are San Francisco\u2019s new story line. Will it have a happy ending?. Some blame the city\u2019s retail decline on work from home, the rising online economy, and internal corporate… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[234,711],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27046"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27047,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27046\/revisions\/27047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}