{"id":35052,"date":"2024-07-22T13:09:26","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T20:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=35052"},"modified":"2024-07-22T21:14:57","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T04:14:57","slug":"downtown-s-f-remains-in-a-deep-hole-heres-how-mayoral-candidates-would-revive-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/07\/22\/downtown-s-f-remains-in-a-deep-hole-heres-how-mayoral-candidates-would-revive-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown S.F. remains in a \u2018deep hole.\u2019 Here\u2019s how mayoral candidates would revive it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By J.D. Morris<\/a>,City Hall Reporter July 21, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mayoral candidate Mark Farrell speaks about San Francisco\u2019s economy and how to revive downtown during a news conference Wednesday in a vacant building in Union Square.Gabrielle Lurie\/The Chronicle<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contentious race for San Francisco mayor is increasingly being shaped by a core question: How can the city bring back downtown, which has been devastated by the pandemic and is struggling to rebound?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years after COVID-19 upended the city\u2019s urban core, the area is still littered with shuttered storefronts, a growing glut of empty office space, financially ailing hotels and people using drugs on the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor London Breed has made reviving the beleaguered area, which is crucial to the city\u2019s tourism industry and its global reputation, a central focus of her current administration and her vision for the next four years if she\u2019s reelected this fall. But her leading challengers have lambasted her over the state of the neighborhood, arguing progress has been too slow and scattershot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economic health of downtown is inextricably linked to the overall health of San Francisco, which was responsible for 70% of the city\u2019s jobs and most of its tax base before the pandemic. Mayoral candidates, City Hall officials and business leaders all say that restoring the area\u2019s reputation is essential to getting the city\u2019s flailing pandemic recovery on the right track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the downtown is not vibrant and active, the city is in deep trouble,\u201d said Wade Rose, president of the business advocacy group Advance SF. \u201cThere\u2019s no combination of economic activity in the neighborhoods that could come within a mile of what is produced by a vibrant downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

In March, Breed set a goal of attracting 30,000 new residents and students downtown<\/a> by 2030 \u2014 a vision that will be difficult to realize<\/a>. Already, the University of California has said it wouldn\u2019t open a new downtown campus<\/a>, throwing cold water on Breed\u2019s hopes on that front. Sixty students from 20 historically Black colleges came to study downtown this summer as Breed pushes for the long-term goal of such a college opening a satellite campus in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mayor\u2019s opponents broadly share her view that the Financial District, Union Square and surrounding areas should be transformed into more diverse 24-hour neighborhoods that include a mix of housing, parks, entertainment spaces and more educational facilities if possible, but their policy proposals also could take many years to see results.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business groups are worried that none of San Francisco\u2019s leaders is being realistic about the depth of the problem. Rose cautioned that \u201cit\u2019s going to take a long time\u201d to bring downtown back to its former glory because he remained unconvinced that San Francisco\u2019s leaders fully appreciate \u201cwhat a deep hole the city is in.\u201d Yet, he said it\u2019s \u201ca very good sign\u201d that Breed and her challengers are being vocal about the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably the biggest issue facing the city, which is how to revitalize downtown,\u201d Rose said. \u201cThere\u2019s no easy or quick fix, but there are fixes. They can be implemented, but the will has to be there. We\u2019re starting to hear that. The mayoral candidates are starting to talk about it, and that\u2019s a great sign. But now it has to be carried through.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Policing, privilege and a NIMBY dog whistle: 3 takeaways from the latest S.F. mayoral debate<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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The problems facing downtown are complex and include the loss of office workers, safety concerns, the drug crisis, the shift to online retail, illegal vending, the loss of business conventions and many others. Rose said the city needs to focus first on making sure downtown is perceived as safe, while also pursuing strategies to reduce fees and permitting timelines that might help fill offices and get new housing built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Farrell, a former supervisor and interim mayor, appeared Wednesday in a vacant commercial space on Post Street to announce his plan to reshape downtown, partly by offering new financing to encourage office-to-housing conversions, creating tax incentives for employers who require their workers to come to the office four days a week, and establishing a government agency to focus on economic development in the urban core. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrell, who is also a venture capitalist, blasted Breed\u2019s downtown efforts as he promoted his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer lack of proactive planning and vision for downtown has our recovery stuck in cement,\u201d Farrell said. \u201cWe cannot continue to throw spaghetti against the wall with our economy here in San Francisco. It erodes faith that our city has its act together.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed to Breed\u2019s support for adding lab space downtown, attracting a new university campus and even possibly converting the former Westfield mall into a soccer stadium \u2014 all ideas that have \u201cgone nowhere,\u201d Farrell said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Breed\u2019s campaign promptly released a point-by-point rebuttal of Farrell\u2019s downtown proposals, arguing that the mayor is already working to advance some of the boldest goals he sought to claim as his own. Breed won voter approval of a March ballot measure<\/a> intended to make it more profitable for developers to convert offices to housing, and she is supporting state legislation that would authorize a special financing district to fund conversion projects downtown, her campaign said. Experts have warned that conversions remain difficult to pull off financially, and many office buildings aren\u2019t suitable to become housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breed\u2019s campaign also said Farrell was attempting to rip off a project her administration is advancing to overhaul Embarcadero Plaza into a more vibrant park<\/a>. Farrell released his own concept Wednesday that entailed a similar reimagining of the same plaza. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breed has already been advancing her vision of turning downtown into a 24-hour neighborhood with more entertainment, nightlife, recreation and housing, campaign spokesperson Joe Arellano said, pointing to legislation and policies she\u2019s enacted as well as her March ballot measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMeanwhile, her opponents are introducing plans that do the exact same things she\u2019s already doing, were passed by her months ago, or are policies that are fake and completely incoherent,\u201d Arellano said in a statement to the Chronicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had particularly sharp criticism for Farrell, who Arellano said was proposing \u201cbureaucratic bloat\u201d that would \u201cgrind our downtown recovery to a halt.\u201d Farrell \u201cis only proposing bad ideas or Mayor Breed\u2019s good ideas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another serious mayoral opponent is Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, who has represented much of downtown on and off since the turn of the century. He worked with Breed to pass legislation that seeks to make it easier for developers to replace empty offices with new homes<\/a>, and he said he\u2019s also been supportive of the planned revamping of Embarcadero Plaza. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Peskin doesn\u2019t want to stop with the plaza. He said he further hopes to create a \u201cstring of downtown green spaces\u201d along the shoreline, hoping to build upon the popularity of existing outdoor attractions such as the Embarcadero. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To give people more reasons to go downtown while work-from-home remains popular, Peskin said, the city needs to develop a center for \u201ctech diplomacy\u201d that would bring together consulates, non-governmental organizations, tech companies and research institutions to study and discuss technology issues with worldwide implications. He cited \u201cAI ethics\u201d as an example of one area that could be focused on by the hypothetical facility, which he described as a \u201cthink tank, a convening center, a research center.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s lead with what San Francisco is known for, and rather than having an us versus them \u2026 (mentality), why don\u2019t we embrace tech,\u201d Peskin said. \u201cIf we all put our heads together, that could be a very promising, very exciting, economically viable draw for San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s not the only mayoral candidate to propose the development of a tech-related center to boost economic activity. Daniel Lurie, a nonprofit founder and Levi Strauss heir running for mayor, said in June that he hoped to set up a \u201cclimate innovation hub\u201d in San Francisco. He said his objective would be to encourage green technology companies, researchers and students to co-locate in a downtown space where they would work to develop artificial intelligence technology to combat climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Lurie said in a statement to the Chronicle that he wanted downtown to be \u201ca vibrant, 24\/7 neighborhood that is thriving\u201d and said he could accomplish that by fulfilling his plans to crack down on drug markets, expand the homeless shelter system and overhaul the city\u2019s labyrinthine bureaucracy. He also doubted that any of his opponents would be more successful given that they all have recent experience leading a local government he says has only made San Francisco\u2019s problems worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe City Hall insiders I\u2019m running  against are talking about what they\u2019ll do in the next four years after failing to get the job done after nearly a decade or more in office,\u201d Lurie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those insiders, Supervisor Ahsha Safa\u00ed, is leaning into his record at City Hall \u2014 including on downtown \u2014 as he campaigns for mayor. Safa\u00ed has written legislation to reduce the transfer tax on housing projects<\/a> that get financing from union pension funds to kick-start construction. He also sponsored a recently passed city law that authorized the creation of a fund to buy or lease empty downtown buildings that public universities could use for a campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safa\u00ed said he\u2019d implement those laws if he\u2019s mayor, and also assign police foot patrols to crime hot spots downtown while pushing the Public Works department to conduct around-the-clock street cleaning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest criticism you get about downtown is the cleanliness of the streets,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only way you can do that is if you really improve and enhance that department\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political consultant Jim Ross said San Francisco\u2019s languishing downtown is a \u201cfundamental issue in the mayor\u2019s race\u201d that will pose a problem for Breed, who must explain to concerned voters why she\u2019s the best choice to bring the urban core back despite having led the city during its decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he said both she and her challengers would have a hard time singlehandedly restoring downtown to its pre-pandemic popularity, given that many factors affecting the area \u2014 such as the price a commercial landlord charges for rent \u2014 can\u2019t be directly changed by any mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMayor Breed gets blamed for a lot of this, but a lot of it is out of any mayor\u2019s control,\u201d Ross said. \u201cNone of these challengers, nor the mayor, are going to be able to fix the commercial real estate industry in San Francisco.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reach J.D. Morris: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com<\/a>; Twitter: @thejdmorris<\/p>\n\n\n\n

July 21, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J.D. Morris<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CITY HALL REPORTER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J.D. Morris covers San Francisco City Hall, focused on Mayor London Breed. He joined the Chronicle in 2018 to cover energy and spent three years writing mostly about PG&E and California wildfires.Before coming to The Chronicle, he reported on local government for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, where he was among the journalists awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the 2017 North Bay wildfires.He was previously the casino industry reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. Raised in Monterey County and Bakersfield, he has a bachelor\u2019s degree in rhetoric from UC Berkeley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By J.D. Morris,City Hall Reporter July 21, 2024 Mayoral candidate Mark Farrell speaks about San Francisco\u2019s economy and how to revive downtown during a news conference Wednesday in a vacant building in Union Square.Gabrielle Lurie\/The Chronicle The contentious race for San Francisco mayor is increasingly being shaped by a core question:… 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":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35052"}],"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=35052"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35066,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35052\/revisions\/35066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}