{"id":37738,"date":"2024-11-20T12:26:57","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T20:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=37738"},"modified":"2024-11-20T12:26:58","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T20:26:58","slug":"how-mayor-lurie-can-revive-mid-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/11\/20\/how-mayor-lurie-can-revive-mid-market\/","title":{"rendered":"How Mayor Lurie Can Revive Mid-Market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by\u00a0Randy Shaw<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0November 18, 2024 (BeyondChron.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Zendesk’s former Mid-Market headquarters<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Economic Strategies Needed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zendesk officially left its headquarters at 1019 Market Street last week. It got little media attention. Sadly, Mid-Market\u2019s dramatic downturn since 2020 has returned the neighborhood to its troubled pre-2011 status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a huge loss for San Francisco. Incoming mayor Daniel Lurie needs to get historic Mid-Market back on track. We offer some ideas to make this happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Hall Fiddles While Mid-Market Declines<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zendesk\u2019s made Mid-Market its base in 2013 as part of Mayor Lee\u2019s vision for the neighborhood. A vision reflected in the 2011 Mid-Market\/Tenderloin payroll tax credit. Zendesk was a great community partner. It supported the area\u2019s arts and nonprofit community and restored one of San Francisco\u2019s great historic buildings.  It\u2019s Denmark founders, most prominently Mikkel Svane, sought far greater neighborhood connection than did other tech leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zendesk now follows Whole Foods, Twitter, and too many small businesses to list in leaving the neighborhood. A troubled neighborhood for decades, Mid-Market\u2019s post-2011 revival was one of Mayor Lee\u2019s and San Francisco\u2019s top achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did City Hall allow it to sharply decline?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Hall never closed the open-air drug markets that deterred customers and investors.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Mayor Breed allowed Whole Foods to be destroyed by drug activities, investors felt it too risky to invest in the area.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid-Market also suffered from  the scaling back of the ambitious Better Market Street plan. The exciting redesign of Market Street never happened. The city also allowed drug and crime problems to forestall the new Trinity Plaza\u2019s ambitious plans for a caf\u00e9-filled path between Market and Mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bold new Trinity Plaza project was conceived before Twitter decided to move to 9th and Market. I wrote in 2006 that \u201cThe importance of the new Trinity Plaza for Mid-Market\u2019s future cannot be understated. A massive infusion of over 2500 new residents into 8th and Market provides a customer base for nearby businesses, and the project fulfills the area\u2019s longtime role as a place for people of all income levels.\u201d (\u201cThe New Trinity Plaza: Improving Mid-Market Without Redevelopment Agency<\/a>,\u201d January 24, 2006)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new apartments and commercial corridor linking Market and Mission was thought to be a game-changer for the area. But Mayor Breed allowed drug dealers and users to surround the rebuilt Trinity Plaza for years. Mid-Market\u2019s same old drug and crime game prevented the new Trinity Plaza from building a critical new commercial and public space for Mid-Market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Breed did help attract Ikea to open the long vacant site at 945 Market. But Ikea has yet to stimulate new investment anywhere else in the area. And I\u2019m told that customers are not flocking to the store as is customary for the chain\u2019s other outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mayor also funded street ambassadors and subsidized some retail rents to fill some vacant storefronts. But as I wrote last week<\/a> about the Tenderloin, sidewalk ambassadors are no substitute for an economic development strategy. Visitors to Mid-Market remain overwhelmed by the absence of pedestrians and the vast number of vacant retail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tourist hotels in Mid-Market are also struggling. Would you stay at The Proper when it\u2019s surrounded by drug dealers and users at night? Or at The Yotel across the street? The beautiful Line Hotel opened a restaurant that got great reviews\u2014but the Tenderheart closed last March<\/a> due to a lack of business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office Tax Credits and Relocation of City Workers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reviving Mid-Market, like the Tenderloin, Lower Polk, and other neighborhoods suffering from drug activities, requires an economic strategy. It starts with closing sidewalk drug markets. Mayor Breed never got this done. Mayor Lurie knows that closing the city\u2019s notorious and highly visible drug markets is a prerequisite for economic revival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years City Hall has talked about closing Mid-Market drug markets. But it never happened. No economic strategy can work for Mid-Market if so many drug users and dealers are allowed to remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mid-Market Business Association<\/a> is doing a great job trying to attract ground-floor retail and arts activities to Mid-Market. But Mid-Market retail before Covid was driven by the office workers attracted to the area by Mayor Lee\u2019s tax credit for new hires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid-Market needed tax incentives to escape nearly fifty years of decline. Now it needs a new tax credit to revive again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Lurie should consider offering businesses a tax credit for workers who occupy Mid-Market offices five days a week. This strategy offers businesses something for relocating to Mid-Market that they cannot get elsewhere. That\u2019s what the Mid-Market tax credit did. That\u2019s what a 5 day worker tax credit can potentially do now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid-Market used to be able to offer cheaper office rents than downtown. But downtown rents have plunged. City Hall needs a plan that makes Mid-Market uniquely attractive for office rentals. If you don\u2019t like the 5 day a week worker tax credit, think of another strategy to fill Mid-Market office space. The city will not see retail thrive in Mid-Market until office workers return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco could move city workers into vacant Mid-Market spaces. Not the nonprofit social service programs that deter business investment. Rather, I see a site filled with city workers like 1 South Van Ness and wonder how their presence helps the surrounding area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t. Yet these workers would make a huge positive impact on nearby restaurants and entertainment venues if they occupied Mid-Market offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What About Downtown?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Objections to tax incentives for Mid-Market could come from those seeking to extend these benefits to downtown. Here\u2019s the difference: the Mid-Market payroll tax credit recognized Mid-Market as a distinct neighborhood with distinct challenges. Downtown was booming for decades without a special tax credit; Mid-Market was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating incentives for downtown office occupancy equal to those provided in Mid-Market assures the latter neighborhood is bypassed. New strategies for downtown revitalization must not jeopardize Mid-Market\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What About the Car Ban?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every business and business group operating in Mid-Market believes the ban on cars is hurting the neighborhood. It has to end, at least for rideshare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I described (\u201cShould Uber, Lyft Be Allowed in Mid-Market?<\/a>\u201d January 22, 2024) how the 2015 car ban  occurred as Mid-Market was on the upswing. When the bold Better Market Street Plan was set to transform that part of Market Street into a world-class avenue for outdoor cafes and restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positive response to my story led me to write, \u201cMomentum Grows to End Mid-Market Car Ban<\/a>.\u201d Steve Gibson, Executive Director of the Mid-Market Business Association, stated in my story that \u201cIn 2023 we engaged a national expert on retail real-estate to develop a strategy to fill the 40% storefront vacancy on Mid-Market. Through his discussions with businesses and retail brokers he identified one of the primary barriers to attracting business was the lack of cars on Market Street. The lack of ride share, the lack of on street parking and the lack of food delivery pickups have had a very negative effect on the businesses in Mid-Market<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ending the car ban, even for rideshare vehicles alone, faces powerful opposition from citywide bike advocacy groups. They ignore what was planned for Mid-Market when the ban was passed and how these plans never happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Lurie needs to meet with all involved to address this issue. Allowing the car ban to continue hurting Mid-Market is the wrong approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal Commitment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Lee personally met with investors and assured them that he would not allow Mid-Market\u2019s crime and drug problems to return. I saw him do the same thing with businesses looking to open in the Tenderloin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee kept his word. That\u2019s why he triggered more investment in Mid-Market and the Tenderloin than in the prior fifty years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Lurie has the skills to bring back investor confidence. With a hands on mayor using a revitalized Office of Economic and Workforce Development, City Hall can again bring a positive future for historic Mid-Market.<\/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\n\n\n

More Posts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Randy Shaw\u00a0on\u00a0November 18, 2024 (BeyondChron.org) Zendesk’s former Mid-Market headquarters New Economic Strategies Needed Zendesk officially left its headquarters at 1019 Market Street last week. It got little media attention. Sadly, Mid-Market\u2019s dramatic downturn since 2020 has returned the neighborhood to its troubled pre-2011 status. It\u2019s a huge loss for San… 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\/37738"}],"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=37738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37739,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37738\/revisions\/37739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}