Great satire can be confused with the truth. I am sure that Tony Bennett did not intend his ode to San Fran to also be the funeral song of that once world class city. In the future a fictional movie will be made of this financial, moral, ethical and human collapse.
I should not that this started more than a decade ago, not a recent phenomenon caused by London Breed. It was started with Mayor Gavin Newsom. He used all the bells and whistles of government to buy votes, to show the socialists he was one of them. He famously violated the law—giving law breaking the government backing for them to break the law—if the Mayor is a law breaker why can’t we.
It has taken a little more than a decade for San Fran to collapse—now it is going at warp speed. The worst part is that Newsom as Mayor and Governor has created destructive policies that he is exporting to the rest of the nation. If this was a disease, Fascist Fauci would isolate California, not allow it or its people to leave the confines of its boundaries. California is now a disease and it must be treated.
I left my pocketbook in San Francisco by Richard Eber
Richard Eber, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views 6/15/23
www.capoliticalreview.com
The loveliness of Union Square seems somehow sadly gay
The glory that was Nordstrom’s is of another day
I’ve been terribly alone and forgotten in the Sunset
I’m going home to my slum city by the Bay
I left my pocketbook in San Francisco
High on fentanyl, it does not call to me
To be where shoppers visited designer shops from afar
While I drank away at my Broadway Bar
The stench from the homeless may fill the air
Unfortunately, the D.A. doesn’t seem to care
from rampant crime to needles strewn everywhere
When I come home to you, San Francisco
Your foggy sun will shine for me
One would think the so called “Domino Theory” of communist domination might have died with John Foster Dulles.
Apparently, not in dealing with San Francisco. With the closing of Nordstrom’s and the bankruptcy of Westfield Mall, the economic collapse of S.F. seems inevitable. Restaurants and other small businesses are disappearing.
A host of stores including Williams Sonoma, T-Mobile, Amazon Go , The Gap, and Anthropologie, have left, or on their way out of town.. They are exiting stage left with Walgreens, and Whole Foods, who could no longer face the loss of merchandise by aggressive shoplifters.
This does not seem to matter for a District Attorney’s office that believes those who steal are victims rather than criminals. These near-do-wells, including the homeless are arrested, then released without bail being required. Seldom prosecuted, they have no reason to not becoming repeat offenders.
For the SFPD, morale is low. There is little incentive for the police to do their job. When confrontations with junkies and felons take place, civilian oversight boards are quick to accuse cops of brutality.
Also contributing to retail woes, is the declining tourist and convention trades which have historically brought wealthy shoppers to town. Outside of the effects of Covid-19, visitors have been turned off by the presence of homeless pan handlers, and rampant criminality.
State Senator Scott Wiener might be viewing the world thru rose colored glasses in saying “Statistically, San Francisco’s violent crime is lower than many large cities in the U.S.” The problem is, most folks don’t believe this Pollyanna perspective.
Unfortunately, the vacancy level of hotel rooms continues to grow, even during the busy tourist season. As this situation worsens, many of these empty rooms are being filled with homeless occupants, creating a lose-lose predicament.
The vacancy rates for once hard to get office space in San Francisco’s famed financial district currently stands at over 30%. Experts tell us, once current leases expire, additional tenants will leave the city behind.
The collateral damage from these changes has had a detrimental effect on the local economy. Declining values on commercial property can only mean less revenue for subsidizing San Francisco’s bloated budget. Even more impactful is the astronomical reduction of sales taxes which fuels socialistic welfare expenditures.
As a preview of coming attractions, public transport is collapsing. Municipal Railroad (MUNI) ridership is rapidly declining. This will be easier to remedy than BART. Commuter volume to the Financial District will never recover to its former glory. Even worse, the transit agency’s Directors refuse to cut expenses, hoping the State will bail them out.
Who can argue with Elon Musk, who tweeted San Francisco “Feels post-apocalyptic” in response to the number of retail businesses which have recently announced closure. Instead of making reparations to the families of former slaves, this place where Harvey Milk and other political refugees eagerly flocked to, will be lucky to keep the lights on.
Truth be known, the current collapse of San Francisco is the worse calamity that they have endured since the Earthquake and Fire in 1906. This time there will be no A.P. Giannini, founder of Bank of America, handing out unsecured cash loans to businesses recovering from the destruction of yester-year.
As a native San Franciscan, whose ancestors immigrated there during the Gold Rush in 1849, it makes me sad to see what has transpired in this once great city. Where the soon to be empty Westfield Mall stands, I fondly remember my grandmothers taking me on the roof rides that graced the Emporium Department Store at Christmas time.
Throw in an ice cream sundae from Blum’s or a burger from The Hippo, this place was once utopia for me. Presently, San Francisco is fast becoming a ghetto whose fall from grace more resembles Detroit or Chicago than the beloved “City by the Bay”.
At the present time, San Francisco is being propped up by a combination of Federal Covid funding and grants from the State of California. Both of these sources of revenue will be reduced in coming years. Governments in Sacramento and Washington D.C. are continuing to struggle with growing deficits.
Thus far, S.F. Mayor London Breed and her Progressive Board of Supervisors have not acknowledged that indeed the sky of falling. Needed budget cuts have been put off thinking the wealthy will spring to save the day with new tax increases. These morons at City Hall don’t realize that their “golden goose” will soon disappear.
Little concern is expressed each month by businesses and well-off residents, who continue to bolt town in record numbers.
By today’s socialistic-progressive standards, it may not be a leap of faith to predict San Francisco returning to its pre 1960 days. In these times, Republicans successfully oversaw running the show. Even woke historians realize history has a way of repeating itself.
Will there be a day when Sanctuary Cities disappear that shield undocumented immigrants? Are the Homeless ever to be considered a cancer destroying the prosperity of this once great metropolis?
For San Francisco, conservative political change can’t come soon enough.
