San Francisco’s under-pressure mayor has sensationally claimed that ‘no one is able to do anything’ about ‘low-level crimes’ which have sparked a collapse of retail closures across the city.
Mayor London Breed told the New York Times that she understood the ‘frustration’ of residents and staff who are unable to get groceries without it being an ‘eventful experience’.
But the Dem leader then admitted that ‘no one is able to really do anything’ about the rise in crime and rampant homelessness affecting stores – which has resulted in 46 percent of shops in the city’s downtown Westfield mall closing since 2020.
In the latest police statistics for May 2023, homicides in San Francisco were recorded as up 5 percent from last year, while robberies are up a staggering 16 percent.
Whole Foods opened a new ‘flagship’ location at Trinity Place in the city’s Tenderloin district in March 2022, hoping to revitalize footfall after two years of draconian COVID restrictions severely impacted businesses in the area.
Mayor London Breed told the New York Times that she understood the ‘frustration’ of residents and staff who are unable to get groceries without it being an ‘eventful experience’
In the latest police statistics for May 2023, homicides in San Francisco were recorded as up 5 percent from last year, while robberies are up a staggering 16 percent
But a Whole Foods spokesperson declared the store closed down in April due to safety concerns for its staff – after a series of violent incidents.
When asked how the closure symbolized the issues the city was facing, Breed said: ‘You go to a grocery store, and it shouldn’t be an eventful experience. It’s definitely changed.
‘You go to the store now and see people constantly walking out with items in their hands, getting into altercations with staff. And no one’s able to really do anything.
‘There’s a level of frustration I know that definitely comes with that. And to deal with that all day, I can understand that employees would say we’ve had enough.’
But despite making excuses for the low-level crimes, Breed said that it is her job to ‘get things done’ – adding ‘no one wants to hear excuses why you can’t.’
Her comments come just days after she clashed with Supervisor Dean Preston over her controversial policy to arrest and detain drug users to get them into treatment.
Breed has ordered San Fran cops to use public intoxication laws to arrest people who are high on drugs, detain them to sober up in jail and then offer them services.
The pair clashed after Preston, also a Democrat, pointed out Breed’s overdose prevention plan says that Black, brown and Indigenous people continue to be impacted by ‘the racism and criminalization that have been the hallmark of federal U.S. drug policy for the past several decades.’
An analysis of official figures and other research reveals San Francisco may lose hundreds of millions of dollars through an exodus of businesses and its failure to recover from COVID
The number of homeless people in San Francisco was tallied in February of last year at almost 8,000
A woman in a wheelchair injects drugs at San Francisco’s infamous open-air drugs market. The taxpayer funded ‘harm reduction’ facility opened and shuttered close to Westfield in early 2022, after criticism that it had done nothing to sort out the city’s many social ills
Westfield in San Francisco (pictured) has announced that it is handing the building back to the lender
A study cited on the plan claims there is an increased risk of fatal overdose after incarceration, adding: ‘punitive policies have not been shown to be effective at reducing overdose deaths, while incarceration is known to significantly increase risk of dying of drug overdose.’
Breed lashed out at Preston’s criticism, saying: ‘Here we go, another white man who’s talking about Black and brown people as if you’re the savior of those people and you speak for them.’
Preston is not the only person pushing back against Breed’s policies, with retailers refusing to renew their contracts in the city after the spike in crime.
A total of 45 out of the 97 retailers operating in the mall – and 16 of the 36 food vendors – shuttered in just over three years, according to an analysis by the San Francisco Standard.
Westfield announced it would be closing the mall altogether, and weeks after its anchor tenant Nordstrom potentially hammered the nail in its coffin by announcing its own closure in August.
Signs posted to cars near the linkage site announce ‘nothing to steal’ as crime continues to rise in one of the city’s poorest and most drug-infested neighborhood
San Francisco saw a 41 percent surge in the number of drug-related deaths in the first quarter of 2023
California currently reports over 170,000 homeless individuals
Other major retailers to have abandoned the mall since 2020 includes Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Microsoft, Tiffany & Co. and Timberland.
Last month, Westfield blamed ‘unsafe conditions’ and ‘lack of enforcement against rampant criminal activity’ in large part for Nordstrom’s departure and claimed the poor performance in San Francisco was in sharp contrast to its other locations.
The San Francisco Centre generated $455 million in sales in 2019, before the pandemic. Last year, sales were down about a third to $298 million.
Westfield is located in the troubled Union Square area in the center of downtown, where homelessness and crime are especially rife.
Out of 203 retailers open in 2019 in the city’s Union Square area, just 107 are still operating – a drop of 47 percent in just a few pandemic-ravaged years.
San Francisco saw a staggering 41 percent surge in the number of drug-related deaths in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same time last year, as fentanyl ravaged the city’s homeless population.
San Francisco is dealing with widespread crime, homeless and drug use that has driven away companies and consumers
There was a 6 percent increase between 2020 and 2022, according to government statistics
Camps are set up around the city and people take drugs openly. Pictured: Homeless tents are seen in Tenderloin District during heavy rain in San Francisco on January 11
The Californian coastal hub saw 200 people die due to overdoses between January and March, compared to 142 deaths in 2022, according to data from the city’s medical examiner.
Hotels and other businesses are fleeing its rundown streets with revenue close to 23 percent lower per available room than it was in 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported.
California Governor Gavin Newsom admitted on Tuesday that the homeless situation in the state is a ‘disgrace’ – but blamed Republicans despite being in power for four years.
Homelessness figures have risen 13 percent in California during Newsom’s time as governor, with government statistics showing a 6.8 per cent increase between 2019 and 2020.
The Golden State has seen a further 6 percent increase between 2020 and 2022, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
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