Downtown San Francisco is safer and cleaner, so why are people still staying away?
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As we've been telling you, San Francisco continues to navigate a difficult recovery downtown. Though crime is down, the tents are pretty much gone and some companies are now requiring employees to come back in person five days a week, the area has yet to bounce back.
Humans are often predictable. People process information from their environment and make a judgment, a determination.
Landmarks, clean streets, a little music, happy people, and yeah, they suddenly feel safe, welcomed. That's called perception.
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And the downtown area has a perception problem.
Empty store fronts are signs of an abandoned area -- translation: eerie.
Jim Patrick's office supply store is one of the remaining businesses on a city block on Market Street.
"It affects this area in several ways. It doesn't help our businesses and, number two, we need more people downtown," said Patrick, who owns Patrick and Company.
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But why would people come downtown if the perception is that it's not safe? Crime here is actually very low. San Francisco Police Department numbers show it's not a place you're likely to be robbed or attacked.
George Chen owns China Live in nearby Chinatown. He no longer opens for lunch on weekends, meaning no dim sum, because, again, the perception among many families is that downtown is not safe.
"It's a ghost town. I think people didn't want to come downtown because they are afraid of whatever may happen, and it has a negative energy to it... and so why go downtown?" explained Chen.
It has a lot to do with what people are actually seeing.
For example, the Muni bus stops in the Financial District have been vandalized over and over again. There is no glass. There is graffiti. When people see this, they think this area is sketchy, they don't feel safe. Same problem BART canopies. Many glass panels have been shattered. So, the question right now is what is BART doing about it? What is the SFMTA doing about it?
Granted he's only been mayor for a week, still we asked Daniel Lurie if he had reached out to either agency.
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He had not but admitted there is a lot of work to be done.
"We need more abatement officers. We have one, one graffiti abatement officer, which is why we need to fully staff our police department, we need to fully staff our sheriff's department. We need to make sure that people know that if you commit a crime you are going to be held accountable," vowed Mayor Lurie.
We did reach out to both transit agencies. SFMTA told us Clear Channel owns and maintains the bus shelters and was asked to stop replacing the glass panels. That was in 2022.
SFMTA said, "The glass kept getting broken, which was becoming expensive to keep repairing."
In October of last year, ABC7 News first reported that BART'S glass panels were vandalized. The person who broke them was eventually arrested. A BART spokesperson told us they have just now started to replace them, three months later.
VIDEO: Shattered glass at BART station canopies in San Francisco still broken 2 months later
But it's been more than a year since these transit screens were damaged, and they still have not been replaced.
Keep in mind that thousands of attendees of the recent JP Morgan Healthcare conference walked right past them. San Francisco will now host the NBA All-Star event, attracting thousands of visitors.
Danny Sauter just took over as supervisor for that section of downtown.
"The little things matter where as people see them around the city, the graffiti, the glass, some of the disorder, that adds up and that builds into the perception that San Francisco not being safe. I recognize that, we need to take that seriously," said Sauter.
Sauter has also called for hearings on why there are so few trash cans in the area.
He also supports Mayor Lurie's proposal to increase foot patrol officers along Market Street.
For now, empty buildings, empty store fronts and broken glass are an unwelcome mat for the neighborhood.
No one has come up with a viable solution to the vacancy problem in downtown. Take the all-but-empty Crocker Galleria, even though redevelopment plans are in the works, the mall gives the perception of neglect.
The mall is trying to attract innovative businesses, including possibly Asia Live, a food destination owned by Chef Chen.
"I believe in San Francisco, God knows it's been tough and we're not out of it, but I think we have a new mayor, new leadership and I think things will get a lot better," said Chen.
