San Francisco: Should alarm bells be going off?
Should alarm bells be going off in downtown San Francisco?
Neighborhood and biking advocate Danny Sauter certainly believes so.
A 2020 candidate for city supervisor, Sauter pulls no punches in his Medium post that was picked up by StreetsBlogSF.
“Sales tax revenue in the area is down 40 percent and only 30 percent of office workers have returned. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like elected officials in San Francisco are reacting. The director of the city’s main economic agency recently suggested waiting another six months to ‘look at bigger guns.'”
Political posturing? Or a reflection of how our cities need to adapt in a post-pandemic world?
He advocates for urgent actions in five areas:
- Streamline and fast track housing conversions
- Activate streets, plazas, and parks
- Remove barriers to pop-ups and permits
- Adjust our transit service and experience
- Act on infrastructure projects now
“As the economic engine of our city, we can’t gamble with the future of downtown,” Sauter states.
Especially, we would add, when San Francisco is one of the top nighttime destinations in the United States and wishes to strengthen its nighttime economy.
Photo by Patrick Robert Doyle on Unsplash