San Francisco Entire Meals Closure Displays Metropolis’s Economic system and Crime Woes

SAN FRANCISCO — Last year, with pandemic lockdowns in its rearview mirror, Whole Foods Market made a bet on a grim San Francisco neighborhood. The high-end supermarket chain opened a massive flagship store in a part of the city that’s home to both tech companies like Twitter and open-air drug stores.
But the business soon found itself head-on with many of the problems that plagued the area. People threatened employees with guns, knives and sticks. According to records of 568 emergency calls over 13 months, many of which showed scenes of chaos, they threw food, screamed, fought and tried to defecate on the ground.
“Man with machete is back,” says the report of an emergency call. “Another guard just got attacked,” says another. A man with a 4-inch knife attacked several security guards and then sprayed store employees with foam from a fire extinguisher, according to a third party.
In September, a 30-year-old man died in the bathroom from an overdose of fentanyl, a potent opioid, and methamphetamine.
When Whole Foods announced in mid-April that it was closing the store citing the safety of its employees, many in San Francisco saw it as some of the city’s most persistent problems: property crimes like shoplifting and car break-ins, an entrenched network of dealers selling fentanyl and other illegal drugs Selling drugs and people suffering from untreated mental illnesses roaming the streets.
The closure also appeared to be the latest indicator of San Francisco’s faltering economic outlook, and provided more material for an ongoing debate about where the city is headed after tying its fate to the tech industry. The Whole Foods was intended to cater to technicians and other professionals, part of a long-term downtown redevelopment plan. But the business fell victim to a crushing downtown decline that began with the pandemic and could last for years as companies vacate offices to work remotely.
In a city famous for its boom-and-bust cycles, San Francisco’s ongoing slump has residents in a bad mood, angry at city leaders and waiting for the spark of revival. Now, largely because the tech industry has so fully embraced work-from-home, activity in downtown San Francisco remains at about a third of pre-pandemic levels — according to a new study that used cellphone data as a, lower than in about 50 other major cities a measure.
“This is going to be a very slow recovery,” Effi Shoua said this month from behind his desk at the downtown art gallery he owns in Union Square. The area is a prime spot for tourists who are steadily returning to the city, a bright spot and a contrast to the 26 percent vacancy rate for downtown offices.
Many merchants fear a domino effect of business failures, with office workers being permanently absent for about half the week, while people using drugs, experiencing mental health crises or living on the streets remain more visible than ever.
The impact on the city’s budget is also significant: the office industry accounts for almost three quarters of the city’s gross domestic product. After years of surpluses, the government now projects a deficit of $780 million over the next two fiscal years — a roughly 6 percent cut in its general fund, according to the mayor’s office.
City officials say they are looking at ways to diversify the economy and reduce homelessness and drug trafficking. They realize that some of the largest local employers, Big Tech companies, aren’t going to pull San Francisco out of its economic shoals. Twitter, Google, Facebook and Salesforce, all of which have offices in the city, have laid off thousands of workers.
San Francisco executives point out that the city has continued to bounce back, even after the near-collapse of the tech industry in 2000 and the national recession some eight years later.
“We’ve been tallied before and there have been others who have tried to imply it’s over because things aren’t happening as quickly or as they think it’s over,” said London Breed, the city’s mayor in an interview.
In the famously liberal city, where Republicans make up just 7 percent of voters, moderate Democrats like Mayor Breed are calling for aggressive moves to address public safety concerns, while progressive voices denounce law-and-order strategies as knee-jerk responses that trample on the weak .
City guides face some limitations. A federal judge ruled in April that San Francisco can’t evict the homeless from public spaces because it hasn’t done enough to provide shelter. Mayor Breed supports bills in the state legislature that would make it easier to coerce people with mental illness into treatment. The mayor has also proposed tackling homelessness through more building: cutting the construction permitting process with a goal of building 83,000 additional homes — a 20 percent increase over the city’s current total housing stock — in eight years.
Though downtown is littered with “For Rent” signs, the city’s unemployment rate is below 3 percent, and the mayor and other officials say the engineering talent pool remains the city’s greatest asset. And San Francisco has a lot more to offer than downtown. It’s always been a constellation of very diverse neighborhoods, some with very few of the social ills that plague the area near the closed Whole Foods.
Officials add that downtown could eventually become more resilient as it attracts industries like life sciences and biotechnology whose employees still need workspaces. The tech industry is also growing: the development of artificial intelligence, which promises to change the way people live and work, is concentrated in San Francisco.
Garry Tan, president of Y Combinator, a well-known venture capital firm, says he sees signs of renewal in San Francisco. “It’s always the gold rush,” he said.
Mr. Tan belongs to a generation of tech workers who are more confident in their demands of city officials and unafraid to take sides in the city’s murderous politics and fund organizations that are pushing for a greater emphasis on public safety.
“Now the narrative is out there for some of the founders in our community, I’m not sure I feel safe here. I’m not sure if I want to stay here. The quality of life issues are the issue. Can I start a family here?”
In early April, some tech leaders took the fatal stabbing downtown of Bob Lee, a prominent industry leader, as an alarming sign that downtown was unsafe. But an acquaintance was later charged, and San Francisco’s murder rate is quite low compared to other major cities. Overall, police statistics show fewer property and violent crimes in 2022 than in 2018, before the pandemic began.
Still, Bill Scott, the city’s police chief, says many residents complain that they feel less safe, and outdoor drug use, much of which is tied to fentanyl, is a major contributor.
Matt Dorsey, a board member who lives steps from the closed Whole Foods, said the recent election signaled a shift in voter priorities. He pointed to last year’s dismissal of progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin, who was replaced by a prosecutor who promised to crack down on crime.
“San Francisco is in the midst of a voter revolt over public safety,” said Mr. Dorsey. In a poll conducted by the San Francisco Chronicle in September, nearly two-thirds of respondents said life in the city is worse than when they first moved here.
New district attorney Brooke Jenkins has started prosecuting more drug-related offenses than Mr. Boudin, but the city saw a 40 percent increase in fatal drug overdoses in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. Citing those statistics, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday authorized an anti-narcotics task force in San Francisco that will include members of the California National Guard and California Highway Patrol Police.
The mayor and police chief have promised to hire hundreds of additional officers, which would expand the force by more than a quarter, a difficult feat when law enforcement agencies across the country are facing bottlenecks.
Not everyone is on board.
Dean Preston, a board member who was re-elected on a Democratic-Socialist platform in 2020, opposes an increase in police staffing and says calls for more public safety are overblown.
“There has been a massive propaganda effort to change public opinion about policing and public safety,” he said.
Mr. Preston uses his district as an example of how uneven the pandemic recovery has been. Some areas like Japantown and Haight Ashbury are thriving, he said. Others, like the Tenderloin, which sits next door to the closed Whole Foods, are riddled with drug dealing and homelessness.
One of the next big tests for downtown could be the expected opening of an Ikea store this summer not far from the Whole Foods location.
Police described theft as rampant at Whole Foods, with thieves walking away with an armful of alcohol, at least initially. After 250 shopping baskets were stolen, the company refilled 50 more. Those are gone too.
According to official reports, at least 14 people have been arrested in the 13 months that the store has been in operation, on charges including theft and assault. Chief Scott said plainclothes officers were sent there and security has been improved over time, but apparently not enough for the company.
On a recent chilly night across from the closed store, Joseph Peterson, a former construction worker who lost both legs to diabetes and is homeless, rolled down the sidewalk in his wheelchair. Mr. Peterson was able to see the 2,000-unit Trinity Apartments, the high-end complex that Whole Foods had hoped would become its client base. Across the street, security guards were standing outside the Orpheum Theater, where Pretty Woman: The Musical was playing. A few dozen steps away, vendors sold fentanyl and crystal meth.
Mr Peterson said he understood why Whole Foods closed the store.
“People kept stealing from it,” he said. He, too, has taken macaroni and cheese and chicken from the warm snack bar several times, he said. But he made a difference. Other people stole from the store because they wanted to resell what they had taken.
“I only stole mine to eat,” he said.
Alain Delaquérière, Susan C. Beachy, and Kitty Bennett contributed to the research.