THE FUTURE. WELL, TODAY, SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR DANIEL LURIE AND ASSEMBLY MEMBER MATT HANEY LED A WALK THROUGH UNION SQUARE TO TALK ABOUT THE DOWNTOWN RECOVERY, PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES. OUR MAX DARROW WAS GIVEN EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO JOIN THEM ON THAT WALK AND LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT IS WORKING AND WHAT THEY SAY. NEEDS SOME IMPROVEMENT.
MORE. OKAY. YEAH. SO THAT’S GREAT. NINTENDO’S BEEN GREAT.
AS THEY WALKED THROUGH UNION SQUARE. MAYOR DANIEL LURIE AND ASSEMBLY MEMBER MATT
HANEY CELEBRATED THE WINS WHEN IT COMES TO BRINGING THE AREA BACK TO LIFE, AND LOOKED FOR PROGRESS REPORTS ON NEXT STEPS FROM BUSINESS, ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT LEADERS.
WHAT’S THE PLAN FOR THE OTHER.
MANY OF WHOM JOINED THEM FOR THE WALK, AS WELL AS SEVERAL SUPERVISORS? HANEY IS ON A STATEWIDE TOUR OF DOWNTOWN’S TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW THEY CAN BEST RECOVER POST-PANDEMIC. LURIE JUST RECENTLY ANNOUNCED HIS HEART OF THE CITY INITIATIVE, A MULTI-PRONGED APPROACH TO
REVITALIZING DOWNTOWN WITH THE HELP OF PRIVATE FUNDING.
SAN FRANCISCO IS ON THE RISE. THERE’S MORE PEOPLE LEASING SPACE THAN LEAVING SPACE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 6 OR 7 YEARS. CRIME IS DOWN 40% IN THIS PART OF SAN FRANCISCO IN DOWNTOWN.
BUT THERE’S STILL A LOT OF EMPTY STOREFRONTS. A CUSHMAN WAKEFIELD REPORT REVEALS THE Q2 RETAIL VACANCY RATE IN UNION SQUARE WAS 23%.
ONE OF THE SPOTS IN PARTICULAR IS POWELL STREET. AS WE LOOK RIGHT HERE, VACANCY, VACANCY.
VACANCY. VACANCY. I KNOW THIS PARTICULAR CORRIDOR IS ONE YOU’RE HOPING TO CHANGE. HOW IS THAT GOING TO HAPPEN? YEAH, IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN BY BEING RELENTLESS AND BY WINNING COMPANIES AND RETAILERS BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO, WHICH IS WHAT WE’RE DOING.
LURIE POINTS TOWARDS BIGGER BUSINESSES OPENING UP LIKE ZARA AND SMALLER ONES LIKE DANDELION CHOCOLATE, WHICH OPENED A UNION SQUARE LOCATION ON FRIDAY.
TWO ONE HALF.
HANEY SAYS DOWNTOWN RECOVERY IN SAN FRANCISCO AND
ELSEWHERE DOES HINGE UPON THE CITY AND STATE, ELIMINATING RED TAPE THAT DISINCENTIVIZES BUSINESSES.
WE SHOULDN’T BE GETTING IN OUR OWN WAY BY MAKING THINGS MORE EXPENSIVE AND MORE TIME CONSUMING. EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE ABOUT SPEED AND FLEXIBILITY. AT A TIME WHEN WE’RE EXPERIENCING THESE CHALLENGES.
AND HE ARGUES THAT’S HAPPENING.
WE’RE DOING OUR PART, CHANGING OUR LAWS AROUND SEQUA, MAKING SURE THERE’S A BUY RIGHT ABILITY TO DO
ADAPTIVE REUSE, TO CHANGE OFFICE SPACE TO HOUSING. AND THE CITY IS DOING THEIR PART AS WELL. AND BUSINESSES ARE FEELING IT. AND YOU’RE ALREADY STARTING TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE.
THERE IS A CHALLENGE, HOWEVER, THAT CANNOT BE QUANTIFIED.
MAKING SURE THAT THE PERCEPTION MEETS THE THE REALITY. I AM AS FRUSTRATED AS ANYBODY ABOUT SOME OF THE STREET CONDITIONS THAT WE HAVE IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF DOWNTOWN. WE HAVE TO DO BETTER. SO YOU TALK ABOUT THE IT’S NOT ACCEPTABLE AND WE NEED TO DO
BETTER, BUT HOW HOW DO WE ACTUALLY DO BETTER? FIRST, IT STARTS WITH PUBLIC SAFETY. SO WE HAVE TO RECRUIT MORE POLICE OFFICERS. WE HAVE A NET INCREASE IN SFPD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SEVEN YEARS. WE HAVE A NET INCREASE IN SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TEN YEARS.
FROM THEIR STANDPOINT, THE DOWNTOWN PROGNOSIS IS GOOD.
WE HAVE WORK TO DO, BUT WE ARE MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
AND MOMENTUM WILL CONTINUE WITH THE CITY AND STATE WORKING IN TANDEM.
SO AS MAX MENTIONED, DANDELION CHOCOLATES OPENED A LOCATION AT POWELL AND O’FARRELL TODAY. THAT’S RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF UNION SQUARE. HERE’S WHAT THE CEO HAD TO SAY. TO US. IS THERE ENOUGH. OTHER BUSINESSES. LIKE CBD, RED SOX? SO NEXT MONTH, THROUGH THE VACANT A VIBRANT PROGRAM, THE INTERSECTION OF ART AND TECHNOLOGY WILL OPEN ITS EVENT SPACE NONPROFIT HEADQUARTERS ON POWELL. THAT WILL MARK THE FIFTH UNIONO SQUARE POP
