Urban Decay Chronicles: More Blows for San Francisco, DC

We recently told you about major chains shuttering even more stores across the country in major, crime-plagued cities, due to unsustainable revenue losses and unsafe environments for customers and employees alike. That post came on the heels of multiple similar posts over the last few years. This decay is real, and it's accelerating in many places -- particularly those where law and order have been undermined by "progressive" policies and law enforcement have been demonized or marginalized by "progressive" activists and politicians.

So when announcements like this arrive, they paradoxically feel both shocking and inevitable:

Starbucks to close seven locations in downtown San Francisco during rampant crime surge https://t.co/lbuad3nUzk pic.twitter.com/8Z8lbA50MB
— New York Post (@nypost) October 4, 2023

Starbucks will shutter seven downtown locations in crime-battered San Francisco — the latest high-profile company to close outposts amid an overall deterioration in the quality of life. The closures come amid a shocking survey that found roughly 97% of San Francisco’s restaurants have experienced graffiti or property crime in the past month. However, the Seattle-based java giant avoided blaming the rampant lawlessness for its decision to close the downtown shops...Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020, some 40 retail stores have ditched the once-bustling Union Square section of downtown San Francisco — in addition to the dozens of others that have pulled up stakes from surrounding regions of the city...Nordstrom, CB2, Anthropologie, Whole Foods, Old Navy, Saks Off 5th, Office Depot, Athleta, Abercrombie & Fitch, Disney, Marshall’s, H&M, and Gap have either closed stores within San Francisco city limits or announced plans to do so...The city’s office vacancy rate stood at around 30% as of last month while the population shrank by 40,000 residents. Moody’s lowered San Francisco’s credit rating outlook to negative as the city faces a $780 million budget shortfall caused by declining tax revenues.

The shelves are mostly bare at a CVS store in D.C.'s Columbia Heights neighborhood and people who live in the area are concerned. "It makes me not want to shop there to be honest. I just go in there and get my prescription and then when I need other things, I go elsewhere because there’s nothing there to get," said Ilana Miller, CVS Customer...According to staff who work there, 45 or more kids are regularly going in to steal chips and drinks before school, after school, and late at night. CVS employees have been alerted that thieves are aware of when new shipments come in and that's when they target the store. They also say that street venders are allegedly paying people to steal so they can re-sell it and make a profit.

The thieves "even throw the food and beverages on the ground and stomp on them, leaving behind a big mess." This is lawlessness with impunity. No consequences. Over and over. If and when this store shutters, jobs will be lost, and the community will be inconvenienced, at best. If there are senior citizens, for example, who rely on this brick and mortar location to get needed prescription medications -- tough luck. Some may want to drive further afield to visit a store, but live in fear of the carjacking epidemic. This is the intentional, pro-"equity," compassionate, "justice-centered" destruction of cities and society by political forces. What's remarkable are the interview subjects in the story quasi-justifying the crime:

I want to see DC man on the street interviews about carjackings. ‘I’m not necessarily, like *condoning* it, but they probably need those cars, too, so it’s, like, tough, y’know?’ https://t.co/24XVw0Sq5v
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 4, 2023

You get what you vote for, I suppose. I'll leave you with a not-at-all-unusual polling nugget out of a survey of Maryland voters. We've seen data showing people of color opposing the reduction of police presence and "compassion," while certain white savior leftist counterparts insist they know better. If the GOP wants to keep this trend going, exploiting disconnects like the one showcased in this survey out of deep blue Maryland seems like a no-brainer: