The societal ills plaguing San Francisco aren’t new. It’s been an ongoing news story for years, though national outlets ignored it for obvious political reasons. While its nickname ‘Baghdad by the Bay’ was initially positive, it has transformed into a hell hole, like its namesake in the post-9/11 era. It was mocked as the mecca for fecal activity, as the city had to deploy a poop patrol to clean up the sidewalks. As of last year, an analysis by San Francisco’s comptroller found its business district had become a literal s**t show.
The city needs a renaissance as businesses leave for safer and cleaner pastures. In another damning development, the owners of Westfield San Francisco Centre Mall decided to enter strategic foreclosure rather than hope for the city to make an economic comeback. To combat the narrative that the city is awash in feces, crime, drug addicts, dirty needles, and hordes of homeless people, San Francisco has hired a tourism boss (via NY Post):
San Francisco has hired a new top tourism official to try and shift the public perception of the city as it deals with surging crime and rampant drug use.
San Francisco Travel Association, the Golden Gate city’s tourism and marketing bureau, has hired Scott Beck, the current head of Toronto’s tourist organization, as its new president and CEO, the organization announced Thursday.
Beck, who will take the reins on Oct. 30, told told the San Francisco Chronicle that his biggest challenge in the role will be reversing the “ongoing narrative about San Francisco as a monolithic experience, when it’s clearly not.”
He added that media coverage about the city’s safety is “not 100% accurate.”
In recent years San Francisco has gained national reputation as a city overrun with homeless and flooded open-air drug markets and users.
The situation has grown so dire, that a street guide — who later revealed himself as a city commissioner before his resignation — attempted to start a “Doom Loop Walking Tour” last month so people could see the city’s urban decay for themselves.
The coverage is accurate, sir. It’s been spot-on for years, with Mayor London Breed’s 2018 street tour marred by images of decay and open drug use.
#SanFrancisco Mayor @LondonBreed tours the reality of the city first hand on an afternoon stroll. The man in the video preps a needle as the mayor walks by. @nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/Ziq0JwS8wF
— Josue Kevin Duran (@josuekduran) July 13, 2018