Incidents of retail crime in San Francisco have gotten so bad that the six Target stores there are having to close early because of it. Reporting from Lyanne Melendez with KGO-TV confirms that these Target closures are happening only in this city.
“Target has now acknowledged that San Francisco is the only city in America where they have decided to close some stores early because of the escalating retail crime.”
— Kristina Wong ???? (@kristina_wong) July 3, 2021
But how can this be? https://t.co/TaDpmoTMXJ
It's not merely Target which is changing store hours and policies. Walgreens has had to do the same. And a 7-11 located in the financial district only does business through a metal door after 10pm, once customers ring a bell to let the store know of their presence.
Walgreens has been in the news before over this problem. Last month, Julio reported on a shop lifter riding in on his bike and filling a garbage bag with products he stole before riding out, with what little resistance he did encounter turning out to be unsuccessful. Melendez posted the video.
Absolute lawlessness in San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/DRUiW6iuZX
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 15, 2021
Retail crime isn't just a problem in San Francisco, but other parts of California as well. As Melendez mentioned in her reporting from Friday:
According to the California Retailer's Association three cities in our state are among the top 10 in the country when it comes to organized retail crime--Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento.
Already we are seeing the negative impact it is having in San Francisco with stores permanently shutting down or closing early. It has become one of the most pressing issues in our city today.
According to a poll from the San Francisco's Chamber of Commerce, over 40 percent of respondents--500 San Francisco residents registered to vote--are planning to move out of the city over the next few years due to the rise in crime, homelessness, and quality of life concerns. A press release from the chamber of commerce noted that "For the second year in a row, 70% of residents feel that the quality of life in San Francisco has declined."
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While reporting on the poll, Betty Yu with CBS SF spoke to residents who have echoed these fears:
Lindsay Stevens just finished moving out over the weekend.
“There’s nothing worse than seeing such a beautiful place in such disarray, and I really thought I was going to be sad when the movers loaded up the last container on Saturday, and I have never been more relieved,” said Stevens.
After more than 12 years in San Francisco, Stevens recently sold her place and moved to the Palm Springs area.
“I honestly think in the last three years, we’ve seen a massive decline in the quality of life and that was only enhanced over COVID,” she said. “The homelessness has been a severe problem, people are not feeling safe walking their dog… the number of break-ins seem to be constantly on the rise.”
...
“I think safety is a huge concern, even two years ago when I initially moved back to the city, I never viewed certain neighborhoods as necessarily unsafe,” said Minku Lee of San Francisco.
The 24-year-old resident became a victim himself this past Friday. He said he was headed to happy hour on 3rd Street near Oracle Park with his friends, when he was racially and physically attacked by a homeless man.
“He said a slur too, forcibly pushed me over, slash tripped me, really startled by the incident,” said Lee.
It's an issue of quality of life but standard of living as well. According to an Investopedia list which was updated on April 1, San Francisco is the second most expensive city to live in, only behind New York City:
People make the decision to leave San Francisco every day, as the city’s staggeringly high cost of living and out-of-reach housing prices have been known to break many a bank. Median home prices are above $1.4 million inside the city, whose major industries include tourism, IT and financial services.
A family of four would need $111,136 in household income just to make ends meet. On the other hand, unemployment is at 7.0% as of December 2020, which increased significantly from last year, due to unfavorable conditions in the economy during the pandemic.
California, as I've previously reported, is also the third most expensive state in the country to live in, according to World Population Review.
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