Campaign to highlight the best of San Francisco aims to change 'doom loop' perception
A new campaign called We Love SF aims to shine a light on the beautiful and bright side of San Francisco, countering the 'doom loop' narrative.
The initiative is partnering with businesses and organizations that are invested in the community to host events that bring people together, including happy hours.
The campaign faces an uphill challenge with the negative publicity about San Francisco that is frequently highlighted in the news media.
Case in point: The owner of Gump's department store -- a San Francisco institution for more than 160 years -- is saying he is fed up with the crime, open drug use and squalor on the streets of Union Square. This Christmas could be the store's last holiday season in the city.
John Chachas, who acquired Gump's in 2019, wrote an open letter to city leaders and the governor that was published in the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle asking them to do something.
Chachas bought a full-page ad in the paper to run the open letter accusing Mayor London Breed, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Governor Gavin Newsom of dereliction of duty to the city.
He went on to write that "destructive" city policies have allowed the homeless to occupy sidewalks, openly use illegal drugs, harass the public and defile city streets, making the city unsafe for his employees and unwelcoming to visitors.
"Gump's is a very old business, so we have lots of very devoted customers who come to us for decades. 'but we don't want to step foot in your city.' that's just an astonishing statement," Chachas said in a Zoom interview. "Until you correct that, you are going to continue to see this drain of commerce. You are in this loop and until you change it so its a livable, safe accessible city, you will not correct it.
Chachas says he's gotten nothing but positive feedback to his letter.
A growing number of small businesses in the city are also talking about closing up shop.
The owner of Kung Food and Aceking Barbeque told KPIX thieves have ransacked both of his restaurants.Kung Food alone has been hit seven times since the pandemic started.
Meanwhile, employees at San Francisco's federal building are now getting escorts in and out of work because of the open drug use just outside.
Resident Cassidy Zerrer, who moved to San Francisco in 2004, created the We Love SF initiative.
"If the city wasn't facing a number of very real challenges, I wouldn't be here today. I totally acknowledge that, but I do think it's important to tell the other side of the story, and so often our negative - our less favorable moments - are shared social media or by the broader media," Zerrer said. "We're here to show the many very, very positive things that happen in our city every day."
We Love SF is focused on sharing uplifting content from the community, and showing the beauty and good in the city on its Instagram @welovesfofficial.
Last week, the campaign held its first event at Nightingale on Kearny Street, a venue owned by Future Bars. Proprietor Doug Dalton said the huge turnout made for one of its biggest nights of the week in terms of sales.
Dalton also recently reopened the historic jazz venue The Dawn Club on Annie Street, a project which has been years in the making. It's one of downtown San Francisco's splashiest new spaces.
"We didn't have any reservations about opening because we're so excited about what's going on in San Francisco right now, people are coming back to the city," said Dalton. "We wanted to reinvigorate the legacy of the Dawn Club. The Dawn Club has been around since the 1900s, and so we're in the exact same location as the Dawn Club was all the way until the 1950s."
The Dawn Club features local performers, and cocktails and whiskeys inspired by the post-prohibition era.
Dalton is optimistic about the city's future, and betting on tourism and convention traffic to rebound. He said he's starting to see other new bars open up, and spaces that were closed during the pandemic reopen.
"The underlying issues that we face are going to take a lot of time, effort, and money to fix, and I believe changing perception is something that can happen in an instant," added Zerrer. "Maybe not global perception, but that's the ethos of what we want to tap into, is changing people's perception about what it's really like here."
Zerrer, an avid photographer, said he enjoys the city's vibrant arts and culture scene.
The city controller said in June, international air travel to San Francisco was up to 93% of pre-pandemic levels, the highest it's been since the pandemic began.
Hotel occupancy remained steady heading into the summer and revenues are about 75% of pre-pandemic levels.
Annual conventions like Saleforce's Dreamforce are set to return in the coming months.
"We'll know that we have succeeded in the campaign when tourists are landing at San Francisco airport and they're saying, 'I can't wait to see this city and I hope it lives up to all my fantastic expectations,'" Zerrer said.
"San Francisco's always a boom-and-bust town, so San Francisco has its high moments, and everything always comes back to San Francisco," said Dalton.
