Before Monday’s smash-and-grab robbery at Neiman Marcus in San Francisco, the city’s tax collectors and merchants had already received news that people were fed up with crime.
More than 40 percent of 500 people surveyed for the city’s Chamber of Commerce in late June said they’re likely to pull up stakes and bug out. Undoubtedly, they hope to escape before they get robbed or murdered.
The figure was 35 percent in 2019, and is relatively consistent with numbers reported in the past.
The problem, those polled say, is crime. The quality of life in San Francisco is declining.
80 Percent: Crime Is Worsening
“For the second year in a row,” the chamber reported, “70% of residents feel that the quality of life in San Francisco has declined”:
What stands out in the polling results is the strikingly high and consistent number of respondents who now view homeless and crime as the leading problems facing the City.
Roughly 88% see homelessness as having worsened in recent years, and an overwhelming 80% see addressing this homelessness crisis as a high priority.
And 76 percent of those polled believe it’s time to deploy more cops into “high-crime” areas.
Homelessness is another of the city’s problems, but in any event the chamber did not highlight the real news in the poll: the number of San Franciscans ready to bail out because they fear for their lives.
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More than 40 percent of the 500 say they will go, news reports revealed.
One woman who already moved told KPIX5, the CBS affiliate, that “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.”
71% also said that “street behavior” has gotten worse. And 80% of San Franciscans support expanding conservatorship laws and making it easier to forcibly commit the mentally ill for treatment.
Homelessness is one reason why the city by the bay has sharply declined. As The New American reported in June, San Francisco has created “six so-called safe sleeping villages [that] provide homeless people tents, three meals per day, security, and washrooms.” Cost per tent: $60,000.
Handbag Heist
Two years ago, 35 percent of those polled said they wanted to leave the city. Citing the U.S. Census Bureau, Curbed San Francisco reported that immigration “makes up for the city’s net negative outflow from other U.S. cities.”
Whether those who say they’re fed up actually leave is another question, although the city certainly has provided a good reason to exit.
On Monday, again, a gang of 10 burst into and out of Neiman Marcus with armsful of handbags and escaped in three getaway cars.
In June, cops finally caught a shoplifter who brazenly robbed a Walgreens. That company has closed more than a dozen stores because of crime in San Francisco. Some Target stores now close at 6 p.m.
Observers blame the city’s new chief prosecutor, leftist Chesa Boudin, who entered office with the promise not to prosecute what he viewed as petty crimes.
Aside from crimes such as shoplifting, critics say Boudin caused the death of two innocent people by “decarcerating” a violent felon named Troy McAllister. He should have been in jail pursuant to the state’s Three Strikes law, but Boudin sprung him from jail. He stole a car, then ran a red light and hit the two.
Amazingly, Boudin, a public defender, was McAllister’s attorney in 2015. As he does with the city’s increase in petty crimes, Boudin blamed police for fouling up the McAllister case.
In March, 29 city dwellers launched a recall petition to remove the leftist from office. The group hopes to gather more than 51,000 signatures by August 11 to trigger a special election and boot the leftist ideologue from office.
Boudin’s biological parents are convicted terrorist murderers.
