‘Are you OK?’ San Francisco residents say they certainly are

Since the pandemic upended life in downtowns across the nation, perhaps no major American city has suffered as severe a reputational hit as San Francisco has.

Heather Knight

Sep 26, 2023 – 12.49pm

Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber?

Soon after Karan Mathur arrived in Brooklyn for a new job last year, New Yorkers couldn’t wait to congratulate him for fleeing San Francisco.

He heard over and over about the abandoned downtown in his former city. The shuttered Nordstrom store that once anchored the retail core, but now symbolises its decay. The people who stumble along the city’s sidewalks in a drug-fuelled haze. The rampant car break-ins leaving puddles of shattered glass.