A San Francisco software entrepreneur has revealed shocking images of her city’s deserted downtown, with the once-bustling streets empty and eerie silence.
Michelle Tandler, the founder of the professional development company Growth Path, uploaded the photographs to Twitter.
She captioned one photo at the beginning of the week, ‘This is downtown San Francisco at 9:20 a.m. on Monday’
Her photographs revealed that the streets were mostly deserted, with only a smattering of people and a small number of vehicles.
She uploaded a video of the tranquil city center on Friday.
She said that historically these streets were filled with office employees.
Now, they are almost completely empty.
Michelle Tandler, a tech entrepreneur, spent a week shooting forlorn San Francisco.
Tandler observed that the normally lively city was eerie silent due to the number of remote workers.
The native San Franciscan described the absence of life on the streets as foreboding.
Tandler noted that the offices were expensive to rent, and that many businesses would not renew their leases, resulting in a significant decline in the city’s tax revenue.
Photographed by Tandler, street after street was nearly vacant, with few vehicles or people.
She captured the streets surrounding the offices of the financial services company Chime, as well as the tallest building in San Francisco, the Salesforce Tower. Due to their remote workforce, Salesforce’s office is still mostly vacant.
The photographs were described by Tandler as “9:40 a.m. in San Francisco. Where are they all…?’
She took another set at noon, when the streets were still empty.
Tandler stated, “I don’t believe the San Francisco government truly understands how problematic this is.”
Either that, or they are indifferent.
When these leases expire, companies will downsize or relocate.
These structures rely on rent. The landlords pay tax dollars…
Tandler, the proprietor of a professional development firm, thought that the local authorities understood the gravity of the issue.
Tandler noted that prior to the epidemic, San Francisco was a flourishing and active city.
She observed that the city’s streets were unsettlingly vacant.
San Francisco has been longer to recover from the pandemic than other cities.
The IT entrepreneur was stunned by the empty streets.
Tandler remarked that the eerie silence in the city’s core was ominous for the city’s future.
In March, San Francisco relaxed its mask requirement, yet people continue to work from home.
The depicted Salesforce Tower is the tallest building in the city and is entirely vacant. The majority of employees are permitted to continue working from home.
Despite the mask regulations being dropped seven months ago, San Francisco’s downtown office occupancy rate was one of the lowest in the nation at 39 percent in late September, as reported by security firm Kastle earlier this month.
Prior to COVID-19, San Francisco’s office occupancy rate was consistently at or near 100 percent, with numerous companies, particularly technology companies, competing for office space, according to the authors.
Compared to Austin, Texas, where 61 percent of workers are back, New York City, with 46 percent occupancy, and Los Angeles, with 45 percent occupancy, San Francisco’s office occupancy rate is low.
‘San Francisco devoted a great deal of resources to tech businesses, and although that may have been advantageous a decade ago, their reluctance to return workers to offices or their departure from the city have impacted the city,’ said building occupancy researcher Michelle Duggan.
She told The Californian Globe, ‘The epidemic and the Great Resignation have altered the perception of labor for many. Many individuals enjoy working remotely. No lengthy commutes, no stupid workplace politics, and no expensive petrol and vehicle maintenance expenditures. You can work from home and do errands or care for pets and children during the day.
‘Additionally, IT companies are programmed to do this, which contributes to their reluctance.
“Cities like San Francisco must understand that it will never be the same, that they bet on the incorrect industry to have a presence there in the long run. However, this is not the case right now. As the economic downturn worsens, more organizations are likely to eliminate office space in favor of greater remote work.’
In July, London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, published an opinion piece on Medium titled “Revitalizing Downtown and Our Economic Core.”
San Francisco’s mayor, London Breed, hopes to reinvigorate the downtown with a series of initiatives that have yet to yield fruit.
In it, she asserted that her administration was striving to bring jobs back to the urban core.
She cautioned, “There are no easy solutions here.”
Together with AdvanceSF, we convened small business owners, major employers, property owners, and arts organizations to begin exploring actions and policies to promote the economic core’s future.
Through the Economic Core Forum, we are examining concepts such as how to bring new firms and industries to San Francisco, how to improve transportation to meet the requirements of an ever-expanding region, and how to make our downtown more robust to economic shocks such as the pandemic.
She recommended additional events and the beautification of plazas and public places to revitalize the city.
She added, “To solve storefront vacancies, we may link property owners with artists and small companies that can use the space for short-term activations that animate the surrounding neighborhood and ensure that the services and facilities expected by tourists are available in our center.”
She added that they planned to contact new businesses with the suggestion that they relocate to the downtown area.
She continued, “San Francisco is a city of creativity and resiliency.”
These ideals will assist us in bringing our city back from this plague.
Breed’s vision of optimism has yet to bear fruit.