It’s a powerful catchphrase.
In a way, it’s true. Walk through some parts of the city, and you will feel the vibe. Civic pride, which seemed unimaginable even a year ago, now has locals walking taller again. Newcomers, especially in the AI industry, are excitedly planting their flags. Office leasing is spiking, and drinkeries and eateries are launching. Zara is opening a massive flagship store in Union Square, and Uniqlo is slated to occupy the former Old Navy location on Market Street.
With great fanfare, the Westin St. Francis Hotel on the gone-to-seed Powell Street welcomed Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak and Stephen Curry’s Eighth Rule bar to the sumptuous lobby, a promising return to glamour.
I’m thrilled for all this. I genuinely am.
Any positive momentum deserves recognition. Transforming the city’s abysmal reputation is indeed a feat, and Mayor Lurie has accomplished that. When my mom and daughter came for a recent visit, their Uber driver from the airport couldn’t have been more exuberant, telling them how much he loves the mayor and has seen amazing changes.
As much as I’d like to join the full-throated victory cheers, though, I must hold back. Because while certain neighborhoods are escalating, others are deteriorating.
In areas such as the Tenderloin, Mid- and South of Market, and parts of the Mission District, the open drug scene has descended into shocking and chaotic lows.
Today the divide between San Francisco’s best and worst is widening. We are becoming two cities, separated by an unequal acceptance of basic standards for public safety and human dignity.
In certain neighborhoods, people enjoy thriving retail stores, buzzy restaurants, and clean(ish) streets. In addition to the Financial District and, to a lesser degree, Union Square, the Marina, Upper Fillmore, North Beach, and the Hills (Nob and Russian) were fine before and are getting even better.
In others, parents pull small children through filth and squalor on their way to school. Low-income seniors, recent immigrants, the sick, and the disabled dodge not just heaps of garbage and human waste, but large groups of vagrants getting high, acting erratically, or passed out. Here, shops and restaurants are boarded up. No sweet strolls to the park or easy trips to the grocery store for them.
On their blocks, the fentanyl crisis rages on, killing at least two people every day. Honduran drug cartels run the streets with impunity. When the sun goes down, throngs of sellers and buyers take over. But District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who is supposed to represent the Tenderloin spends his time creating ICE-free zones instead of dealer-free zones.
Crime is down in San Francisco? True, if you don’t count narco-trafficking, public intoxication, retail theft, receiving and selling stolen goods, vandalism, and prostitution — all of which take place on more than a dozen downtown blocks, from dusk to dawn.
If you have the nerve, go and see for yourself. But be careful.
And harden your heart if you love animals. Many involved in the drug scene have dogs. Their pets aren’t being walked in the adorable Francisco Park on the “good” end of Hyde Street, though. They’re being abused and neglected on the “bad” end, tied up without food or water as their owners smoke fentanyl and sink into long hazes.
As much as I’d love to report that we’re making progress in these areas, I can’t. Because we aren’t.
Excuses are threadbare. Yes, the city is short 600 to 800 police officers. The San Francisco Police Department is trying to fill the ranks and they’re making headway, but at this stage the department is woefully unprepared to win this battle. Instead of rejecting federal assistance we should have welcomed it and worked together. For residents of the most afflicted neighborhoods, even one day of peace would have been heavenly.
Strangely, San Francisco’s progressive element has failed to fight for fairness. Democratic Socialist of America member and District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder continuously ignores her Mission District constituents who just want their children to have the same safe place to walk and play as kids in the Marina. She’s busy trying to run Waymo out of the city.
Will the livability gap eventually close? Yes. Disempowering Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of San Francisco’s Coalition on Homelessness is a start. For years, her organization’s extreme positions have dominated policy discussions and led to drug-saturated encampments flourishing in impoverished areas. On Nov. 3, 2025 she was booted from the Our City, Our Home committee, so will no longer have control over where Proposition C funding is spent.
Now there is a growing movement to repeal Proposition C. If scrapped, big businesses may return to the city, freeing up funds for services that will really benefit the community.
Meanwhile, scores of unrelenting citizen journalists are shining a light on the city’s darkest corners, making a difference. X posters like @friscolive415 who rides his bike late at night, filming almost unimaginable scenes, and @war24182236 who documents the squalor and deaths in real time. Poster @1r0nm41d3n13 never holds back from her biting commentary; @TLTube and @TL2ACTIVE are always on. With each photo and video, they show the truth and fight for justice.
Don’t get me wrong. I do celebrate improvements, but we can’t keep turning our backs on people who are begging for help. We are one San Francisco. Let’s act like it. When all areas of the city are on the rise, I promise to lift my gin martini with a lemon twist and cheer loudly and proudly.
“There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and shame the devil.” — Walter Lippmann.