July 25, 2018

USA: San Francisco Tourism Organization Warned of Homelessness Impact On Visitor Numbers. SF Propose Corp Tech Cafeteria Ban For Employees To Force Them To Use Small Business. Wow :o


FOX News
written by Claudia Cowan
Wednesday July 25, 2018

In some San Francisco neighborhoods, hold your nose, and watch your step. Jon Handlery, who owns the Handlery Hotel in the popular Union Square district, said his employees and guests have to contend with filthy streets on a daily basis.

"You're seeing people lying in the streets, you're seeing people eat out of garbage cans, you're seeing people shoot up,” he says.

Visitors Fox News spoke to said it's the worst they've ever seen in any major city. Julie Doherty, visiting with her family from Australia, was shocked during her most recent stay.

“I've never seen so many homeless. I think that's a real put off for people," she said.

Indeed, Joe D'Alessandro, head of the San Francisco Travel Association, acknowledges the problem – which has vexed city leaders for decades – has gotten worse in recent months.

"We are losing business," he said. "We have groups who say they can't come to San Francisco as long as the streets are like this."

The exact impact on the city's $9 billion tourism industry isn't known, but in June, a major medical association pulled its annual convention from San Francisco, saying its members no longer feel safe. The cancellation of that one five-day trade show represents an estimated loss to the local economy of $40 million.

Adding to the danger are thousands of used syringes dumped by junkies and left littering the streets. Most were handed out by the San Francisco Department of Public Health to help reduce drug-related diseases.

With no reliable way to get them all back, the city is spending $750,000 to hire 10 PEOPLE whose sole job is to pick up the needles – roughly 8,000 every month.

San Francisco's new mayor, London Breed, has made the issue a top priority, and is rolling out initiatives for supportive housing and rehab programs almost daily. She wants to open self-injection sites for addicts who need to shoot up.

"I want to get people off the streets that are shooting up," Breed said during her July 11 inauguration speech. "I want to get the needles off the streets."

Some blame the city’s famously liberal politics, and argue San Francisco has been too tolerant, for too long.

"I think it's time for zero-tolerance," Handlery said. "We need to stop taking a point of view that it's their right to be on the street."

San Francisco spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year trying to help an estimated 7,500 homeless people. Critics say what's needed isn't more money, but a bold, new approach. Many in the tourism industry say their bottom line depends on it.


KPIX CBS San Francisco Bay Area published on Jun 28, 2016: Wilson Walker takes a look at just how San Francisco spends millions of dollars on its homeless every year. (6/27/16)
This video news report above about where the taxpayer funding for homeless goes, how it's being allocated, is 2 years old. Millions, even BILLIONS of dollars are being budgeted by the city to remedy the homeless crisis and the city has actually managed to make the homeless crisis worse for the residents and businesses of San Francisco, just like in Los Angeles. Unbelievable. City officials need to be fired now. This is so ridiculous. My gosh, I can't even wrap my head around BILLIONS, not millions, but BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars NOT ENOUGH to end the homeless crisis. There are SO MANY state and local welfare services that already pay for housing, and food, and childcare, and medical. But city officials keep asking for more more and more taxpayer funding for a problem that city officials DELIBERATELY EXACERBATED so you would gladly VOTE YES to more taxpayer funding that has done nothing to permanently solve homeless crisis. Pretty slick eh?!?! With that kind of funding, there should not be one person living in public areas. (emphasis mine)
Unbelievably mind numbing proposal. The homelessness and feces and drug needles ALL OVER the city of San Francisco is why businesses are suffering. You keep pretending the homeless and the feces and the drug needles are not a problem. So, you look to penalize corporations that you need to stay in your town to help continue to bring in revenue that you DESPERATELY NEED to help fund city public services. Are you insane?! Apparently so. If I were these tech corporations, I would start planning my relocation to a city that encourages corporate growth pronto. Not this Marxist socialist garbage that strangles businesses every chance they get while they turn a once beautiful city into a public wasteland. (emphasis mine)
NBC San Francisco Bay Area News
written by Laura Sambol
Tuesday July 24, 2018

One of the many perks of working for most tech firms is the free food for employees. Now, San Francisco is considering banning the so-called corporate cafeterias, arguing they are hurting smaller, local shops and restaurants.

Two San Francisco Board of Supervisors introduced a ban Tuesday for any new business coming to the city. An ordinance that puts the city at odds with an industry its worked hard to attract, high tech companies.

"A lot of people who rely on the benefit aren't necessarily highly compensated engineers and it's something that a lot of tech workers depend on," said Sam Schneidman who works in San Francisco.

Supervisor Ahsha Safia says that within the past six years, 51 corporate cafes have opened in the city, offering many high tech workers breakfast, lunch and even dinner on the company dime, inside the company office.

Something that’s hit smaller, local business and restaurants.

"The backbone of any vibrant strong city is our small business, our restaurants, our cafes, our locally owned businesses," Safia said.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin along with Safia are cosponsoring a ban on corporate cafes for new businesses coming into the city, encouraging workers to go outside and frequent local businesses.

"This legislation is about a reset," said Gwyneth Borden from the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. "We're asking companies that have internal cafeterias to say ‘we want your employees to get out of the office, we want you to support our local businesses, we want you to interact and add to the cultural vibrancy of our city.'"

However, many high tech employees disagree.

"I think it's probably got its heart in the right place but I don't think it is going to achieve the desired result," said Schneidman.

The ordinance now heads to a committee for discussion.

The proposal would apply only to new companies, established corporate cafes will be grandfathered in.

KPIX5 CBS San Francisco reports July 6, 2018 that Democrat run San Francisco filled with crime, homeless, needles, and feces scares away tourist and $40M Medical Convention.
Los Angeles Times
written by Associated Press
Tuesday July 17, 2018

San Francisco voters will decide in November whether to tax large businesses to pay for homeless and housing services, an issue that set off a battle in another West Coast city struggling with income inequality.

The city elections department verified Monday that supporters had collected enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot. It would raise about $300 million a year — doubling what San Francisco spends on homelessness — for more shelter beds and housing for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming so.

The money would come from an average half-percent tax increase on companies' revenue above $50 million each year.

Homelessness is a major problem in San Francisco, as well as other cities on the West Coast with growing numbers of high-paying tech jobs that price lower-income residents out of a shrinking housing supply. San Francisco's new mayor, London Breed, vowed to clear the streets of its tent camps within a year of taking office.

"I think the city is really ready for this," said Christin Evans, a San Francisco small-business owner and one of three petitioners on the measure. "We have a lot of momentum behind us, and more than a majority of the voting population is renters. We're polling very well."

Seattle leaders last month repealed a tax on large employers that was meant to fund homelessness services after Amazon pushed back.

But south of San Francisco, Mountain View's City Council got a measure on the November ballot asking voters to authorize a tax on Google and other companies with employees in the Silicon Valley city.

It's unclear which companies in San Francisco would be affected and how hard by the additional tax on gross receipts. Jim Lazarus, senior vice president of public policy for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, estimates that up to 1,000 businesses generate more than $50 million a year.

The companies could include Twitter, which declined to comment Monday. Other companies that could be affected, such as Uber, pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Corp., Google, Apple and Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.

Other businesses that could be affected include department stores, supermarkets, law firms and clothing makers such as Levi Strauss & Co., Lazarus said. The chamber will likely oppose the measure.

Marc Benioff, founder and chief executive of cloud-computing company Salesforce, has urged others in the tech community to help address the city's problems with homelessness.

The city's largest tech employer said in a statement that it has given more than $4 million to the cause and that it is "evaluating the potential ballot measure to carefully assess its merits in addressing this important issue."

San Francisco voters last month also approved an increase in the gross receipts tax on commercial buildings and warehouses to fund universal child care.

The upcoming ballot measure is backed by a coalition that includes homelessness and gay rights groups. Up to half of the money raised would go toward permanent housing, from rental subsidies to new housing. Up to a quarter would go toward mental health services.

Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University, says it is likely to pass unless political leaders band together to block it.

"I suspect that local companies don't have the same kind of relationship to the political establishment as they do in Seattle," he said. "There's no Amazon here. It's not like a company town."

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