Iconic SF business slams city's “abject disregard for civilized conduct”

In an open letter to Gov. Newsom and SF's mayor and city supervisors, 165-year-old luxury retailer Gump's criticizes “failed public policies” that encourage public drug use, sidewalk encampments, and behaviors like harassment and property damage. The Globe reports on Gump's' plea for sensible, well-enforced anti-crime ordinances.

Gump’s is a luxury American home furnishings and home décor retailer, founded in 1861 in San Francisco, California. Except today, Gump’s is under siege. Homeless drug addicts, thievery, ramifications of COVID policies, harassment of the public and the defiled city streets, together with bumbling incompetent city leadership, the company just published a full page letter warning they may have to close if the city doesn’t immediately reassess its “failed public policies.”

“San Francisco now suffers from a ‘tyranny of the minority’ —behavior and actions of the few that jeopardize the livelihood of the many. [Edited to quote more of the letter: The ramifications of COVID policies advising people to abandon their offices are only beginning to be understood. Equally devastating have been a litany of destructive San Francisco strategies, including allowing the homeless to occupy our sidewalks, to openly distribute and use illegal drugs, to harass the public and to defile the city's streets. Such abject disregard for civilized conduct makes San Francisco unlivable for its residents, unsafe for our employees, and unwelcoming to visitors from around the world....]”

Gump’s letter to San Francisco officials. (Photo: Sebastian for CA Globe)

Crime, homelessness, a lack of foot traffic, and lawlessness have plagued San Francisco’s recovery from a long COVID shutdown. And San Francisco’s elected class seems either incapable or disinterested in addressing the plague in its city.

Gump’s CEO John Chachas ended his letter assessing where the blame belongs: “But we believe failed public policies must be abandoned and a renewed focus must be brought to restore the city we all love.”

This article originally appeared in the California Globe. Read the whole thing here.

Follow Opportunity Now on Twitter @svopportunity

Image by Wikimedia Commons

Opp Now enthusiastically welcomes smart, thoughtful, fair-minded, well-written comments from our readers. But be advised: we have zero interest in posting rants, ad hominems, poorly-argued screeds, transparently partisan yack, or the hateful name-calling often seen on other local websites. So if you've got a great idea that will add to the conversation, please send it in. If you're trolling or shilling for a candidate or initiative, forget it.