Downtown San Francisco Whole Foods Closing a Year After Opening

https://sfstandard.com/business/downtown-san-francisco-whole-foods-market-closing/

by oldschoolib • 3 years ago

97 158 3 years ago

daydream• 3 years ago

Really does feel like a “doom loop” for San Francisco. Who will write the definitive book on how everything went downhill over the past 10 or so years? Michael Lewis would entertaining. Or maybe it’s a job for Matt Levine? Who else?

jbm4• 3 years ago

I read Sanfransicko, and thought it was interesting (although not completely convincing). It did help me create a mental framework to understand what happened in North America as a whole while I lived abroad.

I definitely would be interested in seeing all of the missed opportunities and failures in prioritization; that would require a reflective insider, which seems unlikely in the near term future.

jquery9• 3 years ago

I really hope you didn't take the book that seriously.

Shellenberger's central thesis is that addiction, mental illness, and "disaffiliation" are the primary causes of homelessness. However, this oversimplified view ignores the complex interplay of factors such as affordable housing shortages, job loss, and systemic inequalities that contribute to the problem. By focusing solely on progressive policies, Shellenberger turns a blind eye to the broader socio-economic context that has given rise to homelessness in the Bay Area.

The book's methodology is highly suspect. Shellenberger relies heavily on secondhand accounts and outdated ethnographic studies while failing to engage with the current experiences of homeless individuals. This glaring omission undermines the credibility of his analysis and reveals a lack of empathy for those affected by the issue.

Shellenberger's penchant for exaggeration and misrepresentation further erodes his argument. He is quick to criticize progressive approaches such as harm reduction and housing first policies but offers little in the way of evidence-based alternatives. Instead, he proposes vaguely authoritarian solutions that betray a deep-seated ideological bias.

Ultimately, the book's distorted portrayal of homelessness serves only to fan the flames of the culture wars.

hezralig4• 3 years ago

Who would have thought optimizing for techies, implementing a monoculture of sorts, would be bad for a city.

I recall headlines of restaurants struggling to find cooks due to the cost of rent + commuting being too prohibitive for service workers of the city.

Who knows, maybe this "death-loop" is actually healthy for the longterm well-being of the city.

morkalork2• 3 years ago

Maybe the city could implement some sort of "Sanctuary District", a walled-off ghetto that is used to contain the poor, the sick, the mentally disabled, and anyone else who cannot support themselves. It would be right on schedule for 2024.

hezralig4• 3 years ago

I get the reference to DS9, however, that isn't really describing a solution to the issues San Francisco is facing at the moment.

Fauntleroy2• 3 years ago

The Tenderloin?

earthboundkid• 3 years ago

https://bellriots.netlify.app/

ehnto• 3 years ago

Japan has somewhat of a "sanctuary district" in Sanya, Tokyo, it's been an area for those left behind for a long time as I understand it.

People in need tend to congregate around help services provided by the city, and Sanya has a lot of those services. It is unclear if homeless are "moved" to Sanya or if it is just a natural place for them to end up, because of the mentioned services. Housing, food and vending machines are also extra cheap in Sanya.

The situation for homeless Americans is a lot more dire than living in Sanya, from an outsiders perspective. I don't envy having to sleep in SF streets.

jquery9• 3 years ago

More ideas:

Launch a "Gentrification Relocation Program" for the ultra-rich, where they're given an all-expenses-paid trip to Mars, solving Earth's issues one rocket at a time.

Create a "Homeless-themed Escape Room" to help tech bros gain empathy and understanding of the struggles faced by the less fortunate, all while working on their team-building skills.

Establish "Adopt-a-Billionaire" initiatives where the homeless can select a wealthy patron to support their journey towards self-sufficiency, with the added bonus of receiving personalized financial advice.

Develop a "Homeless Monopoly" board game that highlights the systemic barriers faced by those in poverty, with bonus spaces for empathy-challenged players to experience unexpected setbacks and financial ruin.

Initiate a "Hunger Games: Empathy Edition" competition where participants are placed in a simulated environment of scarcity and adversity, forcing them to confront their lack of understanding and support for the less fortunate.

ReptileMan2• 3 years ago

To be fair what to do with unwanted and un-integratable people in society is a question that has currently no good answer.

Unfortunately George Carlin's idea on the matter seems to be hard to implement. But is still the best proposed solution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqZBXxuT9aE

crooked-v2• 3 years ago

Who will write the definitive book on how everything went downhill over the past 10 or so years?

I feel like most of that would just be 200 pages of saying "And then, San Francisco didn't allow enough housing to be built." over and over.

fnordpiglet11• 3 years ago

I figured it would be 200 pages of “and that’s a result of Reagan’s drive to shut down public mental health”

I very much doubt the visible homeless problem is a result of housing - the iceberg is a result of housing. The visible homeliness wouldn’t be solved if rent were half - that doesn’t treat schizophrenia

option4• 3 years ago

Have you read San Fransicko by Michael Shellenberger?

ncr100• 3 years ago

Only 1,500 police in SFPD? How does this even work?

What's the minimum number of officers per capita in a major city?

bombcar2• 3 years ago

https://www.governing.com/archive/police-officers-per-capita...

Looks like between 15-20 cops per 10k. 800k would be right around 1500.

HWR_143• 3 years ago

1,537 police in San Fransisco is a bit below average per capita, but not dramatically so. It's goal of 2,100 officers puts it about equal to the nationwide average.

There may be a non-linear relationship. It's 1/2 the ratio as NYC.

Please remember that the legal city of SF is quite small, compared to the area you think of as SF.

srshearer• 3 years ago

The city and the county are both the same 7x7 mile area comprising the top of the peninsula.

taxyz3• 3 years ago

I'm not sure if that national average is a good benchmark or not (maybe there is some sort of argument for how urbanized society has become) but my guess would be that there is some density factor. SF is something like 850k people pre-pandemic on 49 square miles. While it's not one of the biggest in absolute amount of people, it is the second(?) densest. I would suspect that a city of same population but 1/4 density would not need the same amount of cops.

update: I am guessing this is what your non-linear part is about; I missed that on first read.

1letterunixname6• 3 years ago

East of Chinatown is an interesting area. About 10 years about, the cops there had a pleasant way about them. They're still pigs and monopolize violence unequally, largely for whoever lives highest on Nob Hill or The Presidio. I bet they're glad they're not certain LA cops who are effectively unpaid UberEats for some residents.

mhb• 3 years ago

A new paper, The Injustice of Under-Policing, makes a point that I have been emphasizing for many years, namely, relative to other developed countries the United States is under-policed and over-imprisoned.

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/08/st...

tzs• 3 years ago

There is a table of fairly recent per capita numbers for the 50 largest US cities in the article: https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/09/28/portland-ranks-48th-am...

ilrwbwrkhv3• 3 years ago

Violent people who have mental health issues need to be in mental asylums. This country doesn't work if lunatics and sociopaths run downtown of our most valuable cities.

hezralig4• 3 years ago

San Francisco had more rates of violence and crime in the 80s than it has now.

ilrwbwrkhv3• 3 years ago

Not downtown and in crowded areas. Let the zodiac killer kill in the shadows. From San Francisco to Vancouver this menace is taking over cities.

crooked-v2• 3 years ago

The same holds for every big city in the US, in fact. The numbers line up pretty closely with the gradual ban of leaded gasoline starting in 1973.

treeman79• 3 years ago

90s was all about getting tough on crime. Crime rates dropped a lot. Now it’s soft on crime and rates are raising.

ed25519FUUU2• 3 years ago

Clearly there’s more to the content and substance of the crime in 1980s versus what SF is experiencing today even if the charts say it’s declining.

nlh• 3 years ago

I hate to break it to you, but sociopaths run far more than the downtown of our most valuable cities...

ilrwbwrkhv3• 3 years ago

I don't care if there is a secret dark sociopath cabal in Bilderberg or if Twitter is going down the drain.

All I ask is in our western cities can I walk without getting stabbed?

Can I not have to hear some random maniac screaming or have to divert around someone urinating?

Is that too much to ask?

We have collectively lost our minds. These nutcases need to be forcefully removed and then incarcerated in asylums.

golemotron2• 3 years ago

The governor of California is starting an initiative to go to other states and lecture them about how poorly they are serving their citizens. It boggles the mind.

option4• 3 years ago

btw, he used to be SF mayor before. Homelessness increased under his watch.

muglug2• 3 years ago

As the article mentions, SF needs to do some large-scale rezoning to avoid a gutted downtown.

The city's approach to drug use probably doesn't help, but the pandemic-motivated downturn in foot traffic is the most obvious culprit.

option4• 3 years ago

SF should start by closing open air drug scenes, arresting dealers and not subsidizing drug addiction.

jmatthews• 3 years ago

out of curiosity, why is this comment being voted down? It seems reasonable, is there more to it?

nzoschke• 3 years ago

Agreed about pandemic affecting downtown being the man culprit.

I wager SF was affected harder more than most downtowns due to high commercial rents, tons of startups that were nimble and moved, and lots of progressive big companies that are actually adapting to WFH reasonably well.

I wish commercial rents would drop significantly and more mixed use was permitted for new galleries, bars, clubs and residential.

I personally have hope SF will figure it out. It’s a town of constant change.

muglug2• 3 years ago

I wager SF was affected harder more than most downtowns due to high commercial rents, tons of startups that were nimble and moved, and lots of progressive big companies that are actually adapting to WFH reasonably well.

Yeah, though I think it doesn't help that downtown SF has relatively low population density compared to downtown Manhattan. When the return-to-office plans started to kick in there weren't a ton of workers with very short commutes who were eager to be back in-office.

apsurd4• 3 years ago

San Francisco is the gold rush town. everyone comes to strike it rich. That includes the mentally ill, addicts, and unsheltered.

It's a crazy city isn't it. Please be kind. if everyone wants something and SF is the open place you go to get it, well it's a clusterfuck of people as is the reality of a clusterfuck of people.

My friend told me once, about USA that of course it's a massive shit show. We put it on the front door that we want everyone, and so we have to deal with... everyone. All races, religions, idealogies oh dear. and then people say how lovely Sweden is. i mean it is lovely, but it's a little easier to be lovely when everyone looks acts and believes all the same things in all the same ways.

I just don't want you to trash SF like it should be something for you to extract what you want from it. if you have bad things to say about SF, give us your energy to represent change. if you're doing that from Texas because "well fuck taxes" than you're just a transaction. and you're mean.

banku_brougham• 3 years ago

how do you follow users on this site?

option4• 3 years ago

no, one can have a functioning government, police and basic public safety in a city with huge tax base most can only dream of.

ed25519FUUU2• 3 years ago

Is this also your theory on why there is such a problem with homelessness in Portland?

lambdasquirrel• 3 years ago

The homeless folks in Portland weren’t as violent as the folks in SF, by my memory.

I don’t like a lot of what the parent post says but I think we should consider that there’s a grain of truth somewhere in it.

apsurd4• 3 years ago

For that id say it's the simplest explanation: warm weather. so all west coast has it harder with unsheltered.

cities that are more progressive, like portland, sign themselves up for the worst of it, yes!

fwiw im a socal native, and not all west coast cities have unsheltered problems. but the solution is obvious: have no regard for human life. Irvine, Ca is "so safe" and pristine and lovely because it expels the riff raff outside of its borders.

out of sight out of mind

hindsightbias• 3 years ago

Curiously, this is where all the early techbros who couldn’t afford SF moved to and bought homes.

twelve403• 3 years ago

fwiw a bigger fraction of people who live in Sweden were born outside the country than in the US

Juicyy• 3 years ago

Thats not a good argument when you take the fact that Sweden has the same population as Michigan.

fwiw more swedish people live in the US than in Sweden.

strken• 3 years ago

So does Australia: 28% to the US 27%. I've also lived in SF before, and most of the junkies and crazy people had US accents. I really doubt it's international immigration that's the problem there.

b5n• 3 years ago

San Fran is just reverting back to San Fran pre tech bro era, and the gentrimmigrants are baffled.

It's interesting to see so much 'the city is changing' type messaging when this is just how San Fran has always been.

Thanks for your stay, we hope you had a good time. Try not to get stabbed or shot on your way out.

taxyz3• 3 years ago

Grew up in the area and lived in SF for years. I, too, hated all those good paying jobs coming into the city bringing in all those people who were annoyed by our crime and shit-on-the-street ways! We really need to keep anyone out if where they currently live has inferior economic opportunities, amirite?

On the real though, this pining for SF's old status quo because it fulfilled some weird grunge fantasy is just getting old. Yeah SF was a grimy, shitty, somewhat cheap place to live filled with equally shitty art and crap bands. It was shitty all the way from the 1960's until the early 90's when a homeless guy wandered in the TV repair shop we were at in the mission and pulled a knife and me and my brother while my dad was at the counter. Maybe it was great before then and maybe a lot of the people there want it to be better. Sorry if you don't get what you want.

Bee Tee Dubs, bro, people from or who live in SF don't call it San Fran.

proc0• 3 years ago

I lived there around 2005, only the mission and tenderloin where remotely dangerous to what seems to be 80% of the city now. I'm pretty sure there have been tangible changes to how the city is managed. Most cities didn't get this problem after the pandemic so that can't be the only factor. Regardless "reverting back" is not a good sign.

jquery9• 3 years ago

"gentrimmigrants", may I borrow that?

bgirard• 3 years ago

Not being familiar at all with the situation in SF these days, is this really the reason for closure?

I've noticed a pattern of using whatever convenient trendy excuse (crime in SF) for leadership to avoid stating the real reason that might cause them to be accountable for a bad decision (perhaps a low grossing store due to poor location market-fit analysis). I'm quite skeptical now when reading these trendy rationalizations.

echelon2• 3 years ago

I just flew to SF to meet and hire folks in AI.

The first week I was here my former CTO was murdered.

Now there's some guy outside my hotel that's screaming at the top of his lungs between 3 and 7 AM every night. Nobody is stopping it.

At least I haven't heard any gunshots, which is the norm in my home city (Atlanta).

hammyhavoc2• 3 years ago

As a Brit: America is a big and scary place.

majormajor2• 3 years ago

Where in Atlanta is that?

jbm4• 3 years ago

I remember taking the train to the hotel from the airport when I worked at Heroku.

At one station, two kids were fighting and one threw the other into the train. No one at the station did anything. I was coming from Tokyo and the scene was so insane that I could only sit and record a video. Like I felt physically unable to move beyond bringing my phone up and hitting the record button.

I still watch the video sometimes and wonder if I should have done something.

Fauntleroy2• 3 years ago

It's actually that bad. In basically any urban area of the Bay Area you're likely to see and interact with _violent_ mentally ill homeless people. It's worst in San Francisco, specifically in that area of town, despite it being the main street of the city.

blindriver3• 3 years ago

Last week, a drug-addicted homeless woman gave birth to a baby on the street in SF like an animal. It's worse than a 3rd world country in SF these days.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/woman-gives-birth-on-san-francisco...

jquery9• 3 years ago

It's disheartening to hear such stories, but generalizing San Francisco based on isolated events is unfair. Like any city, SF faces challenges like homelessness and substance abuse. Instead of making comparisons, let's acknowledge the ongoing efforts to address these issues and work together to foster positive change...

pikma• 3 years ago

This is horrible. I see horrible scenes in the city streets on a regular basis but seeing the picture of this poor tiny little baby on the pavement hit me hard.

throwawayacc5• 3 years ago

That is one of the most horrifying videos I've seen in quite some time.

pengaru• 3 years ago

Here's a youtube link for the same video, if you'd rather not visit a FOX affiliate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a5L4DpXheg

rdtsc2• 3 years ago

That’s so terrible. When I visited San Francisco I was expecting a beautiful city, architecture, the hills, nature. But I was just saddened by seeing the homeless. They were in pain, suffering, some nodding of, some drinking and crying into their drinks. The whole city had an aura of sad desperation. None of the beautiful architecture or nature could make up for it. I couldn’t wait to escape from there.

1letterunixname6• 3 years ago

Poverty porn is disgusting. Instead of helping by calling an ambulance, spectators taking videos of it to publicly shame individuals and give fodder for voyeurs to look down on the poor.

Inhumane conditions aren't unique to SF. Sacramento, Chico, San Jose, Oakland, and LA. These also aren't unique to California.

NYC, PDX, SEA, ATX.. take your pick. Same shit, different city.

grandmczeb3• 3 years ago

I used to shop there all the time - crime was a massive issue. And not just shoplifting either, pretty much every employee I talked to either had been physically assaulted or knew someone who had been.

I've noticed a pattern of using whatever convenient trendy excuse (crime in SF) for leadership to avoid stating the real reason

Interesting, because I’ve noticed a trend of people bending themselves into pretzels to avoid starting that crime is an issue.

tetete• 3 years ago

Lived in the city for 7 years. Visited recently and made me sad. It is a shell of its former self.

baron816• 3 years ago

I live about two blocks from the WF location in the article. I went there yesterday for the first time in a few months. I would like to be able to walk there and pick up groceries, but it’s very intimidating to do so. You have to keep your head on a swivel to stay safe. The anxiety and paranoia is not worth the convenience. I’ve never seen anything really major happen when walking over there, but the store is usually empty when I go, so I’m sure they’re just hurting because no one wants to go there.

grandmczeb3• 3 years ago

That corner is well known as one of the worst in the city. The first time I ever saw someone OD in person was directly across the street - dude was slumped over in the classic fentanyl lean when I went in, and by the time I came out there was another homeless man yelling at people asking for narcan. Bunch of dealers (who I assume sold it to him) standing right by his body too, looking super nonchalant. Pretty surreal experience.

schoen• 3 years ago

I think two blocks away, at 6th and Market, is sometimes thought to be scarier.

Although that same corner where the Whole Foods was was the first place I saw someone openly injecting heroin on the street while other people were watching (while the Trinity Place building was under construction a few years ago).

There are a lot of weird and intense juxtapositions right over there.

minimaxir• 3 years ago

I lived at Trinity Place when it first went up a decade ago and I was far more afraid of 6th and Market than 8th and Market.

seanp2k27• 3 years ago

All the areas around the BART stations are very sketchy now too. Mission St is even worse than it was a decade ago. We used to hang out in SF all the time, taking BART in, which was nice as we didn’t have to worry about parking and all the homies from around the bay could just jump on and meet up in SF. No one wants to do this anymore because every time riding BART is a thrilling experience of “is this dude going to stab us or is he just trying to smoke something?”, then the stations are like a round of Left 4 Dead. I love the Bay Area and really want to see this fixed, and it’s been extremely frustrating watching it get worse. Also frustrating are all these companies demanding that folks come back into the office, for no discernible reason aside from making good use of their overpriced commercial real estate.

readthenotes1• 3 years ago

The first time? Again, news from San Francisco is written by Tim Powers...

exogeny• 3 years ago

It's annoying that so many comments, depending on your tribe, try to pin the problem on one thing. Oh, it's because they're soft on crime. Oh, it's because Reagan shut down the mental health support system. And on and on.

The answer is: yes. It's all of these things. And all of the partisan, it-wasn't-us bickering gets us absolutely nowhere.

More housing needs to be built. Rezone everything. Hire more police, bring back beat work. Prosecute quality of life crimes. Commit those who are too mentally ill, or too addicted to proactively seek help on their own.

jquery9• 3 years ago

While the closing of a major supermarket like Whole Foods in Downtown San Francisco is certainly concerning, I think it's important to maintain a balanced perspective and not jump to conclusions about a "doom loop" for the entire city. Urban environments are dynamic, and they undergo cycles of growth, decline, and revitalization. San Francisco is no exception.

The pandemic has unquestionably changed the way we work and live, causing a shift in foot traffic patterns and affecting local businesses. However, we should also consider that this particular store might have faced unique challenges, such as its location in a neighborhood grappling with increased drug use and crime. It's possible that the company's decision to close the store is more a reflection of those specific circumstances rather than an indicator of a broader downward spiral for San Francisco.

The closure of this Whole Foods store is undoubtedly a loss for the community, but it should not be interpreted as an inevitable sign of a citywide "doom loop." Instead, let's focus on finding innovative solutions to tackle the challenges faced by the city and work towards a more vibrant and resilient San Francisco.

photochemsyn• 3 years ago

A lot of people point to 'crime rates in SF are not noticeably high' but one of the reasons for that is that everyone who lives in the zone knows to avoid the worst areas at the worst times, and there are a lot of bad times and bad areas. If average people were walking around these areas frequently, crime rates would be much higher.

This is of course really bad for local businesses. And yes, a certain fraction of the homeless population needs managed care in controlled facilities until they recover, but neither the city nor the state nor the federal government wants to pay for that. Practically, that means there are areas of the city where homeless are ignored, and areas where they are chased out. If homeless people show up and start acting out in Pacific Heights etc., the cops do show up... it's just policing for the wealthy in that respect.

However, much of the rest of the city is really no different than anywhere else, but for some reason there's an epidemic of opiate use down around that Mid-Market area and that's also where the worst of the mental illness episodes seem to take place, i.e. people screaming their heads off at all hours for no apparent reason. It's too bad, for some years that whole zone was seeing an economic boom and was getting a bit nicer.

The shitty drivers are really the greatest threat to public safety across the rest of the city at present, something about the end of the pandemic has turned drivers into imbeciles it seems. (Homicides are about twice the level of auto-related deaths, but the reckless and drunk drivers are everywhere, not concentrated in the worst areas).

I suppose the organized gun-armed gangs of smash-and-grab car thieves targeting the tourist zones are part of the problem, in their nice cars with the removable license plates, but the cops are apparently too worried about their image to do anything about that. Bait cars could be an option, but then they might have to shoot somebody, which would be bad PR. Their mentality seems to be, "why risk it?"

1letterunixname6• 3 years ago

It's not about crime or no crime, safety or unsafety, or even appearance of such.

It's lifting the veil on a fundamentally thoughtless, greedy society that refuses to effectively care for or help hungry people who have nothing.

corbulo2• 3 years ago

No city symbolizes that more than SF, followed by LA

leet_thow• 3 years ago

What are you doing personally to care for and help the hungry? Please share so that others may get involved.

RickJWagner• 3 years ago

As someone living in a central US state, the idea of a 'zone' to avoid seems amazingly bad.

ReptileMan2• 3 years ago

That physical safety is non-negotiable requirement of the public is a lesson that have to be relearned every generation it seems.

golemotron2• 3 years ago

San Francisco would be a lot better if they just made crime illegal.

colpabar• 3 years ago

The homeless problem would go away too if they would just redefine "homeless" to mean something else.

AmericanOP• 3 years ago

The problem will persist until there is a major shift in local norms for policing and law enforcement.

A segment of the homeless can not be reached by social programs, and crime tourism is rampant.

The unspoken deal is law enforcement doesn't have to put themselves at risk for performative arrests, and the wider Bay Area doesn't have people pushed outwards from the city.

gotoeleven2• 3 years ago

OK ok so maybe the free needles thing isn't working. The problem is that while the needles may be free, the drugs are not and how are you supposed to get money for drugs if you're on drugs? So I think what we should do is not just make the needles free, but pay people to take the needles so that they have money to buy drugs. This will reduce harm because people won't have to exert themselves by collecting cans or menacing tourists or stabbing asians to earn money.

rdtsc2• 3 years ago

Dorsey announced he will introduce new legislation with Supervisor Catherine Stefani to amend the City Charter and get the Police Department fully staffed within five years.

The implication is it will fix things and then maybe businesses will return. But why did they tear it down and reduce staffing to start with? What did they expect to happen? Can’t imagine as soon as COVID hit they said “no need to worry about crime anymore, let all these officers go”.

Then what was Whole Foods thinking? Shouldn’t they have done some kind of study to analyze that particular area before opening a “flagship” location there just a year ago?

I guess it could have been a case where everyone in the decision chain might have see the train wreck coming but nobody wanted to raise their hand and object. The only way out is to let the train wreck happen. That wouldn’t be too outlandish, I’ve seen similar things happen.

1letterunixname6• 3 years ago

The crazy unrealists, who are cool with anarchy and looting, and aren't liberals in either a Haight-Ashbury or academic sense. They're pushing SF down the road to a predictable backlash of what neither Nixon nor Roger Ailes (Fox News) could accomplish: sell out their own beliefs for neuvo beliefs. Like WTF, man? You don't have to billy club shampoo people or roll MRAPs to stop mass looting. Some of the coolest cops in the world walk the literal beat past Vesuvio Cafe.

When people are fucking starving, fucking feed them.

When people are fucking homeless, fucking house them.

When too many people are fucking broke, raise taxes on the rich and aid the less fortunate more.

Nowhere else besides the most unequal countries in the world have such desperate poverty. And the gross mismanagement and lack of funding in proportion to the scale of problem.

I can speak first-hand on this issue because I experienced a period of about 8 years of semi-homelessness in the SF Bay Area. Except for SF due to compactness, there is essentially no proactive aid to street people. Aid is paltry, requires stacks of paperwork, regular wasted time, and treatment like a presumed criminal. An individual has to be essentially disabled AND unemployed/unemployable in order to receive a tiny amount of cash and a slight bit more that can only be spent on food but only at certain shops.

jxramos• 3 years ago

Whole Foods Market 222 Google reviews Located in: UN Plaza Address: 1185 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Never knew about this location, I have to say wow that was pretty bold of them opening in UN Plaza. Nice gigantic development at Trinity Place. Interesting to see the page is still up https://www.trinitysf.com/whole-foods/

Downtown San Francisco Whole Foods Closing a Year After Opening

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