San Francisco mayor slammed for downplaying crime: 'Has to own up to her failure'
San Francisco business owner Tom Wong joined 'FOX & Friends First' to discuss why he believes London Breed is lying to residents as crime and homelessness continue to spiral.
A longtime owner of multiple businesses in San Francisco condemned local leaders for failing to keep the city safe for small businesses.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Mark Sackett has owned a "South of Market building with a printmaker, antiques shop and events venue called the Box SF for almost two decades" but now faces "financial ruin because he’s been unable to refinance a $2.5 million mortgage due in February." As a result, his building is allegedly scheduled to be auctioned "at a massive loss" in January, as he anticipates his other businesses will be forced to close, as well.
"Sackett blames widespread drug use, violence and filthy streets in the neighborhood for his inability to address his loan. Since the pandemic, the area has fallen to the worst condition Sackett has ever experienced," the outlet reported.
While 30 lenders have declined to help refinance his businesses, Sackett recounted that six of them explicitly stated that they "are not making commercial real estate loans in San Francisco due to the state of the city."
A woman appears to be defecating in a bus shelter on the streets of San Francisco on April 14. Homelessness and crime continue to plague the city’s Tenderloin District. (Flight Risk for Fox News Digital)
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The Chronicle painted a grim picture of criminality surrounding Sackett's area.
"Next door is a drug sobering center that opened last year, and Sackett said people will smoke fentanyl at his building’s loading dock," it reported. "He said his staff used pepper spray on four people trying to break in, and last year, someone attacked him with a knife. A window is currently broken, and he will have to pay around $4,000 to replace it."
Meanwhile, Sackett has tried to beautify the area by using a city grant to commission a mural and adding planters. However, the area continued to be littered with needles and feces.
Sackett blames city leadership, saying they have failed to help.
"They don’t even return my calls," he said. "They care about bike lanes, nonprofits, safe injection sites. ... They have just ignored small business."
A homeless encampment is seen on a sidewalk in San Francisco on Sept. 2. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents the district, recalled that the city’s problems have significantly worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic, "especially in terms of the number of shelter-in-place hotels here, and the myriad public safety challenges attributable to open-air drug markets and public drug use." He added that while he is "optimistic" about some progress in the neighborhood, "for too many businesses like Mark’s, we’re just not recovering fast enough."
Sackett estimates that he’s lost nearly $250,000 in revenue this year because of cancelations or clients declining to book events at his venue, and he said that clients have declined to book events because they suspect the neighborhood is too dangerous.
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The local business owner noted the irony that the city appears to restrict business owners more than homeless people.
"I can put a tent in front of someone’s front door and sleep... but the city comes after me for ADA compliance," he said.