A new survey from the Golden Gate Restaurant Association found that only three percent of San Francisco restaurants say they were not victims of vandalism or property crime in the last month.
The organization spoke to 74 restaurants for the survey.
The city has spent over $1 million on grants for vandalism relief since 2021 but the relaxed stance on crime has left them unable to slow the damage. Nearly 800 businesses have been given grants to repair damage and clean up vandalism over the last two years.
The issue has become so pervasive that the San Francisco Police Department has an officer investigating graffiti full-time.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports, “In the last six months, San Francisco’s 311 call center received 10,000 reports of graffiti on commercial buildings and sidewalks. Overall, graffiti cleanup is one of the city’s most common service requests, yet its response rate has been slow. Public Works’ goal is to respond to graffiti requests on public property within 48 hours and on private property within 72 hours. But since 2021, the department’s ‘on-time’ response rate has been below 55%, even hitting a low of 14% in 2022.”
“The city also launched a $4 million, two-year pilot program last year to offer free graffiti abatement to businesses in certain commercial corridors,” the report added. “Restaurant owners who received vandalism grants said they were helpful but ultimately an insufficient solution to a pervasive problem.”
In 2014, the city passed Proposition 47, which made the theft of merchandise valued under $950 a misdemeanor. These crimes are almost never investigated, giving shoplifters a free pass to loot any business they want.
Vandalism isn’t the only problem in the liberal stronghold.
“Overall crime in San Francisco is slightly down this year, but certain types of violent crime are up, according to police data. Murder is up 3% to 40 murders so far. Robberies are up 16% to 2,039 robberies so far. Car thefts are up 11% to 5,038 thefts,” the Daily Wire reports.
