SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – San Francisco Mayor London Breed spent the day after the election doing a little shopping while spreading the message that Chinatown is open for business.
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The neighborhood has endured a difficult few years, as evidenced by some empty storefronts and others that are boarded up. The Asian-American community has also been the target of increased racial abuse and hate crimes since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Breed said Chinatown is making a comeback and to prove the point, on Wednesday she invited the media to a shopping trip through the famed neighborhood with newly elected District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
Breed bought some bracelets and pointed out some robes that she'd heard had even been bought by Jennifer Lopez on a visit to San Francisco.
"This is a great place to buy gifts and in fact where I just came from is a great place to buy gifts of all sizes. It's really beautiful here," she said. "It's bright and it's shining and it feels good to be in the city. I'm looking forward to the holidays."
"I'm looking forward to hopefully, with a lot of new leadership and a lot of new people, getting our city back on the right track."
Part of that push has been to get people back downtown and in the city center. Breed noted that national reports of flash-mob robberies last holiday season in San Francisco may have scared away tourists and shaped Americans’ perception of the city.
"San Francisco's a beautiful place. We all know it, but we have to do more work around attracting conventions and visitors, work that we had not had to do in the past," she explained. "So there's so much work to be done and my hope is that we can focus on that work, we can focus on the future of this city."
She says retailers have told her that last year actually exceeded expectations when it came to the amount of money they brought in ahead of the holidays.
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