Worse yet, the DA and supes were on board with not prosecuting crimes, so the police stopped arresting people since they'd be out on the street in a short time anyway. People would claim people are poor and don't have money and SF is expensive to that absolves their crimes --the thing is poor people, by and large, are not thieves. The thieves are professional crews. And then, criticism of a DA not prosecuting crime, you know, their job, was met with accusations of being "right-wing," and it still is, though fewer people believe that take anymore. A new supe, who believes in prosecuting crime, Joel Engardio, is, at times, accused of being right wing, despite being a normal democrat. It's nuts.

This is the correct answer. I (and many others) used to work near there. That mall wasn’t very useful and located on the edge of Union Square and a rough neighborhood. Reduce foot traffic from office dwellers by 50% and you basically kill Union Square retail. Drop tourism by however much that’s fallen and that’s the end of your mall. The dystopian takes are overblown, but the city needs a plan for a world with fewer people working along Market Street.