REVEALED: San Francisco official behind controversial $30 ‘doom loop’ is unmasked as high-flying real estate investor – as he resigns for ‘error of judgement’ in setting up ‘satire’ trips

The San Francisco official who resigned after promoting a “doom loop” tour of the city’s downtown has been cited as a high-flying real estate investor.

The now-cancelled “Doom Loop Walking Tour” offered people the opportunity to “get up close and personal with the mischief and squalor of downtown San Francisco” for $30.

The planned hour-and-a-half “Doom and Squalor” tour of open-air drug markets, abandoned tech offices and abandoned department stores was scheduled for Saturday — and sold out — but was canceled after backlash from locals.

Alex Ludlum, 36, who was commissioner for the Community Investment and Infrastructure Committee, resigned on Monday in a defiant letter to Democratic mayor London Breed.

“The decision to organize and publicize the tour was a mistake and a profound error of judgement.

“We work every day to address the city’s challenges, and our focus remains on working to move this city forward,” the mayor’s office said.

But Ludlum claimed the tour was satire, writing, “I regret that my attempt to draw attention to the appalling street conditions and rampant crime in my neighborhood has been misinterpreted as a mockery of suffering individuals.” Satire is a bad way to address the serious issues we face as a city.

“The causes of the conditions we witness daily are not individual actors, but a wide array of policies that allow an organized, evil element to thrive in San Francisco.

The unchecked drug trade is clearly the root of our current problems… The entire downtown area will suffer until the markets are closed.”

He had only described himself as a “city commissioner” and used the username “SF Anonymous Insider” when he anonymously posted the event to EventBrite earlier this month.

The event was canceled on Friday, as Ludlum blamed the media attention and concern that his identity would be revealed.

“Unfortunately, the substantial media coverage means it’s not possible to maintain my anonymity while disclosing the tour time and meeting location,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco Board of Trustees Chairman Aaron Peskin claimed Monday that Ludlum had told him the tour was a joke gone too far.

“He indicated he meant it as ‘satire,’ for whatever that’s worth,” Peskin told SF Gate.

Ludlum is a founding member of the SoMa West Community Benefit District, where he serves as vice president of the board of directors.

He was appointed as a member of the committee by mayor Breed last year.

On Saturday, activist Del Seymour, who runs the nonprofit Code Tenderloin, took people on an “anti-doom loop” walking tour designed to showcase the area’s beauty — but even they couldn’t avoid seeing the mischief and the misery of the city’s homeless. problem.

Seymour, who regularly hosts a tour of San Francisco’s Tenderloin, led a group of 70 to 80 people, including people who had gathered to protest the original tour and some who had shown up to support it.

He told the New York Post that he viewed the original tour with derision.

“I fell out of the chair laughing at the meanness people in San Francisco have for even suggesting something like this,” Seymour said.

“This is not healthy or helpful to our people at all,” he added. “We don’t want to live in the situation we’re living in now. We want to do something about it, but you can’t help it if people knock you down.’

However, despite the positive tinge to the walk, homeless people and drug addicts were still more than visible to those who took the risk.

Visible drug use, including fentanyl, and several men and women littering the streets greeted Seymour’s tour, with the Post suggesting that “the stench of urine mixed with human and animal feces was sometimes overpowering.”

The once-bustling Union Square and downtown San Francisco are a shadow of themselves: rows of empty stores, few crowds even during busy weekend shopping days, and nearby hotels—including a massive Hilton—that fail to pay their mortgage payments. can afford.

The city has also struggled with rampant fentanyl use and fatal overdoses in recent years, heading into its deadliest year yet.

Preliminary reports show there were 346 drug overdose deaths in the city in the first five months of 2023 — an increase of more than 40 percent from the same period in 2022.

Economists have warned that the city is entering an ‘urban doom loop’ – a vicious circle of interconnected trends and forces that are plunging cities into economic and social ruin.

Widespread theft has proven to be a problem in the area lately, with a downtown Walgreens deciding to link their freezers together to deter shoplifters.

In recent months, dozens of shopkeepers announced that they would leave the city’s inner city.

Sturdy retailer Old Navy announced last month that they would be closing their flagship store in the area, becoming the latest chain to leave the city.

It comes after retail giant Nordstrom announced they were closing all of their locations in the city.

The company said it would close all remaining stores in the coming months due to San Francisco’s “changing dynamics.”

A disturbing recent report found that 95 downtown San Francisco retailers have closed their doors since the start of the COVID pandemic, a drop of more than 50 percent.

Of the 203 retailers that opened in the city’s Union Square area in 2019, only 107 are still operating, a 47 percent drop in just a few pandemic-ravaged years.