A San Francisco entrepreneur has condemned Mayor London Breed for downplaying crime and homelessness during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
Tom Wong claimed she temporarily cleared the city for the summit before things returned to normal when officials left.
He told FOX&Friends drug dealers and homeless people were back on the streets within a day of the end of the conference last Friday.
Wong said: ‘It’s terrible. I just drove through the Tenderloin, and it’s just a lot of drug heads, drug dealers, and they’re all gone, they’re all around.
“It’s crime-ridden… drugs everywhere. There are needles everywhere. There’s shit everywhere again.’
Tom Wong (pictured), a San Francisco business owner, criticized Mayor London Breed on Tuesday for downplaying crime and homelessness
Overwhelming criticism came shortly after Mayor Breed insisted the city has made progress in the fight against homelessness and crime in recent years.
California Governor Gavin Newsom admitted ahead of the summit that the cleanup was only done to give a good impression to the visiting world leaders.
It comes after Mayor Breed claimed the city had made progress in its fight against crime in recent years.
She said: ‘If you look at the data on what has happened to our crime rates over the last five years, they show a decline.’
She defended the city’s reputation during ABCs ‘This week’ on Sunday and says the improvements include ‘car break-ins, burglaries and other challenges that people are talking about’.
San Francisco held the APEC summit last week, drawing more than 20,000 attendees, including President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In the span of a few days, the city cleared seven intersections in the notorious Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods — a decision that California Governor Gavin Newsom defended ahead of the APEC summit.
The cleanup efforts left several flooded hotspots virtually unrecognizable, leaving many wondering why similar efforts had not been made sooner.
Newsom explained how officials had “raised the bar” on the condition of the city’s streets after completing a $312 million taxpayer-funded beautification project that created dozens of new parks across California.
Appearing alongside Mayor Breed and other officials, Newsom admitted that the cleanup efforts were only done to give a good impression to the visiting world leaders.
He said, “I know people say, ‘Oh, they’re just cleaning this place up because all these fancy leaders are coming to town.’
“That’s true, because it’s true – but it’s also true that we had conversations for months and months and months leading up to APEC.”
In the span of a few days, the city cleared seven intersections in the notorious Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods — a decision California Governor Gavin Newsom defended ahead of the APEC summit
The area outside the building was considered the largest of all the city’s open-air drug markets after it suddenly sprung up earlier this year. Normally between 50 and 100 dealers are active on the streets every day, usually fearlessly and in broad daylight
The cleanup has left several crime hotspots virtually unrecognizable, leaving many wondering why similar efforts weren’t undertaken sooner
San Francisco officials are confronted by a camp resident on Saturday during their cleanup efforts, which many later thought was just for show.
Despite officials’ claims that the cleanup was not temporary, business owner Wong said the crime-ridden city was back to its original form this week.
“It’s less than 24 hours and it’s the same again,” Wong said.
“It’s just a shell game. Hide the homeless. The dignitaries are here, and if the cameras are on, hide it and turn all the way to the left so you don’t see the deplorable state the city is in.’
“They just need to face up to their failed policies, and we want something that solves our homelessness, our crime problem, our drug problems,” he added.
Robberies are up 14 percent so far this year in the Golden Gate City, where Mayor London Breed last month demanded 18 percent cuts to next year’s police budget.
According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the number of reported drug overdose deaths in the first nine months of the year was 620, compared to 540 during the same period in 2020.
And the city stands to lose $200 million a year in revenue from the exodus of businesses, which has driven major hotels and retailers to flee the city center.
Robberies are up 14 percent so far this year in the Golden Gate City, where Mayor London Breed last month demanded 18 percent cuts to next year’s police budget
According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the number of reported drug overdose deaths in the first nine months of the year was 620, compared to 540 in the same period in 2020
The Czech TV crew who were robbed at gunpoint after flying to San Francisco to cover the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit met with Mayor London Breed
Journalist Bohumil Vostal and his colleagues were attacked by three masked men outside the well-known City Lights bookstore at 5 p.m. on Sunday
Last week, a Czech television crew covering the summit was held at gunpoint and robbed of their equipment.
Journalist Bohumil Vostal and his colleagues were filming outside the well-known City Lights bookstore at 5 p.m. on Sunday when three masked men attacked them.
“They came at my cameraman with a gun pointed at his stomach and one at my head,” Vostal told The San Francisco Chronicle.
Vostal said the equipment was worth $18,000, and they also lost an entire day’s worth of footage.
“I’m one of the many people who read ‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac, and I was so looking forward to visiting your city,” he said, adding that they had been having a fantastic day up until that point.
Vostal and his crew had taken photos of the Painted Ladies in Alamo Square; interviewed gallery owner Jonathan Carver Moore; and met with community figures in the Transgender District near South of Market and the Tenderloin, he told the newspaper.
Vostal’s camera operator went to Best Buy to purchase replacement equipment, and on Monday morning Breed met with Vostal to apologize.
“All the people in San Francisco almost blame themselves, like they have so much regret for something they didn’t do,” he said.