Have American cities really come to this?
The CEO of an outdoor clothing company is shutting down a San Francisco retail location — after just one year in the left-wing city.
Cotopaxi CEO Davis Smith outlined why the company has decided to close its Hayes Street location in a Tuesday LinkedIn post.
Smith’s LinkedIn post featured two photos of broken and boarded-up windows.
Smith further outlined a pattern of property crimes, theft, and burglaries affecting his company’s San Francisco location in a Thursday interview with KABC-TV.
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“Dozens and dozens and dozens of instances. It happens multiple times a week,” Smith said of crimes affecting the business.
The crimes began almost as soon as the clothing store opened.
“Within the first couple days of being open, we come in the morning and see that our entire front window is smashed in, and they’ve looted our store,” Smith said, according to KABC.
Smith goes on to describe a litany of crimes and robberies targeting the store.
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“Our team is terrified. They feel unsafe,” Smith said of his employees at the Hayes Street location on LinkedIn.
Even protective measures such as security guards, a locked front door and a metal security gate failed to bring a halt to the crimes.
Smith is blaming city authorities and local law enforcement for inaction in the face of the neighborhood’s condition, and closing the store until the situation improves.
“Many streets and parks are overrun with drugs, criminals, and homelessness, and local leadership and law enforcement enable it through inaction,” Smith continued.
California’s problem with homelessness and urban disorder has only increased in previous years, in spite of promises from the state’s leaders to make progress on conditions that often resemble a third-world country.
Video of a roadside in Oakland — a short drive away from San Francisco — showed seemingly endless tent encampments, with the Northern California community more closely resembling the slums of India or a bombed-out city in Ukraine.
— Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) October 17, 2022
Smith expresses his sadness at the state of San Francisco, comparing conditions in the city to a different continent.
“I grew up in Latin America and spent much of my adult life there, and I never felt this unsafe there. Something has to change in San Francisco,” the executive stated.
