San Francisco is still encouraging remote workers to return to the struggling downtown, where there was a heavy tech presence. But now there is consideration about whether it’s time to try and draw new industries to the area.
At Ziggy’s Burgers in San Francisco, they are trying to bounce back from the pandemic and it hasn’t been easy. It’s surrounded by offices but that hasn’t provided a rush, like when tech workers were all around.
“A little bit better than before. But still not a lot of people coming because they work hybrid about two days a week,” said Osman Zughayer of Ziggy’s Burger.
The city has encouraged remote workers to return downtown. Some workers have, but the work from home trend has in many ways held on.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed is among those considering what the future could look like.
“We have this empty office space, it could be used for housing or other uses. We need to start thinking about biotech and green jobs and the future and what this means and how we evolve, how we adapt, how we prioritize the kind of industries,” she said.
Breed said that part of is outreach companies. The city is exploring existing office space to see what it would take to adapt. They’re also trying to get business to stay and points out some have even expanded.
Rufus Jeffris with the Bay Area Council said they’re partnering up for a project to look at economic strategy.
“What we are working will probably take up to five to six months. We will come up with up a series of recommendations and strategies that identifies, recognizes what those challenges are for what we can do to turn it around,” he said.
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That can include industry diversification and taking a close look at costs. But Jeffris said concerns around crime, cleanliness and homelessness are key too as the city considers the future.
