Tourism has always been the lifeblood of San Francisco, but since the pandemic, the city has often struggled to bring tourists and locals back to the Bay.
On Tuesday, the city’s mayor rolled out her latest proposal to encourage everyone to rediscover the city's one-time shopping mecca.
"There's a lot of restaurants, a lot of places. Chinatown is just around the corner. It's very diverse and I really like it,” Kailee Robaina, who was visiting from Dallas, said.
But these days, the City by the Bay is still struggling to get back to its pre-pandemic days, and visitors can tell.
"It's quiet, we're staying down on Fisherman's Wharf and I went for a walk this morning and it was like a ghost town,” Sandy Richardson, visiting from Australia, said. “Nothing was open in the morning."
Since the pandemic, Mayor London Breed has been beating the drum about Union Square revitalization -- and that continued Tuesday a few blocks away at the Powell Street Turnaround.
She's proposing a bond measure that could be used to fund a renovation of Hallidie Plaza.
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It's an effort meant to attract tourists and encourage city residents to head back to what used to be a bustling shopping district.
"There has to be something for people as I said, who work here, who live here, and want to come here to play," Breed said.
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The bond measure is currently being reviewed by the board of supervisors before it can be put on the November ballot.
Proposed designs for the renovation project will be released next week.
For small business owners in the neighborhood, it could be a boost to help get more customers in the door.
One business owner said she hopes the positive reports from current visitors will also go a long way toward changing certain perceptions about the city.
"We have the same conversations with people visiting from around all over the world, all the time. It's that, they were told not to come. They were scared no to be here. They took off their jewelry before they arrived, and yet, they've had the most wonderful time. Isn't this a beautiful city,” Lauren Ellis, owner of CK Contemporary Gallery, said.
