In right-wing media, San Francisco has been held up as one of the cities that shows how liberal policies mean economic doom. The California city, which has been one of the centers of the technology world, has seen its share of problems in recent years.
The city faces rampant homelessness to the extent that the problem has cut foot traffic to its downtown areas which has caused retailers to pull out of the city. Businesses including Whole Foods and Nordstrom have left the downtown area with the clothing retailer's decision leading to Westfield giving up on its once thriving mall.
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The mall operator's statement on why it decided to abandon the city, pretty much sums up the entire situation facing the city right now:
“Given the challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy, and foot traffic, we have made the difficult decision to begin the process to transfer management of the shopping center to our lender to allow them to appoint a receiver to operate the property going forward,” the company shared in June.
Those losses have been part of a growing trend, but Elon Musk has made it clear that X, the company most people know as Twitter, will keep its headquarters in San Francisco.
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Musk Leaves His Heart in San Francisco
Musk, who has feuded with California elected officials over covid policies in his capacity as Tesla (TSLA) -) CEO, expressed his loyalty to the struggling city in a post on his social media platform:
Many have offered rich incentives for X (fka Twitter) to move its HQ out of San Francisco.
Moreover, the city is in a doom spiral with one company after another left or leaving.
Therefore, they expect X will move too.
We will not.
You only know who your real friends are when the chips are down.
San Francisco, beautiful San Francisco, though others forsake you, we will always be your friend.
That's an unexpected love letter to the city from someone who has not hesitated to speak out about "woke" California policies. Musk actually moved Tesla's headquarters to Texas after he had issues with California's very strict covid policies.
Musk's Stance Surprises His Followers
The enigmatic entrepreneur's decision to publicly declare his loyalty led to thousands of his followers questioning his stance. Most weren't exactly critical, but many wondered why Musk would be loyal to a city that has not been overly supportive of him.
"Shouldn’t reward the city that hates you and penalizes you at every turn," @NuanceBro posted.
Some took a harsher, political stand.
"Sorry you lost me on this one, Elon The Democrats have turned San Francisco into the s***hole capital of America, and they keep voting for the same people over and over again, you don't reward people like that you let them live in what they created," Vince Langman shared.
Not all of Musk's followers were negative, however, some supported his stand.
"SF is a beautiful city. And it’s beautiful X headquarters will stay there. This is a wonderful thing to celebrate. You don’t change something by running away from it/abandoning it. The goodness that is in X will bring healing to SF," Gail Alfar posted.
