Store Closings and Empty Store Fronts in San Francisco and Oakland. Is Toronto at an Earlier Stage of Downtown Blight But On a Similar Path?

[MrPrezident]

Some local San Francisco residents blame store closings and now empty buildings on bike lanes, elimination of parking spaces, higher rents and taxes, and workers at remote locations instead of at downtown offices. Is Toronto at an earlier stage of decline but following similar policies that eventually led to this blight and crime?

I look at King St and Bloor St and major parts of Yonge St since the bike lanes and flower pots removed two lanes and brought parking spot reductions and traffic restrictions and I see similar policies and the begining of Bay Area type decline. The reduction in foot traffic from downtown workers no longer being required to commute to offices five times a week is also a factor. I know that when I visit and need to buy something that I can't carry it is easier to drive outside of the core to make the purchase. The congestion is so bad here from lane reductions that it has caused a reduction in the outcall business. In the TERB world it is hard for outcalls stay on schedule because of congestion and lane reductions.You cannot deliver escorts on bicycles built for two. I think that is why incalls are set up in North York, Etobicoke, Airport, Mississauga, and Markham - more car friendly areas. The problem is the best hotel, restaurants, and condos are in town. The result is an overall reduction in spending downtown. Lower bail requirementsfor criminals and revolving door prosecutions of street crimes and shoplifting are also driving people out of cities. Higher taxes and implied higher rents in the city and less police visibility are following the path of San Francisco and Oakland. I do not think Toronto has fallen below stall speed but I see nothing in current proposals to put air under the wings of Toronto.

New laws like forced right turns every block and banning foreigners with money from buying condos here will cause more downtown stores and restaurants to close. These are politically appealing but phony policies.

 

[mandrill]

Work-from-home is crazy. I drove into my office for the first time in about 3 weeks yesterday, to get some documents ink-signed. (Normally I have people e-sign, but this time it wasn't possible). Driving in at 10:30 AM, I used to have to drive around the lot for 5 minutes and end up parking at the very top of the parking tower at the far end of the parking lot pre COVID. Yesterday, I was the only car in the lot, pretty much. Parked right next to the main door of the office building.

Went up to my floor. The 2 office suites on my left and right were locked. One had a delivery sitting untended in the hallway. My associate was the only guy in my office (since he's a workaholic and essentially lives in the office).

I don't think rents and taxes are an issue in Toronto, as it's a mega-city under 1 government. US cities are composed of many micro-cities, each with its own tax base and admin and city council. So when a neighbourhood starts to die, it crashes and burns. The cost of city services are borne by fewer and fewer taxpayers, who pay more and more and then leave, which increases the problem until those same city services are slashed or removed entirely. That's wrecked entire neighbourhoods in Chicago and Detroit. When services are slashed and taxes soar, the entire area dies and then crack houses use the abandoned structures and the neighbourhood develops a massive crime problem. Then the city bulldozes the abandoned houses. That's much of downtown Detroit now. Just empty, grass-covered lots.

American city government is totally dysfunctional and screwed up.

I haven't noticed any similar decline in downtown TO.

 

[xmontrealer]

Part of the problem in San Francisco and Oakland was the rampant shoplifting and outright robberies that forced retail stores to shut down as they were becoming unprofitable.

Blame it on the absence of criminal prosecution for theft in those cities.