Seattle Delegation Visits San Francisco to Study Downtown Recovery; San Francisco Says Surveillance Cut Vehicle Thefts by 90%
Seattle Downtown Association President Jon Scholes, City Attorney Erika Evans and Seattle Chamber of Commerce President Joe Nguyen led a delegation to San Francisco last month to study the city's post-pandemic recovery experience. The delegation saw San Francisco street-cleaning crews washing sidewalks and installing new lights, businesses returning, and investors betting on the city again. Robbie Silver, president of the Downtown San Francisco Partnership, said San Francisco has risen from the bottom of North American post-pandemic economic recovery rankings to near the top, and San Francisco officials said real-time crime surveillance cameras have cut vehicle thefts and burglaries by 90 percent. Colliers data show San Francisco's office vacancy rate was 27.4 percent in the third quarter of 2026, down from 31.1 percent a year earlier, with quarterly net absorption of 537,000 square feet, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of demand exceeding supply; Union Square retail vacancy fell below 20 percent for the first time in years. By comparison, Seattle's office vacancy rate remains above 35 percent. A bill passed by the state legislature allowing entertainment zones, where alcohol can be sold openly during street festivals, was also seen as a boost to recovery.
Source: Colliers
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA，图中为旧金山市中心市场街一带
