Businesses cannot get out of crime-ridden cities fast enough, and the decline is especially evident in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The downturn’s latest casualty is Oakland’s Kon Tiki bar, which has done brisk commuter business since it opened in 2017. But the salad days are over, according to owner Matt Reagan, who is getting ready to shut down the cocktail lounge. He already had to close his other business, the nearby Palmetto restaurant.
Why? Crime, and a city government that does not care to do anything about it. Reagan said this summer was his worst warm season for the bar, and he’s almost ready to make the decision to pull the plug.
Business prospects looked good when Reagan was planning his opening. He chose a downtown location with a lot of foot and commuter traffic from people who worked in the area. Plus, there were apartment buildings nearby with 4,000 units with more under construction.
But that was then, this is now. Not only did the draconian government lockdowns over Covid 19 make it hard or impossible for small businesses to stay afloat, but the slide into crime ghettos that has happened to so many big American cities creates a cascade of problems.
Combined with employees no longer willing to risk their safety by going downtown, and the willingness of many employers to allow working from home, the volume of trade from the past just does not exist anymore. Reagan also said his utility costs are 4 percent higher than they were three years ago, and he’s paying one-third more for food.
“You can’t sell a $35 cheeseburger,” he said. If that sounds high (and it is), it is close to what a vendor would have to charge in an area like Oakland to keep the lights on and pay the staff.
Increasing crime in the Bay Area has already driven out local landmarks, like In-and-Out Burger and Macy’s Department store. Despite misinformation from city governments desperate to hide crime, Oakland robberies were up 37 percent last year, while car theft was up to 14,554 incidents, the highest in the city’s history.
