A longtime San Francisco business owner is facing “financial ruin” after “widespread drug use, violence and filthy streets” happening in the California city.
Mark Sackett, owner of multiple businesses, condemned local leaders for failing to keep the city safe as he faces “financial ruin because he’s been unable to refinance a $2.5 million mortgage due in February.”
Sackett explained an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle how six of the 30 different lenders who declined to help him refinance explicitly stated that they “are not making commercial real estate loans in San Francisco due to the state of the city.”
The business owner also said he has lost out on nearly $250,000 in 2023 due to cancellations and a decrease in venue bookings due to customers being afraid the neighborhood is too dangerous.
“He said his staff used pepper spray on four people trying to break in, and last year, someone attacked him with a knife. A window is currently broken, and he will have to pay around $4,000 to replace it,” the local outlet reported.
Sackett blames the city’s leadership on the increase in crime and businesses leaving San Francisco.
“They don’t even return my calls,” Sackett said. “They care about bike lanes, nonprofits, safe injection sites…They have just ignored small business.”
