The owner of storied San Francisco luxury department store Gump’s called out city and state leadership for the area’s “unlivable” conditions.
In a full-page ad published in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday, Gump’s CEO John Chachas penned an open letter calling for their “destructive” and “failed public policies” to be abandoned.
“An Open Letter to Governor Newsom, Mayor Breed and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors: Gump’s has been a San Francisco icon for more than 165 years. Today, as we prepare for our 166th holiday season at 250 Post Street, we fear this may be our last because of the profound erosion of this city’s current conditions,” Chachas wrote.
The open letter continues, “San Franciscans deserve better than the current condition of our city. Gump’s implores the Governor, the Mayor, and the City Supervisors to take immediate actions, including cleaning the city streets, removing homeless encampments, enforcement of city and state ordinances, and returning San Francisco to its rightful place as one of America’s shining beacons of urban society.”
The Chronicle has reported San Francisco has “More than 7,754 homeless people, with nearly 4,400 sleeping on the streets, in a tent or in a vehicle” in 2022.