San Francisco's problem is not bad PR

By Adam Lashinsky, special to the San Francisco Examiner

Sept. 2, 2022

San Francisco’s tarnished image took yet another hit recently when two bigfoot New York Times reporters on the paper’s culture desk published an expansive thumb-sucker on the decamping of local art galleries to, of all places, Los Angeles.

The reasons for the decline of San Francisco as an artistic mecca are many: culturally ignorant tech bros who don’t buy art, priced-out artists who can’t afford to create, and the lamentable out-migration of rich people no longer here to buy, to name a few. But the No. 1 excuse for gallerists fleeing is the same gripe atop every list of what ails The City: San Francisco is broken, disgusting and lawless. Who would want to make, buy or sell art in such an environment?

In addition to presenting a factual description of the decline, the Times gave voice to an oft-heard defense by those who sniff something sinister in San Francisco’s portrayal. If only criticism could be muted from certain quarters, goes this argument, outsiders would have a better opinion of our lovely city.

Keep reading here. (THIS IS NOT BEHIND A PAYWALL.)