Gap board member, Ripple co-founder want to save crime ridden San Francisco

San Francisco recently saw a new civic pride campaign go live as part of a bid by business leaders seeking to help the Bay Area city. 

Advance SF, the non-profit behind the campaign, said in a press release it aimed to “assert San Francisco’s role as an innovative and thriving hub for business and the arts” and to tout the city as one of the greatest in the world with the new “It All Starts Here” ad campaign. It began last week. 

It also seeks to address what it described as the “negative national narrative” about the city, according to the campaign’s website. 

Individuals such as Gap board member Bob Fisher and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen given money to make “It All Starts Here” happen, per Advance SF. They are both billionaires – worth $1.2 billion and $2.9 billion respectively according to Forbes – with close ties to the city. 

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The non-profit has identified companies such as Levi Strauss, OpenAI, Uber and Lyft as having involvement in the ad campaign as well. 

Reports have said it cost $4 million. 

“San Francisco has survived great fires, earthquakes and deep recessions, and it keeps coming back – stronger,” San Francisco Giants CEO and Advance SF board co-chair Larry Baer said in a press release. “There is no doubt, we have real challenges to overcome, and we know the business community, along with the local community and government, must drive the solutions. With this campaign, we’re creating a spark so that people say, ‘Let’s do this together, because San Francisco is an amazing city and ‘it all starts here.’”

Some issues in San Francisco that have received widespread attention include homelessness, crime and drugs.

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In a dashboard on its website, the San Francisco Police Department reported the number of crimes that the city has seen from the start of 2023 to Oct. 22 totalled about 40,900.

Within that time-frame’s total, some offenses – rape, assault, human trafficking, burglary, arson and larceny theft – have posted decreases compared to last year, while others – robbery and motor vehicle theft – have climbed. Overall, there was a decline of 6.1% when held up to last year, according to the data.

This year, a slew of companies also indicated they would exit locations in San Francisco’s downtown area, pointing to reasons varying from changing consumer habits to local business conditions to safety concerns. 

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Meanwhile, the city’s office space market posted a 34% vacancy rate for the third quarter, according to a recent report from CBRE. The firm said that rate “is expected to increase further into 2024, but the sharp increase in tenant demand over the last three quarters indicates that leasing activity will rebound” next year. 

For its efforts to lift San Francisco’s image, the “It All Start Here” campaign uses billboards, posters, digital and other forms of media. Its main video ad, which debuted last week, specifically touted technological and cultural innovations from companies and figures that have ties to the city. 

The campaign has debuted just under a month before the city will play host to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. That group plans to run its leaders’ meeting in San Francisco over multiple days starting Nov. 11. 

APEC has 21 member economics including the U.S., China, Russia, Mexico, Canada and others.