Expensive rents leave Haight lying low
sfgate.com | Jul 7th 2011
Haight Street is in transition. And not entirely in a good way.
The encouraging news is that self-described "gutter punks" are off the
sidewalks. They've moved down the block to a containment patch of Golden Gate
Park. There, near Alvord Lake, they lounge on backpacks with their intimidating
dogs and glower at tourists.
We could probably muster outrage, but c'mon, it's the Haight. These types are
always going to cycle through. The cops keep an eye on them and as long as they
aren't shaking anybody down for spare change, I'm good with that.
"Basically, the street is looking great right now," said Kent Uyehara, owner of
FTC Skate Shop. "Sunshine, tourists, city folks revisiting the neighborhood and
not one person blocking any sidewalk."
But all is not peace, love and ringing cash registers. There's still a
community of chronic drunks who ride the city ambulances to S.F. General
Hospital almost daily, costing the city big bucks.
And shops continue to have an alarmingly difficult time of making a go of it,
even if the corner of Haight and Ashbury is still on every tourist's must-visit
list.
Uyehara is among a group of merchants who have formed the Haight Ashbury
Merchants Association. They've reached out to the San Francisco Travel
Association to aggressively market the area and are considering street lighting
and flower planters to dress up the street.
But none of that is going to matter as long as Haight landlords continue to
burden the corridor with unreasonable rents. Many are longtime owners who are
stuck in the mind-set of the days before the economic downturn.
"As it is now, Haight Street rents are more comparable to downtown/Fisherman's
Wharf rates," Uyehara says. "The savvy, experienced retailer chooses other
neighborhoods to open in and the first-time, inexperienced retailer signs onto
Haight Street. Once those 10-year leases are signed, you either go broke or try
to last it out. More money goes to rent and less to inventory and renovations
to keep stores looking clean, attractive and inviting."
A rent-reset - Uyehara says some landlords have agreed to restructure some
leases - would encourage a variety of shops and stores on the street. As it is,
the large, landmark Hibernia Bank building has lost its tenant, the Villain's
Vault clothing store, which is reportedly downsizing to a smaller space.
The neighborhood is also losing (although not to high rent) the retro-cool Red
Vic Movie House. With organic popcorn and movies like the unintentionally
hilarious 1967 news documentary, "The Hippie Temptation," the Vic is the kind
of place that gives the Haight character. Unless a benefactor is found, it will
close July 25 after 31 years.
A character the neighborhood would prefer not to preserve is someone like
chronic inebriate Jason Luna. Luna is passed out drunk in the Haight nearly
every day and requires an ambulance ride to the hospital. There he sobers up in
medical care and is released to come back and do it again the next day, his arm
decorated with hospital bracelets.
In March, District Attorney George Gascón's office announced a program to
target the "frequent fliers," and get them into court. But getting the courts,
police and other agencies on the same page has proved to be a challenge.
"It is intended to be a very targeted tool," said Cristine DeBerry, the DA's
chief of staff. "We are working on the criteria to identify the issues for that
group, rather than have them take ambulance ride after ambulance ride."
So far it has been a slow process.
But that's kind of the nature of Haight. Nobody expects it to turn into a
gentrified Chestnut Street. It's gritty, smoky and old school. The chronic
drunks and the vacant storefronts need to go, but it's not a quick fix.
If we've learned anything it is that Haight is not a destination. It's a trip.
Original Page:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/07/BABI1K72JM.DTL
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