{"id":337597,"date":"2026-05-29T14:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/337597\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T14:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:34:14","slug":"downtowns-parties-are-hella-fun-but-what-happens-when-the-music-stops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/337597\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown\u2019s Parties Are Hella Fun, But What Happens When the Music Stops?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a clear, windy evening three weeks ago, scores of people streamed onto a stretch of South of Market\u2019s 2nd Street that was closed off to cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one end, the Flock of Seagirls<\/a> rocked \u201880s tribute tunes on the Bingo and Bands stage. A few steps away, a brave soul sang along to a hip-hop remix of \u201cAngel in the Morning\u201d at the Curbside Karaoke station. Up and down the street, people of all ages tried out crafts, raced mini Hot Wheels, and noshed on a dizzying array of snacks, from crispy sushi tacos to handmade momos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unlike other San Francisco neighborhood street fairs, this one, called Downtown First Thursdays, has much more riding on its success. It kicked off its third year on May 7, and the reason a coterie of civic and arts organizations first organized it \u2014 a pressing need to bring people back downtown \u2014 remains a stubborn reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ecosystem of workers, shoppers, and other foot traffic across dozens of blocks north and south of Market Street has not rebounded from the pandemic collapse. As a result, San Francisco\u2019s downtown recovery, especially for small businesses, has been among the nation\u2019s slowest, according to cell phone data<\/a> and office card swipes<\/a>. Recent sales tax data<\/a> underscore the struggles of the Financial District and SoMa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The monthly Downtown First Thursdays (DFT) is part of SF\u2019s patchwork of revival efforts that include regular parties<\/a> and one-off concerts<\/a> and spectacles<\/a>. There are also economic incentives like small-business grants<\/a> to fill empty storefronts and tax breaks<\/a> to convert empty offices into apartments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These efforts are led by another patchwork of organizations, many supported by SF\u2019s wealthiest residents. One is the Civic Joy Fund, the nonprofit host of DFT and a handful of night markets. Among its donors are Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and Bob Fisher \u2014 son of Gap founders Don and Doris Fisher \u2014 and his wife Randi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The downtown party push began in earnest with Bhangra and Beats<\/a>, serving up Indian dance music and food in May, July, and September of 2023. Its success \u2014 75,000 attendees and more than $4.4 million in spending at nearby businesses, according to organizers<\/a> \u2014 paved the way for DFT in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Entering their third year, DFT backers tout similar success: 400,000 revelers and $34 million in sales for local merchants and DFT\u2019s vendor booths. Some businesses consider the street party a saving grace, even if the blessing only comes one night a month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But as broader indicators continue to lag, city leaders are asking whether the party vibe is providing more than just a temporary distraction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Downtown First Thursday organizers say the monthly street party boosts local businesses, but no one is measuring the full post-party impact. (Kristi Coale)<\/p>\n

At an Apr. 27 City Hall hearing, Sup. Bilal Mahmood asked if downtown businesses were reaping benefits\u00a0 on days without entertainment. The answers weren\u2019t very satisfying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if we keep track of that,\u201d said Diana Ponce De Leon, director of community economic development for the city\u2019s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. She quickly added, \u201cWhen we do have [events], there\u2019s a huge boost.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mahmood rephrased his question: \u201cDo businesses on corresponding corridors benefit from entertainment zones outside of the hours of activation?\u201d<\/p>\n

De Leon passed the mic to OEWD\u2019s director of nightlife initiatives Ben Van Houten. \u201cWe\u2019re in the process of starting to think about this, but we don\u2019t have any good data,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Hearing that no one is measuring the broader economic impact of downtown efforts, supervisors expanded their line of questioning: Who, exactly, is overseeing the recovery? As the city continues to throw spaghetti against the wall, is anyone in charge of measuring what sticks?\u00a0<\/p>\n

One self-described public-private partnership launched a year ago to \u201cbe a convener,\u201d says one of its executives. The San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation has raised tens of millions of dollars and touts various projects, but there\u2019s no indication that it \u2014 or anyone else at this point \u2014 is coordinating a recovery that\u2019s now stretching into half a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018A shot in the arm\u2019<\/p>\n

Then again, if tens of thousands of people are spending money downtown, benefiting a handful of merchants, isn\u2019t that good enough? It doesn\u2019t take long to find business owners who want to keep the parties rolling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michelle Delaney and David Scott Mabry, who co-own 111 Minna Gallery, have a front row seat to DFT. Their 33-year-old art and event space somehow survived Covid<\/a>, then DFT gave them a \u201cshot in the arm\u201d when lucrative conventions at the nearby Moscone Center, a big source of the gallery\u2019s pre-Covid business, dried up. \u201cThis party paid the bills for the staff in year one,\u201d says Delaney.<\/p>\n

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Delaney said she expands from seven to 25 employees to handle the monthly DFT crowds, running two bars instead of one plus the Curbside Karaoke. Mabry says DFT visitors have returned to visit the gallery\u2019s morning cafe or to ask about renting the venue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Binita Pradhan, owner and head chef of Bini\u2019s Kitchen, makes momos and other Nepalese comfort food. She credits her DFT booth for drawing customers to her two restaurants and calls the event a \u201clifesaver.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"111 Minna Gallery co-owner Michelle Delaney says Downtown First Thursdays \u201cpaid the bills for the staff in year one.\u201d (Kristi Coale)<\/p>\n

Beyond these anecdotes, DFT backers say the gatherings have delivered \u201can impact of $34 million\u201d over two years. According to Civic Joy Fund spokeswoman Madeline Johns, that figure is based on a survey of attendees that drew 1,083 responses. The survey asked people to estimate how much they spent during DFT and where they spent it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About half of the respondents said they spent an average of $111 at downtown businesses during their visits, and slightly more said they spent an average of $56 at DFT booths. Maro Guevara of Into the Streets, an arts organization that helps plan DFT, said organizers extrapolated those responses across 400,000-plus attendees and arrived at estimates of about $24 million spent in businesses and $10 million at booths \u2014 a total of $34 million.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CrowdBased on a survey of attendees, DFT organizers estimate attendees have spent $34 million in the area on party days at booths and nearby businesses. (Kristi Coale)<\/p>\n

The fund isn\u2019t measuring DFT\u2019s economic impact on the other 29 or 30 days of the month. Still, a lot of wealthy SF residents believe their largesse is helping. Larsen and Fisher this year put another $2 million into DFT. (Larsen also recently pledged $5 million to fund \u201crevival\u201d projects on Larkin Street in the Tenderloin<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city is investing, too. OEWD says it\u2019s given $18 million in grants and loans to local businesses in the area in the recent fiscal year. Another $4 million was dedicated to the Vacant to Vibrant program, which has opened up 30 storefronts, with 12 extending their leases.<\/p>\n

But none of these entities are actually responsible for the long-term vision of downtown. It\u2019s unclear who is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Disjointed \u2018joint effort\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

After officials said during the Apr. 27 hearing that no one\u2019s measuring the economic impact of downtown activations, Mahmood and Sup. Myrna Melgar, the Land Use and Transportation Committee chair, had more pointed questions about recovery leadership.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

SF Planning principal planner Jeremy Shaw gave a laundry list of programs and agencies involved in downtown revival, including the Department of Public Works, SFMTA, OEWD, and the SF Downtown Revitalization and Economic Recovery Financing District, plus community benefits districts for the East Cut, Yerba Buena, and Civic Center.<\/p>\n

Do you think part of the problem of why we haven\u2019t made progress is there\u2019s not one single centralized initiative to drive this?<\/p>\n

Sup. Bilal Mahmood<\/p>\n

Noting the long list, Mahmood asked who sets priorities. Shaw replied, \u201cIt\u2019s not the Planning Department\u2019s pure jurisdiction \u2014 each agency has its own capital planning process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melgar disagreed. \u201cIt is the Planning Department\u2019s job to create a vision for Market Street,\u201d she said, using the street as a proxy for downtown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shaw replied that the work is \u201ca joint effort\u201d and added that \u201cthere isn\u2019t a planning process\u201d for the overall effort.<\/p>\n

Mahmood interrupted: \u201cDo you think part of the problem of why we haven\u2019t made progress is there\u2019s not one single centralized initiative to drive this \u2014 a task force?\u201d<\/p>\n

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A central entity is what former SF controller Ben Rosenfield called for in a recent report<\/a> he co-wrote in his new job at urban planning think tank SPUR. Rosenfield and his coauthor, SPUR chief policy officer Sujata Srivastava, said San Francisco needs a quasi-public authority to negotiate real estate deals, plan and carry out capital projects, and publicly finance these endeavors.<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t one, although it seems like the SF Downtown Development Corporation (DDC) is meant to be. \u201cDDC is intended to address the fragmentation among all the players in the downtown recovery,\u201d says chief operating officer Tyler Brandon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Power-washing and ambassadors<\/p>\n

So far, the DDC seems to be making good on its mission to raise lots of money. For its first year, Brandon says metrics of success include funds raised to power-wash 600 city blocks and to pay street ambassadors who provide a range of services, from giving tourists directions to reversing overdoses with the drug Narcan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DDC has also raised about half the funding for a $45 million Powell Street renovation and $25 million for grants to help new businesses open downtown. The organization has received more than 200 applications for the grants. It has also pledged to raise $20 million for the upcoming $40 million Embarcadero Plaza makeover.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"StreetThe nonprofit DDC says it is \u201cleading the revitalization of downtown San Francisco.\u201d (Lisa Plachy)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear if \u201caddressing fragmentation,\u201d as Brandon puts it, is supposed to lead to a more cohesive strategy. It\u2019s also unclear how DDC exists within City Hall\u2019s decision-making structures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s \u201cleading the revitalization of downtown San Francisco,\u201d according to DDC spokesperson Brian Purchia, yet it\u2019s not a government entity \u2014 it\u2019s an \u201cindependent nonprofit public benefit corporation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many city departments have a deep network of nonprofit contractors who do work in public health, homelessness, and more. These contractors are accountable (or should be) to the agency for the services they provide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If a private entity doesn\u2019t like the direction of things, they can take their toys and go home.<\/p>\n

Patrick Murphy, University of San Francisco public policy professor<\/p>\n

The DDC says it works with city partners and other nonprofits, including community benefit districts. It\u00a0is \u201cnot a city contractor,\u201d says the spokesperson, although its first agreement with the city is soon to go before the Board of Supervisors for approval. The contract is technically a \u201cgrant acceptance agreement<\/a>.\u201d between Recreation and Parks and DDC to govern its fundraising for the Embarcadero Plaza project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Often these types of agreements govern grants that the city gives to nonprofits. But in this instance, the roles are flipped. DDC is the granting entity, and the city is the recipient.\u00a0(The agreement allows DDC to back out of the deal if the project\u2019s cost overruns hit $3 million or more.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ambiguity of who\u2019s accountable in this public-private relationship is a \u201cvery messy\u201d situation, says University of San Francisco public policy professor Patrick Murphy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The DDC \u2018ultimately chooses\u2019<\/p>\n

All this multimillion-dollar fundraising is possible, at least in part, because the Board of Supervisors has granted exemptions to strict rules that limit public officials from soliciting donations. These \u201cbehested payment\u201d limitations grew out of the Mohammed Nuru and related scandals. Since Lurie\u2019s election, supervisors have twice issued blanket, six-month waivers to allow fundraising for downtown economic revival.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the waivers, DDC has received donations from private sources at the request of city officials. \u201cAny donation to the DDC done at the behest of Mayor Lurie or any City staff is regularly reported and publicly disclosed,\u201d the DDC spokesperson tells The Frisc. The funding goes \u201cwhere the data shows it\u2019s having an impact and for projects like Embarcadero Park where there are funding gaps. The DDC ultimately chooses where we provide funding or support.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

USF\u2019s Murphy hopes the DDC \u201cdoes well for the city\u201d but is concerned about long-term sustainability when relying on private funders. \u201cIf a private entity doesn\u2019t like the direction of things, they can take their toys and go home,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

DDC\u2019s Brandon acknowledges the concern and says the organization is working to bring in new business partnerships for more diverse funding. It\u2019s unclear how those partnerships would work with the city to set priorities or strategies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While big questions remain unanswered about the impact of downtown efforts and who\u2019s in charge, the folks at ground level just want to get through the next month, and the one after that. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find a way to get people paid,\u201d says 111 Minna\u2019s Delaney. \u201cWe\u2019ve been willing to be flexible and will continue to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMore from The Frisc…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a clear, windy evening three weeks ago, scores of people streamed onto a stretch of South of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[139298,12460,49115,33612,1085,818,139299,8692,383,584,139300,20331,139301,101,139302,103,102,104,106,105,84175],"class_list":["post-337597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-111-minna","tag-bhangra-and-beats","tag-bilal-mahmood","tag-civic-joy-fund","tag-covid","tag-downtown","tag-downtown-first-thursday","tag-economic-impact","tag-economy","tag-events","tag-into-the-streets","tag-myrna-melgar","tag-office-of-economic-and-workforce-development","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-downtown-development-corporation","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-vacant-to-vibrant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}