The situation in SF shows how much of a network cities are, with pieces relying on others for support. Big downtown conferences rely on a network of hotels and

The situation in SF shows how much of a network cities are, with pieces relying on others for support. Big downtown conferences rely on a network of hotels and retail and restaurants to support them. The hotels also rely on the retail and restaurants for support. The retail and restaurants rely on constant foot traffic. SF made the subtle mistake of over building commercial office in its downtown, which meant that much of the foot traffic was office workers, and due to circumstance, the bias of office workers was heavily oriented toward the tech sector. As the pandemic hit and office pivoted toward WFH, suddenly all this foot traffic, a requirement for a healthy downtown evaporated. Unfortunately for SF, the bias toward tech is hurting its recovery, as tech in particular seems more likely to let the pandemic WFH status quo continue. Now we're starting to see the network of the healthy downtown unravel as things become untenable for those who rely on foot traffic, and those higher up the chain that require the amenities that rely on foot traffic. No surprise to see conferences start to pull out. In contrast other cities with less tech workers have seen more of a return to the office, and so their downtown life has picked up. As well with cities with more residential downtown, as there's a more resiliant foot traffic mix, we've seen them more easily rebound as well.