Mid-Market Blight - Issues at the Center of our City.

Discussion

• December 16, 2009 Erin Bregman

  keep rocking the journalistic awesomeness,

  erin

• January 18, 2010 Scott Rosenberg

  This is a great story that asks questions I've long had.

   

  When I moved to SF in 1986 to work at the Examiner there were still rows and rows of Chinese/Filipino cafeterias along Market between 5th and 6th. They were dingy places but they always seemed busy. There was a feeling of active, if admittedly down-market, street life. Within a few years all that was gone. All the cafeterias closed up. (I think there's one small one left at the corner of 6th and Market, but the places I remember were much bigger...)

   I always wondered if this was a function of some redevelopment plan gone awry, or if the clientele of these establishments had simply moved away (or aged/passed away), or what.

   

  Nothing ever moved in to replace those places, although the area between 4th and 5th gradually got transformed by the new retail malls and chain stores.

   

  I would definitely look into the ethnic angle here -- check in with people who know the long story of the Filipino community in SF. 

• March 11, 2010 Jim Schrempp

  Keep up the good work.