The Limiting Vision of "Revitalizing Downtown"
Recently, I visited Portland, Oregon, and Seattle to see family and friends, and to be in town during the US Men’s National Team World Cup game against Australia. I had visited both cities previously, but it had been a few years, and since then I’ve learned a lot about urban development and evolved on what I value in places — both places to live and to visit.
I wasn’t there to pass judgment on whether Portland and Seattle are “good,” but my experiences did prompt me to think a lot about San Francisco’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, and the anxieties about my city that apparently motivate a good chunk of its leadership, which in turn get transferred to media members and everyday people who take their cues from those leaders.
