How San Francisco's Market Street died—and why it's not coming back

The death of San Francisco's Market Street

Noah Smith recounts the decline of San Francisco's Market Street from a bustling commercial heart to a desolate stretch of asphalt. He attributes its death to a combination of the pandemic, remote work, a crime wave, and a poorly executed car ban that removed cars without adding pedestrian spaces. Despite signs of recovery elsewhere in downtown, Market Street remains a dead zone, with foot traffic still half of 2019 levels. Smith argues that the city's transit-focused approach, unlike Paris's pedestrian-first policies, failed to create a destination, leaving the street empty.