Good Morning America, Wake up and Smell What's Happening: ABC Reporter Says It's Too Dangerous to Film in Downtown SF –

Union Square used to be the beating heart of San Francisco. But a recent survey found that since 2019, nearly 50 percent of all the stores here have left. Now it’s empty storefront after empty storefront… after empty storefront. 

 RedState  "Two stories this week illustrate just how decadent and dangerous the formerly proud city of San Francisco has become. In the first, RedState‘s Sister Toldjah reported on how conservative author Shelby Steele and his filmmaker son Eli were robbed of tens of thousands of dollars in equipment Wednesday as they tried to film a documentary. The police were overwhelmed—as they always are in San Francisco due to defunding—and were of no help. The irony? The movie the Steeles were making “explores how defunding the police has hurt society.' ”

"Then on Wednesday, ABC reporter Matt Gutman told his live audience that downtown San Francisco was simply too dangerous an area for his crew to film in. I remember watching news crews covering the ’92 L.A. riots, and during the George Floyd mayhem, you’d always find a reporter in a helmet roaming around describing the “mostly peaceful protests.”

"Gutman himself was “a Jerusalem-based reporter for seven years, covering every major conflict in the Middle East,” according to his ABC bio. But downtown San Francisco? No—that’s simply too perilous.

"Gutman’s piece aired on “Good Morning America” and focused on the “growing real estate dead zone” in the City by the Bay, exemplified by the mall company Westfield’s decision to stop paying on the over $500 million mortgage it carries for a property that is down to only 55 percent occupancy. But it was his last line that said more than all his other statistics and examples combined:

SF is full of problems, but this reporter @mattgutmanABC on ABC GMA said he couldn't wrap from Union Sq because it was "too dangerous". I have had picnics in the park. What sensational reporting. Say something: @DrewTumaABC7, @reggieaqui @jrstonelive!https://t.co/9W4JfjImuj

— Matthew Pearce (@mghtymatt) June 15, 2023