A San Francisco commissioner has been identified as being behind the controversial “doom loop” walking tour — leading to his resignation with a letter denouncing the city’s progressive state and “rampant crime.”
Alex Ludlum, a member of the city’s Community Infrastructure and Investment Commission, initially advertised the canceled $30 tour anonymously.
But he was identified as the organizer after the refund notice listed his email address, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
He confirmed that Monday while resigning in a letter to Mayor London Breed — attacking “city-wide policies that allow organized & malicious elements to thrive in San Francisco.”
“I regret that my attempts to call attention to the deplorable street conditions & rampant crime in my neighborhood have been misconstrued as mockery of suffering individuals,” Ludlum wrote in a letter obtained by the Chronicle.
Alex Ludlum, a San Francisco land use commissioner who organized the controversial “doom loop” tour, resigned after his identity was revealed and the event gained national attention.sfocii.org
“Satire is a poor way to deal with the big issues we face as a city.”
In resigning, he promised to provide his “full support” to help tackle the “bad issues” his tour advertised he said he would tackle.
“Uncontrolled drug management is clearly the cause of our current problems. … All downtowns will suffer until the market is closed,” he wrote.
Homeless encampments on the street as tour participants on the Celebrate Tenderloin Tour walk through the area.David G. McIntyre
Ludlum canceled the Aug. 26 event less than 24 hours before he was supposed to lead the tour through the City Hall, Mid-Market, Union Square and Tenderloin districts.
Locals and curious tourists who signed up for the sold-out $30 tour were promised an up-close-and-personal experience of San Francisco as a “model of urban decay” with visits to “open drug markets” and empty office spaces.
Ludlum is also a vice president at real estate investment firm SPI Holdings and co-founded the SoMa West Community Benefit District.
He was appointed to the commission by Breed in March 2022 and reappointed in November. By early Tuesday, his photo and biography had been pulled from the commission’s page.
Tour participants in the Celebrate Tenderloin Tour traverse the heart of the Tenderloin District at Turk and Hyde streets in San Francisco on Saturday.David G. McIntyre
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin confirmed to local media on Monday that he spoke with Ludlum, who “basically said that he meant it as a joke but it got out of hand.”
Breed spokesman Jeff Creta, however, said that “the decision to organize and publicize the tour was a mistake and a profound error in judgment.”
“We work every day to address the city’s challenges, and our focus remains on doing the work to move the city forward,” Creta said.
Del Seymour, dubbed the mayor of the Tenderloin District, speaks to tour participants of the Celebrate the Tenderloin Tour outside San Francisco City Hall on Saturday. David G. McIntyre
As Ludlum was absent for Saturday’s circle of doom tour, an opposition tour led by community activist Del Seymour took about 70 locals and visitors on a two-mile “positive walk”.
Although it pointed to all the community services available in the area, the tour passed many homeless and “zombie” encampments high on fentanyl and other drugs.
A homeless person washes his feet on the sidewalk as tour participants on the Celebrate Tenderloin Tour walk through the Tenderloin District.David G. McIntyre
Seymour said he was disappointed by Ludlum’s “ugliness” in organizing the doomsday loop tour.
“Why would someone bring up something so ridiculous,” Seymour told The Post after hearing about Ludlum’s resignation.
“I think he’s doing something good because it’s bringing attention to the fact that there are some positive things going on in the Tenderloin, but we still have people here who are destroying themselves. We will not take this lying down.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
