Owner of Popular San Francisco Restaurant Explains Why He Has to Shut Down | David Lee

I've been in San Francisco since 2004. From my 20s all throughout my 30s, it's San Francisco and I've loved it. The day that my restaurant got broken into was, it was the beginning of the end. Crime was never, it was never on my mind. Like, and as a business owner, I don't think it should be on your mind. Once it happened to me once, the trauma, like I would wake up in the morning and the first thing I'll do is check my cameras just to make sure nothing is broken. They just see the front of the house being busy. My restaurant is full. They're coming eating every other week, but they don't understand what I'm going through behind the scenes. So like, it was break-ins, the financials, the crime, and the rise of cost, trying to maintain my employees. Very stressful right now, and sometimes it's just not worth it to even have the business open. My guest today is David Lee, owner of Taqueria, which used to be a popular restaurant in San Francisco. Today he'll share with us his journey from a successful local business owner to having to leave San Francisco. And people just think that's just like exaggerated, but I've seen it in real person too. Like I've seen it on Twitter and I've also seen it in real life. It's indescribable. I'm Siamak Karami. Welcome to California Insider. David, it's great to have you on. Welcome. Thank you. I'm happy to be here. We want to talk to you about what's going on with small businesses in San Francisco, and you own this small business. You had a pretty popular Taqueria. It's called Taqueria, right? Yeah, correct. You had a couple of them, right? I too. Started the first one in 2016 and it boomed. So I was like, we should put another one in another spot. So we found this place about 10 blocks away and that was doing really well too. But unfortunately right now, both of them are closed. Can you tell us what happened and what's going on with businesses like yours in San Francisco now? Yeah, I think it just, it was a perfect storm of a lot of things that caused me to close. The second location closed after COVID. It just wasn't doing as good as it was before. So it just wasn't making any sense for me to keep it open. But the first location, before COVID, I had lines out the door, you know, a million dollar business. But after COVID, you know, business started to slow down a lot. There was a lot of work from home. So we're still surviving on like delivery apps and all that. But when like the crime started going up, I got broken into, rise of food costs, and just little bit of everything. It was impossible for me to like make money and to keep my doors open. And it was either I had to charge an extreme amount of money for my burrito, like 17, $18 for a burrito, or just close shop and rethink my business plan. So I went the latter way. I chose option B. And so I had to close both of my shops and yeah. So can you paint a picture of what's going on in San Francisco from your perspective for businesses like yours? Number one, like I said, foot traffic is down all over the city, especially in the downtown area. There's just not that many people out. So it's hard for us to just, you know, get a sense of how busy our restaurant's gonna be. And because of that, like you can't like kind of maintain your employees. Sometimes you have to cut their hours. And when you cut their hours, you get this one spike one day where it's just, it's busy. So it's like you're falling behind. And so it's kind of hard to maintain staffing. Number two, crime is definitely up. There's broken windows everywhere. I'm not really exaggerating either because like when I got broken into that week, the whole block, same MO, same way people broke in. And these guys aren't just some randos. They're professional thieves. They come in, they take one minute. They come in, they know exactly what to cut, what to do, and then get out. And like, they don't even wear masks. Like all the restaurants have the same guy not wearing a mask. And we send, we turn all this stuff over to SFPD. With the video camera. Of the same guy, same logo on the hat and everything. And we turn these over and then they don't catch the guy, right? And it's like, and then number three, you know, like two, three blocks down from my restaurant, streets called Leavenworth, there's tents and there's just open air drug markets. And it's so like, people just don't want to walk through there. And also that's kind of the area where a lot of my workers live. So for them, they're not motivated to come to work because like once they get off work or when they're walking to work, that's what they have to see before they come to work. So it's kind of tough for them mentally, just, you know. And sometimes like I get these random phone calls at nighttime once, where they had to evacuate at two in the morning because the tent that was in front of their house was caught on fire and it was like catching their building on fire. So they called out of work, you know. And for these guys, work is everything, right? These guys live paycheck to paycheck. So they have to come to work to make money. But for them to take this time off for things that are out of their hands. So just all of that combined and like, you know, me being the owner and the boss, like I have to kind of work and maneuver around it. So it's just very stressful right now. And sometimes it's just not worth it to even have the business open. Can you explain to us, so you mentioned the crime. Was that on your mind all the time? So you got broken into once, right? I got broken into once, but there was like about three different attempts. But crime was never, it was never on my mind. Like, and as a business owner, I don't think it should be on your mind. Once I started to see it happen, and even before it was happening, I was living in San Francisco on the same block. And then before the restaurant started getting broken into, a lot of the apartments, the mailboxes would get torn out. And maybe in 2017, I want to say, you'll start seeing all these apartments with iron gates just to protect the mailboxes. So that was kind of how I started seeing the crimes go up. Now, like I'm afraid to drive to certain places. Even if I want to go buy a vinyl for myself, I don't want to drive there because I don't want to leave my car in an area and there's good high chance that it's going to get broken into. And I don't think that's fair for the residents of San Francisco have to think about that. When we're trying to go support other businesses, but we don't want to anymore because I don't want some, like I don't want my stuff to get stolen. So once it happened to me once, the trauma, like I would wake up in the morning and the first thing I'll do is check my cameras just to make sure nothing is broken. It's safe and wild times right now in San Francisco. And I don't think I'm exaggerating at all. Like even last week, one of my friends, she owns a restaurant not too far from me. They never got through, but her windows are broken. So now it's boarded up and the window business is thriving right now over there in San Francisco. Like there's a wait list now. So if somebody breaks into your restaurant, not only you have a board on your window and like now you have to wait like two months just for you to replace the windows. And so like you as a consumer, you don't want to go into these restaurants with these boarded up. You know, it's kind of questionable what is. Right. And my restaurant was in downtown San Francisco. And this is like the number one area where people now avoid coming. And I can totally see it and feel it. It was Halloween last night. Barely anybody walking around the city at nighttime. You know, even like in 2018, 19, even 2020, people are dressed up coming out to the city. You know, like you see little kids trick or treating on these apartments, but those days you don't see it anymore. You know? Why do you think that is? I honestly think, and I think the residents of San Francisco kind of blame the news and stuff for creating this narrative about San Francisco. But I think it's more important where people actually do come to San Francisco and they see what's going on and it's word of mouth. And I think it's spreading, you know? People are starting to really realize that certain parts of San Francisco is just not worth it to even come out. Even tourism, like there weren't that many tourists this year, you know? And that was one of the bread and butters of my business was having these tourists come in. But I'm sure they watch the news, but I mean, you know, you still see certain tourists come. And when they really see it in real life, they're probably going to go back home and be like, hey, it was that bad, right? Dreamforce was in town not too long ago. And even during Dreamforce, like, you know, attendees will come in and they'll be like, hey man, this is going to be my last Dreamforce here. They express their frustration. They pay top dollars to come. And then they're seeing how San Francisco is kind of like, you know, falling apart right now. So I know a lot of businesses are suffering, you know? It's 30, 40% down from what it was even a year ago, I'd say. There's a lot of people that are vocal about this, but did you find out other people, are other people like you who are vocal or they're facing similar issues? I think a lot of people want to be vocal, but I also think right now we live in that age where if they are vocal and they say the wrong thing to the wrong person, that their business is going to suffer. So I think a lot of people just keep quiet right now and just kind of continue on with their day-to-day because, you know, like for example, I've went on several different news stations and kind of spoke about what I'm talking to you about. Well, one of those stations kind of go against what San Francisco beliefs are. So instead of even listening to what I was trying to say, which is, hey, look, this is what's going on in San Francisco, I want to bring a bright spotlight to San Francisco so it can get fixed. But instead of pointing those fingers at the people running the city and helping it get fixed up, they point their fingers at me saying, why did you go on this network? Why did you have to talk about San Francisco in that way on that certain network? And because of that, you know, I've closed both my shops and I have a little shop going on right now and I'm not getting the neighborhood support. So my shop is slow. And because of reasons like that, I know a lot of people are frustrated, but I also think they don't want to mix their opinions. It might suffer their businesses, so. Was there a point you figured out this is not just your business, other people are in the same situation? 100%. You know, there was a Vietnamese restaurant that I used to go to. On Saturdays, it was like an hour wait, you know, closed. I had no idea what happened, you know. Was it the crime, was it this or that? Well, I just recently went to go get a haircut and the hairdresser was friends with the person that owned it and they used to sell 400 bowls of pho a day and it went down to about 20 to 30 a day. Wow. So it was kind of like, okay. At first, I thought it was just me, but you know, there's a lot of small businesses right now like barely getting by. I mean, there's other places that are thriving, but, and it's not just the small businesses. There's big name brands too that are pulling their shops out of San Francisco. And there's a Walgreens that was down the street. You know, all the stuff that was happening with Walgreens right now, so like. They're shutting down. Yeah, they're shutting down. And there was an incident in San Francisco with the shooting and the security guards. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Walgreens kind of took a bad hit, right? Well, there was a Walgreens down the street from our restaurant on Gary Street. Every single window, broken. Every single window. You know, it's shatterproof. So it's not like broken into, but it's shattered, right? So for like three, four months, these guys had, it was all boarded up. And then I think recently they just announced that they're gonna pull their plug and they're out of there too, so. But before they did that, all the windows were fixed. So I'm telling you, the window business is doing okay. Yeah, those guys, I'm sure, are doing really. You know, like a couple years ago, it was the plywood. Everyone was buying plywood to board up and all that. But now it's the window business. Some people say, David, that the news media is exaggerating. They're just showing these four or five blocks in San Francisco that's really bad. And they're portraying the whole image. And they're hurting the city. What are your thoughts on this? I mean, but like any other city, there are beautiful neighborhoods, like the Marina, North Beach, those guys are thriving. And I think it's because they feel safe there and they got a lot of local support. And so of course, there's parts of the city that are gonna be thriving. It's San Francisco, it's a beautiful city. But it's not just five blocks. I live in Lower Peck Heights and there's a tent in front of my house. The first week my wife moved into the house, her car window was broken into. And also at the same time, she used to live by the ballpark, super nice neighborhood, South Beach. And my car got broken into. So yes, they're showing the five blocks and it is the worst there. But you'll still find patches of tents and break-ins and like broad daylight. People just come and break every single car window in broad daylight by the beach. I don't drive to the beach anymore because I don't wanna leave my car there. I've seen those segments where tourists leave everything in the car just to go to the beach. And when they come back, everything is gone. It's happening all over the city. Yes, it is. And it's not exaggerated. Those five blocks are really, really, really bad. I'm sure you'll find guys on Twitter, they'll go out at night and show you what's really going on. And people just think that's just exaggerated. But I've seen it in real person too. Like I've seen it on Twitter and I've also seen it in real life. So it's not exaggerated. 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If you're looking for a solid investment that helps people, contact my friends at WireEFI and then tell them CMI Kurami sent you. Now let's go back to the interview. And I'm a homeowner too, so I also pay property tax, right? And that's expensive. So with all these taxes you pay, number one, you just don't want it there, right? And then number two, when you see one and if it doesn't get taken care of, then another one pops up and then another one pops up. In all honesty, it just makes me really angry. I'm paying all my taxes. I pay high rent mortgage, all this stuff just to be able to sustain a lifestyle in San Francisco. And then this person is right outside in a tent. Their tents went from a small single camp tent to like these giant tents, you know? And like, and what also makes me angry is like, where are they getting these tents? Like, where are these tents coming from, right? So I don't think it's fair for it to be there. It's just a bad look on the neighborhood. Lower Pack Heights is a beautiful neighborhood, but when you see a tent there, it devalues everything. I'm trying to maybe sell my house and relocate to another city. Well, if some of the potential buyers come to the neighborhood and see that, you know, it's gonna affect their choices to even purchase my house, so. And then the funny story is, when you do see it getting cleaned up, when you see the streets that are bad get cleaned up, and you're like, oh man, it's changing, something's happening, you see it. You see the tents go and it's cleaned up. Well, it's because there's a giant convention coming into town, you know? There's Apex coming into town, so the city's clean. Dreamforce was coming into town, so the city's clean. And then once they leave, it's back to normal, right? So, before even my friends who live in the suburbs outside of San Francisco on the weekends would come out and we would go out and do stuff in downtown or go to bar hopping or whatever, but they don't even come out to the city anymore, you know? So, it's, yeah, it's bad. Now you, all this happened to you before the minimum wage for the fast food workers went up. Yes. Now, can you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, I'm a little torn on that subject because I see it from both sides. So, I think it is good that minimum wage is $20 because, like I mentioned, a lot of my guys, they still were getting paid. They have to get paid at least that amount of money and they still work a day shift, a night shift in order for them to, you know, rent a house and not have like eight roommates. Especially in San Francisco, with the rents that are so high. Exactly. So, in that sense, I think it's good that people need to be making $20 an hour. But, as someone that failed in business because labor was so expensive and labor shortages and not that many people wanna work and there's a lot of restaurants poaching other employees, you setting a minimum wage of $20, number one, no one wants to work for minimum wage. So, now that it's $20, they're gonna come and ask you for $25, you know? 26, 27. It's like, where does it stop, number one? So, and it's hard to find good help but at the same time, I can't, as a small business owner, you can't afford to pay somebody that much money. Like, there's no, then like, there's nothing for us left for us to make some money, right? And so, like, it's literally, we have our businesses open so we can pay other people and then like my business is just at like a steady level. I'm not making money, I'm not losing money, I'm just paying my employees to sell my product. And number two, like, what I've heard is, I have an employee that used to work for me in the food industry and then he works in the hotels and he's saying, well, why is it labeled only fast food gets $20 an hour? Like, that brings up a whole nother thing. Like, it's not fair for them, right? Like, why is it that these guys, you know, some people say, like, so like people at Baskin Robbins who's gonna just scoop ice cream are gonna make $20 an hour but he's breaking his back and doing stuff at the hotels but he's not making that much money. And so, you know, there's that argument too. But me as a business owner right now, you know what happens when you raise the minimum wage and everything goes up? I have to raise prices. Everyone's gonna raise prices. So you're gonna start seeing hamburgers for $25. You're gonna start seeing those guacamole toast, avocado toast, those are gonna be $25, $30 now, you know? Like, it's gonna make everything else expensive. But customers, consumers don't realize when they come and see these high prices, they just think because you're a popular restaurant, you're raising prices. They don't understand that it's because the rent went up. It's because price of food and all that went up and they forget that. So when you come into a restaurant, especially mine, and you see a burrito and it says $17, you'll look me in the eye straight up and say, thank you. And you'll smile and you'll never come back to that door again because who wants to pay $17 for a burrito, right? But for me at the same time, if I don't charge you that, then I'm like literally losing money. And so if they were gonna do it, they should have just raised minimum wage to $20. They shouldn't have labeled it because fast food is such a broad label. There's big companies, you know, the In-N-Outs and all the big companies that can maybe afford to pay $20. But- There are maybe a few that are doing really well and they have kind of made it like a factory. Exactly. But most of the city is small business owners, you know, with immigrant backgrounds too. And we're a very small business. For example, in Taqueria, we had 13 employees. So now if you think about it, I have to pay all these guys 22 plus dollars. That's like, where am I gonna make a little profit, right? And so it's tough times. And I think it was the wrong time to do it right now too, because it's bad enough as is trying to get by with businesses slowing down, but for them to make us pay additional money to keep good help, it's really tough. You know, you're adding more fuel to the fire right now. We're trying to make it, we're trying to survive, you know. You know, everyone's favorite word in the small industry, right, small business, in the restaurant, it's maybe next year, maybe next year. You know, we always talked about it, maybe next month. It's Christmas next month. So more people are gonna come because of Christmas, you know, like we're always hoping for the future to get better. And then you're just making it tougher for us right now, right, like $20 minimum wage. It's like, where does it end, you know? Do you want to destroy all the small businesses? Do you want us to all leave? You know, like you gotta help us out too, right? And I've been reading all these articles about how they made it easy for us to open businesses and do this and do that. But you don't really see that many businesses opening right now. My business is on the market and it's not a buyer's market. Like people are coming and they're looking and I'm asking for an X amount of dollars and they're walking right away. And so, and in order for me to even like bring them back, I need my restaurant to be busier. I need them to see that if they spend the money, you know, like they're gonna make the money back. But when they come in and I'm asking for this much money and I'm telling them, well, I have this many employees and you have to pay them this much money. And then they see a customer come in every like 10, 15, 20 minutes, they're gonna be like, oh, maybe it's not a good idea to buy this place, right? So it's tough. It's really, really, it's, nobody's winning, you know? So David, you actually built this business. You started from nothing, you built it. Yes. And kind of achieved a certain amount of success and became popular. How was it, was it tough to decide to shut it down? Tell us about what was it like? When it was good, it was really, really good and I loved it. But just the wear and tear the last couple of years, once I decided that I was gonna close, I, there was like this hundred pound of weight off my shoulders. And when I finally finished the escrow with my second location, oh man, it brought me joy, you know, and the thing is I sold it at a loss and I gave them all my equipment, all my equipment, the refrigerators, the, you know, the flat tops, the fryer. I left it all in there and I charged them what they wanted to pay me. And it was at a point where I'm like, you know what? Instead of me sitting and worrying about it, me selling this place at a loss, it's just so much easier for me. I sold it, forget it. And of course there are days right now where I'm like, man, I wish Takuya was still open or when some new customers come into this new shop, they say, oh man, what happened? You know, and yeah, I get kind of sad. But at the end of the day, no, I'm just so burnt out. It wasn't that tough. Like I made the decision and once I made the decision, I had a discussion with my family and said, this is what's happening. And if I don't do it sooner than later, I might just go crazy. My, you know, my mental health. So what was the catalyst that made you, that made it very tough for you? Was there a few things that happened? Yeah, I mean, one, it was the crime, right? The day that my restaurant got broken into was, it was the beginning of the end. I like up to that point, you know, when you work in a restaurant industry, it's no days off, especially if you're an owner. Seven days a week. Seven days a week, you know, you're shopping, you're, if someone calls out, you're there. Like you don't get vacations, you know, like it's hard enough as is working, but when business is good and you're loving it, of course it's amazing. But as soon as you can't really enjoy the fruits of your labor after putting in seven works of, seven years of my work and I'm still just trying to get by. And then the day that I got broken into was just like, all right, this is, you know, I'm kind of over it, right? And then- Was there a lot of damage? Did you- One big window broken and they stole my cash register. And ironically, they stole all my little delivery tablets. So it wasn't just that I was losing money because they stole my cash register and I had to pay about $2,000 to replace the window. I didn't have the tablets. And those are, you know, at right now, those help you make money, a lot of the online orders. And I didn't have that for about a month. You know, it took a month for them to send me a new one and get it all set up and minimum damage with the windows, but overall damage was big. So that was kind of the beginning. And then with the business kind of slowing down, it was the first time where I started looking at my bank account and we're starting to lose money. Yeah, there's a line out the door and we're selling a lot of stuff, but behind the scenes, I wasn't making money, you know? And things were getting really expensive. For example, a box of foil, which I need, it's like the most important thing at a burrito shop is foil, went from $20 to $70, you know? And so, and that was just tip of the iceberg of all the things that just spiked in price. So like, number two, like, it got really expensive to operate it. Yeah, and people wouldn't understand it because they just see the front of the house being busy. My restaurant is full. They're coming eating every other week. But they don't understand what I'm going through behind the scenes. So like, it was break-ins, the financials. And then number three, like, when it really slowed down and I was cutting hours and trying to do these different things, like, you know, instead of buying two boxes of avocado, I'll buy one box of avocado and I'll buy a half-frozen avocado and try to mix it. And so like, my food started to take effect. And because of that, like, my employee didn't know what to do. And like, towards the end, when business slowed down, I didn't know if I had to cut one person's hours and it looks like I'm playing favoritism. And so it was kind of, it became really difficult to like, just kind of really figure it out. And like, when you do something a certain way for seven years and on year eight, you're trying to change a lot of things, you're not gonna get a good feedback, right? It's like, they're so used to doing it a certain way and you're trying to do it another way and they're kind of like, ah, you know? And so, yeah, it was just, I went through it all. I went through the crime, the financials, the rise of cost, trying to maintain my employees. But, and so like, at a certain point, I was like, wait, wait, wait, what about me? You know, like, what about my mental health? And what about my joy of working and coming to work? And it's getting burnt out. So right then there, I was like, all right, this is it. Like, I don't wanna wait around anymore, you know? Like, I don't know if the business is gonna come back in one year or two years or three years. Like, I could go somewhere else. And, you know, I've just, I recently just took a trip to Austin. I spoke with some investors about potentially bringing Taqueria to Austin. And granted, I only went there for three days, but while I was out there, man, businesses were full, retails didn't have guards out front, you know, and they were packed, people were out and drinking and there was this energy that I felt back in 2010 in San Francisco. I felt it out there and I'm like, all right, well, instead of wasting my time trying to survive, maybe it's time to move and gamble and do it out there when, you know, and hopefully it works out there. Instead of waiting around, I know there's customers out there. And if I put it there, I'm sure it would do way better than what it is doing right now in San Francisco. Do you think more people like you will move out of San Francisco? I think so. And I think it's already begun. Even in Austin, we were at a bar and I'm talking to some locals there and I'm like, hey, I'm thinking about moving here. And they're like, oh, from where? And I'm like, oh, from California, from San Francisco. They're like, oh no, no, you know what? Austin sucks, don't come, like don't. Yeah, so I think a bunch of us have already moved out there to where their locals are telling us like, hey, you know, they don't want, yeah. I think it's been done. And I think if it doesn't get better, I think it's gonna, more people are gonna try to find better opportunities outside of the city. Now, you tried to reach out to the government or you had, the mayor had a tweet and you responded to that tweet or you had some interactions with the government, any? So how all this happened and how even you found me and all the local news and everything was just, it was at a breaking point. It was, my restaurant got broken into and on that same week, my wife's car got broken into. So then I simple tweet to Mayor London Breed. I said, what's going on in the city? Is there any protection for us? And that went super viral. I know it went viral because there's other people that read it and like resonated with what I'm trying to say because they all feel this, they all feel it. I've tried to reach out to the supervisors and this and that and trying to get the local, but never heard anything back. The only thing I've ever heard back was from the Small Business Development Center. They reached out to me and they're like, there's a grant. You can get this grant, just, it's a vandalism grant. Just apply for it, this and that. So I applied and they sent me a check for $1,000. That $1,000 will fix like a quarter of the window that was broken, right? Like it's like, it's not about the money too. I didn't ask, like, it's gonna help me out, but any like leader just come and say, hey, look, this is what we're doing and give me a peace of mind, right? But not even that. And so, I mean, the tweet went viral, but that was it. And it was this thing and I'm pretty sure the mayor saw it because it was on all the, they were calling her out and saying, hey, this is what he tweeted to you, blah, blah, blah. I never heard anything. Why are so many people leaving California? It wasn't long ago, people from everywhere wanted to move to the Golden State to enjoy a better life. Sadly, the standard of living has been dropping in the past decade. Are you like me and wonder why this is happening? I'm Siamak Khorami, host of California Insider. In our film, Leaving California, The Untold Story, I take you an intimate journey of love, loss, tragedy, and hope as residents face the prospect of leaving their beloved state. Everyday people like you tell their stories about why they have to move out of the state even though they don't want to. Experts and policymakers also give insights about what's happening behind the scenes. Together, we get to the root cause of this exodus. Go to leavingcalifornia.com to view the first 15 minutes of the film for free. By watching Leaving California, you can be part of the solution. Again, go to leavingcalifornia.com. David, you have had a good time in San Francisco when things were good. What if they change everything tomorrow, would you stay? If everything goes back to how it used to be. That's a loaded question. No, I think what I need right now, even if it's good, I think I need the opportunity to go somewhere else and to see if I love this other place or not. I need to go to another city to compare San Francisco to. And even if it's back to good and thriving, I would like to go somewhere else and say, either I say, oh man, this place is so much better than San Francisco, I'm gonna stay. Or I wanna say, hey, I miss the weather, I miss the cool weather around San Francisco. I need something to compare it to. And so right now, I would not stay. It's, I've already made up my mind and I think it's a good decision that I made that I'm gonna leave soon. And who knows, maybe in a couple years, I'll come back and say, man, I don't know why I left and I love it. Or I might never come back, right? I mean, I've been in San Francisco since 2004. I went to college out there, I've lived out there, I adopted my first dog out there. From my 20s to all throughout my 30s, it's San Francisco and I've loved it. It was amazing, there was an energy to the city in 2010. It was an amazing city. But right now, yeah, it's, yeah. Now, were you disappointed with the people when you became vocal and the people, some people criticized you for going on media and talking about, were you disappointed with? I was heartbroken because my intentions were not to bash in San Francisco, but more to bring a spotlight. And I thought I did, at the end of the day, I thought I did a good thing. I never thought about all these political background, I didn't think about any of that. I just thought, look, I'm bringing a big issue to San Francisco and I'm bringing a spotlight so that they can see and help get us fixed. And when I went on the news and did that, I was pretty proud of myself. And then when slowly, one by one, these neighbors started coming and they were like, why, why this, why that, blah, blah, blah, and just yelling at me. And I'm like, that was another reason why, two things, one, I think it's because of things like that, it's gonna be harder for San Francisco to get fixed because I really wish, instead of pointing their fingers, that they should voice their concerns too so that it really will get fixed and get fixed fast. But if there are those people that are just pointing your fingers at the, for me, I got broken into, my business did slow down, I had to close my business, and you're pointing your finger at me for talking about it? That's a problem. And so it really broke my heart. But at the same time, there's other people that came up and they're like, you know what, your voice was needed, there's other people like that. But you always take the bad to your heart and really, instead of hearing all the good, that one negative comment really affects you. And I kinda went through that the past couple months and I still kinda see it right now happening. I would walk down my street and you'll see people turning their eyes and not look at me or not say hi to me and it's just not fair. Do they feel the same way but they're afraid of saying it or do they feel everything is okay, like everything is going well? You know, that's a great question because when I do, after the segment, when I do try to have the conversations with them, I think they're just so vocal on what, they're really set on what they wanna say. They don't really listen to what I'm trying to tell them. So I know they see it but I think they just think it's gonna get fixed. Instead of being vocal about it, I think they just expect it to get fixed. And I mean, you have to be blind not to see what's going on in San Francisco, right? So I know they see it and I know they're frustrated but I think- They just look at it as a political issue. If you say something bad about San Francisco, you're against the Democrats probably. Exactly and that's not it. And or they say you voted for- Or you don't like San Francisco. Yeah, it's either I don't like San Francisco or I'm going against the democratic ways or they always say, you voted for this. And I'm like, no, I didn't vote for any of this. Like nobody voted for any of this, right? Yes, we put these people in places but we never thought the outcome was gonna be this. Like it's not that we voted for this, so I don't know why everything got so political. It's like, do you just, just scrape it all down. I'm just telling you, I got broken into and my business is struggling and it's really hard for me to stay here and love it here and surviving here. Like that's what I'm talking about. It has nothing to do with politics, you know? Like I am a small business owner. This is how I make my money to pay rent. This is how I make money to enjoy myself in some ways or another. It's not political but why are you making it political? Why are you making me against that? It's help. My business is struggling. Everything is rising. I don't wanna, and you know what? Those are the same people. If I raise my price to $17, they're the first ones that are gonna come into my restaurant and complain. They're gonna go and yell, give me a one star and say, why are they so expensive now? It's, yeah, it's. Now, do you have any recommendations or advice for the city leaders? Listen, you know, listen to us, listen to people like me and really just help the small businesses, not employees, but just really give us a break, you know? Like you want us to stay around, clean it up, make it mandatory, X, Y, Z. So if people break in and steal something, send them to jail. It's 900 and below, like they're gonna do it over and over and over again. So please just, you know, if you want these business to stay for next three years, it's, I think it's a critical time. There's gonna be a lot of businesses I think they're gonna pack up and go. And if you don't want that to happen, you gotta really, you really have to fix it, so. What about the residents? Do you have any recommendations for your friends or people that lived in your block, your previous customers, people that may have criticized you or people that support you in this? Yeah, just come, you know what? It's not politics, just come support us, right? Like every order counts, even if it's just a small order, just go out there and support your, like, you know, your neighbors. I understand that everyone is struggling, but, you know, you gotta go support your favorite restaurant more than you ever did before, or else, you know, maybe next year they'll be gone, so. And do we expect higher prices and kind of have to put up with it? Oh man, yes, for sure. If the $20 is gonna be here to stay, you're definitely gonna see a spike in prices. I think you already have. I think this morning I read an article that Chipotle and McDonald's are raising their prices already, right? Exactly, so like, when you see that, like, yeah, 100% everything that you've, you know, things that you've paid for, it's gonna go up. Like, expect it, like, it will go up, it will get expensive. Do you have any other thoughts for our audience, David? No, I'm just really excited to be here. Like, I love voicing my opinions on things that are happening in San Francisco. I think these kind of conversations are needed to not be political, but to bring a spotlight so that San Francisco can get fixed. And I really hope that's how people that are watching this will take it. Like, I'm here because I love San Francisco and I want it to get fixed. And it has nothing to do with enjoying, like, joining the narrative of the San Francisco bad city. Like, I'm not doing that. I'm really here to, like, express, like, me as a business owner right now, these are the problems. If these get fixed, then everything's, you know, it will thrive again, but. David Lee, owner of Taqueria, it was great to have you on California Insider. Thank you so much for having me. It was really amazing. If you haven't checked out CaliforniaInsider.com, we highly recommend you do that now because we're gonna have a lot of news and videos there. And on top of what we have there right now, we are building a really big platform to cover what's happening in California. So you can be informed. We're gonna have more shows, more videos from all aspects of life in California. Go to CaliforniaInsider.com and we'll see you there.