Tech company pays for billboard that calls San Francisco neighborhood ‘Gotham’
By Luz Pena
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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A new billboard in San Francisco is causing uproar after it categorized one city neighborhood as “Gotham” — the city in Batman that is on the brink of destruction with crime.
The billboard appeared overnight and, instead of sending people to the email advertised below, it’s making San Francisco residents question the true intention behind a tech company’s message.
“Work in Pacific Heights not in Gotham? Do they want to equate South of Market with Gotham?” asked San Francisco resident Kate Goldberg.
Gotham is the fictional home of Batman a city filled with crime. The company Prompt Armor is pointing to SoMa, or South of Market, as the Gotham they are referencing.
“I think it’s stupid. I think it’s multi-layer for nothing and asks a question that cannot be answered. Cities are complex,” said Goldberg.
San Francisco supervisor Matt Dorsey represents SoMa and wants the billboard removed. ABC7 News has contacted Prompt Armor and have not heard back.
“Don’t insult San Francisco neighborhoods when you are a San Francisco-based company. It’s just bad form,” said San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey.
SoMa does have its challenges. The ABC7 News data team found that in the last 12 months, there have been 216 robberies, 327 aggravated assaults and 406 vehicle thefts, but all these numbers are still low compared to the three-year average.
One of the biggest issues in SoMa is drugs. Supervisor Dorsey is in recovery himself and has made this his top priority.
“The reality is that the numbers right now are overwhelming, even our ability to respond. Even with 35,000 city employees, we don’t have a police force big enough to do it. But in my view, we should be doing more to make sure that we are ticketing people, confiscating their drugs, taking away their drug paraphernalia and, in circumstances where it’s warranted, making arrests and getting people into custody for public drug use,” said Supervisor Dorsey.
Despite the challenges, SoMa has become a hot area for AI companies.
“Whatever you might say about SoMa, understand that this is, right now, the engine of economic growth in San Francisco. I’m proud to represent it. Is it an urban area that has challenges, more than say the residential area of Pacific Heights? Yes, that is part of what a city is,” said Supervisor Dorsey.
Real estate agents are having to balance explaining the reality of the area with the opportunity in real estate in the heart of the city.
“That negative outlook potentially scares prospective tenants away from leasing and hence that’s why the rental rates in West SoMa, Civic Center, Market Street have dropped so drastically. Because of that narrative or are they all congregate. So, rental rates are dramatically picking up over the past six months, which has been a good sign,” said Cody Kollmann, founder of Kollmann Real Estate.
Many in the area are hoping the city pours more resources into SoMa so it continues to grow into the tech engine of the city instead of the reason for mockery.
“A lot of cool infrastructure-type of buildings. I think a lot of these AI companies gravitate towards that part of town. So that’s been good, too,” said Kollmann, who added, “There has been a total revitalization. So much in just in terms of seeing new companies come in the neighborhood.”
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