Conditions are getting so bad in President Joe Biden’s America, even the normally insulated political and financial elite are starting to suffer.
The growing chaos became personal for one CEO on June 26, when he was violently robbed in one of San Francisco’s most prestigious neighborhoods.
The decay caused by Democrat progressive policies were made even clearer when the victim was forced to wait about 10 minutes before 911 picked up his call.
As reported in the San Francisco Business Times, Hamid Moghadam is the CEO of Prologis. The company is the largest industrial landlord in the world. Prologis had revenue of $4.7 billion in 2021.
Also in 2021, Moghadam was given the San Francisco Business Times Most Admired CEO Lifetime Achievement Award.
Moghadam lives in Pacific Heights, the San Francisco neighborhood where California Senator Dianne Feinstein and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi live.
These achievements did not shield Moghadam from the consequences of San Francisco’s lax approach to law and order.
As Moghadam explained to the Business Times, he was returning from a trip to Stanford when “This car comes out. The guy jumps out with a hoodie and a gun. His friend comes out with another gun.
“They were using a bunch of choice words. Mostly starting with ‘m’ and ‘f.’ They were attacking me,” Moghadam said.
Would you feel safe in a city where 911 takes 10 minutes to answer?
The pair of criminals took Moghadam’s Patek Philippe watch, which can range from $12,500 to more than $2 million in value.
Moghadam stated he injured his back and knee during the incident. His spouse was traumatized by the event.
“I fell back as they lunged the gun towards me,” Moghadam said. “I can tell you my wife is really affected by this and she has nightmares. It’s really gotten to her.”
After this vicious attack, Moghadam called 911. His call was not answered for about 10 minutes.
However, once the emergency call from the ritzy neighborhood was received, police showed up in about 90 seconds.
The police may have arrived in under two minutes, but that does not mean much after a 10-minute wait time in the first place. Effective law enforcement relies on teamwork with dispatchers and other first responders. San Francisco failed to provide that support.
San Francisco residents have long demanded an upgraded police presence. The situation has degenerated to the point some San Francisco residents were forced to hire private security for their neighborhood.
Retailers like Walgreens evacuated from the crime-infested city, as shoplifting crimes were not enforced for amounts under $950. In 2021, it was reported Walgreens had shuttered 17 of its San Francisco stores over the last five years.
The crisis was amplified by Defund the Police activists like San Francisco Mayor London Breed. In 2021, Breed bragged about diverting $120 million from police budgets.
The citizens of San Francisco have shown some effective pushback against the progressive politicians destroying the city. In February, voters recalled three partisan school board members.
In June, the George Soros-connected, progressive San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin was also recalled by voters.
It may be too little, too late for citizens like Moghadam and his business.
The Business Times reported Moghadam wants to remain in San Francisco. However, he said, “But I gotta tell you, there’s no shortage of people from other states calling us, including governors, trying to entice us to move. To this day, I’ve been reluctant to even consider that. But these problems need to get fixed.”
If Prologis left, it would join the California exodus.
Moghadam had to have a gun pointed at him before he spoke out about the appalling condition of San Francisco. Perhaps, from his privileged perspective, he felt he could remain removed from what was happening around him in less affluent areas.
The Washington Post Magazine recently reported on “America’s Hidden Crisis of Power and Place.”
In the article, Samuel Tyler Research Professor at George Washington University Law School David Fontana wrote:
“Our political elite in both parties are disproportionately connected to a few neighborhoods in a few metropolitan areas that are distant and different from the places they are supposed to understand and govern. For too many of these people, the road to political influence involves effectively defecting from the places they know to the places where there are people it is important to know. That leaves many places in our country governed by strangers rather than neighbors — with disastrous consequences for American democracy.”
It’s a blessing that Moghadam was not more seriously hurt in the attack. It’s sad it took an armed robbery in Pacific Heights before a prominent citizen admitted the truth about the catastrophic conditions in the Democrat-run city of San Francisco.
