San Francisco’s Alex Ludlum, Land Use Commissioner and Creator of ‘Doom Loop’ Resigns

Alex Ludlum, the mind behind San Francisco’s “doom loop” guided tour in downtown San Francisco, resigned from his position as land use commissioner. 

For $30 per person, the tour would have allowed individuals to “get close and personal to the Doom and Squalor of downtown San Francisco!,” according to the Eventbrite description.

The tour, which has since been canceled, would have allowed individuals a close up look of “the open-air drug markets, the abandoned tech offices, the outposts of the non-profit industrial complex, and the deserted department stores.”

In a resignation letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D), Ludlum expresses his regret for using satire in his handling of the dire state of downtown San Francisco, according to a letter obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.  

“I regret that my attempt to bring attention to the deplorable street conditions & rampant criminality in my neighborhood has been misconstrued as a mockery of suffering individuals,” Ludlum wrote. 

In the first five months of this year, 346 people died of drug overdoses in San Francisco, KRON 4 reported. 

In April, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) sent the state’s highway patrol into San Francisco to combat the sales of fentanyl on the streets, Breitbart News reported.  Between May 30 and June 15, 53 people were arrested in downtown San Francisco for public drug use, CBS News reported.

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In addition to apologizing for making light of the issue, Ludlum slammed Breed’s handling of the rampant overdoses and crime in the downtown area.

“As long as the open-air drug markets continue their daily operations, we will continue to witness the misery of suffering addicts, the withdrawal of pedestrians and office-workers, the ongoing closures of small businesses, and the stagnation of our rich cultural life,” Ludlum wrote. “All of downtown will suffer until the markets are closed.” 

In the past 18 months, 22 stores in the downtown area closed their doors, including a Whole Foods which was open for little more than a year, Breitbart News reported. 

In response to the “doom loop,” the city launched a counter campaign called “We Love SF” which was created to battle the “negative publicity” of the city.