Arrest in Bob Lee Case Has Upended Tech Narrative of San Francisco

The pile-on continued last Friday on a technology podcast hosted by Mr. Calacanis and other venture capitalists. On the show, David Sacks, founder and partner of Craft Ventures, said he would “bet dollars to dimes” that Mr. Lee’s killing was like a case in Los Angeles where “a young woman was basically stabbed for no reason by a psychotic homeless person.”

Mr. Musk, the billionaire head of Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, concurred “absolutely” with Mr. Sacks’s sentiments in a reply to his tweet. Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.

Brooke Jenkins, the San Francisco district attorney, slammed Mr. Musk on Thursday, specifically calling his tweets on Mr. Lee’s death “reckless and irresponsible.” National crime data shows that rates of violent crime have dipped or held steady over the past several years in the city of more than 800,000 people, and that the murder rate in 2020 was low compared with that of other major American cities.

The city, however, has experienced a rise in property crimes since 2020, along with a visible growth in homeless encampments and drug use in public areas, all factors that were emphasized last year during the campaign to recall Mr. Boudin. After his removal, he was replaced by Ms. Jenkins, who had criticized her predecessor as being too lenient on criminals.

On Thursday, Mr. Calacanis, when asked if he had changed his mind about the situation after the arrest of Mr. Momeni, said by email, “When was the last time you walked a mile in San Francisco? Do you think it is safe?”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/14/business/bob-lee-tech-reaction-san-francisco.html