Prominent San Francisco real estate mogul who was mugged at gunpoint outside his $15M home claims residents have 'no sense of security' despite paying some of the highest taxes in the US and says city 'may never recover' from crime surge

  • Hamid Moghadam, the CEO of Prologis, said that two armed robbers confronted him on June 26, flashed guns and took his Patek Philippe watch
  • He lives in Pacific Heights, the city's most exclusive neighborhood, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and financier Peter Thiel live
  • Moghadam penned a letter to Mayor London Breed and Gov. Gavin Newsom warning that the city is at a 'tipping point' because of crime
  • The real estate big wig said that he's worried about his employees' safety and businesses leaving because quality of life has plummeted

A prominent San Francisco real estate mogul who was mugged for his watch outside his $15 million Pacific Heights home says that the rampant crime rate has reached a tipping point, saying the city 'may never recover' because its residents have 'no sense of security.'

Hamid Moghadam, the CEO of Prologis, which was founded and is based in the Bay City, said that two armed robbers confronted him on June 26, flashed guns at him and took his Patek Philippe watch.

Moghadam, who shares the neighborhood with some of the world's most rich and powerful people, like Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, angel investor Peter Thiel and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to Bloomberg News, said the experience left him shaken.

Billion-dollar real estate CEO, Hamid Moghadam, who heads Prologis, was mugged in June. He says that the city's crime rate threaten to destroy its reputation and drive away businesses

Billion-dollar real estate CEO, Hamid Moghadam, who heads Prologis, was mugged in June. He says that the city's crime rate threaten to destroy its reputation and drive away businesses

Homeless people line the sidewalks in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco where crime has spiked over the last year

Homeless people line the sidewalks in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco where crime has spiked over the last year

He decided to speak up, doing interviews for Bloomberg, Fox News and CBS News, among others. Moghadam also penned a letter to California elected officials sounding the warning that the city's quality of life had slipped so far that it was in peril of losing its tax base.

'I get all kinds of San Francisco jokes when I travel the world. It's almost embarrassing and that's the perception and that affects tourism and convention business,' Moghadam told CBS News. 'A lot of jobs are involved. Once you go over the tipping point, it becomes very, very difficult to getting it back.'

He told the news station that it's more than just business and jobs, he's worried about the well-being of his employees.

'It is now difficult for me to tell potential candidates that they should move to San Francisco,' he wrote in his letter, Fox News reported. 'We pay some of the highest taxes, local and state, in the nation, yet we have no sense of security.

'Protecting public safety should be the government's top priority — that is the foundation of a successful city. Only in a community where people feel that they and their families are safe will jobs and culture flourish.'

San Francisco real estate mogul Hamid Moghadam wrote this letter to officials after he was mugged 

I am writing you today as, I am sure, only the latest San Francisco citizen and business owner to ask for your immediate attention and action around crime in our city.

Sunday evening, I was held up at gunpoint and robbed outside my home on ______ Street. I recognize we live in an urban environment, but the level of crime, including violent behavior, has become absolutely unacceptable. Obviously, the majority of voters feel this way, which is why they voted to recall our district attorney earlier this month.

I run one of the highest market cap companies in the city, which I founded here forty years ago. Over the years, I have invested in this city and recruited talent to move here to work in our global headquarters at Pier 1. Ten years ago, we acquired a larger company that was headquartered in Denver, but I insisted we keep our headquarters in San Francisco.

Today, I am not sure I would make the same decision. It is now difficult for me to tell potential candidates that they should move to San Francisco. We pay some of the highest taxes, local and state, in the nation yet we have no sense of security. Protecting public safety should be the government’s top priority – that is the foundation to a successful city. Only in a community where people feel that they and their families are safe will jobs and culture flourish. I am deeply concerned that our city may be so far down the path toward decline that we may never recover – or at least not for a long, long time.

I am an entrepreneur and a problem solver. I would like to help you. I don’t believe that money is the problem. Earlier this year, the Chronicle reported that the City has only spent about a quarter of the Prop. C funds it has available, yet we continue to have a substantive homeless problem, which is not the cause, of course, but contributes to the crime issue.

We need a change in how criminals see our city. Do they see a city where we look the other way when crime rates rise, and law-abiding citizens don’t feel safe in their own neighborhoods? Or do we want a city that is safe because we enforce the laws on the books and put public safety over political correctness?

I was frustrated by my long wait when I called into 911 to report the crime. I do want to call out Officers Gaetano Acerra and Kevin Lynch, who responded to my call and were exemplary in their handling of the situation. Their superiors should know that these two officers represented the Department and the City in the best way possible and gave me the help and information a victim of crime needs.

Never in my life have I ever had this kind of life-threatening experience. It is simply unacceptable for any resident of our city to experience something like this. We must make a change now.

Best,

Hamid

 

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A shocking poll revealed nearly half of San Franciscans have been robbed in the past five years, as the city continues to attempt to clean up its act under Mayor London Breed (pictured)

A shocking poll revealed nearly half of San Franciscans have been robbed in the past five years, as the city continues to attempt to clean up its act under Mayor London Breed (pictured)

A mob of homeless drug addicts are seen brawling on a San Francisco street amid trash and squalid conditions as city officials call for blue sky 'ideas' to fix its open air drug market problem
The wild scene was captured on video by a man identified as J. Terrell, who was on an evening walk in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood

A mob of homeless drug addicts are seen brawling on a San Francisco street amid trash and squalid conditions as city officials call for blue sky 'ideas' to fix its open air drug market problem

The August crime statistics show that although murders are down nearly 3 percent, other violent crime has jump from last year. Rape is up 8.3 percent, larceny climbed a whopping 18.5 percent, assaults spiked nearly 10 percent and muggings, like the one Moghadam suffered are up 3.4 percent.

'I recognize we live in an urban environment, but the level of crime, including violent behavior, has become absolutely unacceptable,' he wrote in his letter.

Moghadam, who co-founded the business in San Francisco in 1983, said that in his own case, the muggers targeted him for his watch.

He said that they followed him from his billion-dollar real estate business in the Embarcadero to his home in Pacific Heights where the median annual income is $125,550 per year.

'This is a gang that does this all the time and they had targeted me from the parking lot,' he told KPIX 5.

He said when he got to his home, the thieves confronted him.

'A car rushed by, stopped right next to me and two guys jumped out with guns pointed at my face,' he told the station. 'It just happened so quickly, honestly, I didn't have time to get scared.'

A homeless drug addict sits passed out next to his milk, cereal, and candy on the street near City Hall

A homeless drug addict sits passed out next to his milk, cereal, and candy on the street near City Hall

A homeless man injects fentanyl into his armpit, due to a lack of usable veins, as people walk by in the Tenderloin District of the city

A homeless man injects fentanyl into his armpit, due to a lack of usable veins, as people walk by in the Tenderloin District of the city

A homeless man injects fentanyl into his friend's armpit, due to a lack of usable veins, as people walk by near San Francisco's City Hall in early September

A homeless man injects fentanyl into his friend's armpit, due to a lack of usable veins, as people walk by near San Francisco's City Hall in early September

A homeless woman named Rockey smokes fentanyl in front of her tent in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, California

A homeless woman named Rockey smokes fentanyl in front of her tent in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, California

Kim, a homeless trans drug addict, sits on the street in the Castro District of San Francisco

Kim, a homeless trans drug addict, sits on the street in the Castro District of San Francisco

He decided that 'enough is enough' and wrote to Mayor London Breed and California Governor, Gavin Newsom, a former city mayor, told them what happened.

He told the politicians that San Francisco 'may be so far down the path toward decline that we may never recover — or at least not for a long, long time.' 

He said that he heard back from the governor and the mayor right away.

Breed told Fox News that she is 'focused on making San Francisco a place where people want to live, do business and work.'

She noted that she has budgeted for 200 new police officers and pushed legislation to crack down on the market for stolen goods. 

Moghadam's concerns are no secret to city residents. 

A shocking California public radio station KQED found that nearly half of San Franciscans have been robbed in the past five years.

A poll of 1,653 people in the City by the Bay by the station found 43 percent of white people reported being victims of theft, 54 percent of black San Franciscans and 55 percent of mixed race San Franciscans surveyed said they'd been robbed in recent years, according to the SF Chronicle

Crime is up 8.5 percent in San Francisco through September 11 compared to 2021, according to the city's data. While that's less than cities like New York (up 35 percent) and Chicago (up 37 percent), homicide is the only crime to see a decrease from last year in the northern California city.

Of those asked, 65 percent said the city was declining, while 37 percent said they would live elsewhere in three years. A staggering 84 percent of people aged 65 and over said they are planning to leave. 

 It's a thought that's crossed Moghadam's mind too.

'Ten years ago, we acquired a larger company that was headquartered in Denver, but I insisted we keep our headquarters in San Francisco,' Moghadam said in his letter. 'Today, I am not sure I would make the same decision.'

Frustration with San Francisco's decline has intensified in recent months, with the ejection of District Attorney Chesa Boudin and, in February, the recall of three members of the city's school board, who were accused of putting progressive politics ahead the needs of children during the pandemic. 

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