CNN travel | The complicated truth about San Francisco

To help curb auto break-ins, the San Francisco Police Department is beginning to deploy bait cars, notably in high tourist areas such Alamo Square, pictured here on August 9, 2023.

(CNN) — San Francisco is undeniably having a moment.

Over the past year, headlines claiming the city is caught in a spiraling “doom loop” have become so prominent that a city commissioner decided to cash in on downtown San Francisco’s storefront vacancies, homelessness and opioid issues by anonymously advertising an hour-and-a-half long tour showcasing “doom and squalor.” For $30 a person, you could see the city’s “open-air drug markets” and “abandoned tech offices” first-hand.  –read more–