SAN FRANCISCO – Some small businesses in San Francisco are opening up and expanding, leading some residents to wonder if the city has turned a corner.

Cheers and smiles marked the grand opening of a new store on Thursday on Polk Street.

The Bi-Rite, a local grocery store chain owned by the same San Francisco family for half a century, opened its third location in Russian Hill.

“There’s always cycles. There’s always ups and downs. If anyone thinks it’s going to be otherwise, they’re fooling themselves,” said Bi-Rite owner Sam Mogannam.

Despite the rough post-pandemic recovery for San Francisco, Mogannam remains optimistic.

“There’s a lot of energy and momentum to bring this city back to life,” he said.

San Francisco resident Isabel Baer said she has noticed a significant change.

“I’ve noticed a quick comeback from COVID in the past 12 months,” Baer said.

New stores are also opening in the San Francisco Ferry Building, where 95 percent of the retail shops on the ground floor are leased out, according to their website.

“I have noticed it’s busier in the afternoons,” said Oakland resident Traci Lim.

Meanwhile, on Valencia Street, the famed Slanted Door is set to return to its original location for the first time in 20 years.

“We’ve been working with every landlord that has a vacant storefront,” said Manny Yekutiel, who owns Manny’s, an event center and café, and heads the Valencia Merchants Association, representing about 500 independent businesses in the neighborhood.

“There are four new art galleries that have opened up, that are doing gallery events in just the last six months,” Yekutiel said.

Yekutiel notes that while new businesses are opening, it doesn’t mean it’s easier to do so in San Francisco.

“It’s harder. We have fewer tourists, higher costs,” he said. “But we take chances, we take risks. We’re go-getters.”

This renewed sense of drive, hope, and hustle is echoed by Mogannam.

“I’m always optimistic about San Francisco. There’s no place more special than this,” he said.

California’s San Francisco State University has begun the process of divesting from four weapons manufacturers currently involved in Israel’s war on Gaza, in a move activists are describing as a “major victory” for Palestinian rights advocacy in the United States.

The announcement by Students for Gaza SFSU comes at a crucial time for the student movement for Palestine, as several universities across the country look to punish and deter students from restarting pro-Palestinian advocacy on campuses, and social media companies like Meta look to censor pro-Palestine activism by student groups on their platforms.

Earlier this week, New York University (NYU) included criticism of Zionism on its list of hate speech, a move that is expected to have a chilling effect on activism targeting Israel. At the University of Michigan, several students were violently arrested as they conducted a sit-in on campus.

Activists say the move to divest from Palantir Technologies, a US-based data analysis firm, arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, Leonardo, an Italian multinational defence company, as well as construction equipment manufacturer, Caterpillar – corporations described by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) as “profiting from Gaza the genocide” – came following months of protest and advocacy calling on the university to withdraw investments in portfolios that profit from harming Palestinians.

The demands were part of a nationwide student movement that called for universities to disclose and divest from companies profiting from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and its current war on Gaza.

Noam Perry, the strategic research coordinator with the AFSC, told Middle East Eye the move was significant for a variety of reasons, none more so than “the transformative process the university went through, and the moral stance it committed to” in reaching its decision to change track on the investments.

“It’s not that the university decided to divest from these four companies. It’s that the university decided on a new ethical investment policy, and when it screened its direct investments through this new lens, these are the companies that were flagged. So the policy would make sure the university cannot directly invest in these and other similar companies in the future.

“As far as I know, this has been the most earnest process that a US university has had so far to respond to the divestment demands of its student’s encampment,” Perry said, adding the university had demonstrated it respected students’ voices on how it invests its money.

On Thursday, students at the university held a press conference and rally in the Malcolm X Plaza on campus where they announced the news to fellow students.

In a statement issued by Students For Gaza, the group behind the push for divestment, the cohort said the university had drafted new language that would institutionalise the move as part of a larger commitment to divest from other corporations that violate human rights.

The group said the new language would be added to the investment policy statement that would centre on human rights.

In April and May this year, students set up an encampment at SFSU, as part of the nationwide call for students to demand universities to divest from corporations seen as complicit in Israel’s war on Gaza.

At SFSU, the encampment organised by Students for Gaza lasted three weeks.

The university then held public negotiations with students – the first in the country to do so.

By the end of the semester, initial agreements with the administration were accepted and the student leadership, faculty, observers, and the administration joined a summer working group to examine the university’s investment policies.

The working group was also joined by community partners from AFSC, an organisation documenting corporate complicity and working on divestment campaigns. 

Max, a spokesperson with Students for Gaza, told MEE students had originally dismantled the encampments “with the goal of continuing to organise and work throughout the summer to meet our demands”.

“We were able to get our demands met, including a divestment from weapons manufacturing and a website that disclosed clear information about our investments,” Max, who offered only his first name, said.

According to AFSC, the four companies targeted are directly involved in Israel’s war on Gaza, which has now resulted in more than 40,000 Palestinians being killed since October 2024.

Perry said that whereas Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest weapons manufacturers, has been supplying F16s and F35 jets to the Israeli airforce, the Italian weapons manufacturer, Leonardo, has been providing the Israeli navy with the 76mm guns that have been targeting Gaza from the sea.  

The Denver-based Palantir Technologies has been helping Israel develop “kill lists” for Israel while Caterpillar, infamous for its D9 armoured bulldozers, has been a long-time target for Palestinian activists due to its role in demolishing Palestinian homes and civilian infrastructure.

“These bulldozers have also been crucial for Israel’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, accompanying combat troops and paving their way by clearing roads and flattening entire residential neighbourhoods,” Perry added.

Perry said, success notwithstanding, more work still needs to be done at the university.

“It’s important to note that divestment from both Palantir and Caterpillar was not due to SFSU’s commitment to divest from weapons manufacturers, but thanks to the other parts of the university’s investment policy, which now considers internationally-recognised human rights, in addition to the university’s prior commitments to racial justice and environmental issues,” Perry said.

SFSU did not immediately reply to MEE’s request for comment.

The San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Brewers are set to play the final game of their three-game series today.

In the first two games, the Giants won game one by a final score of 5-4 and then yesterday the Brewers got revenge with a 5-3 win. San Francisco will look to bounce back and get back in the win column this afternoon.

Following yesterday’s loss, the Giants fell back to .500 at 67-67. Milwaukee, on the other hand, improved to 76-56.

Due to the loss, San Francisco also fell back further out of the NL Wild Card race. The team is now six and a half games out of the Wild Card.

All of that being said, let’s take a look at how fans can make sure to watch this afternoon’s game.

How to Watch Giants at Brewers

Game Day: Thursday, August 29th 

Game Time: 2:10 p.m. EST

Where: American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Television: BSWI

Live Stream: You can also live stream tonight’s game on fubo.tv

About Today’s Game

After falling farther behind in the NL Wild Card race, the Giants can’t afford to lose another game. They have to find a way to string a few wins together.

To start this important game, San Francisco will send Hayden Birdsong out to the mound. The 22-year-old rookie has started in 10 games this season, compiling a 3-3 record to go along with a 4.57 ERA, a 1.37 WHIP, a 2.1 K/BB ratio, and 45.1 innings pitched.

As for the Brewers, 29-year-old veteran Aaron Civale will be the starting pitcher. He has gone 2-2 this season with a 4.84 ERA, a 1.40 WHIP, a 2.1 K/BB ratio, and 41.1 innings pitched in eight starts.

The pitching matchup is fairly even. It will be interesting to see which offense can power its team to a big win.