Office Hours

In a recent post, “Re-imagining the Roles of Realtors and Landlords in San Francisco’s Revitalization,” I talk about three-way partnerships between my project, ArtHouse, landlords who will partner with us to restore the priced-out arts community, and the realtors who introduce us. In such partnerships, everyone benefits. The landlord gets rents, a massive in-kind charitable donation deduction, and a percentage of ArtHouse businesses’ income. The realtor gets a percentage of the businesses for the life of the project, passive income far more lucrative than a single commission, and ArtHouse gets to provide housing for the artists who were displaced. And the city comes back to life with the infusion of psychologically healing creative energy.

Since posting that piece, it occurred to me that many property owners in this city already have a good reason to want to work with us. If your property became more valuable because your in-law apartment became legal, or you were able to build other ADUs and increase incom, that’s because of me. In 2017, I signed on for a year of the Civil Grand Jury and organized a team to investigate ADU legalization. I wrote the report explaining why they should be legal, which was approved by the Board of Supervisors and made into law. The irony is that landlords won’t rent to me because I work in the gig economy. But they can rent to ArtHouse, for a lovely in-kind charitable donation deduction that’s so beneficial tax-wise, and costs them nothing.

San Francisco building owners tend to hang onto empty buildings, waiting for the AI market to provide the same boost the tech industry brought to the city. However, as the brilliant writer and analyst, Ed Zitron, tells us, AI is never going to be profitable because the cost of producing it is too high, the results are, if anything, unreliable, and it’s environmentally horrific. So, we have at least 61K empty rental units, hundreds of empty buildings, and an economic downturn showing no sign of abating. It’s the perfect time to try something else.

I need to talk to potential partners, realtors or building owners. I have no office for ArtHouse yet, but I’m having office hours, when people who are curious could drop by to chat, at an outdoor table at Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store Café, on the south-east corner of Columbus and Union, across from the park. I’ll be sipping cappuccino and reading a book. If it’s raining, I’ll be inside.

This is the opportunity to be part of the solution, deviation from standard business practices that aren’t producing the same results. It’s the chance to be seen as a visionary problem solver. There are far duller things to do on a Monday afternoon than discussing innovative, mutually beneficial ways to re-ignite the economy, over coffee at Mario’s. Perhaps bring a colleague. We need lots of buildings.

Office Hours:

Mondays. 4:30 to 6, beginning on March 9, 2026

Outside at Mario’s, 566 Columbus Avenue, SF

Looking forward to seeing you there!

P Segal