A San Francisco city official reportedly was forced to resign after offering a now-canceled "Doom Loop Walking Tour" that showed off the city's seedier side.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Alex Ludlum, 35, a real estate professional who serves as vice president of San Francisco's Commission on Community Investment and Infrastructure, was linked to the doomed event through refund notices listing a person with his email address as the organizer.
Aaron Peskin, head of the city's board of supervisors, told the Chronicle that Ludlum texted him about the tour, and later said it was meant to be a satire.
Mayor London Breed picked Ludlum for the infrastructure commission last year, the Chronicle reported, but a spokesman for the mayor called the doom-loop tour decision a "mistake and a deep error in judgment."
According to the National Review, the tour was offered on Eventbrite for $30 and was set for Aug. 26, promising participants an up-close look at open-air drug markets, abandoned tech offices, and deserted storefronts.
"You've read the headlines, you've seen the Tweets, now get close and personal to the Doom and Squalor of downtown San Francisco," a description of the event read, NR reported.
The tour guide, described as an "expert" and a "SF native, political junkie, & opinionated loudmouth," was going to help people understand "the policy choices that made America's wealthiest city the nation's innovative leader of housing crisis, addiction crisis, mental-health crisis, & unrepentant crime crisis," the invitation promised.
The guide was also described as an "urban policy professional, card-carrying City Commissioner overseeing a municipal department with an annual budget of over $500m, and co-founder of San Francisco's largest neighborhood association."
The organizer, listed only as "SF Anonymous Insider," told customers he was canceling the event because media attention made it impossible to remain anonymous. But Ludlum was outed over the weekend as the guy behind the tour, NR reported.
The investment and infrastructure commission's website describes Ludlum as a "real estate professional with a focus on in-fill residential development in the San Francisco Bay Area," a "co-founder of the SoMa West Community Benefit District," and a San Francisco native.
Though the tour was canceled, an "anti-doom loop" protest tour went on as planned, the New York Post reported, with community activist Del Seymour leading about 70 people on a two-mile walk through some neighborhoods.
Though the counter-tour was meant to show the city's nice side, there was no hiding shuttered stores, homeless tent encampments — with one man yelling at the onlookers — and people dealing drugs and smoking fentanyl openly, the Post reported.
"The stench of urine mixed with human and animal feces was at times overwhelming as Seymour quickly walked the group past the notorious corner of Hyde and Turk streets, where drug deals run rampant, especially once the sun goes down," an unnamed resident told the Post.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.