SF tech founder ditches downtown office after crime, dog attacks ‘took a heavy toll’

Anto Patrex, founder of AI robotics startup Cosmic Brain, says he has moved his office from Market Street to San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighbourhood after dog attacks and other safety concerns. He said the incidents, alongside street crime and signs of a declining business district, made working downtown take a heavy toll.

Patrex described being bitten on Sixth Street and said a friend was later bitten badly enough to need hospital treatment. City data recorded 74 dog attacks in the Tenderloin between January and September. Patrex said the Market Street incubator, which had housed more than 100 startups a few years ago, now has fewer than 10 teams; the wider Mid-Market area had a 32% office vacancy rate in the third quarter.