The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference is in San Francisco this week and it is expected to draw very large crowds of people from around the world. Anticipating traffic issues (among other things), San Franciscans are being warned to stay away from the downtown area during the conference or only use public transit if they must come into the center of the city. Security will be particularly tight, with many parts of the city being closed off. This is because world leaders from multiple countries will be there, including Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. Given the current condition of San Francisco, however, this isn’t exactly a case of the United States putting its best foot forward when hosting such an international event. (SF Gate)

They schedule conferences like this years in advance, so it’s probably impossible to cancel it at this point. (The last time the U.S. hosted it was in 2011.) San Francisco doesn’t look like it used to, however. What we know about San Francisco today is that it’s a mess. A number of large businesses and buildings have simply shut down or been abandoned. Crime is rampant and the streets are littered with drug addicts and the homeless. Have they made any progress toward cleaning up the streets before all of these visitors arrive?

We also know that San Francisco is basically broke in terms of its municipal budget. Where is the money coming from to throw an international shindig like this? At least in terms of the increased security costs, it turns out that DHS declared APEC a National Special Security Event (NSSE). That means that special pools of federal funds are available to set up and monitor restricted zones. People without credentials to attend APEC will be asked to detour around certain downtown areas and may be searched or detained if warranted.

Criminals and drug addicts don’t always tend to pay attention to such rules. It wouldn’t be a good look if Xi Jinping and his entourage pulled up for the main event, began delivering remarks to the press, and the cameras caught someone yanking the hubcaps off of their limo while they were speaking. That may sound like a joke, but this is San Francisco we’re talking about. This is the place where a CNN crew’s car was robbed while they were trying to report on crime rates.

Even if the entire event goes off without a hitch, San Francisco taxpayers should be asking one obvious question when this is over. If the city can manage to clean the place up and keep people safe for a bunch of foreign dignitaries, why couldn’t they have done it sooner? Why couldn’t they have done it for the actual residents who have to live there and pay the bills for all of this? And when this circus leaves town next week, will the City by the Bay simply be allowed to slip back into the shadows and fall further into decay again?

APEC is bringing a huge crowd with it and shining a bright light on a city that has now become synonymous with the phrase “doom loop.” Rather than simply slathering a ton of lipstick on this pig and trying to pretend that everything is fine, local and municipal officials should look at this moment as an opportunity. Use APEC as a chance to shine a spotlight on the problems they are dealing with and negotiate for resources and aid to restore San Francisco to what it once was. Either that or just board the place up and move on.