Good news? Sure. But let's be precise about what an inflection point actually means. It doesn't mean things are good. It means things might have stopped getting worse. That's the bar we're clearing here, folks.

San Francisco spent the better part of four years hemorrhaging businesses, watching office vacancy rates climb into the stratosphere, and presiding over a downtown that went from global destination to cautionary tale. Tax revenues cratered. Storefronts went dark. The city's political class responded with — what else — more spending, more programs, and more studies about why things weren't working.

So forgive us if we're not popping bottles at the news that the economic bleeding may have slowed.

The real question isn't whether we've hit bottom. It's whether City Hall has learned anything on the way down. Because an inflection point is only as meaningful as the decisions that follow it. If the city doubles down on the same regulatory maze that drives small businesses out, the same permitting nightmares that make opening a restaurant feel like a Kafka novel, and the same bloated bureaucracy that burns through billions with shockingly little to show for it — then this inflection point will be a footnote, not a turning point.

What would actually accelerate a recovery? Lower barriers for small businesses. Streamlined permitting. A real commitment to public safety downtown. And — here's the radical idea — maybe not taxing every new venture into oblivion before it can turn a profit.

San Francisco has all the ingredients for a genuine comeback: world-class talent, unmatched geography, and a cultural energy that's hard to replicate. But ingredients don't cook themselves. The city needs leadership willing to get out of the way and let the private sector do what it does best.

An inflection point is a chance, not a guarantee. Let's not waste it.