SATURDAY’S GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE

Alcatraz, Still Closed.

As we head into week four of the Great Government Shutdown of 2025, here’s what I know.

It sucks.

Alcatraz, the Muir Woods and Yosemite are still closed. TSA agents are still working without pay, and airport delays are at least two to three hours. By now, anyone who had planned a vacation to San Francisco in the waning days of the season to see “The Rock,” have surmised that it isn’t going to happen and have cancelled their hotel reservations.

This end-of-season bump Fisherman’s Wharf area hotels usually plan for, has not come into fruition. Whatever expenses they had allocated, they will now have to eat. Same goes for the T-Shirt and snow-globe merchants that ring the Wharf. Not to mention the restaurants and galleries.

As the Muir Woods has one parking space for every 100,000 visitors, a good number of them rely on local sightseeing tour companies to get them to this federally managed oasis of Redwood trees. Since Muir Woods is part of the National Park System, it too remains closed. Those local sightseeing tour companies are also feeling the economic hit as one of their most popular excursions is now stopped.

The economic impact is still being calculated as the season runs through November, with several conventions at the Moscone Convention Center scheduled up to the Thanksgiving holiday.

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