Allan Low was quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle article titled “S.F. Japantown Businesses Owe Tens of Thousands in Rent. Can the Area Survive Without Them?” regarding how the pandemic has hit the small family-owned businesses and restaurants in Japantown.

“Japantown is particularly vulnerable because you have about 80% of the area of Japantown controlled by two landlords,” says Allan Low. Along with Diane Matsuda, a staff attorney with Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, Low is representing more than 40 businesses across the three malls, as they push to get the landlords to the negotiating table. They’d like to see fees waived and rent forgiven, particularly for the months the mall was closed. As of now, a city ordinance protecting businesses from eviction is set to expire at the end of March, adding additional urgency to the negotiations.