SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The federal shutdown is now hitting the Bay Area in a number of ways, from airports to parks to federal buildings.
Mike is a federal government employee with the Department of Labor. As he walked away from his office, he was carrying a sign.
“It says ‘We support federal workers.’ I’m hoping people support federal workers at this time,” said Mike.
He isn’t sure if he’s going to see colleagues for a while, so he stopped by his office on Wednesday.
“To grab any last things; (There were) some TV dinners in the fridge I wanted to grab. I kind of cleaned out the desk there,” said Mike.
Government shutdown: List of what Bay Area national parks, tourist attractions are open and closed
The last federal shutdown started in late 2018 and ended in early 2019, lasting 35 days.
“It was pretty tough. I’m lucky. My wife works a lot. She picked up some extra shifts-we kind of got by. Things are getting pretty tough after 1 month. That’s for sure,” said Mike.
Employees at the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco tell ABC7 News there’s definitely a lot less foot traffic on Wednesday. They’re seeing half the normal staffing.
At the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco, Joairam Domingo does I.T. work.
“I’m just very unsure of what happens next. I’m trying to take every day as it goes,” said Domingo.
RELATED: Government shutdown to impact Bay Area tourism — here’s what to know
At Oakland International Airport, San Jose Mineta International Airport and San Francisco International Airport, air traffic controllers are considered essential workers and are required to come to work even if they are not paid. Same with TSA agents at Oakland and San Jose.
At SFO, security screeners are not TSA employees, so they are not part of the shutdown.
Spokespeople for the airports do not expect service to be interrupted.
But travelers may see more delays if workers call out sick — like they did during the 2019 shutdown.
The federal government shutdown comes as a big surprise for many foreign visitors.
“That the government is shutdown, that is crazy,” said Luca Dehnel.
Newlyweds from Germany tied the knot three days ago.
They’re visiting San Francisco for their honeymoon.
“We wanted to go to Alcatraz and visit it,” said Dehnel.
RELATED: Federal government shutdown begins as nation faces new period of uncertainty
Alcatraz was closed Wednesday for planned construction. The National Park Service says it will fully reopen Thursday.
Lia St. Charles of Sacramento hoped to see Fort Point and a few other sites with her friends visiting from El Salvador.
“Now we come out here, everything is closed. We tried to park there. It was closed,” said St. Charles.
Among the federal parks and facilities that are closed: Muir Woods and the Stinson Beach parking lot.
“I didn’t realize this it was all going to be closed,” said St. Charles.
During the last government shutdown, several federally funded parks and facilities saw trash pile up and bathrooms go uncleaned for days and weeks. That concerned a lot of people. They hope that doesn’t happen again.
Copyright © 2025 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Duncan Meyers, founder of BDJOBSTODAY, shares expert career advice, job market insights, and practical tips to help professionals grow and succeed in their careers.
