I don't think there's anything political about saying "those people were wrong, I wonder if they'll change their views when presented with evidence that they were wrong". I also wonder if the people that jumped to conclusions will examine why they did that, but that's not a political statement.
Right, you don't think its political. But of the people who want to say SF is a crime-ridden hellhole, it will be political to them. So saying they are wrong invites them to argue with you about something they see as political.
It does seem like there is a constituency that wants to make this political, facts be damned. Calling that out will probably invite them to continue down their chosen path as you say, but it's still worth pointing out false narratives, even if the response is kind of annoying.
No, it's just accurate. A personal or business problem between two people is not political. What happened is a lot of people wanted this issue to be political, but they turned out to be wrong.
