San Francisco, CA
Residents Sour on Mayor of San Francisco as City Becomes the ‘Butt of Jokes Across America’
In San Francisco, London Breed’s predecessor could become her successor, depending on the outcome of a venture capitalist’s bid for mayor.
Mark Farrell, who was the city’s interim mayor in 2018, announced his candidacy last week — joining Mayor Breed, Ahsha Safaí, and Daniel Lurie — and he is already raking in considerable funds. He’s running on a tough-on-crime approach, pushing policy priorities that include hiring a new police chief and “massively” increasing police staffing, implementing a “zero-tolerance approach” to crime, and supporting efforts to reform Prop 47 — a 2014 voter-enacted measure that reduced penalties for crimes including drug offenses, petty theft, and commercial burglary.
“Over the past five years, I have watched our City crumble. People don’t feel safe, the conditions of our streets have never been worse, downtown has collapsed, and we’re the butt of jokes across America,” Mr. Farrell, whose campaign was not immediately responsive to a request for comment from the Sun, said on his campaign platform.
The city has faced a reputation crisis in recent months, and a GrowSF poll in October showed that 68 percent of San Francisco voters believed the city was headed down the wrong track, citing homelessness, open air drug use, fentanyl dealing, and crime as top issues. Nearly 60 percent of respondents had a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Ms. Breed.
A small business owner, father of three, and 30-year resident of San Francisco, Brian Mullin, tells the Sun that he is incredibly proud of the city but that it needs a change of leadership.
“We’ve obviously gone through many different kinds of political machinations in San Francisco with the last five years with London Breed, I just don’t know if the city could take another five years,” he says as to why he’s publicly supporting Mr. Farrell.
It seems that as Ms. Breed has “been under pressure from multiple sides,” she has been trying to make more progress, including cleaning up the city when the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation global summit came to town last fall.
“They certainly had no problem cleaning the streets and moving homeless encampments and moving all this stuff when the international spotlight was on San Francisco,” Mr. Mullin says. “But I think there’s a lot of residents in San Francisco that say ‘you were able to do it for them — they were all international high-profile visitors — but the people that actually raise families, own homes, run businesses in San Francisco, they don’t deserve the same kind of attention?’”
A lot of people were hoping that the APEC cleanup would last longer than it did, Mr. Mullin says. Instead, “the minute the spotlight was off is the minute that things kind of went back to the status quo.”
His business, a marketing firm called Manifold, had to close its office downtown because of the pandemic and subsequent issues, he says. Since the business involves live event productions and doing large conventions for brands, he says, and “when those conventions are fleeing the city or they’re deciding to do them elsewhere, that has a direct impact on our lives.”
The city’s extremely slow pandemic recovery has affected his work, employees, and his family, he says, adding that increased police presence would “absolutely” be beneficial.
The Sun reached out to London Breed’s office, which did not return a request for comment.
As retail theft, homelessness, and drug use have become more visible, leaders have been forced to attempt a crackdown on it, a senior fellow in urban studies at Pacific Research Institute, Steve Smith, tells the Sun.
“I was the security director of two high rises at the edge of the Union Square shopping area in the financial district,” he says. “I began before Covid and left during Covid, and I saw San Francisco become a ghost town.”
The shutdown, competition from online retailers, the lack of public safety, and an exodus of office workers all contributed to the closure of dozens of stores in Union Square and beyond, he says.
Both San Francisco and nearby-Oakland are grappling with car thefts and window smashes— the San Francisco Chronicle’s tracker shows 982 vehicle break-ins reported in January alone, many in touristy areas such as Fisherman’s Wharf. The city is also reeling from record-high fentanyl overdoses, which isn’t likely to go away as long as “California is hamstrung by Prop 47,” Mr. Smith says.
“Addicts are drawn to San Francisco because it’s well known that cash is available, that enforcement is loose, that judges won’t hold you in jail, even if you are arrested,” he says. Many areas of the city have become a “ free for all,” he adds.
When it comes to the November election and the mayoral race, “we’re all watching it close,” he says, as San Francisco residents wonder if it will be a true change or “reshuffling the deck.”
A large fire burned at a six-story residential building in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District early Friday morning, leaving dozens displaced, officials said.
The fire started at around 3 a.m. at a building on Golden Gate Avenue near Taylor and Market streets, adjacent to the Golden Gate Theatre. The San Francisco Fire Department said the fire started on the top floor and reached three alarms, spreading to the attic and roof of the building. Over 100 firefighters at the scene were able to prevent it from spreading to lower floors and nearby buildings, the department said.
Multiple people were rescued and self-evacuated, and a total of 45 residents were displaced, but there were no injuries, the department said. Two cats were also rescued, one that was treated by medics at the scene and another cared for by Animal Control.
Evacuated residents were provided temporary shelter at the corner of Golden Gate and Jones Street aboard a Muni bus. The Red Cross and other city agencies were called in to assist the displaced residents, the department said.
The fire was contained by 5:30 a.m., and firefighters remained on the scene for several hours. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
San Francisco firefighters are finally getting the protective gear they were promised after years’ long research revealed certain chemicals used in traditional firefighter uniforms can cause cancer.
“What none of us could have known is that some of the very gear designed to protect us was quietly harming us,” said San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen, who spoke alongside dozens of first responders on Thursday as he announced the city’s $3.6 million plan to provide protective equipment to all frontline firefighters by the end of the year. “This is a joyous occasion for our city.”
San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen was flanked by the mayor, state and local lawmakers, and dozens of first responders on Thursday when detailing the city’s plans to provide new, non-PFAS uniforms to frontline firefighters across San Francisco.
The San Francisco fire department, the tenth largest in the nation, has already distributed the redesigned gear to about 80 of its firefighters and hopes to have all 1,100 of its new uniforms in use within the next three weeks – that’s enough protective equipment to provide one uniform to each of the city’s frontline firefighters. While city leaders hope to eventually purchase a second set of gear, San Francisco firefighters will, for now, need to wash their new gear before returning to work or continue to rely on their old uniform as a backup.
“Public safety relies on the people who stand between danger and our residents,” Mayor Lurie told the crowd during Thursday’s announcement. “Firefighter health must always be at the center of our decisions.”
San Francisco’s efforts stem from a first-in-the-nation ban that local lawmakers passed last year, which requires the city to outfit firefighters with new uniforms by July 2026. Over the years, studies have shown the jackets and pants firefighters across America have long relied on to keep safe during emergencies are made with materials proven to cause cancer.
These so-called “PFAS” materials, often referred to as ‘forever chemicals’ because of their reluctance to breakdown, have long been used to bolster the reliability of firefighter clothing by helping to repel flammable liquids and reduce temperatures, even in extreme heat. Researchers, however, have found the compounds to be harmful when absorbed through skin. While the precise level of PFAS exposure for firefighters and the associated health risks are still being studied, the compounds have been linked to cancer and other negative health effects impacting cholesterol levels and the immune system, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
PFAS aside, the inherit health risks of firefighting, including prolonged exposure to smoke and ash, led the World Health Organization to deem the occupation a “carcinogen.” Yet, some fear the very safety uniforms firefighters have come to rely on for protection could also be making them sick.
Female firefighters in San Francisco are six times more likely to develop cancer compared to the national average, according to the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation.
In San Francisco, female firefighters have a six times higher rate of breast cancer than the national average, according to the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation. More than 400 firefighters in San Francisco have been lost to cancer over the past 20 years, according to the city’s fire department.
“The cost of inaction is measured in funerals,” said Stephen Gilman, who represents the local chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). “The reward of action is measured in lives saved.”
The cost of inaction is measured in funerals.
Stephen Gilman, International Assoc. of Fire Fighters (IAFF)
While materials laced with PFAS have been shown to pose safety risks, so has fire gear that has been manufactured without it. Last year, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit reported on research from North Carolina State University that found non-PFAS fire equipment to be less breathable and more flammable than traditional uniforms made with PFAS.
“We don’t want to just trade one hazard for another,” Dr. Bryan Ormand told the Investigative Unit back in May 2024. “We’re introducing a potential hazard for flammability on the fire scene where firefighters didn’t have that before.”
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a city-wide ban of what are known as ‘PFAS’ or ‘forever chemicals,’ but replacement options still aren’t widely available and those that are seem be raising new safety concerns. Senior Investigator Bigad Shaban reports.
Milliken & Company, the textile firm that made the material for San Francisco’s latest uniforms, said the new type of gear “meets or exceeds” all industry standards for “breathability and thermal protection.”
“We refused to trade one hazard for another,” Marcio Manique, senior vice president and managing director of Milliken’s apparel business, noted in a written statement.
“It meets the strictest performance standards without adding weight or compromising breathability – giving firefighters exactly what they asked for.”
We refused to trade one hazard for another
Marcio Manique, senior vice president and managing director of Milliken’s apparel business
In San Francisco, the new gear underwent a 90-day test trial with 50 of the city’s own firefighters.
“What we did was we actually went through a really comprehensive testing process,” Chief Crispen told the Investigative Unit. “It went to the lab and received testing and everything came back great, so we feel strongly about this product.”
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SAN FRANCISCO — A gas explosion started a major fire in a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood on Thursday, damaging several homes and sending heavy smoke into the air.
Local outlets said there are possible injuries from the Hayward explosion.
A spokesperson with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said a construction crew damaged an underground gas line around 7:35 a.m. The company said it was not their workers.
Utility workers isolated the damaged line and stopped the flow of gas at 9:25 a.m., PG&E said. The explosion occurred shortly afterward.
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