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.”
The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.
One of San Francisco’s busiest freeways remained shut down Saturday, creating major traffic delays and dampening business for some local restaurants and shops.
All eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 just before the Bay Bridge are closed as crews work around the clock to rehabilitate the roadway. The 55-hour shutdown, which began on Friday night, is scheduled to last until Monday morning in time for the commute.
The closure has forced drivers onto detour routes, leading to heavy congestion for those trying to reach the East Bay, including Oakland and Berkeley.
The impact is being felt beyond the roadways.
At MoMo’s, a restaurant across from Oracle Park, staff found business noticeably slower.
“A little bit more mellow than usual. We usually see a little bit more foot traffic, a little bit more people on Saturdays,” said Daniel Bermudez, executive chef at MoMo’s.
Bermudez believes the freeway closure may be discouraging visitors from coming into the city this weekend, despite favorable weather.
“The weather is beautiful today. It’s nice and sunny. So we have plenty of tables outside,” he said.
With the San Francisco Giants playing an away game, the restaurant had hoped fans would still gather to watch, but turnout during game time remained light.
“This is kind of like our off-season Saturday. A lot slower than our baseball weekend,” said Casandra Alarcon, general manager at MoMo’s.
Other small businesses in the Mission Bay and South of Market neighborhoods reported similar trends, saying most of their customers are regulars who live nearby rather than visitors.
“A little bit slower for sure. Before, we had tourists come and walk to the baseball park,” said Ajaree Safron, manager at Brickhouse Cafe & Bar.
Caltrans has shut down eastbound lanes between 17th and 4th streets to repave the 71-year-old roadway. The goal is to extend the life of the Bayshore Freeway by another decade.
City and transportation officials said the timing of the closure was intentional, noting fewer major events scheduled in San Francisco this weekend, aside from the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Westbound lanes remain open, and officials said traffic heading into San Francisco from the East Bay has not been significantly affected.
“Getting into the city, it wasn’t too bad. Regular [traffic], what we expect on a Saturday morning,” said visitor Andrea Inouye.
While the closure has posed challenges for businesses, some workers said they are taking it in stride.
“Hopefully, it’s not for too long and we get past it, and get back to our normal routine,” Bermudez said.
Despite early concerns about widespread gridlock, transportation officials said the region has avoided the worst-case scenario. Traffic remains heavy in areas near detours, but the anticipated “carmageddon” has not materialized, in part because many drivers chose to avoid the area or take public transit.
Bay Area High School baseball fans are treated to a rare opportunity Saturday (April 18) with three games at Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, including the famed Bruce-Mahoney clash between West Catholic Athletic League rivals St. Ignatius and Sacred Heart Cathedral.
The first pitch of the 20th annual Dante Benedetti Baseball Classic starts at 11 a.m. and pits two more San Francisco private schools as University (9-7), winners of four straight, taking on Riordan (5-11).
That will be followed by the Bruce-Mahoney game at 2:30 between St. Ignatius (12-5, 4-2 WCAL) and the Irish (7-10, 1-5) and finished off with a North Coast Section clash between North Bay’s Marin Catholic (9-7) against Acalanes (7-6-1).
The Benedetti Classic, founded by Dante’s Boys Foundation board member Tom Lounibos and Giants president Larry Baer, benefits the DBF which honors the spirit of Benedetti who for nearly 40 years owned San Francisco’s Mr. Baseball nickname for his kindness and generosity to baseball-playing youth in the area.
Among their philanthropic efforts are glove and baseball equipment drives, field renovations and contributions to scholarships and sponsorships.
After starting the season 0-4 — three of those losses were by one run — University, under head coach Andrew Suvunnachuen, has found its way, winning the last four, all in Bay Counties League play, by a combined 51-6 count over Lick-Wilmerding (16-1 and 11-3) and San Domenico (13-2 and 11-0).
Senior catcher and pitcher Jett Messenger leads the way with a .447 average, while getting on base at a .638 rate. He also leads the team with 20 stolen bases. Junior third baseman Tate Gebhart is hitting .419, while Leo Felder and Behbart share the RBI lead with 15 each.
Junior Matthew Foley is 3-2 on the mound with a 2.38 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 17.2 innings.
Riordan, under second-year head coach Craig Sargent, was 5-5 in nonleague games but lost six straight in the rugged WCAL, losing two tough games this week to Mitty (3-2 and 7-4). Junior third baseman and pitcher Santiono Williams leads the team in batting average (.371), on-base percentage (.488) and stolen bases (nine). He’s also been the team’s top pitcher at 4-2 with a 2.84 ERA.
The teams have split two previous games in their history, with Riordan winning 2-0 in 2023 and University prevailing 5-0 in 2021.
St. Ignatius, led by ninth-year head coach Brian Pollzzie, has already secured the Bruce-Mahoney trophy with four straight wins — one each in football, girls volleyball, boys basketball and girls basketball — but this rivalry is always spirited.
The Wildcats, who are ranked fourth in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle, are coming off a tough 3-0 home loss to No. 2 St. Francis on Friday after beating the host Lancers 10-6 on Tuesday.
The team is led by Stanford-bound Archer Horn, who is hitting .486 with four home runs and a .604 on-base percentage. The shortstop and pitcher also has not allowed an earned run in three pitching appearances while registering one save.
Pitching is a team’s strength with a 2.59 ERA, led by a brigade of strong arms including Leo Rhein (2-0, 2.38), Tycco Giometti (2-1, 2.62), Charlie Stecher 1-1, 0.72) and Chase Gordon (1-0, 2.80). The team is missing standout Finn Demuth, out of the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Sacred Heart Cathedral, led by fourth-year head coach Gregg Franceschi, has scored 60 runs on the season and given up 61. The Irish are coming off two losses to eighth-ranked Valley Christian (5-2 and 10-1).
They are led offensively by junior outfielder Brody O’Sullivan (.381) and senior infielder Jacob Vines (.378). Johnny Nepomuceno and Max Nylander are other run-producers. Zach Stallworth (37 strikeouts, 29.2 innings) and Cooper Rogers Lewis (0.25 ERA) have been the team’s top pitchers.
The series has been remarkably close since 2005 with Sacred Heart Cathedral holding a 27-20 edge, though St. Ignatius won both games last season (5-0 and 6-3) after the Irish won 9-7 and 1-0 in 2024.
Marin Catholic hopes to get back to winning after starting the season 9-1, but have since lost six straight, four in Marin County Athletic League play, including 4-2 to Novato on Thursday. Senior outfield Luke Martin is the team’s leading hitter at .478 while senior infielder and pitcher Cooper Mitchell is at .455. Senior infielder Walker Untermann leads the team with 15 RBIs.
Acalanes is at the other end of the spectrum, winners of five of six after a 2-5-1 start. Junior infielder Tyler Winkles, also a highly recruited quarterback in football, leads the team with a .383 average and nine stolen bases. Riley Gates (2-3, 2.49 ERA, 30 strikeouts) is the team’s top pitcher.
The teams have played three times, all since 2022, with Marin Catholic owning a 2-1 lead. Acalanes won last year’s game 8-7.
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