San Francisco, CA
San Francisco's first Black female mayor is in a pricey battle for a second term
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When London Breed was elected as San Francisco’s first Black woman mayor, it was a pinch-me moment for a poor girl from public housing whose ascension showed that no dream was impossible in the progressive, compassionate and equitable city.
But the honeymoon was short-lived as a COVID-19 pandemic shuttered stores and tech workers retreated to home offices. Tent encampments surged and so did public drug use.
Breed now finds herself in a pricey campaign as she battles for a second term.
The moderate Democrat faces four main challengers on the Nov. 5 ballot, all fellow Democrats, who say Breed has squandered her six years in office. They say she allowed San Francisco to descend into chaos and blamed others for her inability to rein in homelessness and erratic street behavior, all while burglarized businesses pleaded for help.
Her closest competitors appear to be Mark Farrell, a former interim mayor and venture capitalist who is the most conservative of the group, and Daniel Lurie, an anti-poverty nonprofit founder and an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who has pumped at least $6 million of his own money into his first bid for mayor.
The other two are Aaron Peskin, president of the Board of Supervisors, the most liberal of the candidates, and Ahsha Safaí, a city supervisor and former labor organizer.
Streets have become cleaner and homeless tents much harder to find, but the daytime shooting in September of 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall in a popular central shopping district reignited the public safety issue.
“Even though San Francisco is seen as this kind of West Coast liberal icon, the city has experienced a series of episodes that challenge that, and that puts voters into kind of a testy mood,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University.
McCuan added that he thinks Breed still has the advantage, but “she’s just got difficulties around her.”
The Nov. 5 vote in a presidential election year is happening amid a national debate on public safety and a statewide vote on a tough-on-crime proposition that would, if approved, reclassify some misdemeanor theft and drug crimes as felonies.
Voters concerned over crime ousted progressive San Francisco prosecutor Chesa Boudin in a rare recall in 2022, and across the bay this year, the Oakland mayor is facing a recall election due in part to crime concerns.
In an interview, Breed, 50, said San Francisco is turning a corner — thanks to her hard work — and voters she meets are upbeat.
She championed a pair of successful public safety ballot measures in the March primary to expand police powers and compel some people into drug treatment. She ordered a crackdown on homeless tent encampments following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said bans on outdoor sleeping are allowed. Reported crime is down.
“We laid the groundwork, and now people are reaping the benefits of our infrastructure projects, the capacity we built and the technology we’re using to combat crime,” Breed said, adding that voters “know that someone’s in charge and making it happen.”
Farrell challenged that notion at a meeting with voters at a boisterous gastropub on a recent evening, saying Breed failed to maintain the streets he cleared of tents when he was interim mayor in 2018. Farrell, 50, was a city supervisor who served in the role for six months following the death of Mayor Ed Lee.
What to know about the 2024 Election
He envisions a San Francisco where police feel respected and older residents don’t have to hire private security when the city has a $15 billion annual budget.
“San Franciscans, given the state of our city right now, want not only a change of leadership, but a sense of direction for the city,” Farrell said in an interview this week.
Lurie, 47, says voters deserve a true public servant and that as a political outsider, he has the experience to overhaul corrupt government bureaucracy.
Voters are “desperate, desperate for someone that is going to come in there and bring accountability,” Lurie said.
As founder of the nonprofit Tipping Point Community, he says, he built tiny cabin shelters and permanent subsidized housing at a fraction of the cost and time that it would take City Hall.
Breed, Farrell and Lurie all have strong ties to wealthy business donors.
Lurie leads in fundraising with more than $13 million, including $1 million from his mother, businesswoman Miriam Haas, to an outside committee supporting his candidacy. Breed has collected more than $4.6 million, including $1.2 million from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, while Farrell has raised $3.5 million.
All three candidates also carry baggage.
Breed is embroiled in an unfolding scandal over financial mismanagement in the Dream Keeper Initiative, her marquee racial equity program for Black communities. The mayor says the program does good work.
Farrell has been accused by opponents of dodging campaign contribution limits by pooling staff and office costs with a campaign he established in support of a ballot measure, which can accept unlimited donations. Farrell says he is following the law.
And critics of Lurie say the affordable housing project his nonprofit built cannot be replicated citywide because it used a construction method opposed by local labor unions and required massive private investment. Lurie says naysayers will naysay.
San Francisco elects its mayor using a ranked choice voting system that could yield a winner who did does get the most first-place votes. It also can encourage unusual alliances between rival candidates and, indeed, this week Farrell and Safaí agreed to ask their supporters to make the other their No. 2 pick.
Breed won election as mayor in June 2018 to serve out the remainder of Lee’s term and was reelected in 2019 to a full term that has lasted five years instead of the typical four after voters changed the election calendar to line up with presidential contests.
BERKELEY — A San Francisco man suspected of a half-dozen non injury shootings last month that began in a confrontation with some UC Berkeley students has been charged with nine felonies and a misdemeanor, according to authorities and court records.
The suspect, Jeffrey Hue, 45, has been charged with felonies of assault with a firearm, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, shooting at an unoccupied vehicle, three counts of possession of an assault weapon, possession of a silencer, possession of armor-piercing ammunition and a misdemeanor count of possession of a firearm without identification numbers.
Twelve rifles and pistols were recovered at his home when he was arrested Nov. 7 and police seized more than 15,000 bullets of various calibers, including the armor-piercing rounds.
Hue pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday. He is free on bail, which in earlier jail records was listed at $480,000.
According to court documents, just after 12 a.m. Oct. 26 Hue and an unnamed friend, who was not arrested, got into a confrontation with four UC Berkeley students in the 2400 block of Telegraph Avenue. Police have not said what the confrontation was about, but according to the documents, Hue allegedly pulled a pistol from his waistband, pointed it at the students and told them to run. As they did, he fired a shot into the air.
The other shootings — which took place in the half-hour following the first confrontation — happened in the 2400 block of Durant Avenue, the 2200 blocks of Bancroft Way and University Avenue, the 2300 block of Fulton Street and the 1100 block of Sutter Street, police said. Police have not said what prompted those shootings.
According to the documents, Hue was captured on video at a bar in the area of the shootings, and his Lexus SUV was seen on video entering and leaving Berkeley and being in the area of the shootings. His cell phone records, later obtained via a warrant, showed him to be in the area of all of the shootings, the documents say.
The UC students also identified him as the suspect. Hue was arrested Nov. 7 at his home and police searched the residence.
Six of the firearms seized at his home were legally registered to him. The others were unregistered or un-serialized and kits were recovered that are commonly used to manufacture so-called ghost guns, the documents say.
Police said that in an interview after his arrest, Hue said he remembered being in Berkeley the night of the shootings and driving his Lexus in the city. But when asked about the shooting incidents and the evidence seized from his home, he asked to speak to an attorney.
Attempts to reach Hue by phone this week were unsuccessful.
Originally Published:
San Francisco, CA
Fatal stabbing outside Embarcadero BART station in San Francisco briefly halts trains
SAN FRANCISCO — A person died outside a San Francisco BART station early Wednesday in an apparent stabbing, police and officials said.
The incident outside the Embarcadero Station on Market Street closed down the system for about 40 minutes during the morning commute, officials said.
In a statement, San Francisco police said they responded about 5:50 a.m. to reports of a person bleeding outside the station. Officers arrived to find a person with an unspecified injury and bleeding. Police said they and medics rendered aid but the person died at the scene.
BART spokesperson Jim Allison said officials closed the station while police searched for a suspect. Police said they have not made an arrest.
Man who allegedly stabbed woman on BART has extensive criminal history
The stabbing came less than two weeks after a slashing on an Antioch-bound train that critically injured a 54-year-old woman. Authorities have charged a 34-year-old man with one count of attempted murder, according court records.
Officials closed the Embarcadero station at 5:50 a.m. for about 40 minutes. Trains briefly single-tracked through the station before all trains were held at the station, Allison said.
Police closed Market Street from Main Street to Beale Street during the investigation.
Please check back for updates.
Originally Published:
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco wins order blocking Oakland’s airport from using ‘San Francisco’ name
A U.S. judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Port of Oakland from using “San Francisco” in the Oakland airport’s name, finding the name change would likely cause consumer confusion and harm the city of San Francisco.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson said in the decision that changing the name of Metropolitan Oakland International Airport in nearby Oakland to “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport” would likely mislead consumers into thinking it is connected with San Francisco.
A spokesperson for the Port of Oakland said the port is “continuing to review the recent ruling and considering all available options.”
Spokespeople for San Francisco did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision.
The Port of Oakland announced plans in March to change the name of its airport, which its board of commissioners unanimously approved in May.
San Francisco sued Oakland for infringing its airport’s trademarks in April, arguing the Oakland airport’s similar new name would confuse travelers. It asked in September for a preliminary order forcing the port to stop using the new name, which Hixson granted on Tuesday.
“Including ‘San Francisco’ in the name of the Oakland airport when there is in fact no affiliation, connection or association between the Oakland airport and San Francisco is contrary to how airports in the United States are normally named and is highly likely to be confusing,” Hixson said.
Oakland’s airport is 12 miles east of San Francisco and just over 30 miles from San Francisco International Airport, whose airport code is SFO.
San Francisco International served 47 million passengers in fiscal year 2023 while Oakland’s airport served more than 11 million, according to city reports.
The Port of Oakland told the court in May that airports in Chicago, Dallas, London, Paris and Beijing peacefully share their cities’ names and said its branding and continued use of the OAK airport code would prevent confusion.
The port also said the new name was an “accurate geographic descriptor of OAK’s location on San Francisco Bay.”
The judge said it was “extremely rare” for a major U.S. airport to “bear the name of a different city than the one that owns it,” noting that Chicago and Dallas each own the two airports that bear the cities’ names.
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