The January spell of weeks when winter felt like summer is over. Rain is in the air and the skies have turned gray. Gray news all around San Francisco, too: The California Historical Society is history, dissolved after 154 years. Books, Inc., the oldest bookseller in the West, is in financial trouble. Empty stores. You know the story.
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.
San Francisco, CA
S.F. police investigating attack after tech co-founder says he was struck with pipe
San Francisco police are investigating an attack after a tech co-founder said he was struck in the head with a metal pipe in the Mission District.
A witness told police the victim, 33, and another man got into an argument that escalated into a fight in the area of 24th and Bryant streets around 2:10 a.m. Jan. 18. The San Francisco Police Department did not provide other details about the attack or the extent of the victim’s injuries, except to say he was bleeding from the head.
Paramedics took him to a hospital for treatment, police said.
The assailant took off after the attack and had not been arrested as of Sunday.
The investigation is ongoing, with investigators “working to make an arrest in this case,” the department said Sunday on X.
“Violent crime is unacceptable in San Francisco and the SFPD has devoted resources to ensure the public is safe and perpetrators are held accountable,” the department said.
In a series of posts on X, the apparent victim — Vishnu Hari, co-founder of Ego, a San Francisco-based AI-powered 3D simulation engine, according to his X and LinkedIn accounts — said he was discharged from a hospital’s intensive care unit recently.
Calling the attack unprovoked, he said he was struck in the back of the head with a metal pipe as he walked home from a corner store. The account was based on information he gathered from friends; he has no recollection of the incident, he said.
Hari said he suffered a traumatic brain injury, and that the attack left him partially blind in his right eye and unable to hear well out of his left ear. He expects it will take several months to heal, he said.
The assailant did not steal his phone or wallet, but did rip off his jewelry, Hari said on social media.
Hari did not respond to a request for comment Sunday.
San Francisco, CA
Recall campaign against San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio officially launched
SAN FRANCISCO – Efforts to recall San Francisco District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio shifted into a new gear as organizers officially launched the campaign on Saturday.
At the United Irish Cultural Center in the Sunset District, dozens of community members gathered to sign the recall petition. Some people even volunteered to collect signatures from District 4 voters. Among them was Frances Misenas, a District 4 resident who actually voted in favor of Proposition K.
“I’m for a park, I actually love the idea of a park,” Misenas said. “But the process was not transparent, and it wasn’t clear, and it doesn’t represent our neighborhood’s concerns.”
Proposition K permanently closes a stretch of the Great Highway near Ocean Beach to transform it into a park. Residents of San Francisco’s west side, particularly from the Sunset District, expressed frustration and anger over the supervisor’s role in helping to pass the controversial measure.
“I have concerns about safety because there’s increased traffic in our neighborhoods. My neighbor just last week had a car run into his home,” Misenas said.
Critics, including Misenas, argue that Engardio failed to adequately engage with constituents before pushing Proposition K to a citywide vote. They contend that closing the two-mile stretch of the Great Highway has created significant traffic problems, diverting cars into residential streets and compromising the safety and convenience of local residents.
Nancy, a District 4 resident living near the Great Highway, expressed her frustrations, saying, “When (traffic) gets heavy there, I can’t get in and out of my garage and cars won’t stop.”
Marc Duffett, owner of Ocean Park Motel, echoed similar sentiments, calling the situation “very offensive, and I think a lot of people are very angry about having it shoved down our throats.”
Organizers of the recall effort argued that Engardio’s actions hurt public safety and claimed his failure to adequately consider the concerns of his constituents was a key reason for the recall. Richard Corriea, a recall organizer, said, “He’s made us less safe on the west side. He’s ignored his constituents.”
Proposition K passed by about five percentage points. The November results showed voters living near the Great Highway overwhelmingly rejected Proposition K, while those living farther away supported it.
In response, Supervisor Engardio has defended his support for Proposition K, stating that the coast “belongs to everyone” and that erosion along the southern part of the highway made the decision inevitable.
“The southern part has literally fallen into the ocean because of the severe coastal erosion,” Engardio said. “I respect that people are going to disagree about what to do with the Great Highway, but you can’t beat Mother Nature. She’s already decided that this road has lost its greatest utility.”
The supervisor also pointed to his broader contributions to the district, including improvements to education, public safety, and the popular night markets.
“Don’t think we should recall someone based on one policy issue,” Engardio added.
However, recall organizers remain steadfast, with Corriea arguing that the issue goes beyond a single issue: “He’d like to say it’s one thing. It’s betrayal and he’s made us less safe on the west side.”
As of now, recall organizers have until late May to gather 9,400 valid signatures. They report having already collected 1,000 signatures since launching their campaign just five days ago. Misenas, for her part, is ready to continue her efforts, emphasizing that the issue at hand is about safety.
“I’m just going to talk to my neighbors first, my neighbors on my block,” she said, highlighting the real-world consequences of the road closures.
If the recall effort proves successful and enough signatures are gathered, organizers said a special recall election would take place likely in October.
San Francisco, CA
San Franciscans have a second shot at a new beginning, and boy do we need it
The western new year — 2025 — has been a bust so far. Maybe it’s time to think of a newer new year. So I took a trip to Chinatown to see what’s new. And to North Beach to see what’s old. A good way to start the Lunar New Year. This is the year of the serpent, by tradition a time of wisdom and adaptability. We could use both.
The beginning of the trip was unpromising, up Kearny from Market, up Sutter Street, right on Stockton Street past blocks of “For Lease” signs, then through the noisy Stockton Tunnel.
Article continues below this ad
Stockton Street was a bit quiet for a holiday period, but it turned out I had missed the new year rush. So I headed down the side streets into the Chinatown alleys — Ross Alley and Waverly Place — decorated with lanterns and flags, the pavement thick with bits of red paper from firecracker new year celebrations.
The Chinatown alleys, usually packed with life and locked doorways, always seem mysterious to western eyes. At this time of the year they also seem to have a new-year vitality as if this old part of the city was starting again.
There was a big celebration on the first day of the new year at Portsmouth Square, with Daniel Lurie, the city’s new mayor, on hand.
I went to a smaller event at the northerly part of Grant Avenue, where Chinatown runs into North Beach.
There were a couple of hundred people here, jammed together on Grant, listening to speeches in English and Cantonese. The sound system was not up to the job but the message was clear: good wishes for a happy and prosperous new year. Tell your friends to come by. We could use the business.
Article continues below this ad
The speeches ended in the roar of a thousand firecrackers and enough white smoke to deter whatever evil spirits might be around.
There were two Chinese lions dancing and a third lion standing by at the entrance to Kerouac Alley. The street is only 60 feet long — one end in Chinatown, the other in Italian-flavored North Beach, two worlds of San Francisco.
“At the front side we faced the western world, at the back we faced the eastern world,’’ Lawrence Ferlinghetti said of the City Lights bookstore at the North Beach end of the alley.
Just beyond is a three-way intersection where Grant, Columbus Avenue and Broadway all run together.
On the North Beach side a dozen Chinese street musicians were playing, the eastern music drifting over the sounds of the city: traffic, buses, sirens. Just opposite was a neon sign celebrating the raucous days when this corner was ground zero for topless dancing.
Article continues below this ad
It was a new year in Chinatown, but an older time was still the order of the day in North Beach and the two worlds are close together so I headed up a block or two to Green Street for a winter’s day drink at Gino and Carlo and lunch at Sotto Mare, in the heart of North Beach.
“Sotto Mare” means “under the sea” in Italian and I enjoy the sand dabs there. They are small fish with both eyes on the left side of their heads, a San Francisco kind of fish.
I like to sit at the counter and watch the cooks at work, dicing and slicing, big flames coming up from the gas stoves. The orders are written on paper and come to the cooks zipping on a long wire. Very low tech, very old San Francisco.
I had a glass of wine while waiting for lunch and got to thinking: Change is in the air for the new year. A band of rain, even a storm, is in the forecast. And after that, in the second week of February, all the street trees will start to bloom.
Article continues below this ad
There’s a special thing about this wintry season in this part of the world: You get a second chance at a new year.
Carl Nolte’s columns appear in The Chronicle’s Sunday edition. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com
-
News1 week ago
Hamas releases four female Israeli soldiers as 200 Palestinians set free
-
Politics1 week ago
Oklahoma Sen Mullin confident Hegseth will be confirmed, predicts who Democrats will try to sink next
-
Nebraska1 week ago
3 years of the Nebraska Examiner: Looking back for inspiration and ahead to growth, with your help • Nebraska Examiner
-
Culture6 days ago
How Unrivaled became the WNBA free agency hub of all chatter, gossip and deal-making
-
World1 week ago
Israel Frees 200 Palestinian Prisoners in Second Cease-Fire Exchange
-
Technology4 days ago
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta isn’t worried about DeepSeek
-
Business4 days ago
Tulsi Gabbard Defended Russia and Syria. Now She Must Defend Those Views.
-
News2 days ago
Hamas frees more Israeli hostages in Gaza as fragile ceasefire holds