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.
The San Francisco Giants are headed even farther south today as they begin a weekend road series against the Miami Marlins.
Taking the mound for the Giants will be noted bigot Landen Roupp. Roupp enters today’s game with a 4.24 ERA, 2.96 FIP, with 82 strikeouts to 32 walks in 74.1 innings pitched. His last start was in Friday night’s 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs, in which Roupp clearly cared more about proselytizing than he did about winning, allowing four runs on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks in four and two thirds innings.
As of the time this is being written on Thursday, the Marlins have not announced a starting pitcher for today’s game and I am off today (Happy Juneteenth!). But you can head on down to the comments for the most up to date information.
Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Miami Marlins
Where: loanDepot park, Miami, Florida
Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area
Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM
SAN FRANCISCO – An 8-year veteran of the San Francisco Police Department received a hero’s sendoff Thursday afternoon as she was discharged from San Francisco General Hospital, less than three weeks after surviving a life-threatening shooting in the line of duty.
First time opening up to the public
The backstory:
Officer Brittney Taylor was greeted by a formation of first responders clapping to show their appreciation and respect as she emerged from the hospital in a wheelchair.
The discharge marks the first time Taylor has spoken publicly since the violent encounter on the night of May 31. According to newly released police body-camera footage, Taylor was shot in the upper leg and foot by a robbery suspect following a pursuit that ended in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood.
“I almost lost my life,” Taylor said. “It’s the little things you take for granted. Holy crap, you get to sit back and look at the big picture.”
When asked if she felt any fear during the incident, Taylor admitted she did that night, though not in the moments leading up to it.
“I knew what could happen,” she said, describing the entire ordeal as an eye-opener. “It is difficult to think about it. You replay it, and it absolutely causes me to lose sleep.”
Credit where credit is due
Dig deeper:
Taylor credited the hospital’s medical team, specifically trauma surgeon Dr. Andre Campbell, with saving her life.
However, Dr. Campbell emphasized that the quick actions of Taylor’s fellow officers at the scene played a critical role in her survival.
Instead of waiting for an ambulance, officers recognized the severity of her injuries, placed her into a patrol car, and rushed her directly to the hospital.
“Which was great,” Dr. Campbell said.
Taylor also highlighted the deep bond shared within her “close-knit police family.”
A squad of female officers and their commanding sergeant have maintained a constant presence at the hospital to offer continuous support throughout her stay.
The native San Franciscan expressed that she has no regrets and hopes her experience will encourage other officers to do their best.
“I love the city,” Taylor said. “I don’t like it when people come to my city and destroy it or hurt the citizens here. That takes a toll on me. I’m going to do something about it.”
The road to recovery
What’s next:
When asked how she would respond to people calling her a hero, Taylor remained humble.
“It’s my job. I was doing my job that night. I’m glad to be put in that position of being a hero.”
Following her release, Taylor received a full police escort as she headed home.
While she notes that her full recovery could take anywhere from six months to a year, she remains resolute about her future.
“You gotta let me put my uniform back on and get back out there,” Taylor said, adding that she has no hesitation about continuing her career. “Honestly, no. I got to slow it down. I have time now.”
The Source: Interview with SFPD Officer Brittney Taylor
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced multiple hate crime charges, as well as assault and vandalism charges against an Oakland man for an incident that happened in the Castro District last month.
On Thursday afternoon, Hans Haken pleaded not guilty to one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, one count of vandalism, one count of hit-and-run, and one count of reckless driving.
Prosecutors also allege each of the felony assault counts was a hate crime.
“In San Francisco, we have zero tolerance for any hate, hateful acts, certainly that cross the criminal line, and we will do everything that we can to protect our residents from these types of incidents,” said Jenkins at a Thursday afternoon news conference.
It was on May 16, around 5:30 p.m., when prosecutors say Haken spray-painted a homophobic slur on the wall next to Chartreuse by Roje, a gay-owned floral boutique in San Francisco’s Castro District.
“It was a reminder that even though we’re here in Castro, San Francisco, we live in this well-protected bubble that we have created very passionately and strongly, that that can still happen,” said Jeffrey Dumlao, the owner of Chartreuse by Roje. “If anything, that is what’s scary, that it happened here in broad daylight of all times.”
Dumlao says his store had already closed by that time, but Justin Donnelly, who lives above the store, heard the spray-painting and came down to confront the man and tell him to stop.
“He just became very agitated,” Donnelly said. “I tried to remain calm and just tell him, like, sir, you know, I don’t, I don’t, I’m not involved in any of that. I’m just, I live here, right, and this is, this is my home, and you know, this is vandalism.”
Donnelly says when he took a picture of Haken’s license plate, Haken got in the car and tried to run him over. Then, prosecutors say he got out of the car and punched Donnelly in the jaw while uttering homophobic slurs.
“I’m definitely doing a lot better than I was. It’s been, I don’t know, a month or so,” Donnelly said.
He says the incident has shaken him, but he’s been lifted up by the community’s support and law enforcement.
“A lot of people have said, ‘oh my god, I can’t believe something like this could happen in San Francisco, of all places.’ And the fact is that something like this can happen anywhere, but in San Francisco, we don’t stand for it, and we deal with it, so, so that makes me feel good,” Donnelly said.
In announcing the charges, Jenkins pointed out the climate in this country has become more hostile to the LGBTQ community. She says that makes it even more important for elected officials to protect that community, just like they do every other community.
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