San Francisco, CA
San Francisco’s new political motto is ‘throw the bums out’ – The San Francisco Standard
Two years ago, a political earthquake struck San Francisco — one that from our perch in the future feels like an early tremor. District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s recall prompted progressive San Franciscans and political prognosticators to crane their necks in an exaggerated L-shape and gaze deep, deep into the depths of their navels. Collectively, pearls clutched, they asked, “Is famously liberal San Francisco shifting rightward?” A couple of years later, we can see the answer is no, followed perhaps by a chiding of “Y’all lost your damn minds.”
Instead, 2024’s local election demonstrated that Boudin’s recall, and its political aftershocks, were a symptom not of a rightward shift but of something less partisan and harder to pin down: San Franciscans rejecting their institutions.
If you were in power this year, you most likely lost your reelection bid — whether you’re a lefty, a righty, or politically ambidextrous. Centrist Mayor London Breed moved rightward during her term, reacting to a perceived shift in that direction by voters, but lost handily to Daniel Lurie, whose politics are strictly center-of-the-road. Former Mayor Mark Farrell trailed Breed and Lurie by miles, even though he swung so far to the right he actually called for armed National Guard troops to patrol the Tenderloin. You could picture Fox News opinion hosts salivating at the promised scenes of military-style crackdowns in the city of Saint Francis.
On the opposite side of San Francisco’s political spectrum — from blue to bluer — Supervisor Dean Preston lost his reelection bid too. Being the lone Democratic Socialist in a left-leaning progressive stronghold (the Haight, Tenderloin, and Western Addition neighborhoods) didn’t shield him from the electorate’s taste for change. A more moderate Democrat who was backed by billionaire-funded political groups, Bilal Mahmood, swooped in on Preston’s seat, protective power of incumbency be damned.
Even our local propositions showed glimmers of The Dude telling The Man to get off his rug: The planned closure of the Great Highway after the passage of Proposition K showed urbanist San Francisco doing its best to shake the city’s addiction to guzzling fossil fuel. The rejection of Proposition D, which would have bolstered the powers of a sitting mayor and slashed in half the number of local “small-d” democratic bodies, showed voters’ unwillingness to embrace every idea a billionaire-backed group cooks up — and a distaste for shoring up centralized power in city government, unchecked by citizens. Rather than adhering to any ideological consistency, San Francisco’s rejection of incumbents and institutional stalwarts hewed closely to a political shift across the world toward change, no matter who occupied office beforehand.
At the federal level, Vice President Kamala Harris couldn’t shake the shackles of President Joe Biden’s term, leading to her resounding rejection. In the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party’s 14-year supremacy was trounced by Labour. In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party had its political power encroached upon from the left and the right.
Considering the failures of the 2022 local political class to peer into the mists of the future, The Standard would find it foolhardy to guess if the pandemic-era wrecking ball is done swinging into liberal institutions. Still, it’s safe to say San Francisco’s stint as a land where political elephants roam was short-lived.
Instead, think of the city’s sentiment as “Throw the bums out.” Considering the state of the city, politicians’ collective butts may be sore for years to come.
Borg has made several questionable calls from
One pedestrian died at the hospital and three others suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a driver struck them in SF’s Mission District earlier this week.
The San Francisco Police Department arrested a driver suspected of fatally striking four pedestrians in the area of 16th and Mission streets Monday morning, as KRON4 reports.
Officers responded to the scene at 12:13 am and found medics treating one pedestrian with life-threatening injuries. The person later died at a nearby hospital, and three other pedestrians sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver was reportedly detained soon after the collision. The department has not announced what charges they will receive.
“We hold the victim and their loved ones in our thoughts, and grieve this loss of life on San Francisco’s streets,” said Jodie Medeiros, executive director for Walk SF, in a release. “We all deserve to be able to get around safely in our city.”
This marks the ninth pedestrian death in San Francisco this year. It’s also the second such death in the Mission, following the tragic death of local musician Danielle Spillman at Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue in April, as SFist reported previously.
Four pedestrians were killed throughout the month of March, including deaths in Chinatown, the Financial District, North Beach, and the Outer Mission. In late February, a two-year-old was run over in Mission Bay.
Anyone with information may contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text “TIP411,” beginning with “SFPD.”
Wife of SoMa Hit-and-Run Suspect Says ‘My Husband Is Not a Villain’
Image: Google Maps
San Francisco, CA
California Supreme Court ruling on bail sparks debate over what it means for San Francisco’s safety
A recent California Supreme Court ruling is changing how bail is set across the state, and it’s sparking a sharp debate in San Francisco about what it could mean for public safety.
Inside her office, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said every decision carries weight. She views her role through one lens: protecting the public.
“My responsibility to San Francisco is public safety,” Jenkins said. “And to be transparent to me in achieving that safety. This is a ruling that has real-life consequences, and deny that would be untruthful and would not help people understand why we may see retraction from our progress.”
The ruling requires judges to set bail at levels defendants can afford, shifting the focus away from cash bail and toward whether someone poses a risk to public safety.
Jenkins said she believes that shift could have serious consequences.
“I knew it would be immediately be devastating to public safety and the state of California and had a lot of concerns that I thought needed to be shared with the public and other city leaders,” she said.
She warns that the change could make it easier for repeat offenders, particularly those involved in drug-related crimes, to be released before trial.
“These judges don’t live in San Francisco, many of them,” Jenkins said. “They don’t live in places like the Tenderloin that are most affected by these issues. They are ruling in a way that has impacts on other people’s lives.”
But not everyone agrees with that assessment.
San Francisco Defense Attorney Marsanne Weese said the ruling does not eliminate accountability and that courts still have tools to detain people who pose a threat.
“In regards to her statements, there is no basis for it,” Weese said. “And the justices pointed out that there are a number of non-financial tools the lower courts can use and should use.”
Those tools include options like pretrial detention and supervised release, which allow judges to consider risk without relying solely on a person’s ability to pay bail.
“So, in regards to this being a drastic change, yes, it will be a drastic change, but not to safety,” Weese added.
For Jenkins, the concern is not just the intent of the law, but how it will be applied in real-world courtrooms and what that means on city streets.
For now, there is unease for some, optimism for others, and a growing debate over what public safety will look like under this new system.
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