San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie promised to tackle the city's most intractable problems as he took office January 8 with a speech in which he promised "a new era of accountability, service, and change."
"Starting today, we are treating the fentanyl crisis as the emergency that it is," Lurie said. "As we speak, the San Francisco Police Department and Sheriff's Department are rapidly shifting resources and personnel to bring drug dealers to justice and clean up our streets."
Lurie had said he'd declare a fentanyl state of emergency on his first day in office. The city saw 810 drug overdose deaths in 2023 (653 of those included fentanyl, and though final numbers aren't out for 2024, total fatal drug overdoses last year did decrease by over 20% in the first 10 months).
"The fentanyl crisis isn't a 9-5 operation — it doesn't take breaks — and neither will we. That is why I'm introducing a package of Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinances," Lurie said. "This will allow us to further surge resources and bypass the bureaucratic hurdles standing in the way of tackling this crisis. I look forward to working with the incoming Board of Supervisors for their quick approval."
Lurie said the package "will fast track a public-private partnership to stand up temporary emergency shelter and address the homelessness crisis on our streets." He had promised on the campaign trail 1,500 emergency shelter beds in his first six months in office.
Lurie, who is the city's 46th mayor, is coming into office at a time when leaders of America's big cities are anxious to address structural issues like crime and housing — and perhaps no city has taken the brunt of criticism in recent years more than San Francisco.
Other new city leaders agreed.
"One of the messages from this last election is that in blue cities, people are frustrated — so frustrated, in some cases, they're looking for other parties and other leaders," said freshman District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter. "The best defense is producing a city that works."
Swings in cities toward Republican candidates, such as president-elect Donald Trump, have been blamed on the intractability of these issues, and in 2022, San Francisco saw recalls of three school board members and the district attorney.
Gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who was first appointed and then elected in those heady days as COVID lockdowns waned, told the B.A.R., "Mayor Lurie's priorities are my priorities, and I think he gave an exciting and inspiring speech. It sets the tone for what we need to do as a city. What I'm hearing from my residents is that we need to seriously focus on solving problems and not just moving them around. I think he's committed to doing that, and it's my intention to be his strongest ally."
Gay District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio, who represents the Outer Sunset on the Board of Supervisors, said that he was "very hopeful today."
"Daniel Lurie spent a lot of time in the Sunset, so I'm looking forward to working with him and working to create our best Sunset and best San Francisco," said Engardio, who is battling a nascent recall effort over his support of the successful ballot measure to close a stretch of the Great Highway to vehicles for a public park.
In his address, Lurie promised that "within our first 100 days, we will take bold action to enable more housing at all income levels — and help new businesses and buildings get their permits more quickly.
"To our small businesses, who I know have been suffering, the era of a new restaurant going through 40 inspections and receiving 50 different answers is over," he continued. "That's our promise to you. We can no longer wait for the right conditions to build, we must do our part to create those conditions."
Without directly referencing Trump, Lurie also tried to assuage fears about that inauguration 12 days hence.
"I also know that many feel a great sense of fear and loss about the state of our country right now," Lurie said. "Attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, hate crimes, and the vilification of immigrant communities are happening across the country — including right here at home. San Francisco must be a city where every individual feels safe, valued, and empowered."
Tribute to Milk
And to do that he cited the city's most famed LGBTQ rights hero, the late supervisor Harvey Milk.
"In the words of Harvey Milk, 'You have to give people hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow,'" Lurie said. "And as I look out on this crowd, I feel that hope. But that feeling on its own is not enough. It must be paired with the courage to act."
Lurie touched on themes of hope throughout the speech, saying that "San Francisco is coming back. There's a rising sense of pride and optimism in this city right now that cannot be stopped."
As evidence, he referred to the resolution of the UNITE HERE Local No. 2 hotel strike last month — which the San Francisco Chronicle reported he played a part in ending.
"I want to take a moment to acknowledge the hotel workers of Local 2 and hotel management for coming together to reach an agreement that ended the longest hotel strike in city history," Lurie said. "We got people back to work in time for the holidays, and our hotels are welcoming visitors again — enabling us to attract and host events like the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference next week and the NBA All-Star Game in February."
Lurie thanked former mayor London Breed, whom he defeated in the November election. Breed, who was in attendance, stated on Instagram, "The last six years serving as mayor has truly been a dream."
"Even now, as I leave office, it doesn't quite seem real that it happened," she stated. "Through some of the toughest times this city has faced, in crisis after crisis, through the death of a mayor [Ed Lee], a global pandemic, economic fallout, social upheaval and the rise of fentanyl, this city has stood strong. We've weathered so much, and now we are here, a city on the upswing towards a brighter future."
Wednesday brought to an end a period of transition that began as it became clear on election night two months ago that Lurie, a 47-year-old heir to the Levi Strauss fortune and founder and former CEO of the nonprofit Tipping Point Community, was running away with the race.
In the time since then, Lurie formed a transition team that included Sam Altman, the gay chief of OpenAI, and Nancy Tung, a straight ally career prosecutor who has been the chair of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee since a slate of moderate Democrats took power last year. Altman gave $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee. He is currently in litigation with Elon Musk, a Trump confidant who helped found OpenAI.
A spokesperson for Altman declined to comment for this report.
Tung stated, "Anyone who loves San Francisco is hoping for Mayor Lurie to succeed. I am looking forward to seeing him implement his vision of a better San Francisco — delivering on the basics and making sure we have a sustainable economic vision for the long term."
Subsequently, Lurie announced a restructuring of the mayor's office. Under Breed and previous mayors, 56 agencies reported to the mayor through a policy director who reported to the chief of staff. Under Lurie's new structure, there's one chief of staff and four separate policy chiefs, covering housing and economic development; infrastructure, climate, and mobility; public health and wellbeing; and public safety.
Lurie appointed Matthew Goudeau, a gay man, as his deputy chief of staff, the main job being filled by Staci Slaughter, the previous longtime executive vice president for the San Francisco Giants.
The four policy chiefs are former Twitter chief financial officer Ned Segal, housing and economic development; Alicia John-Baptiste, who up to now was president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) as chief of infrastructure, climate and mobility; McKinsey partner Kunal Modi as chief of public health and wellbeing; and former San Francisco Police Department Commander Paul Yep as chief of public safety.
Modi serves on the board of directors for Larkin Street Youth Services, which provides a number of social services to LGBTQs, including housing support for transgender people.
"Kunal has been a valued member of Larkin Street's board of directors, where I have witnessed first hand his deep commitment to understanding solutions that will truly end homelessness," Larkin Street CEO Sherilyn Adams, a lesbian, stated in a news release. "Kunal's intelligence is matched by his compassion — he seeks to understand the human experience of homelessness as the best way to identify and scale solutions that work. His guidance and insights into Larkin Street's new strategic plan were invaluable, and the result is a bold yet realistic strategy that will end the experience of homelessness for more youth than ever before.
"Kunal is passionate about positive outcomes and reducing the systemic and structural barriers people face to accessing high quality housing and services. San Francisco is lucky to have him leading this work," she added.
Lurie appointed Moisés García, a gay man who is the former executive director of the San Francisco Democratic Party, as a community liaison.
He also tapped Adam Thongsavat, a former legislative aide to gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, to be his liaison to the Board of Supervisors. The board also met for the first time since the new year on January 8.
Andre Adeyemi, who served as special assistant and board liaison for the LGBTQ Victory Fund and Victory Institute as well as on the board of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, will be director of appointments.
Lurie will be swearing in gay San Francisco Treasurer-Tax Collector José Cisneros to his new term Friday, January 10, at 4 p.m. at City Hall. Cisneros will begin his 20th year of service to the city, he noted in an invitation to the event.
García, Thongsavat, Adeyemi, and Mandelman didn't return requests for comment for this report by press time Wednesday afternoon.
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