City is less livable due to mayors
Thank you for the thoughtful article about San Francisco's past LGBTQ mayoral candidates ["With no LGBTQ SF mayoral candidate expected in 2024, past contenders recall steep hill they faced," July 20]. I moved to San Francisco at the beginning of 1992, just as Art Agnos' term was winding down, and Frank Jordan was inaugurated. I remember Roberta Achtenberg's 1995 mayoral slogan, "She'll never sell us out." Sadly, with her later position with the hardly progressive San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and now I learn from this article, not supporting Mark Leno for mayor, that slogan is sounding questionable.
Since I've lived in San Francisco, the mayor's office has been held by Jordan, Willie Brown, Gavin Newsom, Ed Lee, and London Breed; Brown's successors have all been his cronies. [Mark Farrell, appointed by the Board of Supervisors, served as mayor for six months in 2018.] There have been moments of hope with the campaigns of Tom Ammiano, Matt Gonzalez (though I supported Ammiano in the primary), and Leno, but they have all been overwhelmed by the Brown machine. Don't forget that the now-convicted Mohammed Nuru was reportedly involved 20 years ago with voting improprieties on behalf of Brown and Newsom, and he was rewarded with a patronage job by that dynasty.
The policies of those who have held executive political power (while scapegoating the legislative branch, the Board of Supervisors) have resulted in a city that has become less livable; where small business storefronts are empty from high rent blight, homeless people are a campaign chit but never given effective help, buildings built on bribes stand vacant, and hope for effective city government is scarce.
Larry Roberts
San Francisco
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