In advance of his 100th day in office, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie insisted April 17 that he was delivering a “progress report,” not taking a “victory lap.” The actual milestone is April 18, which is also the anniversary of the 1906 earthquake and fire, which the mayor said, showed the city can rise from the ashes.
The mayor’s effort to issue highlights of his accomplishments so far is perhaps because despite progress on what Lurie campaigned on last year, the city government will have to address an $800 million budget deficit that last week the mayor said could more than double to $2 billion, depending on how much federal funds the Trump administration withholds from the city.
Lurie has touted efforts on Sixth Street and in the Civic Center Plaza to address vagrancy and open-air drug use. Already, the city has the lowest number of tent and other encampments since 2019, when tracking began – including a 67% reduction South of Market and a 65% reduction in the Tenderloin, according to statistics from Lurie’s office.
The Sixth Street Mobile Triage Center alone has placed 275 people into shelter or housing and directed 1,119 to medical or behavioral-health treatment, according to the mayor.
The nonprofit Urban Alchemy has been integral to efforts to keep open-air drug scenes from popping back up again. Lurie had told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent visit to the Castro that, "We should do the same thing here we have done on Sixth Street, which is make sure we get people off the street and into mental health treatment beds, which is going to take us time.”
During questions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music following his remarks, the B.A.R. asked Lurie what impact the budget deficit will have on the city’s efforts with moving people off the street. Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors added $4 million to the $16 million Urban Alchemy already got annually to avoid layoffs at the nonprofit.
“This is a city that’s capable of doing a lot more, and we’ve been doing it in the past and we’ve proven that over the first few months with these crime stats continuing to go down,” Lurie said. “We have to do more with less, we will, and we’re learning along the way from places like the Sixth Street Mobile Triage, like what we’ve done on 16th and Mission. We should apply those learnings to every place in this city.”
During his speech to city leaders before he took questions from the press, Lurie touted those stats – violent crime down 15% from this time last year and reported car break-ins down 41% (the lowest level in 22 years).
“We are trending in the right direction,” he said.
With local nonprofits funded by the city concerned about losing that money due to the looming deficit, particularly LGBTQ-focused service providers already dealing with federal cuts imposed by the Trump administration, Lurie also told the B.A.R. that, “No decisions have been made on organizations.” (That is to say, which organizations may experience cuts. Lurie did ask departments to make across-the-board 15% cuts themselves.)
“I’m going back to the office now to have many, in an hour or so, more budget conversations,” he said. “We’re having night and day conversations with department heads, with our budget team. We have a lot of work to do.”
Another reporter asked if Lurie would be willing to acquiesce and comply with some of President Donald Trump’s executive orders to turn on the faucet of federal funds, such as Trump’s ban on federal funds for diversity, equity and inclusion or the city’s sanctuary city policy.
“There are billions of dollars at risk,” Lurie said. “Just Medicaid cuts, [Housing and Urban Development] cuts, forget anything we’re going to see with our policies, you can see much bigger cuts. I’m approaching these conversations with our department heads, with strength and telling them it’s not just a billion dollars that’s possibly on the table, it’s more, and so we have to tighten our belts now. We have to prepare ourselves for what is to come. We don’t know. I can’t tell you what’s happening an hour from now, so I’m certainly not going to predict what’s going on years or months from now as we go through the summer. … This city will be on better financial footing because of what we’re going through right now.”
San Francisco’s sanctuary city policies prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. But the feds have already been involved in prosecuting drug dealing cases typically dealt with on the local level for years, Lurie reiterated, when asked about how the sanctuary city policy intersects with felony drug dealing. As the B.A.R. previously reported, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and the Justice Department have been working on prosecuting these cases with the San Francisco District Attorney’s office as part of the All Hands on Deck initiative.
“Under the Biden administration, the U.S. attorney was deporting those who were convicted and arrested for drug dealing. That has been happening for years,” Lurie said. “I want my law enforcement arresting and enforcing local laws.”
Despite the extended honeymoon Lurie has had since taking his oath of office, some Lurie decisions have been criticized by progressives. For example, District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton called the Levi Strauss heir an “oligarch” after his administration placed a site for tiny homes in the Bayview neighborhood.
“Ask yourself would this oligarch do this in Pac Heights, Lake Merced (where there are dozens of folks living in vehicles), Golden Gate Park Area (where there are dozens of folks who are unhoused),” Walton stated via Instagram. “I guess it is true that Black people, communities of color and their voices are second class for this administration. … Mayor Lurie is an oligarch who most certainly does not care about collaboration or cooperation. His statements claiming he wants to collaborate are disingenuous and he plans to lead through tyranny and unilateral decision making.”
Queer District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder introduced an ordinance to amend the administrative code to have city-funded shelters keep families with children for up to 12 months, unless providers are able to find those families viable housing. Several families are currently facing eviction, as Local News Matters reported. Currently, the policy is 90 days for families to stay at shelters, with extensions for up to six months.
“No child should ever worry about where they will sleep at night. City officials and shelter providers should be working to end family homelessness, not punishing families for our own failures to provide viable exits to affordable housing,” stated Fielder in announcing her ordinance Tuesday.
Asked about the shelter matter and other criticism from supervisors, Lurie said, “We’re going to disagree and that’s OK. I didn’t get elected so that everybody would like me all the time.”
“What I want to make sure that we have in City Hall is respectful conversations where we can walk down to each other’s offices and say, ‘Hi,’ [and] work things out,” Lurie continued. “People can stay in our shelter system for up to six months. We have to get flow through our system and shelters should not be the final destination for families. We want to get them into housing, and we’ll continue to work on that.”
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is also going to be a problem, with a $300-$320 million projected shortfall starting next year. The agency’s board this week approved cuts in service to several bus lines and increased parking meter rates that will take effect this summer to plug a $50 million deficit in its budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
“As we continue to reclaim ridership on Muni, we will focus on clean, safe, reliable transportation. Our public transportation system is facing an enormous fiscal cliff, but let me be clear – there is no downtown recovery without Muni and BART,” the mayor said.
SF will be ‘proud’ again, Lurie says
In his progress report speech, Lurie spoke to several areas where he has touted improvements or where he wants to make them going forward. An additional item he said would help street homelessness and improve public safety is the 24/7 police drop-off center he promised on the campaign trail, which will be opening April 28, “ahead of schedule,” he noted.
His speech began with a nod to an anniversary April 18 – that of the 1906 earthquake and fire that leveled the city.
“The earthquake is a reminder for all San Franciscans that even in the most dire of circumstances, when we work together, we can rise from the ashes,” the mayor said. “Over the past few years, our foundation has been shaken, we lost our way. … Together, we are generating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity for our city. But what’s happening right now is about so much more than money alone. For the first time in five years, people feel San Francisco is headed in the right direction.”
Lurie spoke to businesses investing in San Francisco after years of headlines reporting closures and corporate relocations. As the B.A.R. previously reported, Databricks agreed to a $1 billion investment in the city over the next three years and to hold its user conference here until 2030.
Further, “We have 80 more AI office leases projected for this year alone. Nintendo is coming to Union Square,” he said. “And in a powerful turnaround, Zara, who announced they were closing their store one year ago, is bringing a four-story flagship to the corner of Post and Powell. People are betting on San Francisco again.”
Local businesses, too, can expect relief when Lurie introduces permitting requirement reform in May, he said. That package will also address housing permitting, he said.
Lurie has also proposed upzoning along east-west commercial thoroughfares, where on the westside current rules cap height. The legislation would allow 65 foot buildings on California, Clement, and Balboa streets, and 85 foot buildings on Geary, Taraval, Judah, and parts of Noriega streets.
Lurie is calling it “Family Zoning.”
“Our Family Zoning plan focuses on neighborhoods that haven’t added new units of housing since the 1960s,” Lurie said. “We will protect rent-controlled housing and preserve our city’s historic charm while ensuring the next generation of San Franciscans can afford to raise their kids here.”
Lurie said streamlining local government is one of his top priorities. Already, he has four policy chiefs reporting to him, replacing the old system in which one chief worked with 58 different departments.
“The people who have committed their lives to this city, the families who are enrolling in our public schools, the businesses fueling our neighborhoods, the elders who want to feel safe again on our streets – they are tired of a City Hall that does things to them instead of with them,” Lurie said. “San Franciscans want to live in a city they feel proud to call home. And we are going to deliver.”
Andrea Aiello, a lesbian who is executive director of the Castro Community Benefit District, was at the address, which she called “impressive.”
“I do believe he can bring San Francisco back,” Aiello stated to the B.A.R. “Lurie is making great progress downtown, bringing conventions back, tent counts down, and creating solutions to address the drug and mental health crisis on our streets. I loved hearing about his work on permit relief for small businesses and breaking down the silos in SF government. I am hopeful his successes downtown will spread into the neighborhoods, and his efforts to reform City Hall will be felt by all.”
Masood Samereie, a straight ally who is a past president of the Castro Merchants Association, was also in attendance. He stated simply that the speech was “powerful, optimistic, to the point.”
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