Barak Gila, twitter@pinkskywriting
April 25, 2024
Mayor London Breed attracted a diverse audience—in all senses of the world—to a fundraiser on Thursday evening in a tony Victorian mansion near Lafayette Park. The forty attendees were mostly invited by the host, Dakota Hileman, and ranged from young millennial to retired, from a Black lesbian cafe owner, a former software engineer turned entrepreneur, a D.C. resident who flew in for the occasion, and a supporter with Bay Area roots that go back generations.
After mingling with the crowd for a few minutes, Hileman introduced Mayor Breed, who stumped for around 20 minutes to an engaged crowd, answered questions, and gamely posed for photos before leaving to attend an SF Jazz function.
The focus? Public safety, substance abuse policy, and the downtown recovery. In a small-group setting, the Mayor was charismatic, earnest, witty and wonky. She had an impressive command of policy details, and supported her slogans (like “30 by ’30”, her plan to bring 30,000 students and other residents to Downtown by 2030) with details and anecdotes from her years in office.
Most of her speaking time went to addressing difficult issues head-on: fentanyl abuse, public safety, and the related question of how to bring downtown SF back. She touted her long track record of working directly with former drug users and iterating on solutions when they weren’t working. Her team opened a safe usage site, but when it wasn’t working well, she pivoted and redirected the funds (~$20M) to an abstinence-only rehabilitation housing program that has had better success.
With no notes (let alone a teleprompter), she didn’t just reference the 82,069-home housing element target—she described how she worked with SF Planning to remove city-imposed requirements around projects that use the State Density Bonus.
“These projects are approved through the state anyways,” she explained. “Why were we imposing our own extra process when for these projects, it’s the state that makes the call? … Don’t worry, I’m not trying to throw out all regulations. We’ll still make sure everything is safe and all that. But we can’t just be adding to government; sometimes the right answer is to deconstruct and remove unnecessary burdens.”
In response to a question about climate change, she discussed championing 100% renewable energy (a city program in conjection with PG&E), addressed historical inequities in the Bayview neighborhood, where industrial facilities and power plants led to higher rates of asthma, and mentioned some innovative policies in China, where ICE vehicle registrations are capped—but it’s easy to buy and register a new electric car.
Asked about what pitch could be made to progressive, apolitical, younger residents who want to see more rapid change, including in bikes and transit, the Mayor gave a multipoint answer: a more constructive board would make it easier to move faster; she has been working on stripping red tape, championing street improvements like slow streets and a protected bike network; but also that folks who are upset about city politics should get involved.
“If you’re dissatisfied with the pace of change, I get it, but we need you to roll up your sleeves and help: get involved! join a commission, help out a campaign, and consider working in city government.”
Barak Gila, twitter@pinkskywriting
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