Lurie embraces law & order, nonpartisanship in his (so far successful) SF Recovery plan
Photo by Hayden Blaz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Even the most casual visitor will notice that the boutique suburb to the north is cleaning up its act, as homeless sweeps, dramatically increased shelter capacity, and increased police presence bring a long-delayed improvements to the City's urban fabric. WSJ reports.
Not surprisingly, public safety is Mr. Lurie’s top priority. He praises District Attorney Brooke Jenkins: “She believes like I do that, if you commit a crime, there needs to be consequences. I know that that might be shocking to say, but we weren’t doing that before.” Ms. Jenkins has been censured by both the state bar and a state appellate court for overzealous prosecutions—a notable change from her predecessor, Chesa Boudin, the Weather Underground scion who was recalled from office in 2022 for barely prosecuting at all.
This position puts Mr. Lurie squarely in the far right wing of Democratic mayors. To his left are Los Angeles’s Karen Bass, Chicago’s Brandon Johnson and potentially Zohran Mamdani in New York, who calls himself a democratic socialist. By contrast, Mr. Lurie says, “I call myself a Democrat.” What about a progressive? “I talk about myself as being common-sense.”
Mr. Lurie refuses to be pried off message or dragged into party politics. Asked if he has any advice for Mr. Mamdani, he demurs: “I don’t give advice to politicians outside of San Francisco. Even when people ask me to weigh in on Sacramento, I say people did not elect me to start getting involved in other elections.”
Similarly, Mr. Lurie’s determination to avoid the topic of Donald Trump has become a running joke. Although the mayor has estimated the potential hit to the city from President Trump’s decisions could amount to $2 billion, he doesn’t say the president’s name, much to the disappointment of many of his constituents. I wonder out loud if he’s ever said Mr. Trump’s name on the record. “You’d have to go back and check that out,” he says, smiling. “I know you are pushing on this, but I don’t think that way. I don’t come from a political background. I come from being born and raised in San Francisco.”
{Editor's note: Lurie's nonpartisanship contrasts with SJ Mayor Mahan's statement that "City Hall stands with you" message to the "No Kings" (widely understood to be an anti-Trump event) protestors in San Jose on June 13.}
He may protest too much. Mr. Lurie is a political actor even if he calls his conservative positions “common sense.” He endorsed Proposition 36, a ballot initiative that passed in November, which increased punishment and allows felony charges for more drug and theft crimes, including recriminalization of shoplifting items worth $950 or less. Major California Democrats including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Alex Padilla opposed the measure, which undid a 2014 ballot initiative, Proposition 47. Kamala Harris, Mr. Padilla’s predecessor, declined to state a position. “When the state votes almost 70% to approve something, we don’t need air cover,” Mr. Lurie says. “If you are going to walk into a store and you are going to steal things, there are going to be consequences now in San Francisco and in the state of California.”
The mayor has made police hiring a priority. The city is understaffed by about 500 officers below the minimum recommended level of 2,000. One of his policy commitments is to close this gap. He is concentrating limited police resources in areas that generate economic growth, such as Union Square, popular with tourists. In last year’s interview, Mr. Lurie expressed frustration that the city could clean up “for things like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference and the J.P. Morgan Health Conference.” The old administration would clean up for Xi Jinping and Jamie Dimon but not for its own constituents.
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