Amid mounting public dissatisfaction with San Francisco’s direction and a bleak economic outlook, Mayor London Breed sought to rally the business community for help in advancing his political agenda.
“It’s a sad reality, but we’re just beginning to experience what happens when you roll out bad policies. Business in San Francisco is taking a hit like never before,” Breed told Peer on Tuesday. Spoke before an audience of nearly 500 business and civic leaders at the annual Chamber of Commerce City Beat Breakfast on the 27th.
She cited public safety, homelessness and housing, and tackling the city’s tax reform as major priorities, among others. She also touted her recent AI developments centered around San Francisco, increased funding for law enforcement, and proposed zoning changes to transform the city’s central business district as examples of progress.
“The business community needs to have the courage to stand by me. The business community needs to be proactive and seize the opportunity,” she said. “I rely on you to get me through the next few years and I look forward to your support.”
It’s clear that residents are pointing in the direction of the arrow, at least according to the Chamber’s CityBeat poll. The survey found that 76% of San Francisco voters said the city was heading in the wrong direction, and 73% said their quality of life had deteriorated over the past few years.
Breed may need all the help she can get: Another poll commissioned by the San Francisco Deputy Sheriff’s Association found that 53% of San Francisco voters felt she didn’t deserve re-election in 2024. found.
The number of people who cite crime as a major problem jumped from 26% in 2020 to 60% in 2023, according to a City Beat poll. A majority of San Francisco voters (91%) agreed that downtown prosperity was important to the city’s economy, but only 64% said they felt safe to visit the area during the day. , only 30% said it was the same at night.
The economic situation is not so bright. Speaking at the event, Fifth Third Bank Chief Economist Jeff Korzenik’s overarching message was that “time is running out” for things to turn around. He said economic indicators such as an unprecedented labor shortage point to a possible recession.
In his speech, Mr. Breed pitched a few out-of-the-blue ideas that could help revitalize downtown. Nordstrom’s space at the Westfield San Francisco Center could become a new lab or R&D facility, she said. Or maybe the roof of Moscone Center will turn into a new soccer field.
“We should see Westfield Mall not as a mall without stores (where most people probably didn’t shop), but as a place worthy of a reimagining from science to technology to lab space. No,” Breed said. “We have to be bold. Some things may never happen, but that shouldn’t stop us from putting pen to paper.”
Breed has consistently jabs and thundered applause at “news media people who don’t even live here” in connection with the barrage of negative headlines about the city in recent months. bathed.
Oversight Board Chairman Aaron Peskin also spoke at the event Tuesday afternoon, hours before an unusual public hearing at the United Nations Plaza, during which the Board asks Breed about the city’s drug crisis. However, the event was interrupted and moved by heckling. indoors.
Mr. Peskin’s discussion of breaking sectarianism to get the city’s basics right is a somewhat ironic point for someone who has been almost constantly at the top of the city government for two decades.
“It’s time to get back to basics,” Peskin said. “So to speak, there are no progressive or moderate holes to fill. There are only holes to fill.”
Peskin, whose district includes a large swath of downtown, said “everything is on the table” for recovery.
“Now is the time to check politics,” Peskin said. “A lot of people who used to live in their silos and demonize other voices are starting to talk to each other because they just can’t do it.”
Peskin’s examples of this growing community include his efforts to pave the way for the conversion of 435 Mason Street into 56-unit homes, and the development of developer Boston Properties in the Embarcadero Center. For example, he found the residence of Don Ramon’s, a Mexican restaurant that closed in January.
He also hinted at upcoming budget negotiations, including a gradual recovery of downtown, which will require extensive cuts as the city seeks to digest a deficit of nearly $800 million over the next two years. deaf.
“Fiscal prudence is a progressive value,” Peskin said. “We have a lot of ‘wants’. We have to get back to the ‘necessities.'”
