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Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
If Zohran Mamdani is the future of the Democrats, they're doomed
It would be easy to call San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie the 'anti-Zohran Mamandi,' but that would fail to do the first-term leader justice. Sworn into office this past January, Lurie – like Mamdani – hails from a storied family, in this case the founders of the Levi Strauss denim dynasty. But that is where the similarities end. Lurie was elected to City Hall last November following nearly a decade of decay across San Francisco. Fuelled by the soft-on-crime policies of former district attorney Chesa Boudin, San Francisco – an urban jewel of technology and wealth – was close to becoming a failed state. Violent crime, open-air drug camps, hundreds of annual drug overdose deaths, a declining population base and desolate downtown plagued the city where I was born and raised. San Francisco's ills were akin to many large American urban centres: Philadelphia with its gruesome 'Tranq' crisis; the epidemic of deadly violent crime devastating Chicago. And, of course, Los Angeles – similarly battling an inhospitable mix of homelessness, drugs and criminality. But sized a mere 49 square miles (one-tenth that of Los Angeles), San Francisco's blight has felt uniquely acute and everywhere – all at the same time. Back in 2022, fed up voters ousted district attorney Boudin, whose laissez-faire prosecutorial approach directly led to the city's spiralling quality of life. Former San Francisco mayor London Breed attempted, honourably, to steer San Francisco back to sanity. But with a record 806 drug-related deaths in 2023 alone – and San Francisco's abandoned business core dubbed a 'ghost town' by major media – Breed lost to Lurie last November. Despite a lack of formal political experience, Lurie is hardly new to politics. His career has been shaped by public service, mostly leading large non-profits focused on tackling urban ills – often in association with scions of other local family dynasties. Lurie's flagship $500 million Tipping Point Community organisation, for instance, was established alongside the daughter of Financial Services billionaire Charles Schwab. The reliance on – rather than rejection of – the private sector for public good has been a key Lurie manoeuvre and stands in sharp contrast to Mamdani's platform. Indeed, much like former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg a decade ago, Lurie has tapped major corporations and philanthropists to fund ambitious city programs hit hard by San Francisco's $800 million budget deficit. Earlier this month, for instance, he set up an entire department, the San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation, to steer private funding to city projects. Lurie has also heavily leaned into San Francisco's abundance of visionary innovators, most notably – and understandably – in the tech world. OpenAI head Sam Altman helped lead Lurie's transition team after his election last year. Such schemes – and there are many – stand in sharp contrast to the economic expansion plan touted by Mamdani, which mostly relies on added taxes levied on New York's wealthiest residents and corporations. And not just any wealthy residents and corporations: Mamdani's own website describes his strategy as shifting 'the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighbourhoods.' Such taxes would then be used to pay for low cost basic services including housing, transport and child care, even groceries. In other words – DEI meets Socialism. If this is the future of the Democrats, they are doomed. The problem with Mamdani's plans is that they rarely benefit – or are even desired – by those for whom they are designed. How else to explain the mostly white, mostly affluent New Yorkers who voted for Mamdani this week. Poor people don't need cheap housing – they need quality housing. They don't want free subway services, but reliable – and never more so – safe public transport. This requires funding, which taxes would supply, but also know-how, supply chains, available workforces and long-term commitments. And these are best delivered by partnering with the private sector. Earlier this month, for instance, crypto billionaire Chris Larsen gave $9.4 million to fund a Real Time Investigation Centre for the SFPD. Investment in law enforcement is another key area where Mamdani could learn from Lurie. Last month the mayor announced that the SFPD would be spared the 15 per cent budget cut he's implementing across city departments. Lurie has also signed an executive order to add 500 police officers to the department by, among other strategies, re-hiring recently retired officers. Lurie's law-and-order focus appears to be working: this week the SFPD made 97 arrests in a single day in San Francisco drug dens – 'the largest one-day fugitive-focused enforcement in recent history,' according to the city. While Lurie boosts officer numbers in San Francisco, Mandani has pledged to slash them. In their place, he will create a Department of Community Safety that relies on social-service schemes – 'evidence-based strategies that prevent violence and crime before they occur,' as he has described it – to maintain public order. This is a city that has finally seen a decrease in spiralling violent crime numbers – precisely because of an increase in police patrols. In 2023, for instance, New York City experienced a 20 per cent rise in arrests, a five-year record according to NYPD Chief John Chell. San Francisco may be far smaller than New York City, but its challenges – rising costs, a decreasing tax base, middle- and upper-class population declines – are eerily similar. Five years after Covid decimated both cities' business bases, mayor Lurie appears to understand that fixing San Francisco requires, above all else, public safety and a robust private-sector. Zohran Mandani should pay attention.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Downtown San Francisco's home prices are surging — and not only because the new mayor is tackling quality-of-life issues
After years of declining property values, shuttered storefronts and a pandemic-driven exodus of remote tech workers, signs of life are reemerging in San Francisco's core. Median home list prices in one central ZIP code — encompassing neighborhoods like Nob Hill, Union Square and the Tenderloin — soared 51% in May compared to the same time last year, according to While those figures reflect list prices rather than final sale prices — and can swing based on the mix of homes entering the market — the sharp uptick points to renewed buyer interest in an area that, until recently, symbolized San Francisco's struggles. The shift comes not only as more workers return to their offices, but also as newly elected Mayor Daniel Lurie pushes a cleanup campaign aimed at reversing the city's declining reputation. Since taking office in January, Lurie has focused on curbing open-air drug markets, reducing homelessness and boosting sanitation, while proposing a budget centered on core services like public safety. 'The people of this city have called on us to rebuild a safer, cleaner, thriving San Francisco,' Lurie said last month. 'To do that, we must provide clean and safe streets, address the crisis of homelessness and addiction, and reinvigorate the spirit and strength of businesses and neighborhoods across this city.' Lurie, a political newcomer and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, defeated incumbent Mayor London Breed in a campaign dominated by concerns over quality-of-life issues. His proposed $800 million budget includes controversial cuts to city staffing — roughly 1,400 positions — while expanding law enforcement and behavioral health initiatives. Among the measures already underway: targeted enforcement in drug hotspots and new rules requiring city-distributed drug paraphernalia to be paired with counseling referrals. Though some critics have protested the staffing cuts, Lurie's office touts early progress. Crime is down nearly 30%, car break-ins are at their lowest point in 22 years and street encampments have dropped to their lowest level since 2019, according to city data. 'We're definitely starting to see progress,' Steven Huang, founder of Ascend Real Estate and president of the San Francisco Association of Realtors, told 'Some of it is visible today, and I would say that even in Downtown, in Union Square, our famous shopping district, you're definitely going to see a lot more foot traffic already, but it's just the beginning.' The housing recovery remains uneven. In the broader San Francisco metro, the median home list price stood at $998,000 in May — still 4% lower than a year earlier. Most ZIP codes across the city continue to lag behind pre-pandemic pricing levels. The collapse began in earnest in 2022, when San Francisco home prices tumbled 12% over a nine-month stretch, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index. The hollowing out of downtown — fueled by work-from-home shifts, office vacancies and the fentanyl crisis — left once-busy corridors eerily quiet. 'Demand for homes in central San Francisco fell as office workers went remote and even relocated,' said Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at 'However, compared to last year, prices are on the rise again, suggesting demand for homes in the city is on the rise once again, perhaps prompted by return-to-office requirements.' Whether the current momentum can be sustained remains to be seen. The market is still navigating high interest rates, affordability challenges, and persistent concerns about public safety. But with AI companies clustering in the Bay Area and downtown's cleanup underway, some see the beginnings of a fragile rebound. Sign in to access your portfolio
Fox News
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
LIV Golf star Phil Mickelson takes swipe at San Francisco's leadership after critical report
LIV Golf star Phil Mickelson took a swipe at the city of San Francisco in a post on social media on reacted to a report that ranked San Francisco as the worst-run city in the U.S. The study was conducted by WalletHub and measured the "effectiveness of local leadership" by "determining a city's operating efficiency." The city ranked 148 out of 148 cities HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON is really sad and disappointing," Mickelson wrote on X. "It's such a beautiful place to be ruined by poor leadership."The study used six key metrics to provide evidence for their rankings, including financial stability, education, health, safety, economy and infrastructure and pollution. San Francisco was ranked 57th on quality of city services but 148th in total budget per FRANCISCO RANKED WORST-RUN MAJOR CITY IN AMERICA: REPORTThe ranking came months after voters made a key change in its leadership with the election of Daniel Lurie, who beat incumbent Democrat London Breed by more than 10 points. The last election indicated a pivot away from soft-on-crime policies and lax policies on drug use and homelessness that were rampant in the city. San Francisco has been consistently ridiculed for its rise in homeless population and videos of open-air drug use on the city's legend Charles Barkley has been one of the loudest critics in the past. He said in February he hoped Lurie could "do something about the homeless population."He previously called the city News' Joshua Q. Nelson contributed to this Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Fox News
17-06-2025
- Business
- Fox News
San Francisco ranked worst-run major city in America: report
San Francisco has been ranked at the bottom of a new report by a financial services company ranking the best and worst-run cities in the country. WalletHub reported it measured the "effectiveness of local leadership" by "determining a city's operating efficiency." San Francisco came in 148th out of 148 cities studied. "We can learn how well city officials manage and spend public funds by comparing the quality of the services residents receive against the city's total budget," WalletHub Financial Writer Adam McCann wrote to explain the study. Each city was given a "Quality of Services'" score based on 36 metrics that were grouped into six service categories, including financial stability, education, health, safety, economy, and infrastructure and pollution. These were measured against the city's per capita budget. San Francisco was ranked at the bottom after making headlines previously for the mass exodus from the liberal city, declining enrollment in its public school system as well as skyrocketing housing prices. Residents elected a new mayor last year, Daniel Lurie, who beat incumbent Democrat London Breed by a more than 10-point margin, 56% to 43%. The last election indicated a pivot away from soft-on-crime policies and lax policies on drug use and homelessness that were rampant in the city. The next worst-run cities after San Francisco were Detroit (147th), Oakland (146th), New York City (145th), Philadelphia (144th), and Baltimore (143rd). The best-run city is Provo, Utah, according to WalletHub. McCann cited economic growth that is "hard to ignore," low crime and unemployment, and clean roads. "Provo, UT, is the best-run city, and the reasons for that are that the city is experiencing business growth of around 5.2%, alongside a high school graduation rate of nearly 91%, a combination that signals a strong foundation for the future." Fox News Digital reached out to San Francisco city leadership and Provo, Utah leadership but did not immediately hear back for comment.
San Francisco Chronicle
04-06-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F.'s budget woes could kill programs that help the city's most at-risk tenants
Long regarded as a critical supplement to the work done by city building inspectors, two community-based code enforcement outreach programs that target some of the city's most at-risk tenants could soon cease to exist as San Francisco's Department of Building Inspection looks to trim costs. Emails sent to about half a dozen local housing nonprofits on Monday informed them that the decades-old Code Enforcement Outreach Program, or CEOP, is facing complete erasure due to the city's budget woes. Among the supports offered by the nonprofits that receive funding through CEOP and the SRO Collaborative program, another DBI-administered initiative focused on residents of low-income single-room occupancy hotels (SROs) that's also at risk, are multilingual outreach, housing counseling and disaster preparedness services. In the past, the programs have united advocates representing landlords and tenants. And yet, both are on the chopping block under DBI's proposed two-year budget plan, which suggests cutting the department's annual $4.8 million allocation for the programs as Mayor Daniel Lurie seeks to eliminate $185 million in grant and contract spending in order to close a looming $800 million two-year city budget shortfall. 'We greatly value and respect the work we've done together, but any grant is dependent on having sufficient funding in our budget. As such, we are invoking the termination stipulation in Section 2.3,' a DBI representative said in the emails sent to nonprofit leaders on Monday, which the Chronicle obtained. The Chinatown Community Development Center, or CCDC, the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, the San Francisco Apartment Association, Dolores Street Services and the Housing Rights Committee, are among the groups that will be impacted by the programs' elimination. Monday felt like 'groundhog day' to service providers who, for the second time in two years, were told that the programs would be defunded. They pushed back against cuts planned by DBI in 2023 under then-Mayor London Breed, and were successful in getting the funding reinstated. Those interviewed by the Chronicle Tuesday said they were blindsided by the news, given that DBI's own commission recommended keeping the programs in place and fully funded earlier this year. 'We were shocked in 2023 and we are shocked this year, mainly because around February we were advocating at the commission as we were expecting about a 25% cut in total,' said Lisa Yu, a policy analyst with CCDC, a local affordable housing developer. 'Everything is in jeopardy.' DBI requested that the recipients of the code enforcement outreach grants 'plan for an end date for your services' on June 30. The move will impact an estimated 15 outreach workers across the list of nonprofits that are funding through the grants, the Chronicle has learned. 'The mayor talked about cutting some nonprofit contracts that emerged during COVID. But CEOP started in 1996. The collaboratives have been here for more than 25 years. These are programs that no one's ever had a negative word to say about,' said Randy Shaw, director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, a low-income tenant advocacy organization that stands to lose roughly $900,000 for its Central City SRO Collaborative program and CEOP. The funding cuts appear to thwart recommendations made by DBI's Building Inspection Commission, which penned a letter to the city's Board of Supervisors in March requesting that the code enforcement outreach grants be fully funded. That letter, obtained by the Chronicle, suggested that Lurie and the Board use general fund dollars to continue to support the programs, and that DBI could increase the inspection fees it charges across the board by 1.5% to 'compensate for the proposed General Fund reductions in support.' 'These providers go to the tenants as well as take complaints. Reduction in outreach services will not mean a reduction in need, it will mean more tenants leave inhabitable apartments and end up homeless or people will suffer health conditions as a result of uninhabitable housing,' the commission warned in its letter. Neither DBI nor Lurie's office immediately responded to the Chronicle's inquiries for comment on the programs' planned elimination. Last week, Lurie unveiled his $15.9 million budget proposal, which he said prioritizes the city's core services, including clean street and public safety. Declaring an end to what he described as the ' era of soaring city budgets,' his plan includes slashing 1,400 city jobs. The proposed cuts come as the city's revenues remain impacted by high commercial vacancy rates and sluggish tourism downtown. CEOP and the SRO Collaborative program were previously placed in jeopardy under former Mayor London Breed, who sought to patch a growing budget deficit in 2023 by ordering city departments to trim their budgets. The funding was ultimately restored, though the total allocation for the programs was reduced by 10%, according to Yu, of CCDC. She said that the nonprofit providers expected another 15% funding cut for the outreach programs. 'We're all really confused on what happened, because we weren't expecting a 100% funding cut when the issue was presented to the Commission in February,' Yu said. CEOP has received about $1.7 million from the total grant allocation, while the SRO program received about $3.8 million. The nonprofits that have historically received the funding are operating on five-year contracts that are due to expire next June. Yu said that CCDC runs the SRO Collaborative, for which it receives about $1.5 million in annual funding. It also receives about $272,500 for CEOP. 'We have housing counseling, and we provide fire prevention workshops. For home visits alone, we visit about 43 SROs in Chinatown with about 80 SRO families total,' Yu said, adding that the nonprofit assists about 86 clients per quarter with housing counseling services. 'About 183 tenants attended our fire and disaster preparedness workshops per quarter,' she said. About 16% of the Housing Rights Committee's total budget, or $617,000, comes from the DBI grant, according to the nonprofit's executive director, Maria Zamudio. HRC has long provided housing counseling and advocates for tenants rights in San Francisco. 'We provide language access to tenants who are not going to be able to just connect directly with a building inspector, or are not able to navigate the DBI website. We also ensure that there is support for (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) tenants, who have some of the most egregious habitability conditions in the city,' Zamudio said. 'In this political moment, with all of the attacks on immigrants and all of the attacks on HUD funding at the federal level, to feel those attacks locally and in a way that doesn't need to happen … really shows where the priorities for this new administration are,' she said. Tenant advocacy organizations aren't the only ones impacted by the proposed cuts. The San Francisco Apartment Association advocates for property owners on a 'shoestring budget,' according to spokesperson Charley Goss. The organization faces a funding reduction of close to $150,000 if the code enforcement outreach programs are cut. 'There are difficult decisions that have to be made with regard to the budget. But, from our perspective, these are maybe the only programs where you have tenant groups and landlord groups working together for a common goal, which is to improve living conditions in apartment buildings,' Goss said. 'We've seen firsthand that the programs work … and we believe they also save the city money. We have nonprofits doing the work to get buildings up to code, which saves the city money via their inspectors. The inspectors don't have to do that work.'
