Mayor London Breed was all smiles during a crowded introductory party Tuesday in Hayes Valley, a boutique neighborhood about a half-mile from City Hall, pausing to snap selfies and congratulate her as she moved through the crowded bar toward the microphone.
“Change is coming!” Breed shouted to thunderous applause from the patio at elegant cocktail bar Anina.
Early results showed promise for a slate of local candidates running on a more centrist agenda, for ballot measures that would transform downtown with new development, and called for the city school board to reinstate Algebra I as an offering to middle school students.
But Breed's focus that evening was on two ballot measures she championed to expand police surveillance powers and impose drug treatment mandates that had overwhelming support from voters — a stunning shift to the right for a city known nationally for its progressive politics.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed rallies his supporters during an election night party.
(Godofredo A. Vasquez/Associated Press)
The first measure, Proposition E, strengthens police powers in the city. The second, Proposition F, would require drug testing and treatment for people receiving county welfare benefits who are suspected of drug use.
These measures bolster efforts to address the city's open-air drug addiction crisis — and the street crime and rampant homelessness that accompanies it. Taken together, they give credence to the Post's message that San Francisco is not the bastion of chaos its critics like to claim.
“That's enough,” Breed said. “We need change.”
Breed faces a tough re-election campaign in November as she seeks a full second term in office. Two of her opponents — Levi Strauss heir and nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie, and venture capitalist Mark Farrell, a former district supervisor and mayor pro tem — are considered moderate by San Francisco standards, and have criticized the city's mayor for city street conditions and a backward position. – Economic recovery from the pandemic.
The third opponent, Board of Supervisors Chairman Aaron Peskin, is a well-known progressive who is likely to rally support among powerful liberals concerned about the city's recent shift toward the center.
As she navigates a middle path forward, Breed's supporters hope the ballot victories will infuse her reelection bid with a jolt of energy and chart a clearer path forward for a city struggling to get the homeless off the streets and recover from the pandemic-related blight. The exodus of the downtown tech sector.
“It's a really good night for London Breed, Madam Mayor,” State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) told the crowd. “This city has taken a beating over the last few years, and San Francisco is coming back, and it's going to be better than ever.”
The ballot measure approved Tuesday builds on several initiatives Breed has led over the past year to bolster the city's efforts to stem drug addiction and overdose deaths, adding punitive components to policies that have long focused on a gentler, treatment-focused approach.
Last fall, city officials announced plans to form a law enforcement task force, scheduled to launch in the spring, to investigate opioid deaths and illicit drug trafficking in the city as possible homicides. Months ago, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed the California National Guard and California Highway Patrol to target drug trafficking networks moving fentanyl to the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, an operation that led to hundreds of arrests.
Breed confirms that these efforts are paying off: Over the past six months, property crimes are down 30% and violent crimes are down 4%, according to the sheriff's office.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed says the ballot measures approved by voters this week give needed teeth to efforts to address the city's drug crisis.
(Godofredo A. Vasquez/Associated Press)
The drug screening initiative will build on those efforts by getting more people with substance use disorder into treatment, Breed said.
Proposition F, which is scheduled to take effect in January 2025, would overhaul the county's adult assistance programs, which provide cash benefits to low-income single adults who are 65 or younger and have no dependent children. Beneficiaries will now be required to undergo a drug screening evaluation if there is “reasonable suspicion” that they suffer from a substance use disorder, and enter treatment if necessary.
Supporters say the change would protect the city's resources from a street drug culture amplified by San Francisco's lax policies and generous benefits.
The program helped about 5,700 people a month in the 2022-23 fiscal year, according to the city comptroller's office, with some recipients receiving as much as $712 a month. Between March 30, 2023, and the beginning of February, 141 people cited for public drug use were also receiving county assistance, according to the mayor's office. Of these, 33% did not actually live in San Francisco.
“This is just adding another level of accountability to screening, and hopefully that will lead to the kind of results we want to see: people who get treatment and people who end up clean and sober,” Breed said.
Critics of Proposition F dismiss it as a poorly drafted proposal that fails to fix the root of the city's homeless crisis: a lack of affordable housing and quality treatment options. They echoed a popular progressive principle that forcing people into drug treatment doesn't work, and said the policy changes would have devastating consequences for low-income residents who depend on assistance for housing and other necessary expenses.
“This will make treatment less accessible to everyone in San Francisco,” said Janet Zanibatin, director of the left-leaning nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance. “Touting an initiative with false promises is really the mayor and her office choosing political expediency rather than trying to roll up their sleeves and find real solutions that will actually make an impact on the overdose crisis.”
The procedure is not formulated with specific rules on how to conduct a drug test or how to apply treatment. Breed directed the city's human services agency to create an “action plan” for implementation, meaning it could take months before official guidance is available.
Post Office said the measure was deliberately designed to be flexible regarding the treatment component. Treatment options can range from outpatient services to a prescription for buprenorphine, a medication used to treat addiction. They noted that it does not include a requirement for participants to remain sober, recognizing that people often fail to recover and should not be kicked out of the program for a mistake.
“I don't think Proposition F is as bad as its critics say, and it probably won't be the silver bullet that some of its more ardent supporters have said,” said Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a former moderate Democrat. Honest about his addiction recovery journey. “But I think on balance it's a step in the right direction.
Weiner, a prominent progressive in the state Capitol, did not support Proposition F but said he understood why people would vote for it. “Only by San Francisco standards would this be considered moderate,” he said. “As in many cities right now, there is concern about public safety and drug use in general, and people want their neighborhoods and their city to be as good as it can be.”
Proposition E, a measure that strengthens police powers, also passed easily. The measure weakens some oversight authority by the Police Commission, which has been a voice for suppressing police use of force.
The measure also eases restrictions that have been blamed for promoting a lax police response to retail and property crime. It provides more space for police to pursue suspects by car and allows officers to use drones for certain pursuits. The changes also relax requirements for documenting suspicious encounters that lead to police use of force and allow body camera footage to stand on some paperwork.
Proponents of Proposition E said it would reduce the amount of time police spend behind desks on administrative tasks and ensure they are properly equipped with technology to fight crime. Opponents see a worrying decline towards reducing transparency and oversight.
“This has made it easier for the SFPD to hide police violence and made it harder for the public to hold police officers accountable,” said Yoel Haley, director of the criminal justice program at the ACLU of Northern California. “What we see happening now is politicians presenting the public with these tried-and-failed solutions as a magic bullet to the real frustrations people have about crime and public safety.”
The breed makes no apologies.
On Thursday, she delivered her State of the City address at Pier 27, a waterfront venue with a sparkling view of the city skyline as its backdrop. She strongly refuted the narrative that San Francisco had lost its progressive path, instead positing that Tuesday's election results were in line with the city's liberal values of housing and treating those struggling with addiction and providing communities with high-quality policing.
During her speech, she emphasized the message that San Francisco is going through a difficult phase, declaring it “a city on the rise.”
“San Francisco doesn’t wear the shackles of your negativity anymore,” she said as the room echoed in applause.
