City by Bay’s Return to Sanity H
ow is Mayor Daniel Lurie turning around San
Francisco’s fortunes? By focusing on fundamentals, streamlining permitting, bringing in private sector talent in key positions, and outflanking the city’s progressive obstructionists. The mayor built political support by tackling low-
regulations he said had “accumulated to such a level that you can’t build any housing, you can’t get
hanging fruit, including a campaign to remove “a bunch of dumb rules,” like the one that prevented residents from parking in their own driveways. He railed against
anything done.” On the economy, his speeding up of ofice-to- housing conversions has revitalized downtown and his elimination of fees for restaurants setting up sidewalk seating has boosted the hospitality business. Homeless street
encampments have largely been cleared away and funding for nonprofits that
Lurie’s approval rating is an astonishing 73%. The mayor he ousted, London Breed, had an approval rating of 28% before leaving office.
more importantly, the winner of the race for mayor was Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss clothing for- tune and a noted local philanthro- pist who promised to work toward the more “efficient government” that Dimon spoke of. Lurie took office in January of this
year. He quickly declared an end to San Francisco’s “soaring city budgets” by announcing he would eliminate 1,400 city jobs, cut $185 million in grants to outside nonprofit groups
REPORTED CRIME Change in the number of reported crimes in the first three months of each year.
Crime
Homicide Robbery Assault
Burglary
Larceny Theft
Motor Vehicle Theft
2024 2025 Percent Change
8
559 571
1,280 4
447 530 973
-50% -20% -7.2
-24% 5,609 3,958 -29.4% 1,496 881
-41% SOURCE: SFPD
that weren’t performing well, and steer spending to core services like police and clean streets. His constant message was that it
was time to get back to basics. “I was elected to make hard choic-
es,” he said in pointing out that the city deserved better service delivery given that it has a budget of $16 billion and city government employs nearly a tenth of its overall workforce. In less than a year there’s been
real improvement in key areas such as crime, economic recovery, and the delivery of city services. A San Francisco Chronicle poll
taken last summer found 57% of resi- dents now view the city’s quality of life favorably, compared to 39% a year ago. Lurie’s approval rating is an aston-
ishing 73%. The mayor he ousted, London Breed, had an approval rating of 28% before leaving office. The mayor says public safety is
his top priority. He praises new Dis- trict Attorney Brooke Jenkins: “She believes like I do that, if you commit a crime, there needs to be consequenc- es. We weren’t doing that before.” A key dividing line between Lurie
and California’s progressive Demo- crats was Proposition 36, a statewide ballot initiative that passed with 68%
exacerbated the root causes of homelessness has been cut.
That has spurred the start of a decline in accidental drug overdose deaths — which topped out at a staggering 800 during 2024. And crime is falling.
Property crime is down 30%, violent crime is down 20%, and car break-ins are at a 22-year low. — J.F.
of the vote last November. It increased penalties for many
crimes, allowed felony charges for more drug and theft offenses, and ended the practice of not prosecuting shoplifting items worth $950 or less. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Alex
Padilla opposed the measure, while Kamala Harris, a former California attorney general, refused to say how she voted. Lurie stands by his support of the anti-crime initiative noting that it won 64% of the vote in San Francisco, even while Donald Trump won only 16% of the vote in the same election. The new mayor has avoided the performance art of talking up resis- tance to Trump in favor of his “nuts- and-bolts” governance. In fact, he steadfastly refuses to
discuss the record of any other politi- cians. He insists he is a truly local leader: “I’m not a political animal. I want to turn around the city that I was born and raised in.” None of this is to say San Francisco
has solved its fundamental problems. Much of it is still a mess. But Lurie, a political newcomer who has brought a new broom and sunlight to the city’s governance, has earned a positive progress report. “No one’s coming to save us, so
San Francisco needs to save itself,” he says. Let us hope that other cities discover that wisdom before they sink to the level San Francisco was at — until its voters decided to “unwoke” the city.
NOVEMBER 2025 | NEWSMAX 13
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