Democratic San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who won the office with a “common sense” appeal, declared there has been a noticeable change in the city under his leadership.
Lurie, the Levi Strauss heir and founder of an anti-poverty nonprofit, positioned himself during his campaign as the tough-on-crime alternative to former Mayor London Breed’s lax policies on theft, drug use and homelessness that have plagued the city. Now, months after defeating Breed by more than 10 points in November, he says San Franciscans are proud of their city again.
“The vibe shift is, I believe, real in our city,” Lurie told the Los Angeles Times during an interview in his City Hall office. “There’s a sense of hope and optimism that people haven’t seen for a long time. I have a lot of people saying, ‘I’m proud to be a San Franciscan for the first time in a while.’ Now, I’ve always been proud. That’s why I ran.”
Lurie highlighted how simply walking around the city in his current role revealed opportunities to make it better for locals and tourists alike.
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“In the first few weeks, I would be walking on the streets and be like, why is there trash at a bus shelter?,” the mayor said, offering one such example. “Well, we don’t do trash pickup on Saturdays and Sundays. And I was like, people still take the bus on Saturdays and Sundays, and we have tourists from all over the world coming here.”
“We have to be a 24/7 city, and often we are a city that is 9 to 5, Monday through Friday,” Lurie added.
The LA Times recalled that the incident that inspired Lurie to run for office in the first place was when he was walking with his children through the Mission District and encountered “a man in the midst of a mental health crisis.”
“Lurie pledged to prioritize public safety and increase pathways to treatment for mental illness and addiction,” the paper wrote.
Lurie spoke about how he is working with major tech companies to bring San Francisco’s downtown back to life, one of the areas that was most famously devastated by the COVID-19 lockdowns and their aftermath.
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“I’m going to work with anybody that wants to help San Francisco get back to its rightful place as the greatest city in the world,” the mayor said.
LA Times writer Hannah Wiley noted that Lurie is part of a larger shift, citing the new leadership of the city’s Board of Supervisors, “which for years was dominated by ultra-liberals who often clashed with previous mayors. The November elections brought more centrist members to the 11-member body who may be more inclined to support Lurie’s centrist agenda.”
Former Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who lost to Lurie in the mayoral election, also praised the new mayor as a welcome sign that times are changing, saying, “San Francisco needed to have a change, both for national perception and for local perception.”
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“I think we’re off to a strong start,” Lurie said of his term as mayor so far. “But my expectations are sky-high.”
