Campers,
In San Francisco the worst offenders bring back the worst ideas after the Public has had the time to forget how bad they were.
Like the cops Delayed Retirement (available only to sergeants and above) that gave vets both their regular pay plus retirement income banked with a guaranteed high interest return totalling around 300k a year or a cool million for 3 years of hanging around to pollute the incoming recruit pools.
Now, the head of their union makes $586,000 last year as a Patrolman.
And, I can’t even afford my dog’s allergy medicine.
Here’s the comment I offered to ML just now …
Local news for a global city
Mayor Daniel Lurie gains power — and loses excuses
Political analysts agree the passage of three measures amending the city charter is risky move for the mayor
Mayor Daniel Lurie has convinced San Francisco voters to hand him more power. It’s a risky bet.
Like many moderates in town, Lurie has blamed bureaucratic red tape and recalcitrant City Hall insiders for holding back progress on housing construction and waste of taxpayer dollars. His billionaire-funded victory on three ballot measures this week amending the city charter means he will gain more control over how City Hall runs and face fewer potential roadblocks from his elected colleagues.
The popular mayor has described these changes as a way to combat corruption and waste at City Hall, which he’s been running for the past two years.
We have a $100,000 match!
But they also take away any future excuses: Lurie won’t have anyone else to blame if and when citywide failures or economic downturns fall at his feet, say political analysts. That goes for his successors, too.
“These charter reform measures will make it very hard now for mayors to argue credibly that they don’t have the authority to do what voters ask of them, and voters will have few qualms about holding future mayors accountable,” said Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University who supported the charter amendments.
Proposition D makes it more difficult for residents, city supervisors and the mayor to put measures on the ballot. Proposition E empowers the city administrator to reform San Francisco’s contracting procedures, and raise the threshold for board approval of contracts from $10 million to $25 million. Proposition F will give the mayor sole power to hire certain city department heads — and fire most of them — with no board of supervisors or commission involvement.
All three were winning as of Friday morning. Around $14 million was raised to gather signatures and blast a wave of ads supporting the charter changes. The measures’ biggest backers were billionaires Michael Moritz ($3.1 million), Chris Larsen and wife Lyna Lam ($2.5 million) and John Pritzker ($1 million).
He’s also sacrificing some power through these measures, such as the ability to unilaterally place his own initiatives on the ballot, though the scales ultimately tip in his favor.
Lurie, who had a steep learning curve when he took office two years ago, has benefitted from declining crime and a hot AI-driven economy, McDaniel said.
“And that could change,” he said. The affordability crisishas dramatically worsened in the last year — San Francisco’s already exorbitant rents were up 24% year over year. The mayor has put together an “emergency” package that includes displacement assistance, but the Anti-Displacement Coalition said those policies were “incomplete.”
Because Lurie’s measures could put an end to the “deflecting” and “blame games” that have dogged City Hall for the past decade, said Democratic political consultant Eric Jaye, he won’t have anyone else to point fingers at when residents complain about issues that — fairly or unfairly — fall at his feet.
“‘All right Mayor Lurie, why can’t I still afford an apartment? I gave you the power you asked for,’” said Jaye, who was vocally critical of the measures. “‘All right Mayor Lurie, why can’t my kids still buy a house? I gave you the power you asked for.’”
Plus, McDaniel said, “so far the mayor has managed to avoid missteps clinging to him,” and there have been a few.
Lurie’s appointment of an inexperienced former pet shop owner to the Board of Supervisors ended seven days later, sparking questions over his vetting abilities. His selection of government software developer OpenGov to overhaul San Francisco’s archaic permitting system — without a competitive bid — led to missed deadlines and public accusations of favoritism.
The ballot measures also mean fewer checks and balances.
“You get better outcomes when you consult with people,” said Jaye. “You make fewer mistakes.”
Jay Cheng, a moderate political strategist and former executive director of Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, supported the ballot measures and called their victory a vindication for Lurie and his image. But he agreed they’re a risk.
“When it comes time to run for reelection in 2028, he will be held accountable for everything he did and the performance will be laid at his feet, for better or for worse, but also — I do think he’ll be able to execute everything he wants in the next two years,” Cheng said. “I can’t remember anything he’s wanted to do in the past two years that was blocked.”
A campaign spokesperson for Lurie didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Lurie, for his part, gestured toward concerns about future excuses in his victory speech on Tuesday night, facing jubilant supporters crammed into the back patio of the cocktail lounge Anina in Hayes Valley.
“These victories are not a finish line, they are a starting point,” Lurie said. “San Franciscans tonight are giving us the tools to govern effectively … we are going to keep delivering — let’s go San Francisco.”
The crowd roared with applause.
“He has all the power he asked for,” said Jaye, the political consultant. “Let’s see what he does with it.”
BRANDON PHOTECH AND POWER REPORTER
Brandon Pho covers tech and power in San Francisco.
He has reported on communities up and down California since 2018.
Right before joining Mission Local, he sparked a California lawsuit against the federal government after obtaining and publishing the blueprints for a secret Bay Area ICE facility.
He likes the TV series ‘Columbo’ and lives under the panoptic surveillance of his two cats in the Mission.More by Brandon Pho
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9 Comments
two beerssays:November 7, 2026, 10:15 pm at 10:15 pmWell, ok, except for the misleading “moderate” decription of Democrats whose economic policies would make Ronald Reagan proud.How does serving billionaires, techlords, police state surveillance freaks, and Big Real Estate, while using democratic (small “d”) measures to block the peons’ access to the same democratic (small “d”) measures make one a “moderate”?If you can pierce the rhetorical fog, the mayor looks rather “extreme.”+3 -2 votes. Sign in to voteReply
h. brownsays:November 10, 2026, 12:23 am at 12:23 amYour comment is awaiting moderation.‘two beers’, These super rich would charge you for the air you breathe if they could. To prove it the Mayor announced today that he is returning to the Fisher/Newsom program of removing natural grass in parks all over the City and replacing it with a toxic plastic substitute which has to be replaced every ten years or so and then sent to befoul our dumps. There are a couple of side benefits for the wealthy. First, if this is a duplicate program it will involve closing the ‘renovated’ parks to the general public, fencing them off and giving the Fisher family the right to charge admission. Much as they did with the Arboretum in Golden Gate Park all the way down to small soccer turfs in the Mission. So, they brag about the largest ‘gift’ in history that doesn’t cost them anything because it is taxpayer money Trump and his ilk have returned to them which they have then turned around and used to take control of more Public space. Moritz won’t seek actual ownership because then he’d have to pay for the upkeep and replacement on a ten year cycle. Upshot ? Some kids in the Mission got off school and went to have a pick-up soccer game and were tossed off by a group of techies who had a paid permit from the Fisher organization. They told the kids to ‘pound grass’ so to speak and the kids went back to playing in the street. As they used to say in Ireland: “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” What we need here is a good investigative reporter to dig back on the original story and find out what happened to the soccer fields out by the beach where they tore out all of the woods and put in huge fences. The first installment of astro turf must have worn out by now. In a related story John Fisher went to hang out with his friends at the ultra exclusive Bohemian Groves and lay back in a lawn chair and was flabbergasted at the waste of huge trees surrounding the place and the story goes that he bullied through a deal to log much of the friggin’ place with his family logging enterprise that controlled about half of the forests in that county I believe. As J. Paul Getty said in the movie when refusing to pay a pittance of a ransom to Italian gangsters to rescue a grandson … Lawyer: (was it Newsom’s dad?) “But, Mr.Getty, you’re the richest man in the world.” Getty: “It’s not enough.” Yeah, they’d charge you for the air you breathe if they could. And, give themselves awards at tax deductible expensive and exclusive banquets with high end entertainment from Tipping Point because cost is no object because it’s not their money. It’s yours. After one of their extravaganzas at the Armory I asked the Mayor via Mission Local comment to spring for a simple Mariachi band to play for the People at 16th and Mission and the comment was spiked. Let’s see if this makes print. go Niners !! h.
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