Daniel Lurie, San Francisco’s mayor-elect, beckoned them, one at a time, to his four-story brick mansion, perched on a hill, within the town’s unique Pacific Heights community.
The San Francisco supervisors, corresponding to town councilors, met with Mr. Lurie in his breakfast corner, a 30 minutes at a time. However regardless of the sumptuous atmosphere — his house has 9 bedrooms and is value $16 million, in any case — the conversations, held over the past couple of months, focused on elementary, on a regular basis issues.
They mentioned protecting sidewalks blank. Finishing unlawful drug markets. Filling vacant downtown places of work.
And on Wednesday, when Mr. Lurie, a Democrat and inheritor to the Levi Strauss fortune, is inaugurated as San Francisco’s forty sixth mayor, he nearly no doubt gained’t point out revolution, resistance or sticking it to President-elect Donald J. Trump, as some liberal mayors attempted to do throughout Mr. Trump’s first time period. In reality, the identify Trump by no means seems within the operating draft of his speech, an adviser mentioned.
As a substitute, Mr. Lurie, the founding father of an antipoverty nonprofit, will speak about find out how to flip San Francisco right into a well-run town — one of the simplest ways, he believes, to make sure the way forward for modern politics.
“I wish to display the arena that we will be able to ship at the promise of our values, that we will be able to be each compassionate and company,” Mr. Lurie, 47, mentioned in an interview.
His good fortune, he mentioned, would rely on “if we develop our economic system, if we get other folks off the streets and into psychological well being beds, if other folks really feel secure strolling down our streets once more.”
His larger ambition is to revive San Francisco’s golden-gate logo. His measure of glory: “If everyone around the globe is, like, ‘I’ve were given to be in San Francisco once more.’”
Mr. Lurie does now not appear curious about nationwide politics or the way forward for the Democratic Celebration. For him, all politics is native. He spent his ultimate weekend as a normal citizen clutching a trash picker and choosing up muddle.
Nonetheless, he’s an emblem of what many Democrats say is the way in which ahead after devastating losses across the nation in November. Mr. Trump gained a better share of votes in 2024 than in 2020 in lots of liberal towns, together with San Francisco — an indication, possibly, that even in those blue bastions, citizens have been rising disappointed with politics that prioritized ideology over development of their on a regular basis lives.
“One of the vital messages from this final election is that during blue towns, individuals are pissed off — so pissed off, in some instances, they’re in search of different events and different leaders,” mentioned Danny Sauter, newly elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. “The most productive protection is generating a town that works.”
The query, despite the fact that, is whether or not a person who inherited super wealth, with a lifestyles a ways got rid of from maximum citizens, and has no enjoy in elected place of business can flip San Francisco round.
In all probability no blue town within the nation suffered greater than San Francisco over the last 5 years, in reputation anyway, drawing mockery from Mr. Trump and his allies.
The coronavirus pandemic and fentanyl disaster made for a brutal double punch to the town. Sidewalk drug markets beaten some neighborhoods, and on reasonable, two other folks an afternoon have been death of drug overdoses. Some belongings crimes, together with house burglaries, soared.
The overdose loss of life fee and the whole charges of belongings crime have since begun to drop, however stay excessive when put next with different towns.
Place of business towers in San Francisco are about 35 p.c empty, a better emptiness fee than in different massive American towns, and tourism has now not totally rebounded to what it was once ahead of the pandemic. Much less tax income implies that Mr. Lurie must to find techniques to near the cheap hole coming near $1 billion over the following two years.
Regardless of going through those crises, San Francisco’s civic management has once in a while fascinated about ideological spats somewhat than sensible answers. Right through the pandemic, the varsity board gave the impression to spend much less time seeking to reopen faculty constructions than it did on renaming faculties, together with Abraham Lincoln Top, over social justice issues. The town’s district legal professional on the time resisted prosecuting fentanyl sellers, making an allowance for such instances a continuation of the unsuccessful conflict on medication.
Citizens recalled 3 faculty board participants and the district legal professional in 2022. And in November, they voted out Mayor London Breed, a Democrat.
Right through her tenure, Ms. Breed had attempted to handle a couple of giant problems, like making it more straightforward to construct housing within the town. However she was once blasted by means of some constituents for a few of her different techniques, like permitting a supervised living room the place fentanyl customers may just smoke in a plaza close to Town Corridor.
Mr. Lurie mentioned he would persist with San Francisco’s long-held liberal values, like status up for the rights of immigrants, transgender other folks and girls in search of abortions if Mr. Trump’s management tries to curb the ones rights. Past that, despite the fact that, he mentioned his center of attention could be at the nuts and bolts of native govt.
His schedule, he mentioned, quantities to “not unusual sense.”
Others have advised other catchphrases. It’s “sensible progressivism,” mentioned Bilal Mahmood, an incoming manager representing the suffering Tenderloin community.
It’s “resistance by the use of effects,” mentioned Dan Newman, a Democratic advisor who ran a political motion committee supporting Mr. Lurie.
“8 years in the past, I used to be within the streets dressed in a crimson hat,” Mr. Newman mentioned in an interview, regarding the knit caps that anti-Trump protesters wore after the 2016 election. “Now we’re again in the similar streets ensuring they’re blank and secure.”
However the main points of Mr. Lurie’s schedule up to now are sparse. He promised to declare a fentanyl emergency on his first day in place of business, however has now not specified what that suggests. He promised to get rid of drug use on town streets, however has now not obviously defined the position of law enforcement officials in arresting customers.
He mentioned he will require town workers to go back to the place of business 5 days every week, however has now not mentioned whether or not that would come with 1000’s of town place of business staff in all departments, or simply the ones within the mayor’s place of business.
His maximum concrete pledge — to construct 1,500 new refuge beds for homeless other folks in six months — has been met with skepticism.
Mr. Lurie may have some benefits that Ms. Breed lacked, together with a friendlier Board of Supervisors, which the November election tipped extra towards centrist Democrats somewhat than far-left ones.
“Other people simply wish to be certain the grocer remains open and their youngsters don’t have to stroll previous drug sellers at the streets,” mentioned Mr. Mahmood, whose Tenderloin district has lengthy been recognized for homelessness and drug markets.
Mr. Lurie’s most precious property are broadly seen as his pleasant, high-energy character, his deep connections with a number of citizens and his skill to influence.
The native resort staff’ union credited Mr. Lurie with operating the telephones final month to settle a strike. And he persuaded rich donors to offer $500 million to Tipping Level Neighborhood, the nonprofit he based in 2005 that budget teams preventing poverty.
However he does reside at a excessive altitude. He can break out along with his spouse and two youngsters to his $15.5 million holiday house in Malibu. And his maximum outstanding advisers come from the tech and industry international, together with Sam Altman, the executive government and a co-founder of Open AI.
Mr. Lurie has named Ned Segal, a adolescence good friend and previous government at Twitter, to be the town’s head of housing and financial construction. Staci Slaughter, an established San Francisco Giants government, can be his leader of workforce. Kunal Modi, a spouse at McKinsey & Corporate, a consulting company, will lead his efforts on homelessness and well being.
Many native politicians are hopeful, but wary, concerning the new mayor. Manager Myrna Melgar mentioned their preliminary dialog was once beautiful, however stuffed with generalities.
“He’s new — he doesn’t even know the place the toilet is,” Ms. Melgar mentioned. “San Francisco is a cutthroat, poisonous position for politics. Smartly-meaning other folks get into this industry, and it chews you up.”
Mr. Lurie mentioned his fashions have been Dianne Feinstein, who led the town after the 1978 assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Manager Harvey Milk, and Michael Bloomberg, who helped rebuild New York after the 11th of September terror assaults. Each mayors have been recognized for his or her sure-handed guidance thru the ones tough occasions, a no-nonsense, nonideological management taste — and their wealth.
Ms. Feinstein was once well-known for calling her department heads when she noticed the rest askew — a bed dumped on a sidewalk, say — and Mr. Lurie mentioned he had already began making equivalent telephone calls.
Like Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman, Mr. Lurie mentioned he would take simply $1 a yr in pay, and forgo the remainder of the mayor’s standard $383,000 wage. He’s value masses of hundreds of thousands of greenbacks, wealth that comes from his overdue stepfather, Peter Haas, a Levi’s inheritor and the attire corporate’s longtime leader government, who married Mr. Lurie’s mom, Mimi Haas, when Mr. Lurie was once a kid.
Since his victory, Mr. Lurie has spoken to Mr. Bloomberg and mentioned that the 2 proportion the conclusion that excellent govt can make stronger towns.
“He was once without equal New Yorker, and I’m a San Franciscan thru and thru,” Mr. Lurie mentioned. “I simply wish to get effects.”
