It’s not easy for a sitting mayor to keep her job as the city is experiencing a serious image crisis, but London Breed wants to persuade voters that San Francisco is on track to recovery.
In a mayoral candidate forum hosted by The Standard, ABC7 News, and tech journalist Kara Swisher, Breed acknowledged that many outsiders may think San Francisco has a “bad rap” because of crime, homelessness, and open-air drug dealing but argued that she’s working to tackle the most vexing issues.
“We have to do more work above and beyond,” Breed said. “But we are starting to see improvement, and I’m excited about what that means for the future.”
Breed said crime rates are at historic lows, but people may not feel the difference. She pointed to new technology tools for law enforcement officers to combat crime and said she has a plan to fully staff the San Francisco Police Department within two and a half years.
Regarding homelessness, Breed said she has built more shelters and permanent supportive housing than any previous mayor, and the latest Supreme Court ruling allowed her to be more aggressive in placing people in shelters. She has also been working with state and federal government agencies to crack down on the drug crisis on city streets.
Asked who she would list as her second choice on the city’s ranked-choice ballot, she demurred.
“It’s hard to look at most of the candidates and think that they would be anyone that I would ever want to see serve as mayor of San Francisco,” Breed said. And she took particular aim at Daniel Lurie, the nonprofit founder and Levi’s heir who has never worked in government.
“Would you get on a [Boeing] 737 with a pilot with no experience?” Breed said. “It’s dangerous to consider someone just because they have money and no experience.”
Breed also discussed how to revitalize the struggling downtown and leverage San Francisco’s massive budget to improve services, along with her plan to eradicate alleged corruption in city-funded nonprofits, revealed by The Standard’s investigative reporting.
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