Mayor Breed, appreciate you joining us on Inside California Politics
this week.
As we can see from sunny San Francisco behind you,
I want to ask you
in your perspective, give us your perspective.
What is the biggest issue facing your city right now?
Well, I think the biggest issue facing San Francisco right
now is the perception,
the perception of safety and concerns around safety.
When in fact last year in
2023, we had the lowest crime rate we've had in
10 years,
not including 2020 when we have to shut the city
down for a global pandemic.
Not to mention crime was down this past month of
March by over
43%. We had no homicides during the month of February.
San Francisco is not only getting better and feeling better,
it is transforming and there's a lot of exciting and
great things going on.
So our goal is to overcome the issues around the
perception.
Because when tourists come here,
when people visit, they're like,
oh, it's not what we thought it was.
And it's actually a great experience.
So our hope is that that message is getting out
there loud and clear.
And you know, the phrase perception is reality.
So. So how do you fight something like that?
Because you know, folks, you can give them all the
data that you want,
but if they feel a certain way,
it's it's hard to overcome that.
Why do you think San Francisco has continued to be
under the microscope,
not locally, not only locally,
but nationally as well? Well,
I think sadly San Francisco,
where you have seen a number of
political champions in the Democratic Party like Kamala Harris,
Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, there,
they come from San Francisco.
And San Francisco has, you know,
a huge personality and it's an incredible city.
And some of these things have been used to attack
some of our political leaders and to imply
something negative about our city because these people came from
politics out of San Francisco.
I think that's part of it.
Also, after the global pandemic,
I mean, so many major cities faced real issues around
crime and safety.
And you know, many of those videos went viral,
but again, not just in San Francisco,
in other parts of the country as well.
Our goal is to do everything we can
to increase tourism, to make sure that we're working with
the private sector.
They've been a number of campaigns launched and also work
on tourism conventions and other things.
In fact, we've never had to work very hard for
tourists and for conventions.
And now we find ourselves going out there having these
conversations,
convincing people to not only come back but to stay.
And they've had some incredible experiences that they are talking
about,
that they are writing letters about,
that they're telling other people about.
And so as a result,
we are seeing some significant increase in the number of
flights that are coming from international flights to SFO,
new airlines adding more flights,
the Convention Center getting booked up,
our hotel capacity increasing. But it is taking a lot
of work for us to get there.
And lucky for us, there are so many residents in
San Francisco who feel so much better about what's happening
in neighborhoods,
in our parks and our libraries.
I mean, this past weekend,
the weather was beautiful for Easter Sunday and the city
was packed.
There was so much going on,
so much joy and excitement.
We want to keep that momentum going and we want
to get the word out.
The San Francisco is open for business with great restaurants,
great opportunity and we want people to experience it.
So you talked about some of the leaders that have
come from San Francisco.
And obviously, you know, there's another side of this too
that say,
look, it's progressive Democratic policies that have put major cities
like yours in this situation.
What do you say to that?
Well, what I say is there is nothing wrong with
progressive policies.
The thing is with San Francisco,
we have had to balance our progressive policies.
I mean, I believe in a second chance,
we've banned the box so that people who are asking
for a second chance can have an opportunity to work
for the city
and we believe in redemption.
And the the other side of that is making sure
that there's accountability for someone's actions when they do cross
those lines.
So it's really about a balance.
We've not deviated from our progressive values.
We have made adjustments to ensure that people,
especially criminals, who think that it is OK to come
and commit crimes in San Francisco,
that it is not. We have a Police Department that's
prepared to make arrest and they have been,
which is why we see crime dropping considerably.
We have a District Attorney who will hold people accountable,
but we have not abandoned our values around compassion,
second chances and opportunity. We have just been more aggressive
around accountability.
And unfortunately, we have some real challenges
with others who are in leadership that made it more
difficult to hold people accountable.
But right now it's happening.
All right. So I want to ask you about a
couple of things in terms of this last election cycle.
So there was a poll,
you're running for reelection. There was a poll done by
the San Francisco Chronicle at the end of January,
I believe, and it showed that you had a
71% disapproval rating. But the juxtaposition with that was you
had two a couple of measures on the ballot and
voters said yes to those.
One, I'm going to paraphrase here,
requiring recipients of locally funded welfare to undergo screenings and
the other eases restrictions on the Police Department to help
combat crime in the city.
So voters are obviously behind you when it comes to
these initiatives that you're trying to put forward here.
I think what sometimes you read in the paper and
then what's sometimes we see on social media doesn't really
always represent the sentiment of people in San Francisco.
I I'm out in the streets of the city all
the time,
whether it's on Muni, whether it's walking,
whether it's going to different neighborhoods for different events,
it's completely, you know, different than what sometimes I hear
about in the papers.
People have made it clear that they want
accountability. And I think that,
you know, in the case of Proposition F,
where we require those who have substance use disorder,
if they want money from the city,
if they want any assistance,
they have to be in treatment.
And that came from the recovery community directly.
People who suffer from addiction themselves who said they wanted
the city to be more aggressive around accountability because people's
lives are at stake.
So when I'm putting forth proposals,
whether it's ballot measures or anything I'm doing,
it is so important that you include the people who
are having those kinds of experiences when you're developing policy,
making investments. And that's what I consistently do.
That's why the sentiment is a lot different when you're
out on the streets of San Francisco versus sometimes what
you read about or see on social media,
but you're not denying that the city does face challenges.
Oh, definitely. This is a major city.
This is San Francisco. There will always be challenges.
But just to give you some perspective,
since I've been mayor, over
15,000 people have exit homelessness.
We've increased our shelter capacity by
66%, are permanent supportive housing units by over 50%.
We're helping to address that problem.
We've seen crime decline to its lowest.
It's been in 10 years.
Here's not including the pandemic.
And we continue to have a lot of momentum around
significant change.
So the data is reflecting also what people are starting
to see and experience.
And we do hope that the narrative about San Francisco
begins to reflect this reality of what San Francisco is
today in April
2024. So you're not a strong mayor.
I I want in terms of having the,
you know, that awesome power,
so to speak, is there a way that you feel
constrained,
you know that the Board of Supervisors has a power
over certain appointments to city boards that you wish you
had?
Is there anything specific there that you want to identify?
Yeah, and I could point to probably the best example
is the Police Department.
I mean, look, the mayor is responsible for safety,
but I can't, you know,
hire and fire the police chief.
It's not that I'm saying I want to do that.
The commissions that get commissioners get appointed by me,
Four of them. They have to be approved by the
Board of Supervisors.
And I've appointed commissioners that have been rejected if they
said in any way that they support Tasers.
So it's it's been really tough to try and manage
the city like an executive and be responsible for everything.
Yet when I need to make hard decisions,
it's a lot more difficult and it's too many layers
of bureaucracy to deal with it.
And politics continues to play a role in it.
Understandable. But at the same time,
if you're going to hold the mayor accountable,
I need to have the ability to do what's necessary
as quickly as possible in order to address the things
that people care about in San Francisco.
So I do think that there needs to be some
significant changes.
We've already made a number of adjustments to some of
our policies,
but San Francisco needs to be run by a mayor
that is able to be an executive and use executive
authority like I did during the pandemic.
When I had an emergency declaration and people talk about
the response in San Francisco and how we had one
of the most significant dense cities in the country,
we had one of the lowest death rates of any
major city in the United States.
We were known as a leader and we were able
to use an emergency declaration to respond quickly to the
needs to save lives.
And to be able to do that every single day
is exactly what could be transformative when you're running a
city like San Francisco,
and as I articulated before,
you are running for another term.
It's been described as a tough re election.
So what's your pitch to voters?
Why should they select you for another term?
Well, my pitch to voters is,
first of all, we've been through a lot of challenges
and everything has been really about being on the defensive.
Whether it was the loss of our previous mayor when
I took over as acting mayor,
or the pandemic which I have demonstrated a
strong leadership in in in the face of tragedy and
challenges.
Through all of the struggles and challenges,
we've come out of the pandemic into the recovery.
And as a result of the work that I have
led
in this city, we are starting to see.
I believe that the next phase of,
you know, the city, which is,
which is joy, which is excitement,
which is happiness, which is a fun time.
In San Francisco, we are hosting the NBA All Star
Game,
the Labour Cup, Super Bowl,
FIFA, all these great events,
a number of other great conventions that are coming back
to San Francisco.
I'm headed to China fairly soon to try and really
push for economic development opportunities in our downtown as well
as tourism and of course still holding out hope for
pandas for our city. So I want to be a
part of the joy and the excitement that is starting
to happen as we speak in San Francisco,
as we move towards our economic recovery.
And so my hope is that the voters will support
me and give me another chance to continue to do
the great work that we're starting to see happen in
San Francisco. Finally, you've been in office almost 60 years
now.
What's the biggest lesson you've learned?
Well, I would say that the biggest lesson I learned,
that I appreciate is to just trust my gut and
and why San Francisco was the first major city.
That's why I made the decision to shelter in place
during the pandemic.
I had everything to do with saying something is not
right.
I'm looking at the data.
I'm talking to all these various infectious disease doctors from
all over the country.
We need to move as aggressively as possible to save
lives.
And every time I have trusted my gut.
The results have have have really been tremendous.
And that is something that I will continue to do
as I lead San Francisco.
All right, Mayor London Breed,
We believe it there. We appreciate your time here on
Inside California Politics.
Thank you.