San Francisco – When Daniel Lurie won the election in November with San Francisco’s new mayor, he knew that the challenges ahead were tough: the double prevalence of homelessness and addiction; a deflated urban economy; and the general sense of the locals that discomfort casts their colorful cities.
Five months later (entering Lurie’s tenure for 100 days), none of these problems disappeared. However, “I love my job,” Lurie, 48, said in an interview with his solemn town hall office.
“People say, ‘What’s the surprise?’ I think I was surprised at how much I love the job.”
As the heir to the wealth of the Levi Strauss family, Lurie comes from one of the city’s most prominent families, with roots dating back to the Gold Rush. Therefore, it is no surprise that he has a deep connection with his city. But his decision to use the mayoral position not only to develop policies, but to boldly hype San Francisco is part of a broader strategy. He hopes the country sees a city rising. Perhaps more important: Let San Franciscans embrace the image.
“I believe that in our city, the shift in the atmosphere is real,” he said. “People have had hope and optimism that they haven’t seen in a long time. I have a lot of people saying, ‘I’m honored to be San Francisco for the first time in a while.’ Now, I’ve been proud.”
Lurie, a moderate Democrat who beat the current London Breed and three other City Hall veterans, called on voters to be disillusioned by the massive homelessness and the city’s stagnant groceries recovery. He came to work without the experience as an elected official. His work life is focused on Tipping Point, a Bay Area nonprofit he founded in 2005 that raised over $400 million in initiatives focusing on work training, housing and early childhood education for low-income families.
Even many of his supporters expected Lurie, his starch shirt and monotonous voice, to make the new job more like a public policy nerd than a cheerleader. But, for now, he effectively embraced both roles. One day, he unveiled a difficult plan for public drug use; next, he threw his first court in town on the opening day of the Giants on Oracle Park. He often uses his Instagram to highlight the serious and more fun parts of his work.
Lurie knew that he had gone a long way in terms of the changes he promised to voters: demolishing the tent city; expanding shelter options; revitalizing business units; making the city absolutely unfriendly. But what angered him was not the scope of the agenda. This is the bureaucracy he thinks is blocking him.
“In the first few weeks, I would walk down the street, like, why trash in a bus shelter?” Lurie said, telling an example like this. “Well, we’re not doing trash pickups on Saturdays and Sundays. I thought at the time that people were still taking buses on Saturdays and Sundays and we had tourists from all over the world coming here.”
“We have to be a city that is 24/7, usually a city that is 9 to 5 Monday to Friday,” he said.
Lurie is the father of two school-age children and is also learning how to become mayor 24/7 with a rich and supportive family life. He often referred to the late Senator Dianne Feinstein as a role model, who served as mayor of San Francisco from 1978-88. Like Feinstein, Lurie hopes to be a hands-on mayor, walking on city streets every day, and bringing him home at least every once in a while is enough to sit down with her family for dinner.
He smiled and said that he might actually have the lightest schedule in his family. His wife, Becca Prowda, is a senior assistant to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who serves as Director of Agreements for Newsom. His son, Sawyer, 11, plays baseball, soccer and flag football. Lurie’s daughter is 14-year-old Taya, who recently performed in the San Francisco Ballet’s “Frankenstein”.
“She was the first person on the stage,” Lurie said with a smile. “She had a moment of dancing on the stage, standing next to Desola,” the company’s main dancer.
He said Lurie still takes his kids to school every morning and plans to go home by 9pm most of the nights while booking family on Friday and Sunday nights. He spent the weekend in Southern California with his family.
Lurie said during the campaign that his children’s experiences in San Francisco inspired him to run for mayor, telling a story of walking through a missionary with them and meeting a man in a mental health crisis. Lurie promises to prioritize public safety and increase pathways for mental illness and addiction treatments.
Shortly after the inauguration on January 8, Lurie introduced a decree that allowed the city to open new shelters and treatment programs faster while giving his office room to seek private funding for these efforts. This month, he announced a new public health policy that prohibits city workers and nonprofits from getting city funding and cannot distribute sterile syringes and other cleaning drugs unless they actively work to connect people with services.
Lurie leverages a handful of elite technology and business executives to serve as consultants and help develop policies that will revitalize the downtown area by allowing local closures and the outflow of tech workers who receive remote work. Among the people he recruits: Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire philanthropist and widow of Steve Jobs; Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google; Sam Altman, CEO of Openai; Larry Baer of the San Francisco Giants; Ron Conway, venture capitalist; and executives of Doordash, Gap, Ripple, Salesforce and Visa.
Lurie said their brain power and money will be a powerful tool to help San Francisco recover.
“I will work with anyone who wants to help San Francisco become the greatest city in the world,” he said.
Lurie’s performance has earned praise from an unexpected political corner.
State Senator D-San Francisco said: “I think Mayor Lurie has performed well.
“I personally like him. I like his approach.” Rafael Mandelman, the new chairman of the city’s strong legislative division, said that for years, the city’s legislature has been dominated by super-liberals who often clash with former mayors. The November election brings more centrist members to an 11-person agency who may be more inclined to support Lurie’s centrist agenda.
“He’s willing to really learn, he’s willing to listen,” said Connie Chan, a progressive director. “It’s not just a symbolic listening. He’s actively listening.”
Even former long-time director Aaron Peskin, an old-fashioned liberal who lost to Lurie in last year’s mayoral game, said he accepted Lurie’s recent invitation to go for a walk and a talk show store. Peskin said he thanked the new mayor for his willingness to hear different opinions.
“San Francisco needs to change the perspective of the country and the perspective of the place,” Peskin said.
Many unpopular decisions are imminent. The most important of these is the budget deficit close to $1 billion, a figure that almost certainly requires massive cuts and difficult negotiations with the Supervisory Board and the city’s public unions.
Lurie has taken the boost from some well-known community groups as his new policies will inspire the repetition of the country’s defeated war on drugs and those who have a close connection with tech leaders.
“We have a paid atmosphere in town hall,” said Julie Pitta, president of the Phoenix Project, a progressive organization that tracks technology funding in San Francisco politics. “Does Mayor Lurie think these people don’t want to help them?”
Lurie has sprinted to accept honors and criticism so far at least. He has mentioned the re-election campaign, saying it may take more time to rebuild his hometown because every visitor wants to visit and every business wants to open a store.
“I think we’re starting out strong,” Lurie said. “But my expectations are high.”
