{"id":31996,"date":"2024-02-27T20:27:24","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T04:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=31996"},"modified":"2024-02-27T20:27:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T04:27:25","slug":"we-cant-kiss-techs-ass-all-the-time-mayor-breeds-looming-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/02\/27\/we-cant-kiss-techs-ass-all-the-time-mayor-breeds-looming-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We can\u2019t kiss tech\u2019s ass all the time:\u2019 Mayor Breed\u2019s looming clash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\" by\u00a0JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong> FEBRUARY 26, 2024 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A hot time in the old town tonight: A Waymo on Feb. 10 meandered into a Chinatown Lunar New Year celebration and was assailed by vandals. Photo by Alex Cisneros<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Whatever your thoughts about Mayor London Breed \u2014 and the results of a recent Chronicle <\/em>poll <\/a>indicate that few San Franciscans have happy thoughts \u2014 one must admit that she has a difficult job. It\u2019s tough enough to lead the real San Francisco, let alone the largely imaginary version that exists as an avatar for liberal misrule<\/a> and a stand-in for whatever larger societal issue<\/a> outside observers wish to project.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, a pack of hooligans vandalized and burned a Waymo driverless car that \u2014 inexplicably \u2014 meandered into the midst of a fireworks-saturated Chinatown block during a Lunar New Year f\u00eate. And the world\u2019s attention was piqued: My relatives, who not only reside in Australia, but in such a comically remote corner of it that they must drive 400 miles each way <\/em>to buy groceries, saw stories online about this incident: \u201cOdd what turns up on the news here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is! And that\u2019s why it\u2019s hard to be mayor of this city: Not only do we have a hollowed-out downtown office district increasingly resembling a mid-season Oakland A\u2019s game but, in this <\/em>city, a handful of jagoffs with spray cans and firecrackers can garner widespread coverage and be recast as emblematic of some deeper, darker movement<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, to boot, this makes the news in Bedourie<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Same as it ever was: A decade ago, a handful of jagoffs flipped over four Smart Cars in San Francisco<\/a> and, briefly, spurred a flurry of national and international news stories. This spate of opportunistic vandalism was recast as, somehow, indicative of a larger, more meaningful \u2014 and more sinister \u2014 development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This city has an image problem. So does its mayor. She set forth to tackle both of them via an op-ed printed earlier this month<\/a> in the San Francisco Standard<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, in a real feat, she may have only made things worse.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The smoldering remains of the Waymo waylaid by Lunar New Year revelers. Photo by Clara Jeffery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Did we say Breed\u2019s showing in the Chronicle <\/em>mayoral poll was bad? Because it\u2019s bad. Real bad. Like, time to kneel and pray with Henry Kissinger bad<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Granted, November is a long way off, and the mayoral field may not yet be set \u2014 and, if a progressive candidate jumps in, who knows, Breed could grab some of those elusive No. 2 and No. 3 votes. But, again, these numbers are just flat-out bad. <\/em>A full 71 percent of city voters disapprove of the mayor\u2019s performance. That includes 67 percent of white voters, 69 percent of Black voters and 80 percent of Asian voters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Coke was better received than this. The mayor\u2019s re-election bid is, itself, increasingly, resembling a burning car.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breed\u2019s Feb. 16 op-ed couldn\u2019t, on its own, solve her many problems. But she chose a tack that \u2014 unfortunately \u2014 appears doomed to fail: The mayor wrote that, despite what you\u2019ve seen on TV and read in the papers, the condition in San Francisco is, by and large, not so bad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we\u2019ve written before<\/a>, this is true<\/em>: Breed\u2019s statistics are accurate. But waving around statistics in the face of an onslaught of visceral and emotional negative coverage didn\u2019t work so well for ousted District Attorney Chesa Boudin, and it doesn\u2019t figure to work so well here. The mayor, in fact, cavalierly fanned the flames<\/a> that immolated Boudin, and that fire is now nipping at her own heels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, that\u2019s a problem. But it\u2019s that\u2019s hardly the biggest problem with the mayor\u2019s op-ed. Because, while you probably didn\u2019t read it, do you know who did? Firefighters. And, by and large, they were not pleased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mayor, they noted, didn\u2019t merely state that lighting cars on fire doesn\u2019t fly in my town!<\/em> That would\u2019ve probably sufficed, but Breed also blew an egregious kiss to Waymo, writing that \u201cwe are a city that is home to exciting, emerging technologies, like autonomous vehicles, that are changing the world. After all, we have led in transportation innovation before \u2014 150 years ago, the cable car was invented here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breed concluded by noting that she \u201cwill be meeting with the leaders of Waymo to talk about this incident and assure them we will continue to work with them on how to make autonomous vehicles a part of our city with safety as our top priority.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Waymo
\u2018No! You stay!\u2019 a San Francisco police officer bellows at a misbehaving Waymo vehicle. The car nearly rolled over the fire hose being used to douse an explosion and fire in the Sunset District on Feb. 9.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The city\u2019s firefighters, you may recall, have thoughts about this. They have been shouting from the rooftops<\/a>, for many months, that driverless cars have been dangerously breaching emergency scenes and impeding first responders. They have amassed scores<\/a> of incident reports regarding these incursions. For the firefighters, this is a make-it-or-break-it issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make-it-or-break-it<\/em> is a key term here because, for a San Francisco mayoral candidate, there is probably no greater endorsement to receive than that of the firefighters union. Everybody loves firefighters; they poll better than a cold beer on a hot summer day. And it\u2019s not just a paper endorsement: They put a lot of money and on-the-ground effort into electing their candidates of choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the firefighters union was the popular and relatable face of a pro-Breed Independent Expenditure committee lavishly funded by the (less popular, less relatable) city tech barons and captains of industry. The firefighters were Breed\u2019s most valuable and steadfast allies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody foresaw robot cars owned by zillion-dollar tech companies being the match that burned this partnership, but, lo, that has happened. Breed\u2019s message to Waymo jumped off the page for the firefighters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGive me a break!\u201d said one veteran firefighter. \u201cShe\u2019s more concerned about some tech company than the safety of our citizens.\u201d Adds another veteran firefighter: \u201cShe\u2019s been a cheerleader for [robotaxis] from the beginning. This is a very big deal for us. I\u2019m sure our members will have plenty of questions about it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Union president Floyd Rollins sums it up succinctly: \u201cThat\u2019s her opinion. We\u2019ve been stalwart in our position.\u201d The mayoral endorsement forum for the firefighters Local No. 798 will come sometime after the filing deadline on June 11. It would figure to be a rather combustible affair this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, if the firefighters are concerned about robotaxis, the Teamsters are obsessed with them. The ascent of driverless vehicles would be the death knell of their profession. And they, too, read the mayor\u2019s op-ed with concern and irritation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breed supported a failed 2023 Teamsters-backed state bill <\/a>to mandate large autonomous vehicles have a human aboard. But that was then. The mayor is now courting the Teamsters for an endorsement in 2024, and members I spoke with were skeptical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the reality,\u201d said one. \u201cShe\u2019s gonna have to pick a side.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three
Three Waymo self-driving cars back to back to back, cruising down a street in the Mission. Photo by Lydia Chavez. August 4, 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One could argue that she already has. And it\u2019s a position that sets her apart from much of the political leadership in this town. City Attorney (and will-he-or-won\u2019t-he mayoral possibility) David Chiu has sued<\/a> the California Public Utilities Commission over its decision to give driverless cars carte blanche to traverse San Francisco. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board President (and will-he-or-won\u2019t-he mayoral possibility) Aaron Peskin has openly engaged in \u201clegislative guerilla warfare<\/a>\u201d against robotaxis, and all 10 of his Board colleagues signed onto his resolution<\/a> explicitly spelling this out. Peskin attends meetings with the City Attorney, the firefighters and others in which the city works with state legislators like Assemblyman Matt Haney<\/a> and Assemblyman Phil Ting<\/a> to demand more transparency from autonomous vehicle companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supervisor Connie Chan has introduced a resolution<\/a> that will be heard today in committee, supporting a state senate bill that would give cities more control in regulating driverless vehicles. It is hard to foresee anything other than all 11 supes eventually signing onto this resolution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, the California Public Utilities Commission sided with San Mateo\u2019s County Attorney, who complained<\/a> that Waymo had failed to engage with county officials before a proposed southward expansion. The CPUC suspended the company\u2019s proposal to move into San Mateo and Los Angeles counties for up to 120 days.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This prompted an ebullient response from San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa. \u201cTech companies want to win, win, win, win, win. Winning is getting into the market as fast as they can. If that means there are accidents? Hey, they\u2019ll deal with the consequences later,\u201d he told Mission Local. \u201cWe say no.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about Mayor Breed\u2019s stance, Canepa says he supports her, and supports her re-election \u2014 but doesn\u2019t support her on this issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t kiss tech\u2019s ass all the time,\u201d he says. \u201cThe only way we make tech better is if we\u2019re all in the decision-making process. We can\u2019t only<\/em> kiss tech\u2019s ass.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This seems like sound advice. There are consequences for kissing something that\u2019s on fire.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

getbackjoejoe@gmail.com<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing Editor\/Columnist. Joe was born in San Francisco, raised in the Bay Area, and attended U.C. Berkeley. He never left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour humble narrator\u201d was a writer and columnist for SF Weekly from 2007 to 2015, and a senior editor at San Francisco Magazine from 2015 to 2017. You may also have read his work in the Guardian (U.S. and U.K.); San Francisco Public Press; San Francisco Chronicle; San Francisco Examiner; Dallas Morning News; and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He resides in the Excelsior with his wife and three (!) kids, 4.3 miles from his birthplace and 5,474 from hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists named Eskenazi the 2019 Journalist of the Year.More by Joe Eskenazi<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0JOE ESKENAZI FEBRUARY 26, 2024 (MissionLocal.org) Whatever your thoughts about Mayor London Breed \u2014 and the results of a recent Chronicle poll indicate that few San Franciscans have happy thoughts \u2014 one must admit that she has a difficult job. It\u2019s tough enough to lead the real San Francisco, let alone the largely imaginary version that… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1119],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31997,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31996\/revisions\/31997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}