{"id":36613,"date":"2024-10-02T11:05:19","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T18:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=36613"},"modified":"2024-10-02T11:05:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T18:05:20","slug":"see-how-they-run-mayor-breed-skips-likely-last-mayoral-forum-gets-blasted-in-absentia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/02\/see-how-they-run-mayor-breed-skips-likely-last-mayoral-forum-gets-blasted-in-absentia\/","title":{"rendered":"See how they run: Mayor Breed skips likely last mayoral forum, gets blasted in absentia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A by\u00a0XUEER LU<\/a><\/strong>OCTOBER 1, 2024 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three
Daniel Lurie speaking at the forum organized by the League of Women Voters San Francisco. (From left to right: Aaron Peskin, Ahsha Safa\u00ed, Lurie, Mark Farrell) Photo by Xueer Lu. September 30, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mission<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sign up below to get Mission Local\u2019s free newsletter<\/strong>, a daily digest of news you won\u2019t find elsewhere.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mission Local is publishing campaign dispatches for each of the major contenders in the mayor\u2019s race, alternating among candidates weekly until November. This week: Daniel Lurie. Read earlier dispatches <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Four leading mayoral candidates seized the opportunity of Mayor London Breed\u2019s absence at a forum on Monday night to take aim at the incumbent and bash her track record at likely the last such forum before ballots drop on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis mayor\u201d is not spending an \u201cadditional $5 million that the Board of Supervisors allocated\u201d in the city budget to increase funding for food pantries, said Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, speaking at the forum organized by the League of Women Voters of San Francisco, a nonpartisan political nonprofit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mission<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stay informed on local elections \u2014 sign up for Mission Local’s free daily newsletter<\/strong> today!Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, the evening went with each candidate in turn attacking the mayor on the stage at the Mission Bay Conference Center at 1675 Owens St. Breed skipped the forum because of a \u201cscheduling conflict,\u201d according to her spokesperson, Joe Arellano. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The League of Women Voters said it was \u201csurprised and disappointed at Mayor Breed\u2019s last-minute and unexplained refusal\u201d in a press release on Monday morning. Breed had agreed to the forum previously, the group said, but changed course on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That gave her opponents ample room for critique. While discussing the possibility of creating RV parks with water and power for people to stay in the city, for instance, Peskin again bashed Breed. In September, Breed proposed a new law<\/a> that RVs parked overnight, between midnight and 6 a.m., on city streets could be towed if residents living in them previously turned down offers of shelter, housing, or other services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SR2021\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe mayor\u2019s solution, to have these vehicles towed, that are full of children, that are going to the San Francisco Unified School District, is bad public policy,\u201d Peskin said. \u201cIt is inhumane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Farrell, the venture capitalist and former District 2 supervisor, in an extended effort to add to the blame, framed the RV-site debacle as part of the out-of-hand homelessness issue in the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrell acknowledged that the RV park at Candlestick Point<\/a> is a failure, but didn\u2019t quite specify how it has failed. He then stated that San Francisco needs to change its reputation as a city so that people will stop \u201ccoming to sleep in tents on the sidewalks,\u201d or \u201ccoming with more RVs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Guaracheras\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reality is, we have people living in neighborhoods that are getting crushed by this epidemic because of this mayor\u2019s failure as mayor,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another topic in which Breed was under fire was on City College of San Francisco.<\/a> The city\u2019s budget, adopted this August, appropriated $9.3 million to the City College free tuition program this fiscal year, less than half of the allocation from the previous 2023-24 budget of $18.9 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safa\u00ed, who always leans into his working-family, immigrant, and labor roots, said it is essential to have certain programs at City College remain free, so that workers, first responders, nurses and teachers can be trained. \u201cThis mayor raided that money this year,\u201d Safa\u00ed said. \u201cI would never do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"23rdto5thReflections\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Farrell agreed. \u201cThe fact that this mayor won\u2019t allocate the budget to City College is a shame,\u201d Farrell said. The cuts to City College are much more nuanced, however: City College has had trouble enrolling people<\/a> into its free classes, a fact cited by Breed\u2019s administration in cutting funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public safety and the staffing level of the police department was another hot topic for the night. On the campaign trail. Safa\u00ed and Daniel Lurie, the Levi Strauss heir and nonprofit founder, focused the discussion on proposing their own solutions.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safa\u00ed called for proactive community policing, and on putting more money into hiring officers instead of paying for them working overtime. Safa\u00ed also pointed to Proposition N<\/a> on the November ballot, which would create a city fund to reimburse the student loans and job-related educational and training expenses up to $25,000 for sworn members of the police, fire, and sheriff\u2019s departments, paramedics, nurses and 911 dispatchers, supervisors or coordinators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lurie also called for fully staffed police and sheriff\u2019s departments and 911 dispatch offices and community policing. He proposed having trained clinicians attending to people suffering from addiction and mental health crises on the streets while saving the police officers for \u201cwalking the beat.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen from this mayor is simply unacceptable,\u201d Lurie said at one point. It was his only criticism of Breed for the night, without giving any specifics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrell, particularly, made a \u201creplace Breed\u201d message loud and clear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMake San Francisco safe again?\u201d Farrell asked at one point. \u201cWe can elect a new mayor.\u201d On a rare occasion for the night, the audience laughed lightly. He went on with his list of promises if he were elected: Fully fund and fully staff up the police department, and a zero-tolerance approach to crime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peskin spoke after. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to talk tough,\u201d he said. \u201cBut in my experience, the tough talkers usually don\u2019t get the job done\u201d \u2014 a rejoinder to Farrell, who\u2019d just finished his speech with a determined look on his face. Peskin touted his experience working with officers at the Central Station for 25 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peskin also pointed to Proposition F<\/a> as an example of his approach to bolstering the police force. The measure, which Peskin co-sponsored with Supervisor Matt Dorsey, allows police officers with 25 years of experience or more to postpone their retirement for up to five years while earning a pension and a salary simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The night ended with a question to look into the future, as Election Day is 35 days away: What legacy would candidates wish to leave after their term is up, if they were elected? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lurie, as usual, painted a hopeful picture of people from other parts of the Bay Area wanting to meet up with their friends in San Francisco and have a good time in the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farrell wants the city to be safe again \u2014 though San Francisco\u2019s violent crime rate is at near-historic lows \u2014 and he gave his wishlist: A new police chief and a decrease in homelessness; clearing out encampments and getting people into shelter and housing; and drug markets gone and the fentanyl crisis lessened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peskin, in a rushed manner, summarized \u201cFrom Crisis to Care,\u201d his strategy to deal with homelessness and behavioral health. He wants to fully implement this six-point plan<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Safa\u00ed sees no bigger issue than the overdose crisis. He hopes to turn the crisis around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s deal with that, and all else will follow,\u201d Safa\u00ed said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE FIELD NOTES FROM THE MAYOR\u2019S RACE<\/mark><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"See<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

See how they run: Breed, Lurie trade barbs in Latinx-focused Mission mayoral forum<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"See<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

See how they run: Mayor London Breed wins Dolores Huerta endorsement<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"See<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

See how they run: S.F. mayoral candidates promise more Asian appointees in Chinatown forum<\/a><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

XUEER LU<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

xueer@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xueer is a California Local News Fellow,<\/a> working on data and covering housing. Xueer is a bilingual multimedia journalist fluent in Chinese and English and is passionate about data, graphics, and innovative ways of storytelling. Xueer graduated from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism with a Master’s Degree in May 2023. She also loves cooking, photography, and scuba diving.More by Xueer Lu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0XUEER LUOCTOBER 1, 2024 (MissionLocal.org) Sign up below to get Mission Local\u2019s free newsletter, a daily digest of news you won\u2019t find elsewhere.Sign up Mission Local is publishing campaign dispatches for each of the major contenders in the mayor\u2019s race, alternating among candidates weekly until November. This week: Daniel Lurie. Read… 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":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36613"}],"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=36613"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36614,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36613\/revisions\/36614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}