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by\u00a0JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong> NOVEMBER 25, 2024 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/edit-luriefire15-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1003&ssl=1\")
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSign 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 So, politics is a bit like cruising the singles ads. Governing: That\u2019s a relationship. San Francisco excels at politics. San Francisco struggles at governing<\/a>. Politics is exciting. Governing\u2019s harder<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n San Francisco, it would seem, has broken up with Mayor London Breed after a tumultuous six-and-a-half years. And we\u2019ve found someone new. And, get this: He\u2019s a really nice guy. <\/em>But he\u2019s never been in a relationship. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, we have no idea how things are going to go. And, truth be told, neither does he. Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie has never held conventional employment \u2014 and he\u2019s certainly never had a job like this. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The degree-of-difficulty for the next mayor of San Francisco has officially been ratcheted to \u201ctriple lindy.<\/a>\u201d The city is facing a crushing deficit at the same time that our traditional downtown office revenue model has been relegated to rayon blazers with shoulder-pads nostalgia<\/a>. That tall, black-cloaked figure <\/a>with the scythe who just boarded your BART or Muni vehicle? Could be a weirdo. Or it could be a harbinger of transit doom<\/a> (and there is no downtown recovery without functioning transit). <\/p>\n\n\n\n San Francisco\u2019s drug and homelessness situations remain suboptimal. The city will have to deal with a state-mandated rezoning, and interest rates, like Sherlock Holmes\u2019 preferred cocaine solution<\/a>, are hitting 7 percent. The forthcoming San Francisco Unified School District budget <\/a>ought to come with a fifth of Jack Daniel\u2019s. The Giants continue to attempt to draw people to the ballpark to watch a series of interchangeable, bearded .250 hitters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter what happens across the country, Mission Local<\/strong> remains your source of in-depth San Francisco reporting<\/strong>. Now, more than ever, we’re asking your help to support nonprofit, independent journalism<\/strong> in your community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have $70,000 in matching funds<\/strong>, so you can double your donation<\/strong> today.One-timeMonthlyAnnuallyDonation amount per month<\/p>\n\n\n\n $<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for supporting local newsDonate Now<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are the times that try men\u2019s souls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And all of that would be the case even without a vindictive authoritarian narcissist being elected president and full well having the ability to crater San Francisco\u2019s budget if he feels like it that day.<\/a> But that happened too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short: San Francisco has issues. <\/em>And this will be Daniel Lurie\u2019s first relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More than $16 million was raised by and for Lurie\u2019s winning mayoral effort. That\u2019s enough to purchase around four M1 Abrams tanks<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lurie\u2019s competitors certainly felt like they\u2019d been run over by a tank. Breed on election night griped that the city is \u201cnot for sale.\u201d<\/a> But that\u2019s debatable: Chester Hartman\u2019s 1984 masterwork on San Francisco is, in fact, titled \u201cCity for Sale.<\/a>\u201d More to the point, it wasn\u2019t money alone that won the day for Lurie and doomed Breed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Having essentially unlimited money never hurts, but TogetherSF\/Mark Farrell\/Prop. D had heaps of money too<\/a>, and that wasn\u2019t enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n money raised for Prop. D<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n money raised for Prop. E<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chart by Kelly Waldron. Data from the San Francisco Ethics Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lurie\u2019s ability to stay relentlessly on-message \u2014 with the message being that he is an outsider who had no part in our government\u2019s mismanagement \u2014 also won him this race. As did the fact he\u2019s a fundamentally nice and decent man, which nobody is denying. In the end, it wasn\u2019t a close election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But if winning was easy, governing\u2019s harder<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To start with, in governing you ought to eventually say what you\u2019re going to do \u2014 and, to an extent, do it. Which brings us to Lurie\u2019s much-repeated pledge to declare a fentanyl state of emergency<\/a> on \u201cDay One.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s just one problem: You can\u2019t do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us start with the premise that drugs are bad<\/a>. Let us continue by noting that fentanyl is a game-changer in the worst way, and a scourge on this and most every city. Clearly the status quo is not acceptable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All true. But you can\u2019t declare a fentanyl state of emergency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You may recall the \u201cTenderloin State of Emergency\u201d declared by Mayor London Breed<\/a> and approved via an 8-2 Board of Supervisors vote in late December 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did Breed and her office first look into declaring a fentanyl state of emergency? Of course they did. But we have learned that they were informed by the city attorney\u2019s office that they couldn\u2019t do this \u2014 which led to a bit of legislative legerdemain to make it a \u201cTenderloin\u201d state of emergency<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s because, legally, there is a definition of what constitutes an \u201cemergency.\u201d You can turn to page 11 of this 2005 San Francisco city attorney memo <\/a>regarding emergency declarations where it helpfully asks and answers \u201cWhat is an emergency?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAn emergency, for purposes of the Charter\u201d is an \u201cunforeseen occurrence or combination of occurrences which calls for an immediate action or remedy \u2026\u201d notes the memo. \u201cThe first test is whether the emergency situation is sudden or unexpected. The situation must be something that the City could not have specifically anticipated and prevented, such as an earthquake or a terrorist attack.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n As bad as drugs are and as awful as fentanyl is, it is neither sudden nor unexpected (neither, for that matter, is \u201chomelessness,\u201d so you couldn\u2019t declare a \u201chomelessness state of emergency\u201d either). Fentanyl has been here a while and its appearance in this town was the very opposite of unanticipated: It moved from right to left across the nation ravaging cities in its wake the way children of the 1980s were led to believe that killer bees would. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The state of emergency declared in 2021 was narrowly circumscribed to the Tenderloin and based upon the argument that \u2014 suddenly and unexpectedly \u2014 a spike in overdoses, crime, the pandemic, etc. had led to a particularly untenable situation in one particular quadrant of the city. Truth be told it\u2019s not an A+ argument <\/a>\u2014 the Tenderloin for the last several decades has not been a garden of earthly delights \u2014 but it did pass legal muster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A \u201cstate of emergency\u201d isn\u2019t just a bit of semantics implying that things are bad \u2014 it\u2019s a legally actionable term. It allows for no-bid contracts and a notable reduction in governmental checks and balances. To receive state or federal funds, the state or federal government must also <\/em>declare an emergency, and they, too, are operating off of a definition of an \u201cemergency\u201d that doesn\u2019t include a nebulous and\/or longstanding situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, while San Francisco\u2019s level of drug-related misery and death is hardly ideal, it\u2019s actually far, far better<\/em><\/a> than in recent years \u2014 thereby undercutting any argument that the situation has spiraled out of control and an emergency declaration is required. Even if that was something that could be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of which is to say: Pledging a fentanyl state of emergency \u201con Day One\u201d sounds like good politics. But it\u2019s not good government \u2014 because you can\u2019t deliver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Governing\u2019s harder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lurie\u2019s announcement last week of his transition team <\/a>drew particular attention. And that\u2019s not just because of the names on it \u2014 most notably OpenAI CEO Sam Altman<\/a> (and, Altman\u2019s complete opposite, longtime former controller and \u201cadult in the room\u201d Ben Rosenfield<\/a>). It\u2019s also because Lurie has no government record, so nobody can know how he\u2019ll handle his new role. Every bit of information is grabbed with both hands and overanalyzed: This means something! <\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n We have no idea who Lurie will listen to. We have no idea who will stay and who will go. We have no idea if it means more that the buses have never run better or that city merchants and residents in tonier enclaves are infuriated by street-use plans \u2014 all of which is under the aegis of MTA director Jeffrey Tumlin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, we have no idea how things are going to go. And, truth be told, neither does Lurie. But that needn\u2019t be a knock: How could he know? He\u2019s never done anything like this before. Perhaps it\u2019s for the best to not have so many preconceived notions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If Lurie is looking for silver linings as he begins his hard job, here are two: It\u2019s difficult to think of a mayor that more San Franciscans are pulling for; there\u2019s simply too much at stake for cheap partisanship. And, in the end, nobody is claiming he isn\u2019t a nice and decent man. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s important. Relationships flourish. Relationships sour. Things may go well. Things may go badly. Perhaps it\u2019ll be something in-between. But, in the words of Max Robinson<\/a>, \u201ctry to keep your integrity. Because you\u2019re going to find out in life at the end, that\u2019s all you got.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\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":" Mayor-elect has pledged \u2018fentanyl state of emergency.\u2019 But he can\u2019t do that. by\u00a0JOE ESKENAZI NOVEMBER 25, 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 So, politics is a bit like cruising the singles ads. Governing: That\u2019s a relationship…. Continue reading Amid national turmoil, we’re asking you to support local news<\/strong>.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nProp. D raised over $9.5 million, while Prop. E raised $69,159<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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MORE ELECTION COVERAGE<\/mark><\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nExplore: How much did your vote cost in the S.F. election? Use our tool to find out.<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nS.F. election takeaway: Redistricting likely cost Dean Preston, benefitted Myrna Melgar<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow did San Francisco\u2019s big-money donors do this election? So-so.<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![black-cloaked figure <\/a>with the scythe who just boarded your BART or Muni vehicle? Could be a weirdo. Or it could be a](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/1920xn\/p059yyvp.jpg.webp\"){kind=link}