The Weekly Digest (January 12, 2025)
Happy Sunday, Brionies! It’s the first full week of San Francisco’s new government! Here’s what you need to know about local politics this week and beyond:
San Francisco City Hall
Tuesday, January 14 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors (agenda here):
The new Board of Supervisors is spending this week largely just accepting state and federal money for local programs. Some interesting items include:
Item 12 – Resolution retroactively authorizing the Department of Human Services to accept and expend a grant from the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement for participation in a program called “Refugee Support Services (RSS) Funding - San Francisco.”
Item 16 – Resolution retroactively authorizing the Department of Public Health to accept and expend a grant in the amount of $1,600,000 from the Department of Justice for participation in a program called: “Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Site-Based Program.”
Thursday, January 16 at 10am: Regular meeting of the Government Audit & Oversight Committee (agenda here):
Item 1 – Settlement of Unlitigated Claims - Stripe, Inc. - $49,000,000. Resolution approving the settlement of the unlitigated claims filed by Stripe, Inc. against the City and County of San Francisco for $49,000,000. The claims involve a refund of payroll expense, gross receipts, homelessness gross receipts, overpaid executive gross receipts, and commercial rents taxes, and business registration fees. Translation: the City took a bunch of money it wasn’t owed and now has to pay it back. D’oh!
Happenings around town
Briones Society events
Briones 101, Thursday, January 23 at 5pm ⭐
What is the Briones Society? What is our mission and what are our core principles? How can you get involved? And where the heck does the name “Briones” come from? Join us for a half-hour Zoom meeting to learn the answers to these questions and more. We look forward to meeting you!
Other events of interest
Trump Inauguration Breakfast hosted by the SFGOP
Monday, January 20 at 8am in Pacific Heights/Japantown ($60 per ticket; location shared to registrants the day before the event)
Monday, January 13 at 1pm
Public Safety Camera Community Meeting, Wednesday, January 22 at 5:30pm
What we’re reading
Mayor Daniel Lurie was sworn into office last week, vowing to restore order and champion public safety. His inauguration was followed by festivities in Chinatown, the highlight of which was the new mayor performing a delightfully awkward dance. We think this is what the kids call “cringe.”
Mayor Lurie hit the ground running by announcing some new department heads. Lurie’s success – or failure – will largely depend on whether he exercises good judgment on whom he appoints around the City. The mayor is off to a decent start by surrounding himself with people who are serious about public safety, including former SFPD Commander Paul Yep and veteran prosecutor Nancy Tung. We are also hopeful about newly appointed fire chief, Dean Crispin, who has more than three decades on the job. The ongoing tragedy in Los Angeles is a sobering reminder of how the City requires the most competent people in all our local agencies – something which has often been the exception rather than the norm.
But the City’s problems go beyond just who runs what agency. San Francisco has quite the fiscal mountain to climb this year in the form of a potential $1 billion budget deficit. The mayor has taken an immediate step by ordering a hiring freeze, but obviously much more must be done. Unless a giant pile of money magically appears in the City’s ledgers – unlikely, given the continued lack of recovery downtown – some measure of austerity will be needed. Whether the mayor and the supes can cross that bridge will likely be the biggest political story this year.
Finally, Rafael Mandelman was unanimously elected president of the Board of Supervisors. This is good: Mandelman is a clear improvement over his predecessor, Aaron Peskin. We are hopeful he can establish a cooperative relationship with the new mayor, as the intentional and performative dysfunction he is replacing helped no one.
Quick hits