The Weekly Digest (January 19, 2025)
Happy Sunday, Brionies!
Here’s what you need to know about local politics this week and beyond:
San Francisco City Hall
In light of Martin L. King, Jr. Day, the Supes are on a little vacation this week. It’s only two weeks into their new job, but we expect they’ll also need a mental health day to cope with the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as 47th President of the United States.
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)
Tuesday, January 21 at 9:30am, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Thursday, February 13 at 5:30pm, Manny’s
Public Safety Camera Community Meeting, Wednesday, January 22 at 5:30pm
Ingleside Station Community Meeting, Tuesday, January 21 at 6pm
What we’re reading
Sheng Thao’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year marches on. Not only was the former Oakland mayor recalled in November, but the Department of Justice announced that it had obtained an indictment against Thao in what appears to be a pay-to-play type scheme. We started the Briones Society hoping to get more capable politicians in office. Given the Bay Area’s recent track record, perhaps we should settle for ones that simply aren’t criminals.
Mayor Lurie has fired the Department of Public Health’s director, Grant Colfax. In his farewell to the City, Dr. Colfax asserted that much was accomplished during his tenure, which included responses to Covid-19, Mpox, and the fentanyl crisis. Although drug overdose deaths dipped in 2024, they were at a crisis-level peak in 2023. It’s hardly a winning record for the bureaucrat with a $3 billion budget.
In response to the fentanyl and homelessness crises, Mayor Lurie has asked the Board of Supervisors to waive certain fiscal red tape with a five-year sunset. The mayor argues that shedding these regulations would allow his administration to more rapidly expand shelters and other services. Supervisor Connie Chan wants to shrink those five years to six months: “Is there some way that we could see some results in six months?” she rhetorically asked the Examiner. As Supervisor Chan is starting her fifth year in office, we could ask her the same.
In 2020, then-activist Jackie Fielder proudly advocated for defunding the police. Now that the Great Awokening → Vibe Shift and Fielder has a real job, the freshly-minted supervisor realizes she needs to work with the police. What was the catalyst for this enlightenment? In her own words: “conversations with constituents, especially about public safety, absolutely changed the way I think.” Talking to normal people continues to be the antidote for terrible politics.
Quick hits
GOP holds slight edge in US political party affiliation for third straight year
SF keeps trying to tax away vacancies – but just can’t get it right