Under SF Mayor Daniel Lurie’s watch, rents are soaring, evictions are at a 10-year high, and people are getting pushed out of the city. Despite issuing states of emergency on other issues, Lurie has not even issued a statement on rising rents and evictions. Instead, he was recently videotaped celebrating Blackstone, one of the most notorious private equity landlords in the nation.
Just the facts:
- San Francisco rents are soaring and evictions are at a 10-year high.
- The Mayor pushed forward a housing plan that incentivizes the demolition of rent-controlled homes
- City Hall is welcoming AI businesses without regard to impact. AI is automating entry level jobs, and unemployment is way up for white collar jobs, with analysts saying that job decline looks like it did during the 2008 recession.
- Lurie slashed MUNI lines and increased fares while opening the door for Waymos to take over car-free Market Street.
- Grocery stores and pharmacies are vanishing from underserved neighborhoods, including the Safeway on Fillmore, Lucky in Bayview, Central Drug in the Excelsior, Walgreens on Divisadero, and all the Rite Aids.
In remarks at a recent SF Travel luncheon, apparently to make the point that San Francisco was on the rise, Mayor Lurie touted a social media selfie video by the Blackstone COO urging investors to buy up real estate in San Francisco. Footage of the speech was circulated online, with the Mayor accused of being out of touch with the struggles of working class San Franciscans.
San Franciscans are increasingly seeing what happens when political leaders govern through a billionaire’s lens. Real estate speculation is cheered, while rising rents are ignored. AI companies are unconditionally welcomed, even as they put workers’ at risk of losing their jobs. Waymos and Ubers are given access to “car-free” Market Street, while bus service is cut. Residents’ privacy is eroded through surveillance funded by a billionaire whose company donated $5 million to Trump’s inauguration. Lurie, who campaigned as an “outsider” who could lift the city out of the “doom-loop,” has surrounded himself with real estate giants, tech billionaires, and private equity interests that measure success by profit, even if it comes from the pain of the working class in San Francisco.
