San Francisco – When Daniel Lurie won the elections in November as the new mayor of San Francisco, he knew that there were discouraging challenges ahead: the twin epidemics of the lack of housing and addiction; a deflated economy of the center; The general sense among the locals that a discomfort had cloudy its colorful city.
Five months later, 100 days after Lurie's mandate, it is not that any of those problems had disappeared. And yet, “I love my work,” said Lurie, 48, during a recent interview in his majestic office in the City Council.
“People say: 'What are the surprises?' I think it surprises me how much I love this work. “
As heir to the fortune of the Levi Strauss family, Lurie comes from one of the most prominent families in the city, with roots dating back to gold fever. So, it is not surprising that he feels a deep connection with his city. But his decision to use the mayor post not only to establish a policy, but also exaggerated San Francisco is part of a broader strategy. He wants the nation to see an increasing city. And perhaps even more important: so that the San Franciscan adopt the image.
“Vibra change is, I think, real in our city,” he said. “There is a sense of hope and optimism that people have not seen for a long time. I have many people who say: 'I am proud to be a San Franciscan for the first time in a long time.' Now, I've always been proud.
Lurie, a moderate Democrat, surpassed the titular race of London and three other veterans of the City Council by appealing to the disappointed voters with a homeless expansion and the stagnant recovery after the city's covid. He came to workless work as an elected official. His working life focused on the turning point, a non -profit organization of the Bay area that he founded in 2005 that has collected more than $ 400 million for initiatives focused on labor training, housing and early childhood education for low -income families.
Even many of his followers hoped that Lurie, with her starchy shirts and her monotonous voice, will approach the new work as a nerd public policies than a chief cheerleader. But, for now, he has effectively accepted both roles. One day is presenting plans to be hard with public drug use; The next, it is on the other side of the city launching the first launch on the opening day of the giants in Oracle Park. He often uses his Instagram to highlight the serious and more fun parts of his work.
Lurie knows that she has a long way ahead in making the changes she promised to the voters: dismantling the cities of the store; expand shelter options; revitalization of the business sector; Make the city decidedly hostile to drug traffickers. But what occupies it is not so much the scope of the agenda. It is the bureaucracy that you see on your way.
“In the first weeks, I would walk the streets and say, why is there trash in a bus refuge?” Said Lurie, telling one of those examples. “Well, we don't make garbage collection on Saturdays and Sundays. And I thought, people still take the bus on Saturdays and Sundays, and we have tourists from all over the world that come here.”
“We have to be a 24/7 city, we are often a city from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday,” he said.
Lurie, dad for two school -age children, is also learning mesh as a 24/7 mayor with a rich and support family life. He often refers as a model to follow, the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, who served as mayor of San Francisco in 1978-88. Like Feinstein, Lurie wants to be a practical mayor, walking through the streets of the city by day, while at least occasionally she gets home early enough to sit with her family for dinner.
He postulates, with a smile, which can actually have the lightest schedule of the family. His wife, Becca Prowda, is a high -ranking assistant for Governor Gavin Newsom, who serves as Newsom Protocol Chief. His son, 11 -year -old Sawyer, plays baseball, football and flag football. Lurie's daughter, Taya, 14, recently acted in the interpretation of the San Francisco de “Frankenstein” ballet.
“She was the first person on stage,” Lurie said with the smile of a very proud father. “She has a time when she is dancing on stage and standing with Sasha (Desola)”, a company's main dancer.
Lurie still takes her children to school every morning, she said, and aims to get home before 9 pm, most of the nights, while reserving on Fridays and Sunday nights for the family. He spent the Easter weekend with his family in southern California.
In the campaign, Lurie said that the experience of her children in San Francisco inspired him to run for mayor, telling a story about walking with them through the Mission district and meeting a man in the midst of a mental health crisis. Lurie promised to prioritize public safety and increase roads towards the treatment of mental illnesses and addiction.
Shortly after its inauguration on January 8, Lurie introduced an ordinance that allows the city to open new refuge and treatment programs more quickly while giving it office margin to obtain private funds for those efforts. This month, he announced a new public health policy that prohibits the city staff and non -profit organizations that receive funds from the city to deliver sterile syringes and other clean medication supplies unless they actively work to connect people with services.
Lurie has taken advantage of a handful of technology executives and elite companies to act as advisors and help shape the policies that will revitalize a blow in the center for the closures of the COVID era and the exodus of technological workers who adopted remote work. Among the people who have recruited: Laurene Powell Jobs, the multimillionaire philanthropist and widow of Steve Jobs; Ruth Porrat, president and investment director of Alphabet and Google; CEO of Operai Sam Altman; Larry Baer of the San Francisco giants; Ron -Way Risk Capitalist; and the executives of Dordash, Gap, Ripple, Salesforce and Visa.
His brain power, and his money, will be a powerful tool to help shake the center of the city of San Francisco to life, Lurie said.
“I'm going to work with anyone who wants to help San Francisco return to their legitimate place as the best city in the world,” he said.
Lurie's performance has attracted the praise of unexpected political corners.
“I think Mayor Lurie is fantastic,” said state senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), an ally of the race that expressed enthusiasm for Lurie's housing policies and support for public transport.
“I enjoy it personally. I enjoy its approach,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, the new president of the Board of Supervisors, the powerful legislative arm of the city, which for years was dominated by ultra liberals that often collided with previous mayors. The November elections brought more centrist members to the body of 11 members who may be more inclined to support Lurie's centrist agenda.
“He is willing to really learn, and is willing to listen,” said Supervisor Connie Chan, a progressive. “And it's not just a symbolic listening. He's actively listening.”
Even the former life supervisor, Aaron Pisskin, a liberal of the old school who lost to Lurie in the mayor's career last year, said he accepted a recent invitation from Lurie to give a walking store and talk. Peskin said he appreciates that the new mayor is willing to listen to different opinions.
“San Francisco needed to have a change, both for national perception and for local perception,” said Piskin.
Many unpopular decisions are coming. The main one is a huge budget deficit that is approaching the $ 1 billion, a number that will surely require radical cuts and difficult negotiations with the Supervisors Board and the public unions of the city.
Lurie has already received rejection from some prominent community groups concerned that her new policies light a failed war against drugs of the nation, as well as the skeptics of their tight connections with technological leaders.
“We have had an atmosphere of payment to play in the City Council,” said Julie Pitta, president of the Phoenix project, a progressive group that tracks technological money in San Francisco's policy. “Mayor Lurie believes that these people will not want something in exchange for the help they are providing?”
At least for now, Lurie is taking praise and criticism calmly. He has already been referred to to a re -election campaign, saying that he could take more time to restore his hometown as a city where each tourist wants to visit and each business wants to open a store.
“I think we have had a strong start,” Lurie said. “But my expectations are high.”
