Can a city be too liberal for Californians? San Francisco tests limits.
| SAN FRANCISCO
Before the pandemic, before San Francisco closed its public schools for a year or more, Beth Kelly was on a political 鈥渃usp鈥� between identifying herself as a progressive Democrat and a moderate one. Not anymore. This environmental lawyer and mother of two young children says she鈥檚 now 鈥渟olidly in the moderate camp.鈥�
That move may not sound like much of a change to people outside the Golden State. But it鈥檚 a significant shift in this famously liberal city where voters are pushing back against progressive policies that they see as ineffective.
On Tuesday, Ms. Kelly and other angry voters overwhelmingly recalled three members of the San Francisco school board. During a historical pandemic shutdown, the board made national headlines for its focus on renaming 44 schools, including those named after Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, while elementary schools were closed for 12 months and high schools for 17. In June, the city faces another test in a special election to boot District Attorney Chesa Boudin, one of a new cadre of progressive prosecutors across America. In December, the city鈥檚 mayor, London Breed, declared a state of emergency in the downtown Tenderloin district, vowing to end 鈥渢he reign of criminals who are destroying our city.鈥�
Why We Wrote This
San Francisco has long been a way-shower for progressive ideals. But progressive policies haven鈥檛 kept up with crisis-level social welfare needs 鈥� causing political backlash that may signal a deeper shift in liberals鈥� commitment to compassion-driven governance.
Could it be that San Francisco, where Republicans are only 6.7% of registered voters, has found the limits of liberal idealism?聽
From her home in San Francisco鈥檚 Inner Sunset District, Ms. Kelly describes 鈥渁 shift rightward,鈥� or at least 鈥渟till left, but maybe less left鈥� than before the pandemic. 鈥淧eople are getting fed up with ineffective policies, and homelessness and drugs.鈥�
Others put it slightly differently. 鈥淭his is a revolution for governance,鈥� says Siva Raj, one of the parent organizers of the school board recall. It鈥檚 not right vs. left, he explains, but a grassroots demand 鈥渇or elected leaders to actually govern.鈥�
Left or right, up or down, many San Franciscans are dismayed at the state of their beloved city, which like other urban centers in the country has seen a pandemic spike in homelessness, drug use, and homicides, not to mention student learning loss 鈥� with subsequent political reaction. In New York, concern over public safety propelled a former police officer 鈥� Democrat Eric Adams 鈥� to the mayor鈥檚 office. In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat, cleared a ballooning homeless encampment with a combination of social workers and bulldozers. Meanwhile, Glenn Youngkin last year recaptured the Virginia governorship for Republicans, running on a message of more parental control over education. In Congress, Senate Republicans are again swinging at their favorite liberal punching bag, messaging on the San Francisco mayor鈥檚 鈥渞eign of criminals鈥� comment from December. If even San Francisco Democrats are unhappy, well then.聽
鈥淩epublicans are going to cash in on popular revulsion on what appears to be an increasing criminality, certainly murders, as well as homelessness,鈥� says Jerry Roberts, former managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and biographer of former San Francisco mayor and now Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was the last person to face a recall on the city ballot. That was in 1983.
The latest surge in socioeconomic crises brings liberalism to yet another threshold. Does this represent a pivot point for the city 鈥� or even Democrats nationwide, who might be ready to temper some of their most progressive instincts on COVID-19, crime, and education just as a crucial midterm election looms? Or, as Mr. Raj suggests, is it a call for politicians to refrain from 鈥渟ymbols over substance鈥� and do the hard work when it comes to budgets, crime, and schools?
As Ed Ho, a public school parent who voted for the recall, puts it: 鈥淲e actually support criminal justice reform. We actually support Black Lives Matter. We want a better society. We want to close the achievement gaps in education. But the way that it鈥檚 being pursued now in this city is just off the rails.鈥�
Out with the school board
On a recent Thursday at 7:15 a.m., Ms. Kelly opened the door to her world 鈥撀燼 鈥渨ork-from-home hustle鈥� of juggling clients and children. Inside, it鈥檚 hardly the 鈥渃haos morning鈥� she described when setting up this appointment. Her husband, a civil engineer, is asleep upstairs, having worked the night shift. He left word not to use his name or the names of the kids.聽
Things quickly and quietly settle down, with mother and 5-year-old daughter on the sofa, reading aloud. Her 7-year-old son free-ranges with toys and books in the remodeled kitchen-dining room where a wall of large windows opens to a terraced garden. Eventually mom and kids migrate onto the living room rug, where they play a favorite math game with cards. Both kids are really good at this. Grandma arrives to pick them up, with the boy heading to second grade at a public school, and the girl to preschool.聽聽
Parents of school-age children know how tough these last couple of years have been. As this attorney mom explains, her son has a 鈥済litter sprinkle鈥� of learning needs, and suffered educational setbacks without his individualized support from in-person school. Now that school is open, things are so much better. But last summer, Ms. Kelly was hospitalized for a month because 鈥渋t was just too much 鈥� the pressure on families, working families.鈥澛�
Added strain came from her devotion to Zooming in on hourslong school board meetings that ran late into the night. One issue that caused an uproar was a rushed process to eliminate the entrance exam at prestigious Lowell High School in order to fight racism at the school and provide more opportunities for Black and Latino students. Parents of Asian students, who made up slightly more than half of the student body, were particularly upset. A judge ruled the board鈥檚 decision-making process violated the law, and declared its decision null and void.
Ms. Kelly鈥檚 interests, however, were focused on budget challenges. 鈥淚 started looking at some of the board meetings. No one was paying attention to the structural deficit.鈥� An admitted numbers geek, she began tweeting out reports from every meeting, missing family dinners, missing swim lessons. Under the hashtag #BethBreaksItDown, she became a tweeting sensation. The outgoing board inherited the nine-figure deficit, but she says the board鈥檚 inaction meant that more than $100 million in federal funds intended to catch kids up from learning loss instead went to fill the budget hole.
鈥淚 found the whole process extremely disturbing. ... It鈥檚 a crisis. It鈥檚 nuts and bolts. You have to balance your budget.鈥� Also disturbing 鈥� the nasty social media backlash from progressives who derided this white mom for sending her kid to a 鈥渨hite鈥� school that is just 35% white. Another target for derision: the success of her school鈥檚 PTA in fundraising.
鈥淭his year has made me feel very unwelcome in both the public-schools sphere and certainly in the more progressive wing of things,鈥� Ms. Kelly states. 鈥淭here is a real liberal discomfort with affluence and whiteness.鈥� That鈥檚 a lot of internal conflict for a city where two-thirds of the population is registered Democrat, half the population is ethnically white, and the median household income is nearly twice the national average.聽
Nearly 30% of San Francisco鈥檚 K-12 students go to private schools. If progressives keep shunning these families, she explains, enrollment in public schools will continue to decline, and so will funds, which are based on enrollment. That means closing schools. 鈥淲e need to bring those families back in,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e need education for everybody.鈥�
Clash in the city of tolerance
San Franciscans pride themselves on being tolerant and compassionate, a city of second chances. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, likes to invoke the prayer of her city鈥檚 patron saint, St. Francis: 鈥淟ord, make me a channel of thy peace.鈥澛�
This tolerance and activism, for instance, brought a sea change in the nation鈥檚 LGBTQ culture and laws. In his history of California, the late Kevin Starr writes that as a port city, with a 鈥渓ive-and-let-live鈥� attitude, San Francisco attracted gays and lesbians from the 19th century onward.
Easton Agnew-Brackett, also a Democrat and resident of the Sunset District who voted for the school board recall, loves San Francisco for its weather, architecture, and stunning beauty 鈥� all of which make this the most expensive place to buy a house in the United States (median sales price: over $1.3 million). This college counselor grimaces over the 鈥渧ery, very expensive鈥� cost of living, but embraces the city鈥檚 values. 鈥淎s a gay parent, I am treated just like any other parent. And I can walk down the street with my kids and my husband and people don鈥檛 give me weird looks.鈥�
But that tolerance seems to elude city politics: 鈥淟ike a knife fight in a phone booth,鈥� the saying here goes 鈥� with consequences that can be fatal. In 1978, a former San Francisco supervisor assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to political office in the nation.
Ms. Kelly says equity, compassion, and social justice are her 鈥渃ore beliefs,鈥� and she and others are deeply troubled by the demonization of those who disagree with progressives on the school board issue. Anti-Asian tweets by one school board member, the Lowell High School changes, plus a surge in hate crimes against Asian people have galvanized that community.
A school board supporter, Julie Roberts-Phung, who co-chaired the no-recall effort, cites doxxing and harassment of people opposed to the recall. Pictures of two board members were painted with swastikas and burned, she says. This school board is the most credentialed, diverse board she鈥檚 seen 鈥� one that responded to parents鈥� concerns about pandemic safety.
鈥淲e have deep-seated issues around racism in San Francisco,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of people who describe themselves as liberals but are taking positions that are opposite of Black and brown families in San Francisco.鈥�
The city is a hotbed of local politics, says Mr. Roberts, the former managing editor. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of like Beirut. There鈥檚 so many factions. It鈥檚 bare-knuckled and in your face.鈥� The issues being vigorously argued over today 鈥� education, public safety, homelessness, race 鈥� go back decades, he says.聽
In a way, today鈥檚 backlash could be described as a fight over how to be the most effectively compassionate.聽
鈥淪an Francisco is plagued with idealism. We really do want to care for everybody that can鈥檛 care for themselves,鈥� former Mayor Willie Brown told The New York Times in January, when asked about the city suffering from a crisis on the streets. But that idealism has created its own set of problems, as anyone walking the streets of the Tenderloin can see.
Safe passage in the Tenderloin
It鈥檚 a bit like parting the Red Sea. For two hours every weekday morning and afternoon, JaLil Turner and his team of 15 to 30 volunteers make sure the sidewalk along Jones and Turk streets in the Tenderloin is clear of drug dealers, drug users, tents, and any other potential dangers, so volunteers can escort young children safely to and from Tenderloin Community Elementary School.
鈥淜ids are coming through,鈥� announce the escorts, as they roll out in teal-and-orange safety vests. If they see someone openly using or dealing drugs, the escorts ask that person to move to the other side of the street. There鈥檚 no belittling or talking down, says Mr. Turner, and if someone refuses, there鈥檚 backup 鈥� a police officer who walks the route and more safety 鈥渁mbassadors鈥� contracted by the city.聽
鈥淥ur group is essentially all things to help the Tenderloin,鈥� says Mr. Turner. He manages the Safe Passage program for the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, a nonprofit that is deeply committed to this neighborhood of 50 blocks sandwiched between the luxury stores of Union Square to the east and the imposing beaux-arts City Hall, opera house, and symphony to the west.
This is the area that shocks Mr. Turner鈥檚 friends who visit from Kansas, where he went to college. The visible concentration of people struggling with substance use disorder, mental illness, and homelessness does not comport with their paradisal image of San Francisco. Also living here: the city鈥檚 largest concentration of children, 3,500 of them, as well as older adults, many of them Asian. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a melting pot,鈥� says Mr. Turner, with many young immigrant families from the Mideast and Latin America.
The Safe Passage patrols reflect that. Tatiana Alabsi, from Yemen, wears her safety vest over an abaya and hijab, and speaks Arabic. Her son goes to the school. Spanish speaker Maria Cortes, a volunteer from Mexico, has two boys in the school. The patrols start off from a sparkling YMCA in Boeddeker Park, with two 鈥渃aptains鈥� peeling off at street corners along the route. Mr. Turner understands it can be uncomfortable for people to work in this area, but for him, it鈥檚 the opposite. His grandmother was a drug user who frequented the Tenderloin, and as a child, he and his mother would sometimes come here looking for her. He does this work 鈥渇rom the heart鈥� to help others in a similar walk.聽
Mr. Turner walks the entire route, checking in by radio every 15 minutes with his crew. Along the way, he points out fresh murals in the neighborhood, a small Yemeni eatery where he sometimes gets lunch, a street sanitation crew, and a gated corner park in pristine condition. The cleaned-up park is another improvement since the state of emergency, maintained by his nonprofit鈥檚 staff. He also passes a man behaving erratically, a sidewalk party, and at an opposite corner close to the school, drug dealing. About a dozen young people are milling about there. Which one is the drug dealer? 鈥淭hey all are.鈥澛�
In his three years doing this work, he has observed the stark contrast between policing and conditions in the Tenderloin and everywhere else in the city. Residents here vigorously protest the way that homelessness and drug use have been 鈥渃ontained鈥� in their neighborhood. Behaviors are 鈥渁llowed to happen here鈥� that are not tolerated elsewhere, says Mr. Turner.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e selling drugs in the Presidio and you鈥檙e caught, you鈥檙e usually arrested and prosecuted. You鈥檙e not out in a day or so. You do it in the Tenderloin, and that same person you saw dealing, who was arrested in front of your eyes yesterday, will probably be out tomorrow.鈥� It鈥檚 not unusual for him to see Tenderloin dealers commute from Oakland with him on Bart. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e a drug dealer and you can go to a place where you won鈥檛 be prosecuted, you鈥檒l probably go there every day.鈥�
On this day, walking along Turk Street, he was pleased to point out two police officers on motorcycles 鈥� another novelty since the state of emergency, he says. Meanwhile, the nearby shopping district of Union Square is bristling with seven marked police vehicles, plus a trailer-sized emergency operations center, on the block where the Louis Vuitton store is located. In November it was hit with a sensational 鈥渟mash and grab鈥� robbery.聽
At 2:40 p.m., the Tenderloin school begins the coordinated end-of-school routine. Six groups of kids are released at intervals over the next half hour. They make their way down the Turk Street sidewalk, masked and toting backpacks, a Safe Passage worker leading the way and another one bringing up the rear.聽
Now in its 13th year of operation, the entire Safe Passage effort is finely tuned. That鈥檚 a point of pride for Mr. Turner. But he also comments that the best thing for a nonprofit is to no longer be needed. 鈥淚 feel like I will never not need to be here.鈥�
Time for 鈥渢ough love?鈥�
In November, the Tenderloin Community Benefit District wrote to Mayor Breed pleading for help. Families met with her, describing daily dangers that they and their children encounter on filthy streets.
The intensity of challenges seemed to reach a boiling point in December when the mayor, citing persistent, worsening public safety and an opioid crisis with an average of two overdose deaths a day, declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin. It allowed for more enforcement and disruption of illegal activities, and cut through red tape to stand up the Tenderloin Linkage Center 鈥� a one-stop resource for people who need health, housing, or social welfare services.
鈥淚 know that San Francisco is a compassionate city. We are a city that prides ourselves on second chances and rehabilitation, but we鈥檙e not a city where anything goes,鈥� she said.
The mayor, whose sister died of an overdose, said she was raised by her grandmother to believe in 鈥渢ough love.鈥� Described as a moderate, she is often at loggerheads with the progressive board of supervisors. She supported the recall of all three school board members and recently said that she is 鈥渘ot on the same page鈥� with District Attorney Boudin.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e sort of suffering the effects of what people have called progressive policies that have been in place for many years but in fact don鈥檛 really serve the very people they are purporting to serve,鈥� says Maggie Muir, a Democratic consultant in San Francisco.
The tussle over policies comes into sharp focus at the new Linkage Center.聽On one hand, it鈥檚 being praised for bringing siloed agencies together under one roof and making them easy to access. It鈥檚 located at U.N. Plaza, across the street from a 鈥渟afe sleeping鈥� homeless encampment in front of City Hall. A man emerges from the center and happily says people there were able to connect him with temporary housing. He鈥檚 been homeless and fighting substance use disorder since he was let go by the National Park Service two years ago.聽
But the center has come under sharp criticism for a fenced-in, outdoor area that allows 鈥渟afe use鈥� of drugs, denounced by some as enabling users. Outside the center, a few men lean against the building, one of them holding a makeshift pipe to his face 鈥� the kind often used to smoke fentanyl, crack, or crystal meth. A young man walks up to people loitering outside the center鈥檚 entrance, announcing, 鈥淚 got meth. I got crack.鈥�
Open dealing and use without consequences 鈥渃reate an environment where people get caught in an endless cycle of addiction without actually getting the help they need,鈥� says Ms. Muir.
At the state level, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he wants to make conservatorship easier for homeless people 鈥渨ho truly can鈥檛 help themselves.鈥� That鈥檚 something that would have to go through the state Legislature and is sure to face stiff opposition from civil rights advocates.
On criminal justice reform, Ms. Muir points out that San Franciscans have consistently elected progressive, reformist prosecutors 鈥� the question is, what does reform look like? Mr. Boudin narrowly won in 2019 on a campaign of ending mass incarceration and holding police accountable. But Ms. Muir faults him for releasing people from jail without a real assessment of whether that person has a support network to prevent him from reoffending. Criminal justice reform and public safety 鈥渟hould be able to work together.鈥�
And on housing, many cite a resistance to new projects. Progressives object to market-based housing, while residents on the west side oppose higher-density dwellings.
Del Seymour lived in the Tenderloin for more than 30 years and is deeply involved in neighborhood issues through his nonprofit, Code Tenderloin. He guffaws over the premise that San Francisco is a liberal city. 鈥淭hat is the biggest San Francisco myth of anything,鈥� he exclaims. 鈥淭hese people are so holier-than-thou,鈥� he says of the NIMBY crowd. 鈥淚t went from Summer of Love to not in my backyard.鈥�
He would welcome a city that is much more liberal 鈥� with mental health services in place of the Tenderloin鈥檚 40-plus liquor stores, for instance. And he doesn鈥檛 want to see a greater police presence.聽鈥淲e don鈥檛 need no more stinkin鈥� badges down here,鈥� he says, citing heavy-handed law enforcement.聽鈥淲e manage ourselves pretty well.鈥�
He鈥檚 unhappy that the mayor declared a state of emergency, calling it a matter of 鈥渄ignity.鈥� The crisis in the Tenderloin is decades old, he said. 鈥淭he only thing that鈥檚 changed is the model of the cars.鈥�
And yet, he鈥檚 pleased with the new one-stop Linkage Center. He鈥檚 also pleased that the city is buying buildings, such as a hotel, to shelter homeless people. Earlier in the pandemic, about 400 tents blocked sidewalks in this compact district. Now, it鈥檚 down to about 40 鈥� not counting the encampment, according to the district supervisor鈥檚 office. 鈥淭hings are looking up,鈥� says Mr. Seymour. 鈥淚 can see light at the end of the tunnel, and it鈥檚 not a train.鈥�
If there鈥檚 anything good about the pandemic, he says, it鈥檚 that 鈥渇inally the homeless are coming into focus.鈥�
Indeed, the pandemic has stirred things up in this city. Unlike in Congress, no Republican threat will force the hand of leaders here. It鈥檚 Democrats themselves who are left to work their way through these complex challenges, toward the sweet spot where compassion meets effective governance.
