Latest news with #Lurie
San Francisco Chronicle
7 hours ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Mayor Daniel Lurie's $15.9 billion budget approved amid criticism
After months of difficult negotiations at City Hall, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave final approval to Mayor Daniel Lurie's $15.9 billion budget, which closes an $800 million budget deficit by slashing spending. The board, which has a moderate majority since the last election, voted 10 to 1 to approve the budget, with Supervisor Jackie Fielder dissenting. Now the bill goes to Lurie's desk, and per law, he must sign it by Aug. 1. The journey to creating a two-year budget that addresses the city's structural deficit was turbulent, as Lurie faced opposition from unions and community groups that tried to block funding cuts. Ultimately, Lurie, who had campaigned on cutting wasteful spending, reduced funds to nonprofits and departments, made about 40 layoffs and eliminated over a thousand vacant positions. Supervisor Connie Chan, who is the board's budget chair, said she wouldn't celebrate the mayor's budget and warned that the future remains grim as San Francisco continues to deal with threats from the Trump administration of withholding federal funds. Lurie and the board agreed to start a $400 million reserve fund to deal with any potential loss of federal dollars, but even that could be insufficient as San Francisco gets billions from the federal government every year, including in the form of Medicaid reimbursements and FEMA disaster funds. Still, Chan acknowledged that the board 'came together despite our differences to meet this moment,' which she said was key to getting the budget deal done. Lurie's team declined to comment on Tuesday. Last week after the board passed the budget on first reading, the mayor called it the latest in 'a series of major legislative wins.' 'They voted unanimously to cut red tape for small businesses through our PermitSF legislation, and approved a real plan to support families living in RVs,' Lurie said. 'Thank you to the Board, and I look forward to building on what we've accomplished so far.' But not everyone is happy about the budget. Fielder took a page from former Supervisor Dean Preston and voted no on the budget because it included cuts to programs that serve the city's most vulnerable people. Preston, a fellow democratic socialist, voted no on every budget while he was supervisor because they included more money for the San Francisco police department. 'I cannot in good conscience vote in support of this budget,' Fielder said. 'I will be voting no with disappointment, with frustration but also with clarity about the kind of city we are fighting to become. We owe our residents more than austerity.' Throughout the budget negotiations, Fielder criticized the mayor's spending plan, including a last-minute compromise between Lurie and the board that stripped some of its ability to allocate specific funds to fight homelessness. As part of the budget deal, Lurie sought and received more power in determining how to spend revenue from Proposition C, a 2018 tax increase to fund homelessness initiatives. The board agreed to give up its power to oppose mayoral spending under $19 million with a supermajority vote. On the final day of voting, angry homelessness advocates, many from the Coalition on Homelessness, staged a silent protest. They wore black veils and paraded around City Hall with a casket labeled 'democracy.' The group also opposed a recent change to city policy that they say will put RV dwellers at risk of homelessness.
San Francisco Chronicle
21 hours ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Daniel Lurie's approval rating may be sky high, but new poll reveals vulnerabilities
Despite the resounding approval San Francisco voters gave Mayor Daniel Lurie this month in the Chronicle's first poll of his tenure, the survey also suggested he has some vulnerabilities. Lurie's remarkable 73% overall favorability rating was not matched when the poll dug into specific areas of his job performance. Asked how well the mayor was doing at providing enough reasonably-priced housing, for instance, just 36% of respondents approved of his handling of the issue, versus 47% who disapproved. On providing shelter to homeless people and managing the overdose crisis, Lurie's approval was below 50%. But those ratings still represented pluralities of respondents due to the number who said they didn't know. The mayor performed strongest on his efforts to revive downtown, keep neighborhoods clean and keep residents and businesses safe from crime — all subjects that were central to his campaign and his messaging in his early months in office. Taken together, the poll results show that Lurie is enjoying a robust honeymoon a half-year into his term, even as voters harbor concerns about his ability to solve some of San Francisco's most entrenched problems. 'Mayor Lurie is delivering results on the issues San Franciscans care about,' mayoral spokesperson Charles Lutvak said in a statement to the Chronicle. 'Our administration will continue to deliver on what we've been working on relentlessly since day one: tackling the fentanyl crisis and providing safe and clean streets for everyone in our city.' Still, the mismatch between voters' sentiment about Lurie broadly and their feelings about his work on key issues suggests his rapport with the electorate could deteriorate over time if he is blamed for not making enough progress. 'I would certainly say that the challenge for the mayor and his team is to demonstrate real improvement on housing and the number of visible homeless (people),' said Jonathan Brown, president of Sextant Strategies & Research, which conducted the poll for the Chronicle. The survey respondents did not perfectly align with San Francisco's demographics. Notably, 53% of the respondents were non-Hispanic white, 16 points higher than the city's population. But Brown noted that Asian voters, who were underrepresented in the survey, gave Lurie even higher marks than the broader electorate. Corey Cook, a political scientist at Cal Poly's Solano County campus, said the fact that Lurie's approval is not as strong on the issues as it is overall is 'absolutely expected' at this point in the mayor's tenure. 'People are really anxious about these issues, but they understand the complexity of them, and it's more than just their sense of how the mayor is doing,' Cook said. 'The opportunity is that the support for the mayor can bring those numbers up. The risk is that the concern about those issues can bring the mayor's numbers down.' Over time, voters could begin to blame Lurie if they feel continued discontent around homelessness, housing and drug overdoses, Cook said. 'Or they could start to say, 'Actually, the mayor is fighting for us and doing what we want from him and there are other reasons for this, and that's who I'm mad at,'' Cook said. 'That could be anybody.' Lurie has introduced policies that seek to address the frustration San Francisco residents feel about these core issues. He released a zoning plan that would allow taller and denser buildings along certain transit corridors, seeking to pave the way for tens of thousands of new homes from the Marina to the Richmond and Sunset districts. He also passed a local law that allows him to speed up contract approvals for projects related to homelessness, mental health and drug addiction. And he increased police enforcement along corridors in the South of Market and Mission neighborhoods in response to worsening public drug scenes, while rolling out more street ambassadors to complement the work of law enforcement. Lurie, though, backed off a signature campaign promise to build 1,500 shelter beds during the first six months of his term. His administration framed the move as a decision to focus on more targeted efforts to get help to people struggling with addiction, mental illness and homelessness. Lurie's homelessness proposals have triggered some political resistance from those to the left of the moderate mayor. Progressive Supervisor Shamann Walton blasted Lurie when he pressed ahead with plans to expand a shelter in Walton's district instead of providing safe parking spots for RV dwellers that were originally planned at the site. The mayor also faced opposition from a handful of progressive supervisors when he successfully sought permission to more easily spend up to $19 million in future proceeds from a business tax that funds homeless services. 'Every dictator states that they just want additional authority once — and then they keep pressing,' Walton said of Lurie's homeless tax proposal at a recent supervisors' meeting. 'Our mayor already has a lot of power in this city … without this body allowing more.' Additionally, Lurie has drawn scrutiny over his approach to President Donald Trump, whose name he carefully avoids uttering as he tries to stay focused on local matters — and as he seeks to keep the president from focusing his vengeful politics on San Francisco. While some have questioned the mayor's Trump strategy, the Chronicle poll found that 50% of respondents thought it was the right one. Just 29% agreed with the statement that Lurie should help lead the opposition to Trump. 'Democrats are struggling with that question nationally,' said Cook, the political scientist. 'I think it's fascinating that's where San Francisco voters are right now.' Brown, the pollster, said that due to the severity of San Francisco's problems and voters' 'desire to see them remedied,' they are 'comfortable that Mayor Lurie is prioritizing local issues as opposed to national issues.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mayor Lurie enjoying high approval ratings
SAN FRANCISCO - A new poll shows San Francisco's Mayor, Daniel Lurie, is enjoying high approval ratings. More than six months into his term, nearly three in four voters like the job Mayor Lurie is doing. Polling from the San Francisco Chronicle finds 73% of San Francisco voters approve of the job Mayor Daniel Lurie is doing so far. "I am just focused on delivering results for the people of San Francisco. That's why they elected me," said Mayor Lurie. "Our administration is working relentlessly every single day to deliver and I think these numbers show that people want us to continue to do that work and that's what I'm gonna be focused on." More than half of the poll respondents said they want the mayor to focus on local issues like safety and keeping the city clean. Voters said they're seeing a difference in how people view the city. "It's just cool to see you feel like he has us. He has this personal relationship to the city, and he's enthusiastic, and you want everyone else to be," said Fred Ward. San Francisco State University political science Professor Jason McDaniel said voters seem positive about the direction of the city, and that's benefiting the mayor. "I think we've seen a little bit of people feeling better the city," said McDaniel. "Not dramatic, people aren't super optimistic about the future, but I think better than they were a year ago." The poll found most San Franciscans gave the mayor high marks for revitalizing the downtown, and focusing on safety and clean neighborhoods. McDaniel said so far Mayor Lurie has been able to maintain his popularity even as the city faces budget cuts, and he creates more of a record. "So I think that is the number one sort of iceberg in the future is the decision now we have a negative echoing effect going into the future." While most voters say they approve of the job the mayor is doing, half or more of the respondents said they wanted to see more done to handle the city's long-standing epidemic of deadly drug overdoses and homelessness. "But I don't see Mayor Lurie doing all that much better at the moment," said Vance Johnson. "Personally I think that he's pretty much only accountable to the major corporations within downtown." While the mayor has seen high approval ratings, the approval rating for the board of supervisors is up as well. This time last year, 20% of voters approved of the job the supervisors were doing. That number is now up to a 38% approval the daily Crossword
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
How's Lurie doing as mayor? Our new poll on the state of S.F. had stunning results
Six months into Mayor Daniel Lurie's tenure, San Franciscans are far happier with his performance than they were with former Mayor London Breed's one year ago, according to a new poll commissioned by the Chronicle. The poll also revealed a turnaround in voters' attitudes about the city overall: A majority now rate the quality of life to be good or excellent, and half of respondents believe that conditions will continue to improve. The poll, which surveyed 961 registered voters between July 9 and 13, found that almost three quarters of San Franciscans approved of the job Lurie had done so far. His sky-high approval rating is almost the exact inverse of how likely voters rated Breed's performance last July: At that time, just over one quarter of respondents said they approved of the mayor's performance. The poll reflects a sampling of San Francisco residents, and was not perfectly representative of the city's demographic breakdown. Notably, even after weighting the results to better reflect the city's demographics, respondents were 53% non-Hispanic white, while the city on the whole is just 37% white. Still, the poll found no major difference between white and non-white respondents in their support of the mayor — although Asian respondents were more supportive than Black and Latino respondents. The positive results for Lurie come just six months into his term. Last July's poll on Breed, on the other hand, came six years into Breed's tenure — and months before the election. The political landscape in which the two polls were conducted has notably shifted as well. Last July, San Francisco was still struggling out of its pandemic-induced slump and grappling with a bruised national reputation. Campaigns for the mayoralty, swirling controversies around the state of the city and the presidential election were in full swing. Now, even as much of the nation's attention has shifted to President Donald Trump, his sweeping cuts to the government, his harsh immigration policies and even his feud with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, San Franciscans seem to prefer that Mayor Lurie stay out of the fray. Half of voters said the mayor should remain focused on local issues, while just 29% said Lurie should help lead the opposition. Not everyone is bullish on the mayor. Men were slightly more supportive than women, and more recent arrivals to San Francisco were more supportive than longtime residents. But the sharpest divide was political: People who identified themselves as progressives were far less likely to approve of Lurie's performance, and to be bearish on the city's future in general. Strikingly, Lurie was less popular on specific issues than he was overall. While most respondents agreed that he was keeping the city clean, keeping residents and businesses safe from crime and revitalizing downtown, he scored less favorably when it came to providing shelter for the homeless, handling the overdose crisis and addressing the cost of housing. The poll also found that San Franciscans still have mixed reviews of the Board of Supervisors: 38% of respondents said they approved of the supervisors' performance, and 46% said they disapproved. Though that's far from the ringing endorsement that Lurie enjoyed, it's much better than a year ago, when just 20% of respondents approved of the board's job, while 70% disapproved. Overall, San Franciscans are more likely now than last year to say that the city is headed in the right direction. Almost 50% of people in the new poll said they believed the quality of life in San Francisco would get better, while 23% said they believed it would get worse. Last July, 40% believed it would get better, while 32% believed it would get worse. In both years, a little over a quarter of people believed that the quality of life would stay the same. Even as a majority agree that things are looking up in the city, it's clear that a certain nostalgia for the past persists. The Chronicle asked whether respondents found the city to be more fun today than it was 10 years ago. Nearly 60% said it was more fun a decade ago. Just 13% found it more fun today.
The Citizen
5 days ago
- General
- The Citizen
Oldest DHS Old Boy dies at age 102
DURBAN High School (DHS) is mourning the loss of the oldest DHS Old Boy, Selwyn Lurie, who died on Thursday at home, three weeks before his 103rd birthday. On the school's social media, DHS said, 'Mr Lurie's long and inspiring life was a testament to the enduring spirit of Durban High School. We were honoured to have shared a special moment with him earlier this year, when our boys had the privilege of hearing his heartfelt video message on Founders Day — a message that will now be remembered even more dearly. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the Lurie family during this time of loss. May his memory continue to inspire generations of DHS boys to come.' Lurie's passing was confirmed by his family who described him as a person with a lot of energy, love and care. On Facebook, Vanessa Jubiler Lurie said, 'We are heartbroken to share the loss of our beloved father, Selwyn Lurie, this morning July 17, the 21st of Tammuz. Our amazing Pa is now at peace with his beloved wife and our mom Barbara, and their son and our brother Alon. Pa died peacefully in his sleep at home at the age of 102, three weeks before his 103rd birthday.' Lurie lived a full and interesting life, as a fighter pilot in WW2, builder of Ashkelon in the early days of the state of Israel, CEO of a leading textile manufacturer in South Africa, and the co-founder of Kehillat Ahavat Yisrael in San Diego, US. Also Read: DHS shines at SA Schools badminton tournament 'Pa was the driving force of our family, the best father, grandfather and great-grandfather in the world. Family meant everything to him, and of all his incredible accomplishments, the one he was most proud of was the family he and Ma built. We are honoured and grateful beyond measure to have had such incredible parents, for the endless love they brought to all of us, and for the countless ways in which they helped, guided, supported and adored each of us, our children and our grandchildren,' said Vanessa. Condolences have been pouring in for the Lurie family. Clifton School in Morningside wrote, 'We share in your grief at the passing of a beloved member of your Old Boys family. May Mr Lurie's dear soul rest in eternal peace.' Erika Collins said, 'Condolences to his family and friends. Sounds like he achieved a lot in his full life.' Neil Peter Lamble added, 'What a man, what an amazing innings and what a passionate supporter of his old school DHS. RIP Selwyn – and deepest condolences to your family.' For more from Berea Mail, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok. Click to subscribe to our newsletter – here At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
