The Weekly Digest (June 22, 2025)

Written By Bill Jackson

Happy Sunday, Brionies! 

Here’s what you need to know about local politics this week and beyond:

San Francisco City Hall 

  • Monday and Wednesday, June 22 and 24: The Budget and Appropriations Committee meets to discuss the Mayor’s proposed two-year FY 2025-26 and 2026-27 budget (agenda here): 

    • The Budget and Appropriations Committee is where the action is in June, with extensive public comment and discussion of the Mayor’s budget proposal. The Board’s Budget and Legislative Analyst is supposed to release its own analysis of the budget in mid-June, but we haven’t seen that yet. Meanwhile, if we had our own Budget and Legislative Analyst, he might offer an assessment like this: 
      Congratulations, Mayor Lurie, on producing a more responsible budget than your predecessor did last year. You are relying less on on-time fixes, preserving funds for public safety, and proposing to spend homelessness funds more effectively. But, we are deeply disappointed that your budget does little or nothing to rein in the City’s runaway spending problem. Since 2011, the core budget has ballooned by 54 percent in constant dollars, even as the population has shrunk. Comparing San Francisco with eight other consolidated cities/counties in the U.S. with populations ranging from half to twice its size, our budget is about twice as large as the average on a per capita basis, driven substantially by a City workforce that is much larger than comparable jurisdictions. You missed your chance this year, but we hope for better next year.

    • Item 4: Mayor Lurie is proposing to continue the City’s “First Year Free” program, which waives permit, initial license, and initial business registration fees for businesses with gross receipts of $5 million or less. This program currently costs the City $2.5 million per year. 

    • Item 17: Back in 2018 when City finances were looking much stronger, voters passed Proposition C, which imposed additional business taxes to fund homeless services. Prop C required at least 50 percent of funds be spent for permanent housing, with specific allocations for homeless youth and families with children under 18. Now, Mayor Lurie wants to remove these restrictions, to enable more investment in mental health and addiction treatment beds as well as short-term shelter. Bravo. Better yet, let’s repeal this initiative so that our businesses, which continue to leave San Francisco, are not subsidizing an ever-expanding homeless–industrial complex.

  • Tuesday, June 24 at 2pm: Regular meeting of the Board of Supervisor (agenda here):

    • Item 27: This one caught our eye. Four supervisors (Chan, Chen, Fielder, and Walton) have introduced a resolution urging the state legislature to allow cities and counties implement local wealth and progressive income taxes. No, thank you. We don’t have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem.

We’re Hiring!

  • Are you or someone you know eager to advance a solutions-oriented conservative movement in America’s cities? The Briones Society is looking for a Content and Operations Manager to write for the News Digest, lead Briones operations, and help build a vibrant volunteer network. Please see the job description here. Feel free to reach out to diana@brionessociety.org for more information.

Happenings around town

  • Briones Society events

    • Briones Society Monthly Happy Hour

      • Thursday, July 10, 5:30-7:30pm, location provided upon RSVP

 

What we’re reading

  • For the second year in a row, San Francisco makes headlines for the wrong reasons. Of 148 surveyed cities, it was ranked the  worst-run city in US, which comes as a surprise to absolutely no one who's been paying attention. Meanwhile, the best-run city is Provo, Utah, a place that probably doesn't even have a single artisanal coffee shop or $7 avocado toast establishment. Let's break down San Francisco's "achievements":

    • Financial stability: 89th

    • Education: 137th (Shocking for a city that spends more per pupil than most small countries' GDP)

    • Economy: 135th

    • Safety: 102nd

The next worst-run cities after San Francisco were Detroit (147th), Oakland (146th), New York City (145th), Philadelphia (144th), and Baltimore (143rd). On the plus side, it doesn’t seem like these numbers take into effect Mayor Lurie’s recent changes.

  • Meanwhile, the public sector unions of America's Worst-Run City threw an absolute fit because someone finally suggested that maybe we can't afford to keep every government employee on the payroll forever. Eleven union members were arrested during a protest at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday at City Hall — because apparently civil discourse is too much to ask for when your gravy train might be coming to an end. Some 100 union members burst into chants during the meeting, screaming "When public services are under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back!" Let's talk numbers, shall we?  (The protesters impacted the meeting around 2:15, and it didn’t start again until a little after 4pm, following arrests.) The SF resident population decreased 5 percent since 2019, while the workday population is down 11% over the same period. Meanwhile, City headcount increased 8 pertcent from 2018 to 2025. While it's never easy letting people go, Mayor Lurie is proposing to eliminate about 1,400 positions, only 100 of which are currently occupied. Not particularly draconian.

Quick hits

This week in San Francisco history

  • 🌈 The first events resembling the modern San Francisco Pride parade and celebration were held on the last weekend of June, 1970. Organized by the San Francisco Gay Liberation Front, a "Gay Liberation March" saw 20 to 30 people walk from Aquatic Park to Civic Center on Polk Street on Saturday, June 27. The following afternoon, a "Christopher Street Liberation Day Gay-In" brought some 200 people to Golden Gate Park; the gathering was raided by SFPD officers on motorcycles and on horseback, with seven people taken into custody and then released without charges.

Bill Jackson
Next

The Weekly Digest (June 15, 2025)