San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is a Democratic Party technocrat. He's far less concerned about ideology than he is about initiating policies that work. Naturally, this attitude toward city government steps on a lot of toes.

Under ordinary circumstances, that would force any other mayor to retrench and regroup. But Lurie is trying to save a city from itself and has no patience with those trying to play political games.

Lurie came into office with a $1 billion budget deficit. On Jan. 9, he announced that he was going to eliminate $1 billion in "overspending" over the next three years. He didn't call the shortfall a "deficit." He identified the root of the problem and attacked it.

Lurie warned that cutting the "overspending" would be “challenging” and “probably even painful.” 

“The era of one-time or Band-Aid solutions is over,” Lurie said.

It hasn't been a bed of roses. He's meeting stiff opposition in trying to slash the bloated city government payrolls, and there's a hardcore enmity between the mayor and the radical left. 

However, entrepreneur and CEO of the fintech giant Ripple, Chris Larsen, is optimistic.

“The streets are cleaner, the encampments are basically gone, he’s working super hard making the rounds,” Larsen told The Free Press. “There’s an effort underway to rethink downtown, entertainment, more venues, more free concerts, easier to get permits. I’m super bullish on the city.”

Lurie has initiated a permitting reform process to make it easier to add housing. He's also announced a plan to rapidly increase police recruitment, and he's introduced a $15.9 billion budget that would slash city jobs.

The Free Press:

When I asked Lurie how many new housing units would have to be built or how many businesses would have to open in San Francisco or how much fentanyl and heroin overdoses would have to come down for him to declare success, he demurred: “It’s not going to be, like, ‘How many beds did you start?’ It’s going to be, ‘How do you feel?’ It’s going to be, ‘Do I feel like it is safe for me to walk my child down the street to a bus stop?’ ”

He added that he could talk about violent crimes plummeting by 14 percent and property crimes falling by 28 percent—outpacing declines in other big cities—but long-term success would be a “vibe,” a new confidence in the city, the future, a chance for San Francisco to reclaim its title as the most beautiful city in the country. (Also: Crime had started to drop long before he took office, so he couldn’t really take credit for that.)

Lurie's "vibe" is badly needed. When I visited San Francisco in 1988, the energy was palpable. People walked down the streets of the city with a purpose, and there was construction everywhere. People were hustling, the nightlife was bustling, and there was a feeling that San Francisco was the place to be.

When I returned two years ago, it was like visiting a different city. People were sullen and angry; there was little energy and no hope. The city was dead and just didn't know it yet. 

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Can Lurie really revive a city that has no hope, few prospects for an economic turnaround, and a shrinking tax base?

He's found a good place to start: The overbloated city government.

San Francisco Standard:

In 2005, the city employed 26,900 people, according to the Department of Human Resources. Twenty years later, it had 34,800, a 29% increase. During that time, the city’s population grew by 8%, from 780,000 in 2005 to 842,000 in 2025, according to the California Department of Finance. 

"How do we not spend money we don't have"? I wonder if anyone in Washington, D.C., has ever asked that question.

Lurie brings a desperately needed hard-headed approach to the task of bringing the budget deficit under control. Obviously, he can't fix everything at once. But the steps he's taken so far indicate he has a good handle on the direction San Francisco needs to go in order to come back from the dead.

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