San Francisco has spent years wondering if its best days were behind it. Now, less than a year into Daniel Lurie’s first term as San Francisco mayor, many residents say the city finally feels like it’s moving in the right direction.
Elected in January as a political newcomer and philanthropy heir, Lurie is posting eye-popping numbers: a recent poll of 600 likely voters shows 71% approval, including 30% who “strongly” approve of his performance. For a city exhausted by downtown blight, open-air drug use and political infighting, that level of optimism is rare.
On a recent visit, locals told this newsletter they’re seeing fewer tents, less public drug use and somewhat cleaner sidewalks. No one believes San Francisco is “fixed,” but there’s a growing sense that a turnaround is at least possible.
A downtown that finally feels alive again
On a crisp Friday, parts of downtown looked closer to the postcard version of The City than the doom-loop memes. Near Union Square, shoppers drifted between stores, commuters lingered at sidewalk cafés and “ambassadors” in green jackets scrubbed graffiti from pillars.
The picture wasn’t perfect. Just steps away, a woman washed her hair under bushes — a reminder that without enough affordable housing, many unhoused residents may simply be pushed from one neighborhood to another. Still, residents say the overall tone has shifted from hopelessness to cautious hope.
At a Union Square news conference, Mayor Lurie leaned into that narrative. “I am just so fired up about what’s happening in our city,” the 48-year-old said, urging people to shop downtown. “When you come downtown, you’re gonna be safe. We have your back.” Police foot patrols there have been doubled, he said.
Artist Robert Hightower stopped him for a selfie. “He’s getting little wins here and there,” Hightower said. “That’s how you get a bigger win.”
The Instagram mayor
A late-Gen-X leader with millennial-style social media energy, Lurie has turned his feeds into a nonstop highlight reel. One day he’s cheering on patrol officers; the next, he’s filming from a coffee shop, nodding over noodles at a neighborhood restaurant or pulling debris from a storm drain in a rain slicker.
Every clip carries the same message: things are getting better, and he’s in the middle of it. For many residents, that visibility is a welcome change from City Hall figures who felt distant or defensive during the worst years of the pandemic and fentanyl crisis.
Quiet diplomacy with Trump
One of Lurie’s biggest early wins came not from a viral moment but from quiet back-channel diplomacy. When President Trump threatened an immigration enforcement “surge” in San Francisco this fall, Lurie avoided the public brawls that have defined other Democratic leaders.
Instead, he and several tech leaders privately pressed the White House, arguing that the city was already making progress and that a high-profile crackdown could destabilize neighborhoods and business confidence. The approach worked: Trump backed off the surge, and Lurie gained a reputation as a centrist Democrat willing to work the phones rather than just the microphones.
A stumble on City Hall appointments
The new mayor’s biggest misstep so far came in November, when he appointed 29-year-old Isabella “Baya” Alcaraz, a former pet shop owner, to a vacant seat on the Board of Supervisors.
Within days, local reporters uncovered problems at her old business — under-the-table payments, tax troubles and poor management. The backlash was swift. Alcaraz stepped down almost immediately, and critics questioned how such basic vetting was missed.
Lurie didn’t dodge blame. “We missed a few things,” he admitted, promising to do better. Some voters, like insurance worker Karla Scott, say that accountability helped restore trust. “He came out immediately and said, ‘I screwed up,’” she said. “There was a willingness to fix it and not make an excuse.”
California’s other big stories today
The Essential California newsletter also flags several wider trends shaping the state:
- Holiday air travel boom: The Federal Aviation Administration expects more than 360,000 flights nationwide through Dec. 1, with about 16.9 million passengers flying. Los Angeles International Airport alone anticipates 2.5 million travelers between Nov. 20 and Monday, with Sunday pegged as the single busiest day.
- California job market under pressure: The state has shed more than 158,000 jobs through October, outside of Washington, D.C., the worst total in the country. Tech and entertainment layoffs, aided by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, have pushed the unemployment rate to 5.5%, the highest in the nation.
- Wildfire policy questioned: A court ruling found that a statewide Cal Fire program may unintentionally worsen fires by stripping native chaparral and allowing more flammable grasses to spread. Officials argue prescribed burns and brush thinning still reduce megafire risk, but the decision highlights ongoing tensions over how to manage wildfire risk.
- Storms bring both relief and risk: Early-season rain has filled key reservoirs and boosted Sierra snowpack, lifting much of the state out of drought and lowering near-term wildfire danger. At the same time, a hazardous-materials blaze at the Port of L.A. revealed gaps in emergency communication, with a shelter-in-place order arriving nearly six hours after the fire began.
- Hollywood and filming shifts: A new report shows scripted production in Los Angeles slipping while the U.K. gains ground. Game shows and other projects are increasingly heading overseas, where tax credits can shave millions off per-episode costs.
From stolen Thanksgiving turkeys to debates over a proposed gasoline pipeline and the future of a Dodger Stadium gondola, Essential California paints a picture of a state juggling big structural challenges with its trademark mix of innovation, conflict and reinvention.
For now, San Francisco is enjoying an unfamiliar feeling: a mayor many residents actually like, and a downtown that — at least on some blocks — finally looks a little more like the city they remember.
