Mission Local is publishing a daily campaign dispatch for each of the major contenders in the mayor’s race, alternating among candidates weekly until November. This week: London Breed. Read earlier dispatches here.
Maybe a quarter of the crowd on Thursday morning wore black “It takes the hood to save the hood” T-shirts, the trademark apparel of the violence prevention and youth education group United Playaz, which was celebrating the groundbreaking of its second-ever building on Howard Street.
The ceremony was filled with luminaries: Rep. Nancy Pelosi presented the group a large novelty check for $4 million, the federal government’s contribution to the new clubhouse, and was dubbed “the shot caller, the big baller” by the United Playaz founder, Rudy Corpuz Jr. Meanwhile, San Francisco Chief of Police Bill Scott sat in the front row next to District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who was next to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
Even Assessor-Recorder Joaquin Torres was in attendance — called a “king” and “brother” by Corpuz Jr., and complimented on his style. “You been doing this for a minute, brother, and you stay lookin fly and shining while you do it. You got that Gavin Newsom,” Corpuz Jr. told him, as the crowd guffawed (Torres shot back two finger-gun salutes).
And Mayor London Breed, of course, who has worked with the group since her time as supervisor and has known the United Playaz founder since high school. Not that he attended much school, as he’ll tell you himself: Corpuz Jr. spent many of his teenage days slinging drugs. “I went to Mission, but I used to go up to Gal,” he said (Breed attended Galileo High). “Go up there to sell drugs and get at women.”
Breed remembers the times well. “There was stuff going on” — gun violence, poverty, the crack epidemic — but the corner life was vibrant. “What was kind of cool about neighborhoods back then, there would be people with music, and they would play music and we’d all be on the corner,” said Breed. “Because, you know, it was like: We were the girls, they were the boys, we wanted to see the boys … We just had fun, it was easy.”
To Corpuz Jr., having a person like Breed in Room 200, someone who has “been through tough situations … somebody who was trying to get out the ghetto, someone who worked hard” — means “everything,” he said. Inviting her to the podium, Corpuz Jr. was enthusiastic: “I saved the best for last — the most beautifullest mayor that I know, the flyest, most hard-working, who gets S-H-I-T done. She come from the mud like me, she come from the trenches,” he said. “My sister from Frisco: Mayor London Breed.” (Breed said afterwards: “I’m gonna take Rudy with me everywhere to introduce me.”)
Breed spoke about the importance of the group’s work in after-school literacy programs. It was clearly personal.
“In their clubhouse, you see the pictures of people who died. A lot of those people are people we grew up with and lost,” she said later in the day. “Rudy, he wanted to get to people so they’d never end up like that in the first place.”
Corpuz Jr. would not weigh in on the mayor’s race — his group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, after all, and forbidden from candidate electioneering — but, like others who knew Breed in childhood or shared similar pasts, he said that her perseverance was a strong testament and a sign she understands the city more than most.
“Politics in San Francisco is gangster, it’s tough,” he said. But Breed, he added, is “no pushover.”
Breed and Corpuz Jr. share this quality: They must move in different circles in the city. They must go from press conferences featuring oversized checks to working alongside the native San Franciscans they came up with. They are no longer threatened by drugs, prison time, or guns; they now court voters and dollars to survive.
(And successfully, so far: Corpuz Jr. now presides over at least $14.7 million in active city contracts for United Playaz, the vast majority from the mayor’s office. And Breed is, well, the mayor.)
While Breed’s Thursday morning was spent in SoMa with formerly-incarcerated members of United Playaz, her evening was spent near West Portal, one of the toniest neighborhoods in the city, at the one-year anniversary of the newly-minted Westside Family Democratic Club.
The chartered club, the newest of the local Democratic Party, was involved in a brouhaha over its founding last year, when the old, progressive-dominated version of the Democratic County Central Committee rejected its charter. The DCCC was shamed into reversing course, and the club received an influx of new members after then-San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight called accusations they were right-wing “groundless.” They now have “a couple hundred” members, said the club’s president, Robin Pam.
The path to victory for a moderate in San Francisco has been roughly the same for more than 30 years: Court homeowners, wealthier renters, Chinese voters, and the small subset of Republicans left in this city (who, as the Chronicle noted last week, may be instrumental in electing the next mayor).
Breed’s visit to the Westside, then, was an attempt to shore up support from a much-needed base — a group of voters that she and her opponents Mark Farrell and Daniel Lurie will all try to win. Obtaining the club’s endorsement would come with benefits: The Westside Family Democratic Club had $24,050 to print and deliver its voter guide ahead of the March election, according to state filings. In all likelihood, their spend will be several times larger come November.
The party, held at Best Kept Secret on Taraval Street, was also politico-filled: Sen. Scott Wiener was in attendance, alongside supervisors Myrna Melgar and Catherine Stefani, City Attorney David Chiu, and Breed’s opponent in the November election, former District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell. The two cross paths “here and there” on the campaign trail, Farrell said, but did not do so Thursday: Farrell attended the party for the first 30 minutes or so, but left before Breed made an entrance.
And when she did make an entrance, she let her upbringing come through.
“Westside!” she exclaimed as she took the mic. “Wrong crowd? My bad.”
Breed congratulated the club on its first year, touting its focus on policies “to support families, to support smart housing growth and development.” Mostly, she spoke about new housing in an area of the city historically allergic to it. “Despite popular belief, I’m not trying to create Redevelopment Agency 2.0 on the west side of San Francisco. What I am trying to do is work with communities to think about smart and responsible ways to provide opportunities for more dense housing.”
It is not clear who the club will endorse: Breed, Farrell, and Lurie’s campaigns were all sponsors of the anniversary party, alongside big money groups like GrowSF and Neighbors for a Better San Francisco. The club’s endorsement is not expected until August, said Pam.
But Breed is crafting her coalition: Voters who know her from Plaza East and Fillmore, YIMBYs, the tough-on-crime crowd, Chinese residents hoping for safe streets. And, she believes, she is uniquely positioned to win this caucus.
“If you are running a city as unique and diverse as San Francisco, you need to be able to walk in every room,” she said. “I think that’s the biggest difference between me and the other candidates: I can move in every circle in this city.”
What’s wrong with San Francisco?
Breed!
Corpuz Jr. needs to take a damn look around. It’s not the 80’s.
London Breed isn’t “street”, she’s WALL STREET. CORRUPT AF.
You didn’t grow up in the hood worshiping posers who sell out, did you Rudy?
Breed doesn’t give a hot damn what happens to you unless she’s paid to.