San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie spent half of his inauguration day in Chinatown, first with thousands of young people gathered to hear EDM music on Grant Avenue, then with more than 800 political actors at a banquet hall.
Asian voters, particularly Chinese voters, were key in securing Lurie’s victory, and now he appears to be making efforts to show them they will not be sidelined now that the election is over.
Mission Local spoke to Asian attendees at the Wednesday Chinatown night market to learn what they need from their new mayor. The most-mentioned priorities were public safety and public transit.
“You can get someone to throw a punch at you for no reason,” said 35-year-old Desmond Yee, who emphasized the need for safety.
There’s a “huge discrepancy between people on the street” and employees of tech giants, said Darryl Lieu, a 34-year-old engineer asking for action on inequality.
“Lurie is a Democrat,” said an architect who asked to remain anonymous, but “you need hardcore Republicans to fix these issues” in San Francisco.
Click on their names to read their stories.
George Mahaprom, Mission and SoMa border
“It can get pretty messed up” where I live, said Mahaprom, 25. Things could “definitely” be safer.
He wants unhoused people to move off the street, but doesn’t want the police to be too involved. “I can’t think of a way, but there’s definitely a way in between,” said Mahaprom. Lurie campaigned on safety, he added.
Arnie Pareja, works in San Francisco
Pareja’s company sent him to Chinatown, where he and his colleagues waited in the alleyways branching off Grant Avenue in scarlet uniforms to work as valet attendants
“More cops being around,” the 57-year-old suggested, either on foot patrol or “on bikes.” Last year, he experienced two break-ins — once in the Mission, and once outside City Hall.
Quan Pham, Mission Dolores
I “want to feel safer in my own neighborhood,” said Pham, a 35 year-old program manager at Stanford University. Pham previously lived in the Civic Center area before moving to the Mission, where he says he has watched the situation deteriorate. Today, even “Valencia needs help,” he said. Those with mental-health challenges should have someone to care for them, Pham added.
Pham voted for Lurie in November. Last night, he came out to witness his city starting a new chapter and was delighted to find the crowd as hopeful as he is. It’s “sad we pay so much” but don’t get as much in return, he said.
Kristie Lam, Nob Hill
“I want more investment in social programs,” such as the food bank or Muni services, said Lam, a 26-year-old attorney who joined the crowd with a friend. Both are big fans of electronic dance music. “That’s what ties the city together.” Lam feels that Muni services can get very unreliable once they’re outside the city center; in the Sunset, for instance.
“There’s a disconnect between city administrators and the people who actually live here,” she added.
Richard Lee, Sunset
“San Francisco is pretty backward,” said 36-year-old Lee, who works as a scientist. He cited examples like Hong Kong, London and Singapore. “The economy doesn’t boom unless people feel safe.”
Lee wants the city to have more police officers patrolling the streets, as well as adding police robots or surveillance cameras. That way “people won’t do whatever they want, because they’ll know somebody is watching,” he added.
Nick Palm-Song, Treasure Island
Palm-Song, a 39-year-old firefighter, wants better public safety. “Taking down bad guys doing stupid things,” he said. “Hold them accountable.”
Kevin, Mission Bay
The top three items on Kevin’s wish list are housing, public safety and public transit.
Specifically, the 28-year-old software engineer wants Lurie to “get rid of all roadblocks to building housing,” “get rid of drug dealers,” and make Muni lines more reliable.
Andy, SoMa
“Bring life back to our city,” said Andy, who works as a consultant in SoMa, “it gets pretty dead at night.”
Ann Lee, The Richmond
Lee, who works in events for a university, wants Lurie to increase Muni schedules. “Sometimes, they just don’t come,” said Lee, who lives in the Richmond and takes the 38-Geary line most often.
Pretty simple. Less crime. Less tolerance for shoplifting. Less coddling of junkies. More support for normal people who work.
And for some reason people wanting basic public services is routinely spun here as the fault of billionaires.
More like the Billionaire dark money hacks took that idea and ran with it in PR that they wasted millions cramming into everyone’s mailbox… but point taken. And hey, they’re merging now, so win/win right? Big money just got bigger. Everyone wants the things, some will even believe the promises and trust those making them. Rube-Goldbrick machines.
Stop criminals from attacking us. That’s what we want.
Good job making it about race……because the color of your skin and your ethnic background change what you desire to San Francisco……really?
Yes, asking the average Joe or Jane is fine. But why divide us up in that way as if race is the most important factor? It comes across as divisive.
Respectfully, I suggest reducing or eliminating these man-on-the-street stories. I read ML to learn things I don’t already know. But I already know that everyone has an opinion, so why make a story out of random people’s opinions? Especially considering that random opinions already appear in ML via comments from loudmouths like me. Just a friendly suggestion, keep up the good work!
We can’t have progressives in charge. They care only about theory and not about people, or the quality of life in the city.
We need a return to common sense governance. We don’t need Republicans for that. But we do need politicians who prioritize law-abiding citizens over criminals.
They aren’t and haven’t been. Why don’t you run for office with your brilliant ideas. What plans do you have to “save” the city?
We have not had progressives in charge. London Breed was not progressive, Ed Lee was not progressive, Gavin Newsom was not progressive, Willie Brown was not progressive etc etc etc.
This Asian here didn’t want a billionaire who wants power to be the mayor. That said, if everyone just did a better job picking up after themselves and their dogs, and look out for one another rather than their own pocket books and property, we’d live in a better place already and don’t need cops for that.
San Francisco purchased taxi medallion holders need bail out of their loans. Taxi business is a disaster in San Francisco.
The sad trend with most of these vignettes is people are basically asking for the same tired policies that have been proven not to work (more police).
Not very original and not very bold.
You say the old way has been proven not to work while ignoring the fact that the new policies are clearly and obviously worse. That line worked for a long time but you’ll need to find a different one.
38 line buses “sometimes just don’t come”? 100% BS sorry to say, it’s the most reliable in the city. I can understand people who want more cops around to feel safe, but putting more money into MUNI is a joke at this point. They need to make do on the hundreds of millions they have, not the tens of Billions they think they should have. This city went off the rails under Newsom and hasn’t gotten back to basics.
Strongly agree, I ride the 38 a lot since 2011 or so and the worst I can say about it is that it’s often too crowded for people with strollers or other bulky items to board at Masonic outbound. So that’s two random people claiming the 38 is reliable and one claiming it is not.
Sorry I’m commenting so much but what can I say I feel strongly about muni. Want to clarify my earlier statement. I feel that the 38 is a reliable way to get around some parts of the city. I do not agree with the position that funding muni is a bad use of funds. I do not agree with the position that additional funding for sfpd is obviously a good use of funds. My position: I want all/most of muni to be as reliable as the 38, and I *do not* have a corresponding example of sfpd working the way it should. In my personal experience sfpd had failed to follow up (like at all) in 3 cases where I was the victim of property crime including one case where the door of my apartment building was broken down. So speaking personally I don’t have an example of sfpd working the way it should, as compared to the 38 muni. Again just speaking from personal experience. Look at other local news stories from other websites today and you may agree with me that sfpd is seemingly more focused on special events for bankers and healthcare profiteers than they are on full time residents of the city.
I just donated to Kevin from Mission Bay’s 2028 mayoral campaign.