Mission Station gets a new captain—again

Good afternoon!

Man, there’s a lot of money pouring in to San Francisco’s elections: About $22 million so far, most of it in large donations. Mission Local will aggregate information from campaign finance filings: Interesting donors, new PACs, notable spending, and everything in between. Follow the money with us!

Is it really that hard to run SFPD’s Mission Station? Captain Liza Johansen, who grew up in the Mission, will be its fifth leader in four years. Johansen told Mission Local she only found about about her new job two days before it happened, and isn’t in charge of how long she’ll stay. “I couldn’t tell you if I’m going to be a cop a year from now,” the captain said.

Back story: Johansen is replacing Captain Thomas Harvey, whose 16-month tenure was marked by frustrating battles over sex work, street vending, encampments, and the mass arrests of teenagers at the 2023 Dolores hill bomb, for which he and other police brass are being sued.

In more upbeat news, a surge of new businesses is filling vacant storefronts on Valencia between 16th and 17th; Slanted Door, which got its start in the Mission, will return to its original home on the block next spring, and at least three other restaurants are opening.

See how they run is following mayoral candiate Ahsha Safaí, who was grilled by merchants in the Outer Sunset upset about a ballot measure to close the Great Highway. Safaí, who supports the measure, criticized the “terrible job” done by SFMTA community outreach.

More soon,

Sara