City Hall Digest: Could Drug Dealers Be Charged with Murder? And More Local Updates
Introducing City Hall Digest
Understanding who your elected officials are, what they stand for, and whether they are producing the results they promised is a vital tenet of a functioning democracy. But keeping up with the twists and turns in City Hall can be time-consuming and complex. We started TogetherSF Action to help everyone better understand how their government works (or doesn’t). Every week, we’re keeping an eye on what our elected officials are up to, breaking it down into bite-sized pieces, and serving it up here on the blog. Stay tuned each week for more.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins Will Pursue Murder Charges Against Fentanyl Dealers
San Francisco is in the middle of a drug crisis that affects everyone’s quality of life. In 2021, more San Franciscans died from fentanyl overdoses than from COVID-19. Residents, businesses, and tourists all witness drug dealing and drug use in broad daylight throughout the city. To combat this crisis, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced she will pursue murder charges against fentanyl dealers whose drug sales resulted in fatal overdoses.
It’s a bold move that the San Francisco Chronicle called “a seismic escalation of the city’s handling of criminal drug cases.” The question is how many fatal cases can clearly be connected back to a drug trafficker. The standard of proof (that means how much evidence supports that link) will be extremely high.
Regardless, this announcement communicates Jenkins’ commitment to ending this drug epidemic. “We have to send a strong message in the community and in the courtroom that we will not stand by and allow dealers to kill innocent people and those suffering from addiction,” she told the Chronicle.
Need a refresher on what the district attorney does? She’s the top city official in charge of prosecuting crimes and ensuring laws are enforced. Brooke Jenkins was recently appointed to the role after Chesa Boudin was recalled by voters, and is running for re-election in November.
D4 Supervisor Gordon Mar, Running for Re-Election, Declines to Participate in Future Debates with Opponent Joel Engardio
After a tough volley with opponent Joel Engardio in the race for District 4 Supervisor, incumbent Gordon Mar announced that he would not participate in any future debates against Engardio. Engardio responded with a tweet, saying Mar was disrespecting voters. We have to agree that bowing out of debates instead of honing one’s talking points falls short of the leadership we must demand from our city officials. Yes, getting called out on the San Francisco subreddit for your debate performance is embarrassing, but hiding out is even worse.
Need a refresher on what a city supervisor does? They represent you and your district in City Hall, work with the rest of the board to solve citywide problems, and control the city budget. Gordon Mar is up for re-election and Engardio is running to unseat him. Don’t remember who your supe is? Find out here.
The Coalition on Homelessness Sues San Francisco Over Homeless Encampments
The Coalition on Homelessness, a nonprofit advocacy organization for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco, has sued the City and County of San Francisco in an attempt to stop them from clearing homeless encampments, a process that involves removing tents and clutter and offering social services to the people who set up the encampment. The suit claims that the city clearing encampments without offering adequate shelter bed space is a violation of people’s civil rights.
This sounds like the type of bold action we need to take against the city’s inefficacy around homelessness—but it’s more complicated than that. Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director of The Coalition on Homelessness, has repeatedly opposed proposals to create more shelter space, arguing that permanent housing is the only acceptable option for getting people off the streets. This is a perfect example of the type of performative politics that keeps San Francisco mired in bureaucracy and ineffective policies.
Want to use your vote to keep the city focused on ending homelessness? Read about why we recommend you vote No on Prop C this November.
Why Did Mayor Breed Ask City Officials to Submit Unsigned Resignation Letters?
Mayor London Breed is being called out in local headlines for quietly asking select city officials to sign undated resignation letters and turn them in to her staff. The Mayor’s Office has argued that the practice of issuing preemptive resignation letters was necessary for Breed to hold her commissioners accountable. Sounds like the type of move that makes us distrust politicians, right? But there’s actually an important takeaway here about how our local government works.
There are over 100 governmental bodies in San Francisco, and a lot of them are commissions. The people who work on these commissions are usually residents with political connections. Commissioners are not elected; they’re appointed by either the Mayor or Board of Supervisors. In an ideal world, commissioners are public servants dedicated to their cause who operate independent of politics. In reality, these seats often become highly politically charged.
We’ve placed the responsibility of running the city in the hands of dozens of commissioners, but given the mayor (who is ultimately responsible for outcomes) no way to hire and fire her commissioner picks. The letters aren’t great. But they’re also a Band-Aid solution for a big problem. If we’re going to get upset about the resignation letters, we should also ask ourselves if diffusing city responsibilities across hundreds of unpaid commissioners over whom the mayor has little control is an efficient way to govern a city.
Paid for by TogetherSF Action. Not authorized by any candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate. Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.