Budget week is here, the police union just got a new deal, and City Hall’s back room is suddenly looking a lot more crowded than anybody wanted to say out loud. Welcome to San Francisco Politics and Urbanism Daily — I’m Cassidy, with Devin. This week we’re watching the Board of Supervisors open budget hearings, a police pay deal land today, some uncomfortable questions around a mayoral appointment, and the DA’s office punting on a high-profile case. Budget week is when the promises run into the spreadsheet. And this year, with cops, courts, and drug housing all on the table at once, we’re going to find out fast who actually wants results and who just wants a press release. Let’s get into it. The Voice of San Francisco writes:
This week San Francisco City Hall hosts a busy week with an ample docket of policy challenges as the Board of Supervisors begin their formal review of the city budget on Wednesday. But before that, they have another opportunity to vote on a bill to fund drug-free supportive housing and create a reward fund to combat hate crimes.
Big week at City Hall — the Board of Supervisors starts formal budget review Wednesday, but first they’ve got drug-free housing funding, a hate crime reward fund, and hearings on both Drug Court and last year’s power outages. That’s Voice of San Francisco’s rundown. Let’s start with the hate crime reward fund — up to a hundred grand for tips that lead to a conviction. And Dorsey’s framing is the right one: if you want to deter this kind of thing, you make being a bigot feel risky. Informants are a tool that works. The model already exists for homicide cases, so this isn’t some brand-new mechanism — it’s an extension. What I’m watching more closely is the drug-free supportive housing vote. That one’s been a recurring fight at the board. Drug-free housing is one of those ideas that sounds harsh to the progressive wing, but it gives people in recovery a fighting chance. You can’t get clean if your building is basically an open-air using site. I want to see where the vote lands. Angela Woodall, writing in Patch:
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie signed legislation today to seal a new four-year labor agreement with the San Francisco Police Officers Association. The deal sets pay raises, staffing incentives, and recruitment tools aimed at strengthening the city’s police force and emergency response capacity, according to the mayor's office.
Mayor Lurie just locked in a four-year deal with the SF Police Officers Association — that’s the SFPOA, the cops’ union. We’re talking 3 percent annual raises for the first three years, then 5 percent in year four, plus hiring bonuses to poach officers from other departments. This is exactly what you have to do when you’re hemorrhaging officers and the department is hundreds of bodies below authorized strength. You want cops on the street? You pay competitive wages. Full stop. There’s also a FIFA wrinkle in the deal — softened overtime rules timed to the World Cup coming to the Bay Area. The city needed officers available without blowing the OT budget completely. Look, I know some people are going to groan about the cost, but the progressives who blocked recruitment funding for years don’t get to complain now that the price tag is higher. That’s the bill for delay. Mission Local writes:
Johnston says Breed in November 2024 told him that billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who has put millions into Breed’s political career, personally called her and asked for Stephen Sherrill to be appointed to the vacant District 2 supervisorial seat.
Sherrill, a native New Yorker, had previously worked for then-New York Mayor Bloomberg.
Mission Local has a big one — two former staffers, on the record, saying London Breed appointed Stephen Sherrill to D2 not on merit, but as a favor to billionaire Michael Bloomberg. Breed and Sherrill both deny it. And credit to Mission Local for getting Conor Johnston on camera. For context: D2 is the Marina, Cow Hollow, Pacific Heights — one of the wealthiest districts in the city. Bloomberg had already funded Sherrill’s position in Breed’s office before this. So the idea that a billionaire ex-mayor of New York is quietly steering San Francisco supervisorial appointments is not a small allegation. And Johnston isn’t some random critic — this is the guy who literally said he’d crawl through broken glass for Breed. When her most loyal defender goes on camera, that’s news. This is exactly the kind of donor-class capture that makes working-class San Franciscans feel like the city isn’t run for them. A Bloomberg-backed hire, in a Bloomberg-funded role, handed a supervisorial seat — allegedly at Bloomberg’s personal request. That’s a tidy little circle. From Angela Woodall at Patch:
San Francisco prosecutors have halted a criminal case against four Baltimore police officers accused of sexual assault. Prosecutors from the San Francisco District Attorney's Office said they could not prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt despite earlier warrant review and a months-long investigation, according to reports.
San Francisco’s DA has declined to file charges against four Baltimore police officers accused of sexually assaulting a Bay Area woman — prosecutors say they can’t meet the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard after a months-long investigation. Credit to the Baltimore Banner for doing a lot of the legwork on this one. These four guys — including a suspended district commander — are still on administrative duty with pay in Baltimore while their internal investigation drags on. Beyond a reasonable doubt is a high bar, but the optics of cops keeping their paychecks while this sits unresolved is a gut punch to the woman who reported it. To be clear, declining to prosecute isn’t the same as clearing somebody — it just means the DA decided the evidence wouldn’t survive a jury trial. That distinction matters, even if it’s cold comfort. If this briefing helps you keep up with San Francisco’s politics and urban landscape, please subscribe and leave a quick review wherever you’re listening. It helps other people find the show, too.
You’ll find links to every story we covered today in the show notes, so if something stuck with you, take a moment to read a little deeper.
That’s San Francisco Politics and Urbanism Daily for this Tuesday, May twelfth. This is a Lantern Podcast.