127 jobs. That's the first hard number attached to Mayor Lurie's $643 million deficit — and somebody's name is on the document. If you're just joining, District 9 went three months without its elected supervisor while Jackie Fielder was on medical leave after a mental health crisis. She's back in City Hall now — but her return comes with an unresolved City Attorney investigation into her office over a leaked confidential memo. For her constituents, the question has been what kind of representation they get now, and which agenda picks back up after that absence. This is San Francisco Politics and Urbanism Daily. Today — the layoffs get faces, Newsom signs a $352 billion bet, and Chinatown's biggest civic institution loses its president. Buckle up. Foreignpharmacydirectory writes:
This isn't a minor adjustment; it's the first phase of a planned elimination of 500 positions, with more potentially on the horizon as the mayor finalizes his budget. The city is staring down a daunting $643 million budget deficit over the next two years.
Here's the number: 127. Mayor Lurie's first wave of layoffs — 127 pink slips across 18 city departments, against that $643 million two-year deficit we've been staring at all week. And honestly, this is the moment I was waiting for. All week it's been a deficit on a whiteboard. Today it's 127 people in 18 departments losing a paycheck. That's the story. And it's phase one — the plan is to eliminate 500 positions total. So 127 is the down payment, not the bill. Right, and officials are pointing at reduced federal healthcare funding like it fell from the sky. Fine — but which of the 18 departments? In a $15.9 billion budget, where you cut tells you what this administration actually values. And the document names the Mayor's Office of Public Policy and Finance team right up front — Kittler, Puckett, Cardenas, and the rest. If your name's on the cover page, these are your numbers to defend. Good. Put a name on it. I want to know whether those 127 are frontline service jobs or back-office jobs, and whether nonprofit contracts survive while city workers get the slip. The accountability is in those details now, not the drama. From Max Harrison-Caldwell and Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez at The San Francisco Standard:
An allegation of sexual harassment at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce has spurred multiple lawsuits and driven board president Donald Luu to resign. Judy Lee, the chamber’s program director and a member of the city’s Building Inspection Commission, has “filed a formal complaint” alleging harassment and retaliation, according to a statement from her lawyer, Kathleen Alparce.
The Standard has the exclusive here — and credit to Max Harrison-Caldwell and Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez for breaking it: Donald Luu stepped down as president of the SF Chinese Chamber of Commerce in early June, amid a sexual harassment allegation. The complaint comes from Judy Lee — the chamber's program director, and also a member of the city's Building Inspection Commission. Her lawyer says she raised it internally for years and leadership did nothing. And here's the piece that matters — Luu resigned as president, but he's still on the board. He just moved to another seat at the same table. People underrate what this Chamber actually is. Century-old, runs the Lunar New Year Parade — one of the most visible civic events in the city — and it's a real power broker for Chinatown small business and working-class immigrant politics. When that leadership implodes, it ripples. One important detail: Lee hasn't filed a lawsuit yet — her lawyer was specific about that. But she's a sitting building inspection commissioner filing a formal complaint. Hard to call that a quiet exit. From George Kelly and Michael McLaughlin at Ebar:
On her second day back on the job after a prolonged medical leave, queer District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder sent a letter of inquiry to city leaders about two San Francisco Police Department responses to separate events related to the city’s Pride festivities over the weekend. Fielder is requesting an answer by July 14 from Mayor Daniel Lurie, Police Chief Derrick Lew, and City Controller Greg Wagner.
On her second day back from medical leave, Supervisor Jackie Fielder isn't easing in. She's sent a letter of inquiry to Mayor Lurie, Police Chief Derrick Lew, and Controller Greg Wagner — she wants answers by July 14 on how SFPD handled two Pride-related events over the weekend. And credit where it's due — the Bay Area Reporter had the arrest counts over the weekend. Five people after the Trans March in the Tenderloin, twenty at an unlawful assembly in SoMa the next night. So Fielder's not freelancing off a hunch here — there's a paper trail. The geography matters here — those Trans March arrests were near Turk and Taylor, in the Transgender District. That's steps from the site of the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria confrontation. If you're SFPD, you deploy there for graffiti and noise complaints knowing exactly what that corner means historically. Right, and the letter names the trigger — property destruction, graffiti, noise. That's the department's stated reason. Twenty arrests at a block party of hundreds is a resourcing decision, and Fielder's asking who signed off on the show of force. That's exactly the accountability I want. Here's Sfgate:
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a nearly $352 billion spending plan Monday that delays some cuts to healthcare programs, increases funding for childcare and sets aside money to help speed up the state's vote count ahead of the November election. The plan, which avoids major cuts or significant new spending, is Newsom's last before he leaves office in January and as he considers a presidential run.
So he signed it. $352 billion, the final Newsom budget, and now it's law. The budget doc just turned into actual policy. Signed Monday, per Sophie Austin at the AP. And it lands as SF's new fiscal year opens — this is the pass-through money nonprofits were crowding City Hall to protect. And notice what it does — delays cuts to healthcare, bumps up childcare, no big new spending. It's a budget written to look good under a microscope, because Newsom's eyeing the White House. The video address touting free school meals and expanded internet — that's a campaign reel dressed as a budget signing. He knows the audience isn't just Sacramento anymore. Here's the part I actually care about — there's nearly $1.7 billion for housing and homelessness in there, with $900 million in HHAP grants. That flows straight into the city that just cut 127 of its own jobs this morning. Got a tip, a correction, or a story idea for San Francisco Politics and Urbanism Daily? Send it our way at sfdailyfix at lantern podcasts dot com. We read every note.
The next date to circle is July 14, when Mayor Daniel Lurie, Police Chief Derrick Lew, and Controller Greg Wagner have been asked to answer Fielder's Pride-policing inquiry. After that, Sept. 12 is California's legislative deadline for pending housing bills, and in November, voters are expected to decide the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026.
You'll find links to every story in the show notes, if you want to dig further into anything we covered. That's San Francisco Politics and Urbanism Daily for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.