Mayor London Breed’s day was filled with meetings on Friday, and she was not free for shadowing as part of Mission Local’s daily dispatches from the campaign trial. So Mission Local instead rode around the city today and spoke to half-a-dozen rideshare drivers about San Francisco and the race for Room 200.
The 21st century cabbies were more than willing to indulge a paying customer. For John James Rosa, who was driving a Tesla Model 3 and said he is neither a Democrat nor a Republican, all of the mayoral candidates are “high liberal.” But he is no fan of the incumbent.
“I think any of them are head and shoulders over London Breed,” said Rosa, whose family has been in San Francisco since 1879. The city’s main problems, he said, are drugs and deteriorating street conditions. He wanted more police officers, a tougher district attorney, and more mental health institutions so that the city’s streets could be “back the way they were back in the day.”
“I want the historical values of the city to stay the same,” he said. “I’d like to see women be able to walk the streets.”
Gary, who drove a Toyota Corolla and declined to give a last name, said he knew about the mayor and the long list of candidates — there are currently 52 — and had a slight preference for one he had met in person: Board President Aaron Peskin.
“The one [who] has more of a chance, a guy, a short guy …”
Peskin? this reporter ventured.
“Peskin! Aaron Peskin,” he said. “I saw him one time in Chinatown Ace Hardware, I go to buy stuff … and then he came inside to talk. He’s nice.”
Gary, who came to San Francisco from Hong Kong some four decades ago, said Peskin represented a change of direction for him, which he sought because San Francisco had grown “dead” in the last few years.
“Thirty-nine years ago, when I first came to the city, it was safe. I worked at Fisherman’s Wharf when I first came to the United States. I worked till 12 o’clock midnight, but it was still so crowded,” he said. But now? “Fisherman’s Wharf looks like a dead town.”
Most drivers, like Rosa and Gary, spent significant time in San Francisco driving its streets, but were not registered voters nor close followers of City Hall.
“I don’t know who’s winning the election or anything,” said Joseph, who drove a Toyota Camry and also declined to give a last name. He was born in San Francisco and moved to San Leandro as a child, but said he cared very little about politics. “I’m not registered to vote. If you told me the names, I wouldn’t even know.”
Did he know of Mayor Breed? “What’s her name?” he asked. “I’ve never heard that name in my life.”
“I’m not a political guy,” added another driver, Qais, who also declined to provide a last name.
Still, even those unfamiliar with the candidates said they had thoughts on the city where most spend the majority of their working days: They wanted less crime, bemoaned the decline of downtown businesses, and decried the city’s high housing costs.
No surprise: Poll after poll finds something similar, with voters saying the city is headed in the wrong direction by a double-digit margin. Breed is now facing a crowded field of contenders from across the aisle: From the right, former District 2 supervisor and appointed mayor Mark Farrell and Tipping Point CEO and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie; from the left, Peskin and District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí.
The November election will be the first time in modern San Francisco history that the mayoral race is held during a presidential election when voter turnout is much higher. Less-informed voters will come out to the polls in numbers large enough to sway the race, and candidates will work tirelessly to sell their accomplishments and influence those voters.
Judging by the half-day of rides, there is much work to do.
Adam Htat, driving a Kia Nero, said homelessness and crime were his top concerns — but he admitted he did not pay particular attention to city politics. He knew Breed’s name, but none of the other contenders.
Driving through the city, he grew sad seeing the “parade” of homeless people in SoMa “just wandering around,” he said, and was upset that the city’s clean-up operation ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference failed to endure.
“They were able to clean up during the APEC week when all the world leaders were flying into San Francisco. And now it’s just back to business as normal,” he said. “All of this loose law enforcement stuff is happening under her. Maybe she’s not super tough on crime?”
Medhanie, who arrived from Eritrea some 11 years ago, said homelessness was the top issue raised by his customers. “Everyone talks about it – and they’re right,” he said. “It’s supposed to be that those people get help.”
But again, Medhanie said he did not pay close attention to politics, and did not want to get involved in the race.
Gary, the 39-year-resident originally from Hong Kong, said it means little who occupies the mayor’s office. The problems facing San Francisco, he said, cannot be solved in a single term, and he doubted any of the candidates could right the ship.
“It doesn’t matter who is the mayor,” he said. “It’s hard to change San Francisco. You think they can change it [in four years]? I don’t think so.”
And, to that end, he said, he would refrain from the entire exercise: “I’m not going to vote, because I don’t think it can change.”
