SF voters approve Mayor London Breed’s drug and crime measures
The proposals will move the city to the right.
SAN FRANCISCO — Mayor London Breed has convinced voters to approve a pair of ballot measures that will move the city strikingly rightward by requiring drug screening for welfare recipients and easing restrictions on police officers.
Breed, who faces a tough reelection fight this November, banked her political future on a hard pivot toward more conservative policies aimed at appealing to residents’ frustrations about the city’s fentanyl addiction crisis and concerns about crime. Her bet appears to have yielded results — voters were on track Tuesday to approve at least two of the three measures she sponsored.
“Enough is enough. We need change,” Breed told supporters at a jam-packed bar in the Hayes Valley neighborhood.
The success of the mayor’s proposals is notable given San Francisco has long been considered the most progressive major city in America. Breed’s shift comes as she faces devastatingly low approval ratings and two moderate challengers in her reelection fight, former interim Mayor Mark Farrell and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie.
Perhaps the most controversial Breed-backed proposal approved by voters was Proposition F, which requires recipients of locally funded welfare to undergo drug screenings. Those who have addiction disorders will have to accept treatment in order to receive cash assistance, which Breed argued would make subsidies contingent on personal responsibility. She said the city cannot continue business as usual when more than 800 people died of drug overdoses last year.
About 5,590 people are in San Francisco’s cash assistance program for indigent single adults. Recipients with stable housing can receive up to $712 per month.
Opponents, including progressive members of the Board of Supervisors, blasted the measure as too far-right for San Francisco. They called it inhumane and said it would force more impoverished people with addiction problems out of public housing.
Voters also appeared to approve an additional Breed-sponsored proposal, Proposition E, which eases restrictions on the police department, including allowing officers to engage in more vehicle chases and use public surveillance cameras and drones to combat crime.