Mayor Daniel Lurie appeared at the Board of Supes today for the first time since the election and congratulated himself on winning more power without ever saying what he was going to do about the most pressing issues facing the city.
Lurie took his opening five minutes to talk about how he now has a mandate for contracting reform, which is fine, but not at the top of most vulnerable people’s list of priorities. Then he effusively thanked Brian Chesky, a founder of Airbnb, for donating $100 million to improve city parks.
That’s lovely, but it’s also less than one-tenth of one percent of Chesky’s net worth.
Lurie talked about how people who start successful businesses in the city should give back—but never mentioned that Chesky made his billions by starting a company with a businesses model that broke the law consistently, that displaced thousands of people, turned scarce rental units into hotel rooms, and made the city’s affordability crisis much worse.
Oh, or that his company sued the city for $120 million, more than his donation, in an effort not to pay taxes, and only backed down in the face of a boycott.
Oh, and since Chesky makes only a tiny taxable salary from Airbnb, and most of his wealth is in equity that isn’t taxed until it’s sold, he probably pays very little in federal or state income taxes.
Thanks, Brian. You did massive damage to the city, and now you are giving us a tiny fraction of what you made on your equity just in the past year.
Back to Lurie: The mayor never once mentioned affordability or the rise in family homelessness. He acted as if some bureaucratic changes are going to make life better for all of us.
Then he showed us a master class in not answering a simple question.
Sup. Chyanne Chen challenged the mayor on the Recreation and Parks Departments plans for Crocker Amazon Park. Rec-Park, with a big gift from the SF Giants, wants to transform the park into baseball fields—with artificial turf. The plan also involves cutting down about mature trees.
The neighborhood folks aren’t so sure they want a park they have used for decades to become a destination for baseball games on plastic grass that is, at the very least, a health concern. So Chen asked: The neighborhood has a list of concerns, and “Rec-Park does not adequately address those concerns.”
Lurie: “Rec-Park has listened, and community feedback has shaped the design.”
Chen: “The design does not reflect community use.”
Lurie, in effect: We’re doing what we’re doing, which is what the Giants want to pay for. Rebuilding the club house in the park, he said, is not a priority and “will require a separate funding source.”
Brian Chesky’s money apparently won’t go to Crocker Amazon.
A city run by billionaires, funded by billionaire philanthropy that has many strings attached, is not going to fix San Francisco’s deepest problems.
But gee, the press seems to love it.
