"We took our business community for granted," Lurie told Fortune Editorial Director Andrew Nusca. "We said 'We can just keep punishing you... and you're going to stay.' Well that didn't happen. People fled."
"The elected class in San Francisco took people for granted," Lurie said, from its artists to its restaurants to its entrepreneurs. "We're not going to do that again."
""I don't think we should be breaking things ... in government," Lurie cautioned. While acknowledging the city needs to adopt "tools that are well regarded," he emphasized the implementation must always happen with safety and regulations in mind."
San Francisco's municipal government operated as an adversary to the business community, imposing bureaucracy and red tape that contributed to departures by artists, restaurants, entrepreneurs, and residents. The city recorded net population losses each year since 2020, totaling roughly 30,000 to 55,000 against a population near 834,000, with recent projections indicating stabilization. City leadership aims to reposition government as a partner to small businesses and modernize aging infrastructure with Silicon Valley-style tools while explicitly rejecting a 'move fast and break things' mindset. Implementation of new tools will prioritize safety, regulation, and public safety as the top priority.
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]