Breed quickly fills key slots in staff lineup

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a number of major appointments to her staff Monday as she enters her second full week in office.

Breed’s picks represent an experienced crop of political staffers and advisers with resumes that include extensive political work at the city, state and national levels. Many of Breed’s selections also have considerable experience on the legislative end of San Francisco politics.

Marjan Philhour, senior adviser to the mayor. After spending years in Washington, D.C., as a congressional staffer and working early on in the John Kerry presidential campaign, Philhour returned to California to work in Gov. Gray Davis’ administration. For the past decade, Philhour has operated a political consulting and communication firm. She was a candidate for District One supervisor in 2016.

Andrea Bruss, deputy chief of staff. Bruss, a former labor attorney, is an 11-year veteran of City Hall and previously worked as a legislative aide to Breed while Breed was the District Five supervisor and for Supervisor Malia Cohen.

Jeff Cretan, communications director. Cretan, currently communications director for state Sen. Scott Wiener, also worked as Wiener’s legislative aide while he was District Eight supervisor.

Kelly Kirkpatrick, budget director. Kirkpatrick has been the city’s acting budget director since March and has been in the mayor’s budget office for the past four years.

Andres Power, policy director. Power has served under the past two mayors as a senior policy adviser and as the mayor’s liaison to the Board of Supervisors. He previously worked as a chief of staff for Wiener for nearly five years. He held the same position for former Supervisor Jeff Sheehy.

Selina Sun, director of scheduling. Sun served as assistant to the chief of staff in two previous mayoral administrations.

Kanishka K. Cheng, mayor’s liaison to the Board of Supervisors. Most recently, Cheng worked as a project manager in the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Previously, she served as a land-use and housing policy adviser to Mayor Mark Farrell and as a legislative aide in Farrell’s supervisorial office.

Mawuli Tugbenyoh, mayor’s liaison to boards and commissions. Tugbenyoh began working in city government in 2012 as a legislative aide for Cohen. He later went on to work as legislative director and board liaison in two previous mayoral administrations and as a legislative aide in Breed’s District Five office.

Alex Lazar, director, Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services. Lazar has been an aide to Rep. Nancy Pelosi for over seven years, leading the congresswoman’s constituent services operations in San Francisco.

Judy Lee, deputy director, Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services and lead on Asian-Pacific Islander Affairs. Lee has held various positions at the Department of Human Resources, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and most recently as a legislative aide for Supervisor Ahsha Safai.

— Dominic Fracassa

Just days before she’s slated to sign San Francisco’s $11 billion city budget, Mayor London Breed announced Monday she plans to invest just over $1.7 million to support street-cleaning programs and residential-care facilities treating people struggling with mental health problems and drug addiction.

The budget proposals reflect the priorities Breed has vowed to address as mayor — namely, providing care for the homeless suffering from mental health afflictions and addressing the city’s filthy streets.

Over the next two fiscal years, Breed has proposed spending $1 million to help fund citysupported board-andcare facilities, which house and provide on-site care to around 350 people.

“Most of these individuals have histories of homelessness, and, without the services provided in these facilities, would be on our streets or cycling in and out of our jail and hospitals,” Breed wrote in a letter announcing her budget proposal to Board of Supervisors President Malia Cohen, who also chairs the budget committee.

Dwindling federal financial support and steadily rising operating costs are blamed for forcing many board-and-care facilities to close in San Francisco in recent years. In the 2012-13 fiscal year, the Department of Public Health contracted 70 such facilities. Breed’s budget proposal would direct funds to the 38 active facilities that the health department works with.

Breed earmarked just over $724,000 over the next two fiscal years to expand the Fix-It Team, which helps to clean up and beautify city corridors and works with communities to identify safety and livability needs. That money would also be used to purchase high-capacity waste stations, lights and cameras for what Breed described as “key commercial corridors across the city” to promote cleanliness and safety.

The one-time investments come from unspent money in the 201718 budget. The board of supervisors is expected to vote to amend the budget to include the new investments at its meeting on Tuesday.

— Dominic Fracassa