San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Breed making it easier to get parties started
Mayor creating panel to streamline planning, permits
All Tyra Fennell wanted to do was throw a good party.
It was 2015, and Fennell was making preparations for a concert she hoped would electrify San Francisco’s oftenoverlooked southeast corridor. She’s the executive director of Imprint.City, a nonprofit that works to spur cultural and economic vitality in long underused corners of the city.
She was envisioning the inaugural BayviewLive, an annual music and arts festival meant to highlight and celebrate the rich history and culture of the historically black BayviewHunters Point neighborhood.
Fennell previously worked for the San Francisco Arts Commission, so when the time came to apply for the permits she’d need, she thought she’d be well equipped to handle the pa
you care,” she said.
Unlike her predecessor, the late Ed Lee, Breed has no problem calling out department heads or cutting them loose.
Former Public Health Director Barbara Garcia was a close ally of Breed’s, but that didn’t save her job when she came under investigation for conflict of interest in awarding a city contract.
And Breed wasted no time in publicly announcing the exit of laidback Municipal Transportation Agency General Manager Ed Reiskin after a series of Muni meltdowns paralyzed the daily commute this year.
More recently, Breed cleaned house at the city run Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center after finding out staff had abused patients. That happened before the abuse was made public.
“She is not warm and fuzzy, like Ed Lee,” said one ranking city official who has worked with several mayors and didn’t want to be identified. “But, she is also out there on the streets, being seen and at least looking like she is doing something.” Breed knows the power of optics.
She balanced her sweeps of homeless camps with calls for safe injection centers for addicts. That tempered criticisms that she was heartless and turned into praise for being willing to consider unconventional solutions.
Her push to set up a homeless Navigation Center on the Embarcadero over the loud objections of neighbors made her look willing to take an unpopular stand.
But much of her first year has been focused on the ground — the dirty sidewalks and streets populated by the city’s evergrowing homeless population that have become the talk of the nation. When asked what is the biggest change she has brought in her first year, Breed responded:
“Large tent encampments. Remember last year at this time when I came into office? They were the biggest problem in the city. All of the camps along Division Street, under the freeways and in the Mission. They are all gone. We’ve helped to get almost 1,500 people off of the street.”
True, the big camps are gone, but tents are still a common sight — as is open drug use. And a new problem has cropped up: people living in recreational vehicles parking them in residential neighborhoods, which has yet to be addressed.
But the biggest problem remains on the streets — the homeless people, the addicted and the mentally ill who roam about the city.
“That’s why I’m proposing new solutions, like conservation for people who go in and out of the hospital. So that we can make decisions about treatment that unfortunately people can’t make on their own,” Breed said.
There’s resistance, however, to the idea of taking people off the streets with mandated treatment by homeless advocates, civil rights activists and members of the Board of Supervisors who fear homeless people are being deprived of their rights.
Despite those concerns, Breed is sticking to her longterm plan for cleaning up San Francisco’s streets.
“Look out the window here,” Breed said point across the Civic Center Plaza. “Remember when this was a homeless camp?” she said pointing at a grove of trees.
“Today, people are doing Zumba.”
Mark the date: Dede Wilsey, philanthropist, socialite and former chairwoman of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with Giants part owner Debby Magowan, Carole McNeil, and Elizabeth and Clarke Swanson, will host a fundraiser for President Trump’s reelection that will feature former San Francisco first lady and Fox TV host Kimberly Guilfoyle along with her beau, Donald Trump Jr.
Tickets for the July 17 cocktail reception range from $1,000 for a single ticket to $15,000 per couple for a photo opportunity to $35,000 per couple for the highend “Team 100 Membership.”
Organizers declined to give any details of the event, not even if it would be held in the city or somewhere else in the Bay Area. A Trump fundraiser in San Francisco surely would be the talk of the town.
San Francisco is viewed by the world as the bluest of Democratic towns. However, the city is also the home to some of the Republican Party’s biggest donors, including Wilsey. Her son Trevor D. Traina, himself a big donor to Republican causes, was appointed ambassador to Austria.
Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIXTV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 4157778815, or email pmatier@ sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier