Tag Archives: London Breed

Victory! San Francisco Mayor Promises Crackdown on Drug Dealing & Crime, by Michael Shellenberger

If a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged, then a liberal politician reversing course and asking for money for the police is a politician who doesn’t want to get mugged in the next election. From Michael Shellenberger at michaelshellenberger.substack.com:

London Breed says city must be “less tolerant of all the bulls**t that has destroyed our city,” and demands more money for cops

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announcing a police crackdown on crime and drug dealing

After Black Lives Matter protesters last year demanded that cities “Defund the Police,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed held a press conference to announce that her city would be one of the first to do exactly that. Breed announced $120 million in cuts to the budgets of both San Francisco’s police and sheriff’s departments. A spokesperson for the police officers’ union warned the cuts “could impact our ability to respond to emergencies,” but the police chief assured the public that the cuts “will not diminish our ability to provide essential services.”

Yesterday, Breed reversed herself in dramatic fashion, announcing that she was making an emergency request to the city’s Board of Supervisors for more money for the police to support a crackdown on crime, including open air drug dealing, car break-ins, and retail theft. The plan contains much of what the California Peace Coalition, which Environmental Progress and I cofounded last spring, has been demanding, including in a series of protests by parents of homeless addicts, parents of children killed by fentanyl, and recovering addicts.

San Francisco Mayor Breed and other San Francisco politicians have for years promised to crack down on drug dealing and crime, and things have only grown worse over, so skepticism is merited. Already, progressives in San Francisco have denounced Mayor Breed’s plan, which she announced with the support of just two members of the city’s 11 Board of Supervisors, and without the apparent support of the city’s District Attorney.

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