To get to where he is now — delivering his inauguration speech in front of a crowd of 2,000 attendees sitting at Civic Center Plaza alongside many hundreds of onlookers — Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, ran a lavishly funded campaign over 13 months, putting up his blue-and-yellow name signs all over town. He spent some $9.6 million directly, and a PAC ponied up $6.
6 million more. Now, under a cloudless blue sky, the Civic Center Plaza and the front of City Hall were adorned with blue-and-gold banners depicting the rising sun of a brand new day. “Today marks the beginning of a new era of accountability and change at City Hall, one that, above all else, serves you, the people of San Francisco,” Lurie addressed the crowd, after being sworn in as San Francisco’s 46th mayor.
“Make no mistake. Hope is alive and well in San Francisco.” Unlike his predecessors, Lurie did not have his inauguration ceremony at the steps of the City Hall.
Rather, the Civic Center Plaza across from Polk Street was packed. Thousands, blocking the sun with their hands or the ceremony pamphlets, expected to hear from their new mayor about what he has in store for the city. Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter below.
On the first day of his new administration, Lurie reiterated a campaign promise to tackle the city’s overdose crisis — albeit in a slightly modified fashion. He cannot actually declare a fentanyl state of eme.