Mark Farrell, a venture capitalist who previously served San Francisco as interim mayor, is running to lead the troubled city once again.
Farrell, 49, is determined to turn San Francisco around in the midst of its post-Covid “doom loop” as the city struggles to deal with rising crime, overdose deaths and deserted shopping malls.
Recent polls show that Bay City residents have lost confidence in their current mayor, London Breed, a fact Farrell hopes to exploit in the November election.
Farrell has laid out his agenda to “massively” increase police ranks, clear all homeless encampments within six months of taking office and arrest drug overdose victims.
The financier also said he would fire Police Chief Bill Scott and protect the department from budget cuts.
Mark Farrell, 49, is determined to change San Francisco amid its post-Covid ‘fatal loop’
Farrell formally launched his “common sense” platform on Tuesday
Farrell said he would confiscate homeless people’s tents and possessions if they refuse to move to shelters.
Farrell on Tuesday formally launched his “common sense” platform, which includes confiscating homeless people’s tents and possessions if they refuse to move to shelters.
“I’ve watched San Francisco fall apart over the last five years,” Farrell told the New York Times.
‘Public safety has never been a greater concern. The conditions of our streets have never been worse.
‘Our local economy has collapsed. And we have become the butt of jokes across the country.
“This mayor has completely failed us,” he added.
Breed and Farrell have been rivals since 2017, when current Mayor Eric Lee died.
Breed became acting mayor by virtue of being president of the Board of Supervisors.
However, most of her colleagues, wanting to ensure that she would lack incumbent status in the race to fill Lee’s seat six months later, voted for Farrell to fill the void.
Recent polls show that Bay City residents have lost confidence in their current mayor.
A homeless encampment is seen along Leavenworth Street in the Tenderloin district, just a few blocks from Powell.
Headlines featuring the phrases “junk city,” “ruined city,” and “fallen city” reflect how crippling drug problems and widespread homelessness continue to be a problem for residents.
The famous Walk of Fame runs more than a mile through the besieged downtown, where open-air drug use is widespread.
Farrell told the Times that he decided to run for office again after his dining room window in Jordan Park was smashed.
An intruder robbed his family home in the city’s wealthy northern neighborhood while he, his wife, Liz Farrell, and their three children slept.
“You start to think that this is life, that this is how you should live, and it’s not,” Liz Farell told the Times.
San Francisco has become an international synonym for urban squalor with the proliferation of open-air drug markets and an exodus of businesses, retailers and now residents.
Data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner showed that San Francisco has entered its deadliest year on record for drug overdoses with 752 accidental overdose deaths as of December 6.
It surpasses the highest year on record, 2020, when 726 people died.
And the city risks losing $200 million a year in lost tax revenue due to its business exodus.
San Francisco also has a woefully high office vacancy rate, which was 35.9 percent in December.
That situation is compounded by the departure of several large firms, including accounting giant KPMG, which announced earlier this month that it will abandon its eponymous $400 million building downtown.