Reigniting a San Franciscan Renaissance

San Francisco has long been a beacon of hope, a symbol of diversity, and a canvas of technological advancement and social progress. Our city’s culture & arts, along with our industry of services, draws tens of millions of visitors each year.

Yet, in recent years, we find ourselves plagued by deep-seated issues. Issues that aren’t unique to San Francisco, but that do weigh heavily on each of us. Housing affordability, chronic homelessness, and the painful realities of substance abuse and mental health issues are etching their mark on our city’s story.

Our leaders in City Hall are diligent and well-intentioned, yet so many of us feel there is an intractable, paralyzed feeling of continued unaffordability, of feeling that working hard means having to work just that much harder just to stay afloat.

This is why I am running to serve as your Mayor.

I believe it’s the government’s responsibility to ensure everyone has affordable access to the bare necessities of life. Whether that’s dignified homes for living in, safe streets for walking or parking, economic and educational opportunities for self-advancement, or healthy food & water for nourishment. When you have the basics, you don’t need to worry about simply surviving. You can thrive.

The promise of San Francisco is not just for a privileged few but for each of us.

We all deserve to live with dignity in a home of our own. Remarkably, our city has more vacant housing units and convertible office spaces than we have people living on streets. My administration will work tirelessly to ensure that those who are the backbone of our city—those in the service industry, arts & culture, healthcare, education, and the public sector—can afford to live and thrive here. We’ll partner with landlords to build alliances to expand affordable housing access and transform rent control programs into subsidized rent-to-own programs so that home ownership is achievable. Moreover, we'll stimulate the construction of new housing units and maximize the use of underdeveloped properties through grant writing and by instituting a land value tax for non-owner occupants to incentivize development.

As Mayor, my administration will prioritize public safety and security by addressing the mental health crisis, ensuring that everyone feels secure in having the bare necessities, and yes, by ensuring that the police are locally-based, adequately trained, properly staffed, offered competitive pay, and most importantly, understand what their role is in addressing the crime that we face here in San Francisco. Good policing is accountable policing, which means actually solving and preventing crimes. Officers will be on foot in neighborhoods to build community relationships, improve response times, and respond to & deter shoplifting. Specialized units will work to prevent the tens of thousands of car break-ins that happen each year, first by expanding the bait car program and second by stopping stolen vehicles that are used by organized gangs to commit these crimes.

Police will be tasked with disrupting and ending the illegal sale of stolen goods on our streets and online, as well as the sale of illicit drugs like fentanyl that have led to the heartbreaking deadly overdoses we’ve seen skyrocket in recent years. We will work to implement systemic changes to the criminal justice system to ensure an end to the nauseating revolving door of catch-and-release, not by locking up low-level offenders in ineffective and costly punitive prisons or jails, but rather by diverting offenders into restorative justice programs that are proven to be more effective and less costly.

To address homelessness, the mental health epidemic, and the many associated public safety issues, we will create a city Problem Solvers Department that will be made up of plain-clothed mental health experts and community members that will build trust with those in need to find them a home or the care they need. Once they have a home or care, their Problem Solver will mentor them as they go through job training, schooling, or rehabilitative programs so that they may stand proud on their own with dignity as a contributing member of the community, paying their own rent increasingly. For those struggling with extreme mental health issues, their self-perceived freedom to live out on the streets conflicts with the actual freedom of others to live safely, so medical professionals will be tasked with evaluation and, if needed, placement into medical institutions or conservatorship programs. Dedicated patient advocates will work to ensure due process, fair treatment, and a high quality of care to bring people back into society without unnecessary delay or risk.

To ensure all have access to economic and educational opportunities, let's together reimagine what this city invests in. Instead of tax breaks for big real estate investors, let's invest in making it affordable & desirable for families to live here by paying teachers more (a lot more). Let's encourage biotech & life science firms to move here, AI startups to start here in the center of creative innovation, and manufacturing companies to transform underused commercial spaces into clean factories and workshops. Let’s reduce regulatory hurdles and make it safe to start businesses here.

City Hall, under my leadership, will offer meaningful grants to startup founders and entrepreneurs transforming empty retail spaces into small businesses that will be the engine at the center of our economy. Let’s be proactive in supporting artists, musicians, comedians, writers, and other culture makers obtain grants for housing to continue and foster our legacy of world-class arts and entertainment.

Throughout all of these initiatives, I will direct officials to critically evaluate every facet of the city & county’s operations at every level to improve ease-of-access, reduce friction in achieving our goals, and decrease inefficiency by building and using innovative technology. Should I be elected your Mayor, I will use my background in engineering, technology, & business, to yes, be meticulous and attentive, but also to recognize that my place as the executive of a government apparatus of over 34,000 employees isn’t to micromanage as Mayors of the past have, but rather to articulate a realistic vision for meaningful change and form a framework for the leadership team comprised of passionate and dedicated professionals with track records of success to reach that vision. Let's restore trust in our government by ensuring leaders and officials are beyond reproach by ending the corrupt practice of accepting freebies or favors and then “coincidentally” granting more access or preferential treatment. We’ll establish clear goals and metrics and share our progress in real-time in regular brief updates directly from the Mayor and in easy-to-use tools, reports, and data feeds. San Franciscans deserve a government that is accessible, accountable, and, yes, honest.

Let’s rekindle the beacon that is our city.

The problems of one district in San Francisco are the problems of every district. We cannot afford to silo ourselves into our own self-interest. We are all bound together in a single tapestry of destiny.

Together, we can shape the narrative of our city. We can tell a tale of compassion, of resilience, and of triumph. We can tell a tale of a city that meets its challenges head-on, that values the contributions of each of its residents, and that shares its prosperity equitably amongst all. A tale of a city that doesn't just talk about problems but actively creates solutions.

In this moment, I am asking you to believe in the possibility of a better San Francisco. Believe that together, we can bring about meaningful change. Believe that we can be the authors of a new chapter in our city's history, a chapter marked not by despair but by hope and progress.

Our challenges may be vast, but so too is our collective strength. So let’s marshal that strength; let’s move forward, not with a spirit of fear but with a spirit of hope and determination. Together, we can restore the promise of San Francisco, ensuring that this city remains a beacon of hope, progress, and prosperity. Let’s reignite a San Franciscan Renaissance.

Thank you,
Honest Charley Bodkin
San Francisco Mayoral Candidate, 2024