San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie wants to bring his city back to its glory days. And he’s convinced tech leaders — who often pitch utopian ideals of their own — can help him deliver.
“I’m a mayor that is picking up the phone and calling CEOs,” said Lurie during TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event on Thursday night. “I’m calling entrepreneurs and saying, ‘How can we keep you here?’ or ‘How can we get you back?’”
The first step to winning these folks back, he said, is addressing a rampant drug and homelessness crisis that’s pushed many business leaders out of the city. Lurie has spent much of his first 100 days in office walking the city’s most troubled neighborhoods. This week, he rolled back a longstanding program in which San Francisco handed out free pipes, foil, and straws that were used to ingest drugs, such as fentanyl.
Lurie’s “common sense policies,” as he called them during his 2024 mayoral campaign, are largely being championed by technology leaders. As Ryan Peterson, the CEO of Flexport, walked off the stage at StrictlyVC while the San Francisco Mayor walked on, he yelled to Lurie:
“Thanks for cleaning up the city a bit.”
Beyond the public safety initiative, Lurie emphasized the need to make it easier to “build” in San Francisco — referring to construction of houses and creation of businesses.
The city recently unveiled a new initiative, Permit SF, which would reduce the amount of red tape that startups must wade through to operate in San Francisco.
On Thursday, the mayor also introduced a new zoning proposal that would allow taller buildings — and thus, more housing — in neighborhoods that traditionally have only allowed lower, single family homes. If passed, it could be the first rezoning of San Francisco since 1970.
“We want our entrepreneurs starting businesses and then staying here,” said Lurie. “That means streamlining permitting, making it easier to start a restaurant, a bar, or a startup.”
“What we need more of is people coming together and being […] practical. We sort of lost that here in San Francisco,” said Lurie. “I believe the business community that has stayed here, that did not leave, understands our values, and we’re going to attract businesses back in the coming years.”
As part of that effort, Lurie said he wants to get “competitive on the tax front,” suggesting he’s willing to give tax breaks to companies in the city. The San Francisco mayor said he’s already worked with the city’s leading AI companies to build more offices and hold more conferences in the city.
For example, Lurie said he convinced Databricks to hold its AI conference in San Francisco through 2030, instead of moving to Las Vegas as the company originally planned. Last month, the mayor also attended the ribbon cutting for a new OpenAI office.
While these AI companies may get tax cuts, the mayor wants them to invest in San Francisco in other ways. Specifically, he wants OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to “get loud about” their investments in San Francisco’s arts and culture scenes, which he says the company has already been doing quietly.
But Lurie doesn’t just want the tech industry’s dollars, he’s after their ideas as well. The city recently announced the Partnership for San Francisco — a consortium of business leaders, including The Atlantic owner and Steve Jobs widow Laurene Powell Jobs, famed Apple designer Jony Ive, and Altman — to help give businesses a clear channel to talk with city hall.
But some San Franciscans are concerned the tech industry is pushing out other communities. That tension recently flared up when Waymo tried obtaining a permit to map out the SFO airport, allowing its robotaxis to take riders to and from the airport.
Waymo successfully obtained an SFO mapping permit, but it came with a strict carveout to ensure Waymo wouldn’t move commercial goods to and from the airport. Thanks to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, delivery drivers hold great power in San Francisco’s city hall.
Lurie said he worked out deals with labor unions to get Waymo’s SFO permit done, but clarified that “Waymo is not going anywhere.”
The mayor said he’s convinced that autonomous vehicles are “where the future is going,” and that he’s talked with other companies about having a larger presence in city. Lurie also didn’t rule out building the city’s infrastructure to accommodate more autonomous vehicles.
While much of the tech industry’s innovation has historically happened in Silicon Valley, about 40 miles south of the city, the AI boom seems firmly centered in San Francisco. Lurie says that’s given the city some momentum to really bring innovation back to the city.
“When we’re done, everyone’s going to be like, ‘I got to be in San Francisco. Otherwise I’m missing out.’ That’s where we’re going,” said Lurie.
