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But Breed is back to business, as first reported by The Standard. For the next six months, she will be an adviser for the Aspen Institute’s Bay Area-based policy academy. She will teach and mentor the academy’s fellows and represent the program at public events, according to a June 18 announcement that flew under the radar.
The Aspen Institute, which hosts yearly festivals attended by media and political elite, has close ties to Breed. The former mayor traveled on the institute’s dime to its events in Aspen, Colo., Amsterdam, and Washington, D.C., in 2019, 2022, and 2023. The Aspen Institute also has links to Bloomberg Philanthropies, which was founded by former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, a close ally of Breed who forked over $1.2 million to her 2024 campaign.
"Just because I’m not making noise every day doesn’t mean I’m not making moves,” Breed said. “I led San Francisco through some of its most difficult years—and much of the progress we’re beginning to see now is the result of the work we put in when times were tough.”
Breed’s fellow adviser-in-residence at the policy academy will be former Tulsa, Okla., mayor G.T. Bynum. But the Aspen Institute is a temporary gig, and sources say Breed is considering launching a consulting firm and already has potential clients lined up.
Records also show that shortly after leaving office, Breed staked a claim in a remote corner of northeastern California. She and chef Simileoluwa Adebajo appear to have jointly purchased 1.39 acres from Land of Land Inc. in the middle of nowhere, Modoc County.
Got tips? Send us an email at powerplay@sfstandard.com or text/call (415) 408-7504.
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In the pipeline |
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OH NO, OCOH: Mayor Daniel Lurie and the Board of Supervisors found a compromise on his controversial proposal to siphon money out of the Proposition C fund, known as Our City, Our Home. But one group was notably frozen out of the talks: the Coalition on Homelessness, which crafted Prop. C, the 2018 ballot measure that taxed corporations to fund homelessness services.
Lurie wanted to take $88 million meant for housing and transitional age youth from OCOH, as insiders call the fund, to pay for his ever-slipping promise to put up 1,500 shelter beds. The funding benefits the clients of Larkin Street Youth, which argues that young adults are usually on the losing end of homeless funding. The coalition floated the idea of suing the city in an article published by The Standard, with director Jennifer Friedenbach going so far as to call Lurie’s move “illegal.” That didn’t go down well at City Hall, and the coalition found itself iced out of negotiations between the board and mayor, an insider told Power Play.
Larkin Street was front and center, we’re told. The coalition didn’t answer our request for comment.
Despite the coalition’s exile, Board of Supervisors budget chair Connie Chan, fellow Supervisor Jackie Fielder, and community members successfully negotiated to fund some of the measure’s original intent: $9 million for medium-term housing subsidies and $20 million to rapidly rehouse families at risk of homelessness, according to budget documents.
Worth noting, this is perhaps the first example of the broader board successfully flexing its muscles against the mayor. Based on our intel, Lurie didn’t even have a full sweep of support from moderate supervisors, let alone the supermajority (8 of 11) votes he would’ve needed to redirect the voter-approved money.
Perhaps that’s why the new funding tally also included $6 million for RV homelessness intervention — a win for Supervisors Myrna Melgar and Shamann Walton, skeptics of Lurie’s plan whose districts include many folks living in RVs. The budget committee got a peek at the amendments Friday and may take a final vote Wednesday. The numbers could shift by then.
SOMETHING BLUE, SOMETHING NEW: Politicos packed a ballroom at the Westin St. Francis hotel Wednesday evening to learn about the “evolution” of TogetherSF, the defunct group that will now be known as Blueprint for a Better San Francisco. Power Play readers may remember that TogetherSF was shuttered in January, and its member list was sold to Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, a fellow moderate group, shortly after two crushing defeats in November’s election.
As we previously reported, Michael Moritz, the billionaire benefactor of TogetherSF who’s also chairman of The Standard, was none too pleased with the electoral outcomes. He is not involved in the new initiative.
Perhaps more concerning for Blueprint and Neighbors is that Lurie let it be known he wanted nothing to do with the organizations. No one from his administration showed up to the soiree Wednesday, although Dan Newman, who worked on a pro-Lurie committee funded by the mayor’s family, was in attendance.
Everyone was all smiles as Jay Cheng, executive director of Neighbors, laid out the vision for the rebrand and roasted Blueprint’s new ambassador, Scotty Jacobs, who most recently ran for District 5 supervisor. Others in attendance included District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, supervisors Rafael Mandelman and Matt Dorsey, CIty Attorney David Chiu, and state Sen. Scott Wiener.
Blueprint intends to set up an event space in Hayes Valley for voter education and outreach on City Hall issues. Resurrecting the group makes sense as TogetherSF’s member list was 165,000 strong, according to an organizer.
Power Play cornered Cheng at the event and asked if he had managed to get back in Lurie’s good graces after some bad blood from the mayor’s race. Cheng said there had been a “thaw” in the relationship. Max Szabo, a spokesperson for Lurie’s political side, declined to comment.
Cheng added that the new Neighbors for a Better San Francisco initiative plans to create an agenda that is aligned with the mayor’s. But without Lurie’s support, that may be a blueprint to nowhere.
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In case you missed it |
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PRIDE ON THE LINE: President Donald Trump’s war on diversity hasn’t succeeded in killing San Francisco’s signature queer rights celebration — yet. Still, San Francisco Pride is roughly $180,000 short of its $2.3 million fundraising goal after a slew of long-time sponsors pulled out this spring.
GRADE INFLATION? Critics of SFUSD have accused the district of lowering standards, but a Standard analysis of GPAs over the last decade found little evidence of grade inflation. The district’s B average held steady in middle and high schools, along with standardized test scores.
A MODEST PROPOSAL: An aspiring entrepreneur called on Trump to give him 500 acres in Alameda to build a “Silicon Valley 2.0.” Residents were unimpressed, with one calling it “the dumbest, most tech-brained garbage idea I’ve ever heard of.”
—Edited by Annie Gaus
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