New SF Mayor Daniel Lurie launched his “Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance” on Tuesday, however there’s already some pushback, because it arms out no-oversight cash to division heads to create potential for Mohammed Nuru-type self-dealing.
When San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie was inaugurated final Wednesday, Heather Knight’s New York Occasions dispatch had a scoop. “His declaration of a fentanyl emergency,” Knight wrote, “will speed its way to the Board of Supervisors, akin to a City Council, on Tuesday for what is expected to be swift approval.”
However that’s not precisely what occurred. The laws was not prepared for a Board of Supervisors vote Tuesday (there could have been pushback from the Metropolis Lawyer on some if its specifics, we’ll in all probability by no means know). It was merely “introduced” on Tuesday with no vote. And the Board’s response signifies this “swift approval” might not be as swift as hoped.
Immediately we launched a Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance to the Board of Supervisors to handle the disaster on our streets. Inaction is not an choice, and forms can not be the excuse. This ordinance will permit us to surge sources, overcome bureaucratic… pic.twitter.com/HySvTBxwsY
— Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 (@DanielLurie) January 15, 2025
Both means, Lurie did launch his emergency plan Tuesday. “San Franciscans demanded that we take action and get results on the fentanyl crisis. In close partnership with the Board of Supervisors, we are doing just that,” Lurie stated in a press release. “The Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance will allow us to surge resources and overcome the bureaucratic obstacles getting in the way of progress. I want to thank the supervisors who have already joined the effort, and I look forward to working with all of the supervisors for their quick approval.”
Image: SFGovTV
Lurie has already lined up a few pro-London Breed moderate supervisors to cheerlead for the emergency order. Supervisor Matt Dorsey may have been a little too honest in his supportive remarks, opening them with “I will stand, because I understand this is a photo op.”
New District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood added his support, saying, “We did this during COVID in addressing the pandemic, and this will be replicating similar effective powers to the Mayor’s Office.” Dorsey, Mahmood and new D2 supe Stephen Sherrill have declared themselves co-sponsors of Lurie’s emergency ordinance, Supervisor Joel Engardio lent a supportive quote in the official press release.
But new board president Rafael Mandelman was not quoted in that release, and he did not take the chance to speak of it favorably of the ordinance at Tuesday’s meeting. So there may be conclusions to be drawn from that.
But Lurie’s ordinance already has opponents on the board.
“I suppose we’re doing one thing form of new at Roll Name right now and expressing our assist for initiatives — or in my case lack of assist,” Supervisor Shamann Walton stated. “During COVID, we gave emergency powers to the mayor with the presence of a specific plan. Right now we have legislation that requests waiving processes and allowing for swift decision-making, but we don’t have a plan in front of us.”
Politics apart, KGO explains what Lurie’s emergency ordinance does. That outlet says it’s going to “unlock funding and expedite hiring and contracting,” which appears to go straight in opposition to the so-called “hiring freeze” that Lurie declared on his first full day in workplace.
It additionally makes multi-agency Drug Market Company Coordination Heart everlasting (which it already was) however expands its to operations to the beleaguered Sixth Avenue. Lurie moreover proposes a Hospitality Zone Process Pressure to scrub up areas that vacationers see, devoted to “Union Square, Market Street, and Moscone Center areas EVERY day — not just when we have a conference or special event happening downtown.” On high of that, there’s a 24/7 Drop-Off Disaster Stabilization Unit proposed as a substitute for jails and hospitals, when deemed applicable.
However most controversially, the ordinance provides Metropolis Corridor division heads the power to enter into no-bid contracts, and eliminates Board of Supervisors oversight. That significantly expands the form of situations that allowed disgraced former Public Works head Mohammed Nuru to complement himself with bribes and cronyism.
Mission Native has been stressing for a pair months that, legally talking, this isn’t an precise “Fentanyl State of Emergency.” They level to the language defining SF state of emergency orders, which notes that “The situation must be something that the City could not have specifically anticipated and prevented, such as an earthquake or a terrorist attack.” We’ve identified fentanyl has been right here for years, which is why London Breed’s 2021 try and declare a fentanyl state of emergency was renamed as a “Tenderloin state of emergency.”
As Mission Native famous in an op-ed this week, Lurie’s ordinance “is not going to be declaring an precise ‘fentanyl state of emergency,’ as a result of he can’t. Reasonably, he’s giving the opposite stuff he plans to do the identify ‘fentanyl state of emergency.’” (Italics theirs.)
Moreover, actual state of emergency declarations are required to be reviewed every 90 days. This one has no such review process.
So Lurie’s ordinance might be seen as an influence seize to take oversight talents away from the Board of Supervisors. However the energy will get transferred to metropolis departments heads below Lurie’s new management construction, and it is a boon for nonprofits who line up for large metropolis contracts.
Stripping energy from the Board of Supervisors could also be politically palatable to voters. Handing energy to the nonprofit-industrial complicated could show much less so. And Lurie would want for these expedited powers for nonprofit contracts to be dealt with ethically and effectively, which town doesn’t have an incredible monitor document at.
Associated: Lurie Proclaims Metropolis Corridor Hiring Freeze on First Full Day in Workplace, Fentanyl Emergency Order Coming by Tuesday [SFist]
