New SF Supervisors prez: ‘Bout time we shifted from social justice fluff to “the basics”
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Chatting with The Free Press, SF’s president of the Board of Supes (Rafael Mandelman) says progressives have gotta start prioritizing “basic gov’t services” before auxiliary social justice initiatives. Plus, Mandelman wonders if 2020-era changes—defund the police, anyone?—were even helpful.
TFP’s Ben Kawaller (voiceover): I was in San Francisco for the inauguration of Mayor Daniel Laurie and the city's new Board of Supervisors. That's San Fran speak for “City Council.” This is a city with tough problems including crime, homelessness… But the mood at City Hall was celebratory… and the vibes were pretty different from four years ago. [Editor’s note: Here, Kawaller inserts clips of current Supervisors emphasizing public safety, clean streets, and a healthy economy.]
SF Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman: It does seem like there's been a pretty dramatic transformation since 2020, at least.
TFP’s Ben Kawaller (voiceover): This is Rafael Mandelman, who had just been unanimously elected president of the new board. He also seemed to have moved past the progressive talking points of 2021.
SF Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman: I think there's a set of folks who have been in the majority until now. But they've lost some of their numbers on the San Francisco Board, for whom the most important question is: what can we do today to advance social justice? Definitely, earlier in my career, that's kind of what I thought our job was.
I've become more and more convinced over my time on the board that the most important thing for a city like San Francisco is to show that a very blue city can be effectively governed.
TFP’s Ben Kawaller: Do you think any of the reforms, the social justice reforms of the 2020 era were successful?
SF Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman: I think that's really hard to say. I think taking a closer look at police practices around stops and trying to get more information about what is happening in, for example, traffic stops, trying to train police to slow down, to create time and distance—all these things, they were things that San Francisco, frankly, was already working on in 2020. But in many parts of the country, people weren't.
TFP’s Ben Kawaller: Were there policy changes in San Francisco that were correct?
SF Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman: I mean, probably. We have less officer-involved violence than we used to There are probably fewer people who have been killed in encounters with the police. There may be fewer police officers who have been injured in encounters with members of the public. …
And then you can think, “Oh, well, to what extent—is [social justice] related to increases in petty crime or feelings of lawlessness?” And I’m not sure what the answer to that question is.
The more time I've spent on the board, the more I've come to see that… the efficient provision of the basic government services, the things that go back to Hobbes as a justification for government, right, are things that are really important. And that if progressives want to be trusted and have the ability to do some of the social justice pursuit that we want to do, we have to take care of the basics.
(0:14–3:38)
Watch the whole thing here.
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