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.”
Building an AI Hub
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.
