San Francisco’s comeback is shadowed by a growing class divide
San Francisco’s comeback is shadowed by a growing class divide
https://nypost.com/2026/06/07/opinion/san-franciscos-comeback-is-shadowed-by-a-growing-class-divide/
Publish Date: 2026-06-07 12:00:00
Source Domain: nypost.com
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has enjoyed a very happy honeymoon during his 18 months leading a city that not long ago was a much-mocked national symbol of urban dysfunction.
Lurie, an heir to Levi’s fortune with no previous political experience, has brought a little more order to downtown streets plagued by drug use and homelessness. He’s presided over an economic revival, driven by the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry.
On Instagram, where the earnest and sometimes-wonky Lurie, 49, feels right at home, he’s constantly reminding his followers that whatever doom-and-gloom stories they might have heard, the glorious city of San Francisco is back. Elections this week brought more good news: his favored Board of Supervisors candidates cruised to easy victories.
While Mayor Daniel Lurie is constantly reminding his followers that the glorious city of San Francisco is back, scenes like these show that the city’s homelessness crisis is far from solved. Jason Henry
Yet the mayor’s sky-high approval ratings are now being put to the test as a widening class divide, a yawning budget deficit, and an ongoing housing crisis undermine his centrist approach.
His ability to manage the city effectively over the next few years will have big implications for the troubled national Democratic Party, which San Francisco has done so much to shape.
It will also test something more ineffable: whether San Francisco can retain its unique identity as a refuge for those who think differently, and a destination for creatives and renegades from around the world.
As a “moderate” Democrat in a one-party town who isn’t beholden to unions and other interest groups, Lurie has managed to bridge some of the city’s fierce political divides with a straightforward, common-sense approach to the most visible problems.
Mayor Daniel Lurie’s high approval ratings are being put to the test. AP
Police and prosecutors are…
