San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie: ‘We are a city on the rise’

I met for the first time Daniel Lowrythe new mayor of San Francisco, about five minutes before we went on stage WIRED’s big interview eventWhich was held in his city last week.

Lurie’s team told me in advance that his window for this conversation was narrow: He had just returned from announcing the city’s new police chief, and had about a half-hour before he needed to move on to the next thing. who was? “I have no idea,” Laurie quipped, shortly before we were ushered offstage into our talk in front of several hundred attendees — a home crowd who, judging by their raucous reactions to Laurie’s every word, were among the 73% of the population is San Franciscan Who approve of the work he has done since taking office in January of this year.

To Lowry’s credit, San Francisco’s story right now is largely a positive one. The city is indisputably the global center for AI innovation and the billions of dollars that go with it, with companies such as Anthropic and OpenAIalong with small startups, investors, and a lot of young AI-focused technologists, all call San Francisco home. Yes, that means rents are up and housing stock is still precariously low. But office vacancy rates are declining, retail outlets are returning to downtown, and, as Lurie’s office was quick to tout, several key metrics that measure municipal crime — including homicides and car thefts — are at historic lows.

I wanted to talk to Lurie about all that, but I was also curious about the bigger picture: his administration’s dynamic with the federal government, particularly in the context of President Trump’s plan in October to send the National Guard to San Francisco — an endeavor that Lurie had managed to thwart. According to the New York Timesby recruiting a powerful coterie of technology executives to operate the phones for him.

Lowry was completely unprepared there, in keeping with his aggressive efforts to focus the talks on San Francisco, perhaps avoiding attracting the attention or wrath of the current administration. It’s a different approach than other Democrats who govern progressive parts of the country have taken from New York City’s mayor-elect. Zahran Mamdani To California Governor Gavin Newsom. But if the response in the room last week is any indication, it seems that Lowry’s local fans don’t mind his “say less” strategy — at least for now.