An interview with San Francisco mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie

(SAN FRANCISCO) "As Chinatown grows, as the Asian community grows, so grows San Francisco," San Francisco mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie said in an interview with the Wind Newspaper to share his thoughts with the Chinese community of why he decided to run for mayor in November 2024.

Lurie, a philanthropist and founder of non-profit Tipping Point Community, officially announced his candidacy for mayor on September 26 in a rally with hundreds of supporters.

Lurie, 46, had never run for any public offices in the past. Prior to his announcement, Lurie had already received attention from local and national news media.

As of September 26 morning when Lurie filled out papers at the Department of Elections, there have been 28 other candidates submitting papers to run for mayor in 2024, including current Mayor London Breed.

Lurie was born to a prestigious Jewish family. He is the son of Rabbi Brian Lurie and Mimi Haas who remarried to Peter Haas, an heir to the Levi Strauss Corporation. Rabbi Lurie was the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco.

Lurie graduated with a B.A. in political science from Duke University. After working for several years on the east coast at Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign and Robin Hood Foundation, Lurie returned to the San Francisco Bay Area and earned his master degree in public policy at UC Berkeley in 2005.

In the same year of 2005, Lurie founded the Tipping Point Community, a non-profit organization to raise funds to help house, employ, educate and support Bay Area low income families. He also served as its CEO until 2019.

Tipping Point Community has raised over $500 million under his leadership. In 2022, the Tipping Point Community provided over 6,000 people with services to help them out of homelessness or prevent them from experiencing it.

Also in 2022, Lurie co-founded the Civic Joy Fund, an organization that aims to increase civic engagement and assist in the economic recovery of San Francisco. BeChinatown's project to install lanterns at the Chinatown alleys and Tenderloin also received donations from Civic Joy Fund.

Lurie has met with the Chinese community leaders for a year before he made a decision for his candidacy for mayor next year.

"I was born and raised in San Francisco. I have a 12-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son. We are facing a crisis of leadership and the direction that we are headed leaves me deeply concerned that the next generation will not love San Francisco as we do," said Lurie.

"Direct records show that this administration has repeatedly failed," Lurie said. "My career has lifted up the low income community and provided opportunities to the people."

Lurie said he always learned from his father who was a Rabbi that he was obligated to take care of others and give back to the community.

Lurie has been seen showing up at Chinatown events by himself very often, including the latest workshop in Chinatown on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Accessible Business Entrance (ABE) law.

A number of Chinatown merchants have faced a hardship in the City’s new law ABE which requires the storefront businesses to make their entrances accessible to the people with disabilities.

Lurie heard the merchants' loud complaints in the workshop about the new law.

"We should be cutting the red tapes for the small businesses," said Lurie. "Some merchants need to pay $75,000 for the ABE store entrance project. The City is not in a role to support our small businesses, instead against them."

When asked about the future of San Francisco's economy, Lurie responded that public safety was a key issue affecting the city in all aspects.

The anti-Asian hate and violent incidents have been on the rise in San Francisco since the pandemic. Asian elders have been the target of many brutal attacks.

Lurie knew that many Chinese and Asian seniors were scared to leave their homes to take buses. "It is important for the city to make the community feel safe," said Lurie.

Lurie supported having a full staffed police department, having the Asian and bilingual officers to walk the beat to serve the community members who look like them. He said he would implement an aggressive recruitment and retention campaign to have most sworn officers at the police department.

To deal with the hate and violence, smash-and-grabs, auto burglaries, open-air drug markets, Lurie agreed to hold the offenders accountable, and to charge them with conspiracy.

As long as the residents and visitors feel safe on the streets of San Francisco, Lurie strongly believed that San Francisco would return to normal, the businesses would get better.

"We will have a great future. As Chinatown grows, as the Asian community grows, so grows San Francisco," Lurie said.