In the latest swing at San Francisco's top seat, mayoral candidate Mark Farrell is hitting the streets with a hardline public safety platform. The former interim mayor and supervisor is proposing a citywide street vending ban and a return of retired cops to active duty without pension penalties. These measures come on the heels of an election that nudged the city's political needle rightward, granting SFPD increased powers and mandatory drug screenings for some welfare recipients.
According to The Standard, Farrell isn't shy about trashing the status quo, saying, "Over the last six years, everybody has watched our city crumble. Public safety has never been a bigger concern." He attributes the city's recent turn to "common sense" as a response to worsening street conditions, and he's packaging his campaign as the antidote. With law and order in his crosshairs, Farrell wants to expedite police hiring by outsourcing background checks and opening up the police academy's doors more often.
The former supervisor, now gunning for his old rival London Breed's job, detailed a plan to impose closure hours on the city's "most troubled parks from sunset to dawn," citing a need to clamp down on illegal activities, SFist reports. This law-and-order offensive also includes increasing the police budget to bolster the force's numbers and expanding the existing ban on street vending beyond the Mission district.
Farrell told The Standard that tackling the casinos of crime that proliferate after dark in areas like U.N. Plaza is key to restoring residents' sense of security. "We need San Francisco residents to feel safe across our city," he asserted, intending to concentrate on high-crime locations.
Not everyone's convinced by Farrell's hard-hitting proposals. Breed's campaign has jabbed back, writing off his ideas as "half-baked," as her spokesperson Joe Arellano quipped to SFist. Amidst this political sparring, Farrell remains steadfast, pledging public support for law enforcement and critiquing the current administration's approach to public safety and its impact on police recruitment.
