10 ms·

Ed Lee, 65, SF mayor who had a close relationship with the tech world, has died

158 points by doppp 9y ago

paulsutter 9y ago
I'm sure Ed Lee was a great guy, but San Francisco is the worst-managed city I have ever seen (lived there for many years). I don't expect improvement anytime soon, but everyone should get on board the YIMBY movement and push hard for change.
- jdavis703 9y ago
  Ed Lee started out as an affordable housing advocate. I'm not sure what happened to him along the way. Did he get more conservative as he got older? Did the city's runaway growth outdo him? As for getting on board the YIMBY movement, Fast Co writes that the new mayor "grew up with her grandmother in the city’s housing projects and public housing has been an important part and particular focus of her political career. " A quick skim of voting records also appears that she supports development: https://sfgov.legistar.com/PersonDetail.aspx?ID=92842&GUID=4062CB2D-6026-4732-8E15-CD52FB7529AE&Search= https://sfgov.legistar.com/PersonDetail.aspx?ID=92842&GUID=4....
  - yonran 9y ago
    Ed Lee advocated for the right housing policies. As mayor, he created the Affordable Housing Trust Fund after California ended Redevelopment and created several efforts to increase the housing supply, including the Public Land for Housing program (http://sf-planning.org/public-land-housing-formerly-public-sites-portfolio http://sf-planning.org/public-land-housing-formerly-public-s...) and the executive directive to streamline construction permits (http://sfmayor.org/article/executive-directive-17-02 http://sfmayor.org/article/executive-directive-17-02). On housing, my only criticism of Lee is that he was too slow to recognize the affordability issue.
  - ucaetano 9y ago
    > Ed Lee started out as an affordable housing advocate. The best pro-affordable housing policy is plenty of market-rate construction.
  - lacker 9y ago
    The affordable housing movement changed. It used to be people who wanted housing to be cheaper. Now it is people who want housing to be more expensive. They just kept the same name out of inertia.
  - xster 9y ago
    Thanks for the voting records link!
- masterleep 9y ago
  Ironically, Ed Lee was viewed as the competent one. Get ready for what comes next to be worse.
- timr 9y ago
  ...or alternatively, demand that the city stop handing moneyed interests the keys to the city. It's embarrassing to see a gigantic empty mall in the middle of Market street when so many people are homeless. You can thank Ed Lee for that -- it would be “such an attraction for retail,” he said [1]. What could have been an apartment building or live/work space became a mall that nobody wants [2]. While the housing crisis is real in SF, the "YIMBY" movement is a fairly thoughtless, knee-jerk reaction to the problem. In general in SF, developers have been getting exactly what they want since Wille Brown -- they just don't build things that help people who don't have money. SF could use some balance on the other side of the ledger. [1] http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/11/12/150-million-retail-development-breaks-ground-at-san-franciscos-6th-and-market/ http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/11/12/150-million-reta... [2] http://hoodline.com/2017/02/market-street-s-6x6-mall-opens-parking-access-but-still-has-no-confirmed-tenants http://hoodline.com/2017/02/market-street-s-6x6-mall-opens-p...
- nodesocket 9y ago
  As a recent downtown SF resident who just fled San Francisco after 6 years I completely agree. Sad about his passing, but SF politics and policies are completely backward. The city refuses to acknowledge problems and punish bad behavior for fear of social justice backlash. Instead they villainize hard working Americans and victimize criminals. Off to greener pastures; Nashville TN for me.
  - justboxing 9y ago
    How's the job scene in Nashville? Work in Tech?
    - nodesocket 9y ago
      Self employed (SaaS and consultant). I am sure there will be far less networking opportunities there vs SF, but my sanity, safety, and personal happiness is more important.
  - hyperbovine 9y ago
    Put differently, a tremendous number of people are willing to put up with SF, warts and all, rather than move somewhere else. It must be an amazing place to live.
    - refurb 9y ago
      Is that true? There seems to be a lot of churn. People come when they are young and leave after a few years.
      - butterfi 9y ago
        This is very much true, and has been since the 80's. Source? Me. I'm still here, but 95% of the people I met when I moved here in '85 have moved back home.
      - tomkarlo 9y ago
        That's true of a lot of large cities in that age group - as you start families, you tend to start to value cheap housing (for more space) and good schools more than you do when you're single. I remember a stat that said if you move to a city after you're 30, you have a >50% chance of staying there long term, and that's why cities will target that age group when trying to get people to move. I'm guessing that means for people 20-30 the % that stay in a city is less than that, so it would be normal to see most folks you know eventually move out of town in that age bracket in a major city. SF has a lot of turnover, but the few studies I've seen say it's not particularly high by US standards. Nashville, for one, is higher. (Notably this study is by MSA so it wouldn't consider someone moving from SF to say, Burlingame a departure.) https://www.abodo.com/blog/so-long-to-the-city/ https://www.abodo.com/blog/so-long-to-the-city/
- mmanfrin 9y ago
  Ed Lee took over Newsom's spot with a pledge that he would not run for Mayor in the special election (since taking over as interim Mayor would give him a big incumbent bump since many voters are apathetic about local elections and tend to just pick the name they recognize). Come election time, Lee throws his hat into the ring, to the jeers of people who cried foul.
  - CalChris 9y ago
    Similarly, Gavin Newsom was appointed to the Board of Supervisors by Brown. San Francisco could markedly improve if appointments to vacant elected offices were banned.
- transitorykris 9y ago
  I would not pin the troubles the city is facing on Ed Lee. The Board of Supervisors has an outsized influence on policy, especially housing, and for the most part continues to obstruct development single handedly.
- MBlume 9y ago
  The mayor has only so much power over the city. As someone involved in the YIMBY movement, I think we mostly considered him an ally.
realworldstuff 9y ago
Wouldn't be surprised if this was an assassination by the Triad Edit: Thanks Apocryphon for the correction
- Mizza 9y ago
  This has been downvoted as it seems like a racist/troll comment, but Lee did in fact have connections to a Chinese gang, as does his new successor, London Breed. This might not be well known to people outside of SF, or even people within it. Here is an article about it. http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/04/san_francisco_corruption_mayor_prosecutor_gangster_shrimp_boy_chow_ensnared.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/04/san_franci... > The investigation into Shrimp Boy's Chinatown gang empire has already resulted in California state Sen. Leland Yee pleading guilty to racketeering after he was implicated alongside Chow in a weapons trafficking scheme. Chow's defense team now claims that a Yee associate, businessman Derf Butler, also funnelled "untraceable debit cards for clothing and trips" to San Francisco City Supervisor London Breed. Real life is stranger than fiction sometimes.
  - Apocryphon 9y ago
    It's also offensive because the proper term should be tong or Triad, not "Chinese Mafia." If they're gonna conspiracize, get the nomenclature right.
  - anigbrowl 9y ago
    Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow alleged all sorts of things about everyone in San Francisco while defending himself against organized crime charges, and while some of them may be true it's a stretch to say that Lee 'did in fact have connections to a Chinese gang.' Chow was a colorful figure who supposedly went straight after an earlier stint in prison and took part in city politics in terms of showing up at some fundraisers or community events. But none of his allegations against the mayor or other figures went anywhere. I don't think you can blame this on bias at the FBI; you'd need to explain why they were happy to indict Yee (who arguably had a higher political profile and was seen as a future governor) but somehow gave Ed Lee a pass.
CalChris 9y ago
London Breed is a native San Franciscan. However, she's also a Willie Brown protégé. Willie Brown was/is the Donald Trump of San Francisco. Of course, when Ed Lee was elected many said it was Brown's third term.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Willie Brown was/is the Donald Trump of San Francisco. Wait, what? How is that analogy supposed to work? Willie Brown : San Francisco :: Donald Trump : ??? Donald Trump is a born-wealthy real estate developer that eventually entered electoral politics, first holding office at an age when people are more likely to retire from electoral politics than begin a career. Willie Lewis Brown, Jr., was born in segregated Texas, first worked as a shoe-shine boy, became a lawyer, and shortly went into politics, serving 30+ years in the Assembly, about half of it as Speaker. (And a while as kingmaker when the Republicans held a slim majority.) Trump is perceived as an anti-establishment political figure, Brown was the California political establishment, even when other people held higher offices in the State (and even in the interruption in his time as Speaker.) Other than both being men, I can't see much that they have in common that would justify the analogy you suggest. They are more opposites than analogs.
  - tptacek 9y ago
    I lived in San Francisco during the Willie Brown era, and the rap on him was that he was the closest thing to a Chicago-style politician you'd find anywhere outside of Chicago. I got caught up in a towing scam run by people connected to his administration; I'm inclined to believe that reputation was earned.
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      Sure, there's at least a sound basis for accusing Brown of being a big city machine politician (in style, at least, SF isn't really a big city, despite what it thinks of itself.) But even that hardly supports an analogy to Trump: there are lots of things you can say about Trump, but machine politician isn't one of them.
aantix 9y ago
Remember Ed Lee's "2 Legit to Quit" campaign video? Epic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbdd_Fasz0k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbdd_Fasz0k
- sxates 9y ago
  Reminds me of former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan's surreal "driving around with local rappers in a prius" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i1NxQ83oEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i1NxQ83oEQ What's with mayors and weird campaign videos?
  - cycrutchfield 9y ago
    You remember it, so it clearly worked.
  - zenlikethat 9y ago
    Bay Area
dmode 9y ago
Sad to see him die young. Mixed feelings about his tenure. He was instrumental in making SF the tech powerhouse it has become. He also more friendly to developers housing. Where he fell short was managing the homeless and property crime issue. Hopefully someone can take those issues more seriously
- hyperbovine 9y ago
  Is 65 considered young? Honest question. He was born during the Truman administration...
  - marme 9y ago
    not young but most would consider it premature death. Average life expectancy in US is over 75
    - hyperbovine 9y ago
      Alas, not all of us can expect to live to an above-average age.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      > Average life expectancy in US is over 75 Life expectancy at birth for males in the US is 75+ (80+ for females) now. In 1950, for males, life expectancy at birth was 65.6 years. https://www.infoplease.com/life-expectancy-birth-race-and-sex-1930-2010 https://www.infoplease.com/life-expectancy-birth-race-and-se...
      - melling 9y ago
        Yeah, in 1950 you could die from polio. Half the male population smoked. No seatbelts in cars, ... No treatments for cancer, heart disease... There were a lot of factors.
  - 9y ago
marinman 9y ago
Didn't always agree with his policies or politics but sad to see this. Condolences to his families. As for London Breed, I've met her a few times at community gatherings. She seems like she has a good head on her shoulders. We'll see, SF has lots of problems.
butterfi 9y ago
I'm seeing a lot of people who may not have agreed with Ed Lee politics, but still have good things to say about the man. That gives me a little hope that we don't have to accept the "politics as warfare"attitude that seems to dominate American culture.
car 9y ago
I had the honor of meeting Ed Lee recently. This is very sad. Ed was a truly kind and humble man, my heart goes out to his family.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
mleonhard 9y ago
From 2011 through the end of 2015, SF jobs grew 23% and housing grew only 3%! Mayor Ed Lee worked hard to bring jobs to SF. I wish he had worked harder to bring housing and transit for the people working those new jobs. The result of the imbalance is more money for the wealthy (higher rent income & tiny houses sold for $1M) and more suffering for everyone else (higher rents, crowding, displacement, & unhealthy commutes).

158 points by doppp 9y ago

I'm sure Ed Lee was a great guy, but San Francisco is the worst-managed city I have ever seen (lived there for many years). I don't expect improvement anytime soon, but everyone should get on board the YIMBY movement and push hard for change.

jdavis703 9y ago
Ed Lee started out as an affordable housing advocate. I'm not sure what happened to him along the way. Did he get more conservative as he got older? Did the city's runaway growth outdo him? As for getting on board the YIMBY movement, Fast Co writes that the new mayor "grew up with her grandmother in the city’s housing projects and public housing has been an important part and particular focus of her political career. " A quick skim of voting records also appears that she supports development: https://sfgov.legistar.com/PersonDetail.aspx?ID=92842&GUID=4062CB2D-6026-4732-8E15-CD52FB7529AE&Search= https://sfgov.legistar.com/PersonDetail.aspx?ID=92842&GUID=4....
- yonran 9y ago
  Ed Lee advocated for the right housing policies. As mayor, he created the Affordable Housing Trust Fund after California ended Redevelopment and created several efforts to increase the housing supply, including the Public Land for Housing program (http://sf-planning.org/public-land-housing-formerly-public-sites-portfolio http://sf-planning.org/public-land-housing-formerly-public-s...) and the executive directive to streamline construction permits (http://sfmayor.org/article/executive-directive-17-02 http://sfmayor.org/article/executive-directive-17-02). On housing, my only criticism of Lee is that he was too slow to recognize the affordability issue.
- ucaetano 9y ago
  > Ed Lee started out as an affordable housing advocate. The best pro-affordable housing policy is plenty of market-rate construction.
- lacker 9y ago
  The affordable housing movement changed. It used to be people who wanted housing to be cheaper. Now it is people who want housing to be more expensive. They just kept the same name out of inertia.
- xster 9y ago
  Thanks for the voting records link!
masterleep 9y ago
Ironically, Ed Lee was viewed as the competent one. Get ready for what comes next to be worse.
timr 9y ago
...or alternatively, demand that the city stop handing moneyed interests the keys to the city. It's embarrassing to see a gigantic empty mall in the middle of Market street when so many people are homeless. You can thank Ed Lee for that -- it would be “such an attraction for retail,” he said [1]. What could have been an apartment building or live/work space became a mall that nobody wants [2]. While the housing crisis is real in SF, the "YIMBY" movement is a fairly thoughtless, knee-jerk reaction to the problem. In general in SF, developers have been getting exactly what they want since Wille Brown -- they just don't build things that help people who don't have money. SF could use some balance on the other side of the ledger. [1] http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/11/12/150-million-retail-development-breaks-ground-at-san-franciscos-6th-and-market/ http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/11/12/150-million-reta... [2] http://hoodline.com/2017/02/market-street-s-6x6-mall-opens-parking-access-but-still-has-no-confirmed-tenants http://hoodline.com/2017/02/market-street-s-6x6-mall-opens-p...
nodesocket 9y ago
As a recent downtown SF resident who just fled San Francisco after 6 years I completely agree. Sad about his passing, but SF politics and policies are completely backward. The city refuses to acknowledge problems and punish bad behavior for fear of social justice backlash. Instead they villainize hard working Americans and victimize criminals. Off to greener pastures; Nashville TN for me.
- justboxing 9y ago
  How's the job scene in Nashville? Work in Tech?
  - nodesocket 9y ago
    Self employed (SaaS and consultant). I am sure there will be far less networking opportunities there vs SF, but my sanity, safety, and personal happiness is more important.
- hyperbovine 9y ago
  Put differently, a tremendous number of people are willing to put up with SF, warts and all, rather than move somewhere else. It must be an amazing place to live.
  - refurb 9y ago
    Is that true? There seems to be a lot of churn. People come when they are young and leave after a few years.
    - butterfi 9y ago
      This is very much true, and has been since the 80's. Source? Me. I'm still here, but 95% of the people I met when I moved here in '85 have moved back home.
    - tomkarlo 9y ago
      That's true of a lot of large cities in that age group - as you start families, you tend to start to value cheap housing (for more space) and good schools more than you do when you're single. I remember a stat that said if you move to a city after you're 30, you have a >50% chance of staying there long term, and that's why cities will target that age group when trying to get people to move. I'm guessing that means for people 20-30 the % that stay in a city is less than that, so it would be normal to see most folks you know eventually move out of town in that age bracket in a major city. SF has a lot of turnover, but the few studies I've seen say it's not particularly high by US standards. Nashville, for one, is higher. (Notably this study is by MSA so it wouldn't consider someone moving from SF to say, Burlingame a departure.) https://www.abodo.com/blog/so-long-to-the-city/ https://www.abodo.com/blog/so-long-to-the-city/
mmanfrin 9y ago
Ed Lee took over Newsom's spot with a pledge that he would not run for Mayor in the special election (since taking over as interim Mayor would give him a big incumbent bump since many voters are apathetic about local elections and tend to just pick the name they recognize). Come election time, Lee throws his hat into the ring, to the jeers of people who cried foul.
- CalChris 9y ago
  Similarly, Gavin Newsom was appointed to the Board of Supervisors by Brown. San Francisco could markedly improve if appointments to vacant elected offices were banned.
transitorykris 9y ago
I would not pin the troubles the city is facing on Ed Lee. The Board of Supervisors has an outsized influence on policy, especially housing, and for the most part continues to obstruct development single handedly.
MBlume 9y ago
The mayor has only so much power over the city. As someone involved in the YIMBY movement, I think we mostly considered him an ally.

realworldstuff 9y ago

Wouldn't be surprised if this was an assassination by the Triad Edit: Thanks Apocryphon for the correction

Mizza 9y ago
This has been downvoted as it seems like a racist/troll comment, but Lee did in fact have connections to a Chinese gang, as does his new successor, London Breed. This might not be well known to people outside of SF, or even people within it. Here is an article about it. http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/04/san_francisco_corruption_mayor_prosecutor_gangster_shrimp_boy_chow_ensnared.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/04/san_franci... > The investigation into Shrimp Boy's Chinatown gang empire has already resulted in California state Sen. Leland Yee pleading guilty to racketeering after he was implicated alongside Chow in a weapons trafficking scheme. Chow's defense team now claims that a Yee associate, businessman Derf Butler, also funnelled "untraceable debit cards for clothing and trips" to San Francisco City Supervisor London Breed. Real life is stranger than fiction sometimes.
- Apocryphon 9y ago
  It's also offensive because the proper term should be tong or Triad, not "Chinese Mafia." If they're gonna conspiracize, get the nomenclature right.
- anigbrowl 9y ago
  Raymond 'Shrimp Boy' Chow alleged all sorts of things about everyone in San Francisco while defending himself against organized crime charges, and while some of them may be true it's a stretch to say that Lee 'did in fact have connections to a Chinese gang.' Chow was a colorful figure who supposedly went straight after an earlier stint in prison and took part in city politics in terms of showing up at some fundraisers or community events. But none of his allegations against the mayor or other figures went anywhere. I don't think you can blame this on bias at the FBI; you'd need to explain why they were happy to indict Yee (who arguably had a higher political profile and was seen as a future governor) but somehow gave Ed Lee a pass.

CalChris 9y ago

London Breed is a native San Franciscan. However, she's also a Willie Brown protégé. Willie Brown was/is the Donald Trump of San Francisco. Of course, when Ed Lee was elected many said it was Brown's third term.

dragonwriter 9y ago
> Willie Brown was/is the Donald Trump of San Francisco. Wait, what? How is that analogy supposed to work? Willie Brown : San Francisco :: Donald Trump : ??? Donald Trump is a born-wealthy real estate developer that eventually entered electoral politics, first holding office at an age when people are more likely to retire from electoral politics than begin a career. Willie Lewis Brown, Jr., was born in segregated Texas, first worked as a shoe-shine boy, became a lawyer, and shortly went into politics, serving 30+ years in the Assembly, about half of it as Speaker. (And a while as kingmaker when the Republicans held a slim majority.) Trump is perceived as an anti-establishment political figure, Brown was the California political establishment, even when other people held higher offices in the State (and even in the interruption in his time as Speaker.) Other than both being men, I can't see much that they have in common that would justify the analogy you suggest. They are more opposites than analogs.
- tptacek 9y ago
  I lived in San Francisco during the Willie Brown era, and the rap on him was that he was the closest thing to a Chicago-style politician you'd find anywhere outside of Chicago. I got caught up in a towing scam run by people connected to his administration; I'm inclined to believe that reputation was earned.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    Sure, there's at least a sound basis for accusing Brown of being a big city machine politician (in style, at least, SF isn't really a big city, despite what it thinks of itself.) But even that hardly supports an analogy to Trump: there are lots of things you can say about Trump, but machine politician isn't one of them.

aantix 9y ago

Remember Ed Lee's "2 Legit to Quit" campaign video? Epic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbdd_Fasz0k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbdd_Fasz0k

sxates 9y ago
Reminds me of former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan's surreal "driving around with local rappers in a prius" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i1NxQ83oEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i1NxQ83oEQ What's with mayors and weird campaign videos?
- cycrutchfield 9y ago
  You remember it, so it clearly worked.
- zenlikethat 9y ago
  Bay Area

dmode 9y ago

Sad to see him die young. Mixed feelings about his tenure. He was instrumental in making SF the tech powerhouse it has become. He also more friendly to developers housing. Where he fell short was managing the homeless and property crime issue. Hopefully someone can take those issues more seriously

hyperbovine 9y ago
Is 65 considered young? Honest question. He was born during the Truman administration...
- marme 9y ago
  not young but most would consider it premature death. Average life expectancy in US is over 75
  - hyperbovine 9y ago
    Alas, not all of us can expect to live to an above-average age.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > Average life expectancy in US is over 75 Life expectancy at birth for males in the US is 75+ (80+ for females) now. In 1950, for males, life expectancy at birth was 65.6 years. https://www.infoplease.com/life-expectancy-birth-race-and-sex-1930-2010 https://www.infoplease.com/life-expectancy-birth-race-and-se...
    - melling 9y ago
      Yeah, in 1950 you could die from polio. Half the male population smoked. No seatbelts in cars, ... No treatments for cancer, heart disease... There were a lot of factors.
- 9y ago

marinman 9y ago

Didn't always agree with his policies or politics but sad to see this. Condolences to his families. As for London Breed, I've met her a few times at community gatherings. She seems like she has a good head on her shoulders. We'll see, SF has lots of problems.

butterfi 9y ago

I'm seeing a lot of people who may not have agreed with Ed Lee politics, but still have good things to say about the man. That gives me a little hope that we don't have to accept the "politics as warfare"attitude that seems to dominate American culture.

car 9y ago

I had the honor of meeting Ed Lee recently. This is very sad. Ed was a truly kind and humble man, my heart goes out to his family.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

mleonhard 9y ago

From 2011 through the end of 2015, SF jobs grew 23% and housing grew only 3%! Mayor Ed Lee worked hard to bring jobs to SF. I wish he had worked harder to bring housing and transit for the people working those new jobs. The result of the imbalance is more money for the wealthy (higher rent income & tiny houses sold for $1M) and more suffering for everyone else (higher rents, crowding, displacement, & unhealthy commutes).