The Phoenix Review is a weekly analysis of the right-wing forces shaping local politics through campaign spending. Learn about the billionaire agenda in short takes from the Bay Area’s most thoughtful political observers.
In a few short months, state Senator Scott Wiener may come one step closer to his long-stated goal of replacing Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and attaining a measure of the power that comes with succeeding a Democratic Party icon. Recent polling has Wiener leading what is expected to be a close
Where did San Francisco’s environmental movement go? This seems a rather naive question since concern for the climate is everywhere in the city’s political language. But that saturation conceals a troubling shift. Environmentalism in San Francisco has not been defeated in public debate. Rather, despite the indisputable reality
A few weeks ago it was revealed that San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie spent about $1 million on consultants to burnish his image during his first year in office. While the tone of much of this coverage was critical, although conceding that it was perfectly legal, there is another way
You wouldn’t know it from corporate media, but there’s a mobilized, determined movement protecting San Francisco from a deepening crisis under a rising authoritarian government. Everyday people -- organizers, protestors, activists, and labor leaders -- are doing the real work of fighting back against the ethnic cleansing campaign
The brief saga of Isabella “Beya” Alcaraz in San Francisco reveals something about the mayoral administration of Daniel Lurie. For those of you who have been paying attention to other things in recent weeks, following the recall of Joel Engardio, the supervisor for District Four, which includes most of the
On a drizzly Monday night in November, as many as 150 attendees crowded into a community center in the Richmond District for an evening with one of the more intriguing political figures in California: Saikat Chakrabarti, a contender for the Congressional seat long held by Nancy Pelosi. His appeal is
David Sacks, a wealthy tech investor and President Donald Trump’s crypto and artificial intelligence czar, owns a Pacific Heights mansion large even by Billionaire’s Row standards. Spanning a city block, it sits on the site of what was once a public elementary school. Built in 1892 and rebuilt
When Salesforce’s chief executive Marc Benioff publicly called for the National Guard to be deployed in San Francisco, many residents expressed disbelief that a billionaire who claims the city as home would invite military force against it. Yet such incredulity only reveals our distance from reality. Their instinct toward
A statue of Prometheus has been proposed for Alcatraz. The monument to the Titan would be 450 feet — larger than the Statue of Liberty which stands at a mere 305 feet — and is planned as a tribute to American exceptionalism, no matter that the island is a sacred site for
Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff had himself a week. Days before the company’s annual Dreamforce Conference, an event that brings some 50,000 to San Francisco, Benioff gave an interview to a sympathetic reporter, the New York Time’s Heather Knight. The billionaire told Knight that he fully supports
During the years 2022 through 2024 when San Francisco’s doom loop narrative was at its height, much of the local media as well as conservative groups and observers in San Francisco were committed to the belief that the city was being ravaged by crime with danger lurking on every
The centerpiece of Daniel Lurie’s campaign for mayor was a promise to enlist San Francisco’s wealthiest to open their wallets in support of the city. After his November 2024 election, Mayor Lurie pursued this project with vigor, establishing a handful of public-private partnerships to revitalize downtown, clean up
For more than half a century, San Francisco has been mythologized: For Democrats, a shining city on 48 hills; for Republicans, a parable of decay. This aesthetic quarrel in interpretation over the pre-supposed notion of San Francisco’s true nature functions however to mask almost perfectly what should ashamedly be
The voters of District 4 have recalled Supervisor Joel Engardio, one of the city’s most conservative supervisors. With irony not lost on anyone, it was Engardio who played a major role in creating San Francisco’s recall machine. Recalls were once a tool for removing officials who had engaged
Golden Gate Park is a San Francisco jewel, a lush oasis in a busy urban center that should be there for all San Franciscans to visit and enjoy. Mayor Daniel Lurie has decided it is a money maker, accelerating the scheme begun by longtime Recreation & Parks director Phil Ginsberg.