It’s official.

San Francisco has gone right, at least on the issue of crime.

The stories of the crime problems in the Democrat-run city that once boasted of defunding the police in the midst of the George Floyd riots are too numerous to mention in this post, but here is a brief lowlight reel:

Those issues, combined with the poop maps, widespread homelessness, and open-air drug use – which city and state Democratic so-called leaders have tried to hide, have been the cause of a mass exodus of businesses and residents alike. It’s become so problematic and embarrassing that even the city’s woke mayor, London Breed, seemingly had a change of heart on defunding the police some 18 months after she did it.

So, too, have a majority of San Franciscans who on Tuesday showed signs that they hadn’t just been mugged by repeat offenders but also by reality, approving by comfortable margins two Breed-backed anti-crime measures, including one that gave police more surveillance powers:

San Francisco voters passed a pair of law-and-order ballot measures on Tuesday night, including one that would require welfare recipients suspected of using drugs to undergo screenings to receive benefits.

It marks yet another rebuke of progressive policies in the famously liberal city, following the recall of far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022.

The welfare requirement, called Proposition F, had 63 percent support as of Wednesday morning, according to the most recent election results online. Proposition E, which expanded some police surveillance powers and reined in some oversight, had support from 60 percent of voters. There are still votes to be counted but the measure’s proponents declared victory, while left-wing detractors grumbled about the results, saying they would backfire and reverse progress.

Thank you to the voters for passing Prop E! This will help us build on our work to make San Francisco a safer city for all.

We are giving our @SFPD officers more tools to do their jobs and getting them out on the street to take care of our community.

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) March 6, 2024

A spokesperson for Breed’s office even acknowledged that the city had gone too far left in recent years on crime:

“Our current public safety policies are outdated and make it difficult for police officers to chase suspects, even in a felony or violent misdemeanor,” [spox Joe Arellano] said. “Prop E makes common-sense changes to City rules to get more officers on the street fighting crime. It provides police with helpful new tools such as cameras and drones and expanded power to pursue criminals. Over the last few years, the City’s policies swung too far to the left. Now, it’s time to send a message that San Francisco is closed to criminals and brazen theft will not be tolerated.”

Several headlines in the aftermath of Tuesday’s vote spoke volumes about media fretting over whether San Francisco could still safely be called a “progressive” city:

The answer to NBC‘s question is, of course, no. But in these deep blue cities and states, conservatives have to take their victories where they can get them, and on combating crime, at least, there’s been an uneasy but clear convergence of views between the left and right in the City by the Bay, at least for now.

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

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