Tech-rooted groups seek to shake up San Francisco politics

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Zachary Rosen is running as his daughter Vera rides a scooter in Golden Gate Park's John F. Kennedy Drive, San Francisco, on Thursday, April 13th, 2023. Tech entrepreneurs, who came to San Francisco 20 years ago, bringing wealth and jobs, but also rising housing prices and gentrification are now a growing political force. They say the city is off course and needs serious reform. Rosen, the co-founder of Pantheon and its CEO, has helped to launch YIMBY California. This pro-development organization fights for reforms at state level.

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Zachary Rosen holding his daughter Vera in front of the Conservatory of Flowers, off John F. Kennedy Drive, in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on Thursday, April 13th, 2023. Tech entrepreneurs who moved to San Francisco 20 years ago, bringing wealth and jobs, but also rising housing prices and gentrification are now a growing political force. They say the city is off track. Rosen, the co-founder of Pantheon and its CEO, has helped to launch YIMBY California. This pro-development organization fights for state level zoning reforms.

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Zachary Rosen carries his daughter Vera in an area near John F. Kennedy Drive, Golden Gate Park San Francisco, Thursday April 13, 2023. Tech entrepreneurs, who came to San Francisco 20 years ago, bringing wealth and jobs, but also rising housing prices and gentrification are now a growing political force. They say the city is off course and needs help. Rosen, the co-founder of Pantheon and its CEO, has helped to launch YIMBY California. This pro-development organization fights for reforms at state level.

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A pedestrian crosses the street in San Francisco on Wednesday, April 12 2023. Outside, a technology executive has been fatally stabbed. Tech entrepreneurs, who came to San Francisco 20 years ago, bringing wealth and jobs, but also rising housing prices and gentrification are now a growing political force.

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Walking past the Google office in San Francisco on Wednesday, April 12th, 2023, pedestrians pass by the building outside of which a technology executive died after being fatally stabbed. Tech entrepreneurs, who came to San Francisco 20 years ago, bringing wealth and jobs, but also rising housing prices and gentrification are now a growing political force.

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Above pedestrians, a Firefox sign is displayed at the Mozilla office located near the building in San Francisco where a technology executive died after being fatally stabbed. The stabbing occurred on Wednesday, April 12th, 2023.

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Kanishka Cheng poses for a photo in San Francisco on Thursday, April 13th, 2023. Tech entrepreneurs, who came to San Francisco 20 years ago, bringing wealth and jobs, but also rising housing prices and gentrification are now a growing political force. They say the city is off course. They have formed advocacy groups, including Together SF, Abundant SF, and Grow SF to press officials to address rising housing costs, public drugs dealing, and other woes exacerbated due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

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Kanishka Cheng poses for a photo in San Francisco on Thursday, April 13th, 2023. Tech entrepreneurs, who came to San Francisco 20 years ago, bringing wealth and jobs, but also rising housing prices and gentrification are now a growing political force. They say the city is off course. They have formed advocacy groups, including Together SF, Abundant SF, and Grow SF to press officials to address rising housing costs, public drugs dealing, and other woes exacerbated due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

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Kanishka Cheng poses for a photo in San Francisco on Thursday, April 13th, 2023. Tech entrepreneurs, who came to San Francisco 20 years ago, bringing wealth and jobs, but also rising housing prices and gentrification are now a growing political force. They say the city is off course. They have formed advocacy groups, including Together SF, Abundant SF, and Grow SF to press officials to address rising housing costs, public drugs dealing, and other woes exacerbated due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (AP) - The tech entrepreneurs that flooded to San Francisco in the 1990s, bringing wealth and jobs, but also a rise in housing prices and gentrification are now a growing political force. They say San Francisco is off course and needs to be redirected.

They have formed advocacy groups -- including Together SF, Abundant SF, and Grow SF -- in order to put pressure on officials to address the rising housing costs, drug sales in public places, and other problems exacerbated by COVID-19.

The organizations have different priorities but they agree that a small group, including many progressives, has prevented the city to solve some of its most pressing problems. These groups highlight the divisions within Democrats in this liberal hotbed that has been struggling to recover from the pandemic.

In San Francisco, there is a lot political ideology that prevents people from working together on the things they agree upon, said Kanishka Chang, who founded TogetherSF 2020 in partnership with venture capitalist Michael Moritz. A former journalist, Moritz also launched the San Francisco Standard website and was one of the first investors in Google.

TogetherSF is working to educate the public about the drug problem in the city and to push for increased police presence, to hold the dealers accountable. They are also pushing for treatment options for addicts to get them off the street. San Francisco, like many other cities, is fighting the fentanyl epidemic and seeing about two overdose deaths per day.

Zack Rosen is another tech entrepreneur who wants to influence the change. He is the co-founder and CEO at Pantheon, a website platform, and he helped start YIMBY California. This pro-development group fights for reforms in state zoning laws.

Rosen and his wife want to raise their children in San Francisco. After workers from the bike shop that he owns left, he became frustrated by the lack of affordable housing. He wants to eliminate the red tape and bureaucracy which have hindered new construction.

Abundant SF is now the brainchild of Rosen, his wife, and other couples in the tech industry. The group plans to spend millions on ballot measures that will create accessible, safe public spaces, and increase housing for people at all income levels.

Rosen stated that Twitter is full of complaints but not much action. We want to be a part of the solution.

San Francisco has been a major tech hub since the early 2000s when companies like Google, Twitter, and Uber started renting downtown office space as Silicon Valley expanded to the north.

Only recently have industry leaders publicly attempted to influence elections and policy. Some were encouraged by their efforts last year, when they saw progressive officials such as a supervisor, three members of the school board and the District Attorney Chesa Boundin lose at ballot boxes.

Elon Musk, for example, is a high-profile figure who uses social media to criticize government officials.

Musk, who purchased Twitter last year for $44 Billion, joined an outcry earlier this month that tried to portray the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee on a San Francisco street as an example out-of control crime.

FBI data shows that San Francisco is home to some of the nation's lowest rates of violent crime. Lee's murder was ultimately solved by the arrest of an acquaintance. Authorities said that the incident was not the result of street violence, but rather a disagreement between the two men.

Many residents still feel unsafe because property crimes are on the rise. These include catalytic converter thefts, shoplifting in convenience stores and grocery shops, and home burglaries. Drug dealers are often seen in public places, and many people feel uncomfortable with the sight of people who appear to be in distress or lying on the sidewalks.

In an April survey, only a third San Franciscans reported that they felt safe walking in the city at night. This is down from 53% the last time the poll was conducted in 2019. Residents gave the police and government a C- and C+ respectively when asked to rate them.

GrowSF is an advocacy group founded in 2020 by two former software engineers. They left their tech jobs in order to start it. It focuses on the public safety, and helps elect officials that will crackdown on property crimes and open-air drug markets.

"This is something that people have been frustrated with for years," said co-founder Sachin Aggarwal who previously worked at Twitter, and then Lyft.

GrowSF, which has more than 15,000 followers on Twitter, also publishes voter guide supporting candidates it refers to as 'common-sense' and has supported efforts to defeat Dean Preston a progressive supervisor up for reelection next. GrowSF is also fighting against opposition to a plan that would convert the historic Castro Theater into a venue for events. The 100-year old cinema is located in the Castro District's historically gay district.

Agarwal stated that a small minority of people are opposed to change and want to keep the city frozen in time. "But the vast majority here wants to see progress and growth."

Preston, who was elected in 2019 as a democratic socialist, rejects this kind of talk. He says he too wants progress, but that it should also include the poor and working class.

The supervisor stated that he is a target for many groups created by entrepreneurs in the tech industry because he supports things such as tenants' rights and affordable housing for low income residents. He also supports anti-displacement measures and taxes on the wealthy. He sponsored a 2020 ballot measure that raised taxes on real estate transactions exceeding $10 million. The measure was approved by the voters.

Preston has a dim view on the new political movers from the tech industry, claiming that he does not see them as champions of regular San Franciscans.

He said, 'I do not think they are interested in working together to solve the problems.' They'd prefer to have public fights, and exploit these wedge issues for political gains.

Emily Lee, the co-director of nonprofit San Francisco Rising is also skeptical of tech-backed groups. She says they don't work with the most affected people by addiction and homelessness to understand their root causes. She said the city's inability to make progress is due to a lack compromise among feuding officials.

Lee stated that the mayor and supervisors had a history of not being able to work together. We need all of these politicians to stop being so petty, stop fighting and do something about the problems in our community.