The ugly choices the city faces are largely the result of one person: Scott Wiener
By Tim Redmond
October 13, 2025
The Chron and the Examiner both have big stories today about the anger over Mayor Daniel Lurie’s plan to increase housing density on the West Side of town. People are angry; Lurie is facing hostile crowds at town halls, and the Ex ran a piece saying that the city’s future is at stake:
What’s at stake is not just zoning, but the future of San Francisco’s historic neighborhoods, parks, public vistas and architecture — the international character that draws millions of visitors. Tourists don’t come to see a wall of anonymous mid-rises; they come for the distinct scale, green space and beauty that make San Francisco instantly recognizable. Upzoning risks erasing that identity. Once lost, it cannot be replaced.
Lurie is telling people he agrees:
Lurie has pushed back by pointing out that if San Francisco fails to adopt a state-compliant plan to allow for 36,000 units, the state would essentially take hold of every aspect of new housing, giving builders free rein to build as tall and dense as they want wherever they want.
Which is true.
But both papers have missed the larger political point here: This is not just Lurie or former Mayor London Breed doing what developers want. When the bulldozers destroy small businesses and the towers rise, the person most responsible has largely been left out of the stories.
That’s state Sen. Scott Wiener.