Anyone who grew up in San Francisco remembers going to Union Square for holiday shopping or seeing the tourists lining up for the Cable Car. This was the face of our city, and we were proud of it. I want our kids to feel that same sense of pride.
Downtown’s public safety challenges have hurt our economy, our businesses, and our workers. They have also hurt our city’s morale.
Historically, our core hospitality area has been split between three police districts. This has divided already limited police resources across an area with unique public safety needs.
But it’s a new day in San Francisco. We are ready to face our challenges head-on with a hyper focus on results.
That’s why today, I am proud to announce the @SFPD Hospitality Zone Task Force, which will make downtown safe and kickstart our economy.
The Hospitality Zone Task Force will supplement existing SFPD deployments, leveraging resources that were previously divided. The Task Force will also work directly with local businesses and hotels to ensure their needs are met, while helping visitors, shoppers, and convention-goers get around safely.
This new effort is part of our diversified strategy to get San Franciscans back to work, clean up our streets, and welcome more people to our city.
The Task Force builds on our work to end the hotel strike. It also complements our effort to fully staff the police department, and to address the fentanyl crisis head-on through our Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance.
San Francisco’s tourism and hospitality industries are the lifeblood of our economy.
During the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, I stopped by Union Square. It was packed. There were people having coffee and taking meetings. The bars and restaurants were full. It was a vision of what downtown can and will be.
For the conference, city departments executed an effective public safety plan with a constant, visible law enforcement presence. And it worked. JPMorgan is bringing the conference back to San Francisco in 2026.
The Task Force will be an important part of our public safety plan for the NBA All-Star Game and Lunar New Year Parade next weekend. But it will continue after those events are done.
We will provide residents and visitors with the security they deserve 365 days a year.
With a safe, bustling downtown, we will attract businesses and visitors. We will create jobs, generate revenue, and provide better services for everyone in San Francisco.
When downtown wins, we all win.
I recall pitching a nascent @Yelp to @TIME Magazine for a roundup on startups: "The Next YouTubes" (just 6 days after @Google's $1.65B acquisition of @YouTube) - news I also broke/reported on for @TIME.com) - fun watching both "startup" trajectories unfold since 10/2006 @jeremys
Say hello to GPT-4o, our new flagship model which can reason across audio, vision, and text in real time: https://t.co/MYHZB79UqN
Text and image input rolling out today in API and ChatGPT with voice and video in the coming weeks.
What happened at OpenAI today is a Board coup that we have not seen the likes of since 1985 when the then-Apple board pushed out Steve Jobs. It is shocking; it is irresponsible; and it does not do right by Sam & Greg or all the builders in OpenAI.
i love you all.
today was a weird experience in many ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. the outpouring of love is awesome.
one takeaway: go tell your friends how great you think they are.
NOW AND THEN. THE LAST BEATLES SONG. OUT 02.11.23.
'#NowAndThen' is the last @thebeatles song – written and sung by @johnlennon, developed and worked on by Paul, @GeorgeHarrison@ringostarrmusic, and now finally finished by Paul and Ringo over four decades later.
Pre-order now: https://t.co/IBQFJb9sJJ