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Newly sworn in Mayor Mark Farrell speaks to the press at SF City Hall, Jan. 23, 2018. Photo: Aaron Levy-Wolins

Surprise, celebration and anger flew across the room when former District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell was confirmed by the Board of Supervisors as the interim mayor of San Francisco.

At the Board of Supervisors meeting held Tuesday, Jan. 23, supporters and opponents of former acting mayor London Breed—having listened to nearly three hours of intense public comment about the mayoral proceedings—sprang into a fervor when Farrell was voted into office. Cheers as well as shouts of “shame on you” echoed throughout the chamber.

During the public discussion where at least 100 people spoke, supporters of London Breed and proponents of a new caretaker mayor were almost completely divided by race. Nearly all of Breed supporters were Black and spoke about how race appeared to be the deciding factor in removing her as acting mayor, an idea scoffed at by her opponents (very few of whom were Black).

“In 1978, when unfortunately we lost Mayor Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk, Madam Dianne Feinstein was president of this board,” said Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, a 42-year resident of San Francisco. “There was no debate, she immediately rose to the position of mayor in the city and county of San Francisco.” Feinstein served out Moscone’s term and was reelected in the following election. Brown compared Feinstein’s treatment (being left in office) as a White woman who came into office after George Moscone’s 1978 assassination with London Breed’s treatment (being potentially removed from office) after Ed Lee passed away.

A supporter of acting mayor London Breed looks on as she waits in line to speak during public comment during a Board of Supervisors meeting at San Francisco at City Hall on Jan. 23, 2018. Photo: Aaron Levy-Wolins

“Why is she treated any differently than Dianne Feinstein?” asked Asale Chandler. “Are we going to talk about the sanctuary city, that we are a sanctuary city? Everyone acknowledges [it] except for the topic of African American community.  What do we need to do to step into the position and to be on this playing field and to play fairly?”

Breed’s opponents countered that the issue at hand was not race but that the former acting mayor held too much concentrated power.

They argued that she would be able to pass measures with far more ease, given her trio of roles as acting mayor, president of the Board of Supervisors and District 5 supervisor.

“I believe we would be subverting and averting the democratic process if we don’t allow the Board of Supervisors to appoint a caretaker mayor,” said Faiq Raza, a 24-year-old Mission District resident and a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

“I believe it is extremely important to give all candidates equal footing in the upcoming election,” said Rachel Ryan, owner of the gay bar Stud. Her comment was aligned with other opponents of Breed. Because the former acting mayor decided to run in the special election this June to finish late mayor Ed Lee’s term in office, Ryan thinks that incumbency and the power of the mayor’s office would give her an unfair advantage.

After the meeting ended, Breed addressed her supporters and the media, reminding them of the upcoming June special election.  Farrell’s appointment as mayor ensured that no one would have access to the resources of the mayor’s office as well as the advantage of incumbency during the mayoral election; Farrell will not be running in the upcoming election.

In an address to the press, newly sworn-in Mayor Mark Farrell announced that he would “work to represent every San Francisco resident, no matter their race, their ethnicity, their religion, it doesn’t matter.  My job for the next six months is to make sure that our city government continues to function, to build on the legacy of Mayor Lee, to build on what Supervisor Breed did during her time as acting mayor and to make sure that San Francisco residents get everything that they deserve out of our city government, and that will be my job.”