San Francisco Mayor London Breed delivered her fifth State of the City address Thursday afternoon.
The speech comes as the city is facing a $728 million budget deficit and many of the city's largest employers are laying off workers and downsizing their city offices.
Sometimes triumphant and sometimes defiant, Breed said the city is facing clear challenges, but it could be an opportunity for a renaissance.
Among those challenges, concerns about crime across the city and open drug markets in the Tenderloin and SoMa.
"I want to make one thing very clear, I am not OK with open air drug dealing in this city period,” she said.
Police have been actively arresting drug dealers and the mayor says the city has been making progress on getting users into treatment and housing.
For those who live in the Tenderloin, the mayor's goals are welcomed.
"It very much helps our work and so many non profit organizations in the Tenderloin, as well as small businesses, when we have the full support of the mayor,” said Aria Sa'id, Transgender District president.
But the hemorrhaging of high paying tech jobs in the city, and a resistance by the remaining workers to return to the office five days a week, is one of the more serious points of her speech.
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"San Francisco downtown as we know it, is not coming back,” said Breed, adding that it could ultimately be an opportunity for San Francisco to re-invision itself.
For those who have been pushing to have the city broaden its economic base - that's welcomed news.
"We have now room and capacity to have successful tech businesses and other businesses in the downtown,” said Rodney Fong, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce president.
But first, the mayor wants to hang on to businesses that are still here.
"I'm proposing legislation to protect our existing companies by pausing tax increases on our retail businesses, our hotels, manufacturing sectors and arts and entertainment," said Breed.
And so the biggest question in the mayor's future vision is how a pause on hiking taxes, while also pledging to hire more cops and muni drivers and promising to build more housing, can all be done. All this while also facing a $728 million budget shortfall.
Breed said the city has faced these challenges before and will do it again.
"It's what we do. We endure, we adapt, we lead!” she said.
