Mayor Elect for San Francisco
Upon the death of Ed Lee, a special election was held on June 5 2018, for the mayor of the city and county of San Francisco. The winner of the election would serve until 2020. For the first time in history, an African-American has been elected mayor of the San Francisco.
Background
London Nicole Breed was born in August 11, 1974 and was raised in San Francisco, CA by her grandmother in public housing in the Western Addition. Breed served as the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and District 5 Supervisor, representing the Fillmore addition, Hayes Valley, Lower Haight, Haight-Ashbury, Japantown, Alamo Square, North of Panhandle, Cole Valley, and Inner Sunset Neighborhoods.
Experience
London Breed is American politician currently serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She first won the election to the Board in November 2012. In 2015, her colleagues elected her to serve as the President of the Board. In November 2016, she was re-elected to serve as the supervisor for the District 5. Two months later, she was unanimously elected as the president of the Board.
London Nicole Breed was elected as the mayor for the city of San Francisco reaching a milestone when her opponent conceded a tight mayoral race. Breed will serve as the city mayor until 2020 finishing the unexpired term for the late mayor Ed Lee, who died in December 2017 at the age of 65.
Prior to her election as the president of the Board of Supervisors, London has served as the Executive Director of the African American Art & Culture Complex in the Western Addition furthering and transforming the struggling center into a vital, vibrant and financially stable community resource for art and cultural programs for youths and seniors.
Breed has also served as a San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Commissioner for five years and in 2010, she was appointed to be a San Francisco Fire Commissioner where she served until her election to the Board of Supervisors.
Education
London Nicole Breed is a Native San Franciscan raised in poverty by her grandmother. She graduated with honors from the Galileo High School. She later attended the University of California, Davis, where she earned a Bachelor’s of Art in Political Science-Public Service with a minor in the African American Studies. Later, London went on ahead to earn a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco.
Career Highlights
Breed has worked as intern in the office of Housing and Neighborhood Services under the leadership of Mayor Willie Brown. She became the Executive Director of the African American Art & Culture Complex where she raised over $2.5 Million that was streamlined to renovate the complex’s 34,000 square foot space. In 2004, she was named to the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Commission.
In 2010, she joined the Board of Supervisors to represent District 5 by defeating incumbent Christina Olague, who had been appointed by Mayor Ed Lee. On January 8, 2015, Breed was elected the president of the board, she won by a vote of 8 to 3 and then unanimously.
In February 2016, Breed announced her bid to run for a re-election for District 5. In her bid, she pointed out some key concerns in the district including building and protecting of affordable housing, increasing public safety, improving environmental health and modernizing public transport.
Achievements
As the President of the Board of Supervisors, London is the 2nd highest ranking official in San Francisco. She leads the legislative body of the city and is responsible for overseeing a $10 billion budget with over 30,000 employees. Breed has devoted herself to improving the City’s housing infrastructure, environmental sustainability, public safety, transportation and improving the quality of life of ordinary San Franciscan.
London has passed legislation that seeks to increase the housing production along the transit corridors and also prioritize on the neighborhood residents for affordable homes in their respective communities. In addition, Breed has helped to rehabilitate 193 units of unused public housing for homeless families and is leading the effort to renovate thousands more.
Breed is also responsible for the passing of the strongest Styrofoam ban in the country. The drug take-back legislation. A legislation that has kept over 40 tons of medical waste out of bay and landfills. She has also spearheaded the campaign for San Francisco’s clean electrical energy program.
Lastly, Breed has passed a complete overhaul of the city’s graffiti policies and the first-in-the-country legislation which protects music and nightlife venues.
Legislative record
London Breed has authored legislation in 2014 which allows the San Francisco city attorney to pursue civil damages against the Graffiti taggers. Previously, attorneys solely relied upon criminal prosecution to punish the taggers. In addition to that, after the shooting of Mario Woods by a San Franciscan police officer, Breed together with Supervisor Malia Cohen called for a federal investigation at a Board’s meeting.