S2 Episode 16: National Guard, Benioff and City Hall Tantrum

Richie and Erica examine the recent temper tantrum thrown by San Francisco city hall officials over the possibility that federal law enforcement, National Guard, FBI, ICE and more may be sent to our city. We discuss billionaire head of Salesforce and owner of Time magazine Marc Benioff's support of the National Guard deployment, SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkin's panicked response. 

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Transcript

Really, San Francisco? Podcast

Season 2 Episode 16

Marc Benioff, Trump, National Guard, Brooke Jenkins and San Francisco city hall panic

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Richie Greenberg: Hey everybody, Richie Greenberg here with my co-host, Erica Sandberg, and this is Really San Francisco, the podcast from San Francisco. That's the namesake, Really San Francisco, where we talk about the good, the bad, the confusing, the weird, the wonderful.

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Richie Greenberg: Everything about the city by the bay, San Francisco. Say hi, Erica.

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Erica Sandberg: Hey, everybody, I'm here!

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Richie Greenberg: And what's our topic today?

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Erica Sandberg: I'm sorry?

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Richie Greenberg: What is our topic today?

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Erica Sandberg: Oh, our topic is something that riled up a lot of people here, and I would say probably more politicos than actual

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Erica Sandberg: Residents, and that is the subject of the day.

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Erica Sandberg: getting national troops on the ground, involving the federal government, and Donald Trump, and who's offering help, or who's maybe demanding it, but it's about Mark Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, who made a

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Erica Sandberg: statement, to the New York Times, to Heather Knight, the reporter who used to be with the Chronicle, about how he's all for it! Bring him down!

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Richie Greenberg: That's right. Right? Yeah, and that's, that's what happened, yeah, so, yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: Because why? Why would he say such a thing? Why would he… why would he have such a crazy bunch of…

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Richie Greenberg: Especially, why would Benioff himself, who is, I believe I just saw his fourth… fourth generation San Franciscan, right? So he is, as some people say, they're a son of San Francisco. Well, he and his family, grandparents, great-grandparents, they are, they've worked…

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Richie Greenberg: for the betterment of this city, going back probably then, if that's fourth generation, the 1800s, right? They probably came here with the wave of immigrants in the mid to late 1800s. So, why would Benioff

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Richie Greenberg: billionaire, well-known, the tallest building in San Francisco, in downtown, the Salesforce Tower, and his company, why would he care? And you want to go ahead and explain, Erica?

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Erica Sandberg: Because the Salesforce Tower just happens to be south of Market, so it's not technically the financial district, but it is south of Market, and it has experienced some pretty bad levels of squalor

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Erica Sandberg: And, drug addiction that plays out on the street, mental illness.

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Erica Sandberg: Blight, it's looking… you know, everybody wants… wants it to be better.

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Erica Sandberg: But is it really? He has not seen it. I'm with him 100%. I haven't seen it either. I think it's complete, complete wishful thinking that that area is any better than what it has been over the past few years, and in some ways, it's worse.

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Richie Greenberg: Well, but there's another factor, an immediate factor, like, right now, this week. Why did you say that?

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Erica Sandberg: Yes, so he brings… well, this year, I believe it's 50,000 people, who have come in from out of town to go to Dreamforce, which is their big convent…

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Richie Greenberg: Right, that's the Salesforce annual convention.

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Erica Sandberg: Indeed.

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Richie Greenberg: Right.

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Erica Sandberg: held around the whole Yerba Buena Center area, Moscone, but it's massive. I've been once, it's enormous. And basically, he wants to give the people who work for Salesforce this idea, this impression, this reality.

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Erica Sandberg: that San Francisco is the place to be.

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Richie Greenberg: And it's back. Not only is it a place to be, but that's what a lot of the political leadership, Mayor Lurie and others in City Hall, are trying their darndest to say the city is back.

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Erica Sandberg: It's not just that. It's not just that, because it's also how do you convince all these people to come in, go to the convention, and they pay quite a bit of money to do it, right? In order to go, they spend a lot of money in the city.

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Erica Sandberg: How do you convince them to come when it's not safe, when it's ugly, when it's scary, when it's depressing, right? You have… it has to be appealing. It has to be. Therefore.

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Erica Sandberg: making sure that is reality instead of some ridiculous dream. It's funny.

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Richie Greenberg: Right?

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Erica Sandberg: It takes… it takes action. It's not going to magically happen. You either make it happen, or you don't.

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Richie Greenberg: And so one of the many different things that Benioff brought up is that, he, and this is rightfully so, he said that the San Francisco Police Department, SFPD, is understaffed. And this we have known for years and years, this has been a problem for a while.

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Richie Greenberg: And so, what Benioff was saying is that

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Richie Greenberg: he believes, especially for this Dreamforce convention and everything that's happening starting today, right, is that, he believes that

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Richie Greenberg: that SFPD needs some assistance, some auxiliary people to help out SFPD, because there's not enough, law enforcement boots on the ground, especially around that expo area.

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Erica Sandberg: Absolutely. We're down between 500 to 600 officers, minimum, minimum.

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Richie Greenberg: Right.

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Erica Sandberg: those people in place to ensure that everything is safe, protected, orderly, right? You're gonna have a problem. Which is why he said, you don't have it, therefore this is what we should have.

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Richie Greenberg: And he's willing to pay. He's willing to pay. The billionaire is willing to throw money and help bring in more help.

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Erica Sandberg: Right, so this is what really made me upset, honestly.

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Richie Greenberg: what…

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Erica Sandberg: Besides the fact that I've really sliced open my finger.

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Erica Sandberg: You okay? While this podcast is going, I'm sorry about that.

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Erica Sandberg: So, what makes me angry is that you look at the people who were so upset by that post, by the.

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Richie Greenberg: Well, let's put a little bit more context here. So, what happened is you've got, a very successful, very wealthy businessman who has a, you know, a huge presence in a city, San Francisco.

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Richie Greenberg: Who is holding a convention and a big bash, a big event.

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Richie Greenberg: and the fear that there's not enough police officers that could handle safety. So, this person, offers and asks, what can we do? Because there's known element of not just crime, but drug dealing and international

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Richie Greenberg: transnational drug dealers that are operating not that far from there, from the area that this expo is going to be in, relatively, you know, blocks away. So, the concept, what, what,

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Richie Greenberg: What Benioff was saying is he wholly supports Trump bringing in the National Guard.

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Richie Greenberg: And,

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Richie Greenberg: you, Erica, myself, and many others, we all say, it's a no-brainer. What's the problem with that? We're okay with that, we support it, we want that. To take the pressure off of the SFP, the officers, who should be out there just doing the routine day-by-day,

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Richie Greenberg: You know, law enforcement and other investigations and stuff.

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Richie Greenberg: and have the National Guard be a presence on street corners and walking up and down the streets, visual,

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Richie Greenberg: you know, a deterrence, right? A deterrence. And so, what happened after his interview, and after he made that statement, one of the first and strongest responses was from our city, our own district attorney, Brooke Jenkins.

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Richie Greenberg: Brooke Jenkins, and, you know, I see in the afternoon on October 10th, so that was a few days ago, she actually wrote a whole thread.

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Richie Greenberg: on Twitter, on X, where she just started… she started off, and I have it up here on screen here, it says, I can't be silent.

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Richie Greenberg: Any longer. Kristi Noem and Donald Trump have turned so-called public safety and immigration enforcement into a form of government-sponsored violence against U.S. citizens, families, and ethnic groups.

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Richie Greenberg: And then she goes on to just keep expanding on that concept. So, we're not talking about that in this particular case.

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Erica Sandberg: Yeah, it's apples and oranges. You want to deal with that, deal with that, right? You want to have an opinion about that, you want to state your case and all that, fine, but that's a different conversation. The conversation that we have is about the quality

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Erica Sandberg: of our public spaces. Has nothing to do with people being snatched up by immigration. Nothing to do… nothing to do with that.

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Richie Greenberg: But what this has done also is, you know, she kept going, Brooke Jenkins, she kept saying that she is responsible for holding criminals accountable. Well, okay. And that includes holding government and law enforcement officials accountable, too, when they cross the bounds of the law. I'm like, this is like she's trying to threaten

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Richie Greenberg: She's trying to issue a threat to National Guards or ICE or whoever that may descend on San Francisco, saying that she's going to hold them accountable, which, first of all, that would mean what? That she would instruct the SFPD to go and arrest federal officers, and that's the first weird thing.

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Richie Greenberg: But, you know, it just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense where she's saying that she's putting,

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Richie Greenberg: her policy, this is Brooke, her policies and her desires above the well-being of San Francisco residents and small business owners who actually welcome having

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Richie Greenberg: a stronger presence for law enforcement. And that's what's really unfortunate as well. Brooke herself, thinking.

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Richie Greenberg: that she was going to get all of this support against Trump, against bringing in the National Guard. Instead, she got a lot of flack as well.

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Erica Sandberg: Absolutely! It was this guy…

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Erica Sandberg: rant. And I have supported Brooke. It's… it's not a… it's not my job nor your job to

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Erica Sandberg: continue on supporting somebody, whether they deserve it or not. It's only when it's deserved. So, this was a strange… it was odd. It was essentially, Richie, what does this have to do with the price of spinach?

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Richie Greenberg: Right.

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Erica Sandberg: It was irrelevant. What we have here, what… I think what ended up happening, if I can speculate, is that not just her, but also Matt Dorsey, I think a few others kind of stepped in. Matt Dorsey is the… is the supervisor for district…

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Richie Greenberg: 6. Right.

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Erica Sandberg: so… so they get all… they got all upset. What are you upset about? Look, Either…

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Erica Sandberg: Either we have safety in order on the streets, or we don't. We don't. That's the answer to that. If you don't.

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Erica Sandberg: What's the reason?

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Erica Sandberg: the reason. We don't have enough officers. We don't… nor do we actually have enough support from judges, but that's a whole other…

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Richie Greenberg: Right, and another episode about how the judges are just horrible.

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Erica Sandberg: So either, either the city, can…

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Erica Sandberg: Can create order on our streets, and chooses not to, or they can't

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Erica Sandberg: So they need help. So which direction do we want Brooke Jenkins and Matt Dorsey and anybody else to go with this when it comes to being upset about having extra eyes and ears and feet on our streets?

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Richie Greenberg: Well, actually.

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Erica Sandberg: Sorry, I'm just gonna… one more thing.

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Richie Greenberg: Yo, yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

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Erica Sandberg: Yeah, one more thing. Who is it that you're protecting?

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Erica Sandberg: When you have a post like that, and you're all upset, right? Who is it? Are you protecting your own interests? Where you're like, boy, they're stepping on our toes. Oh my goodness.

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Erica Sandberg: Well, okay, fine, that's your job. You don't want to have that oversight, or you're a myth that is showing that there's massive gaps in the system.

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Richie Greenberg: Yes.

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Erica Sandberg: But, you know what? Shut up.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: That's… that's you kind of going… going and maybe complaining to your partner and going, gosh, I really wish this wasn't the case. It's the public. It is the public that you have to focus on. The people. So here's… here… here's what I think is really the problem, and this is what's at play.

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Richie Greenberg: you have…

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Richie Greenberg: You have leadership, you have city hall leadership, you have the mayor, you have our city council, which is the 11-member board of supervisors, you have other civic organization, non-profit leaders, and…

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Richie Greenberg: department agencies that are appointed by either the mayor or the board of supervisors, right? And…

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Richie Greenberg: you know, besides it being a supermajority of, not even a supermajority, it's only Democrats, so… so it's basically… people talk about ethnic cleansing, so this is politically cleansing. There's no such thing as a Republican or independent conservative that is even on any elected or appointed

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Richie Greenberg: position at all, so it's all on them, it's all the Democrats. And so, they don't want to be upstaged, they don't want to be proven wrong, they don't want to be shown as being incompetent, and they don't want to let go, because if there is a grift out there, and we all know this, there is an irresponsible grift

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Richie Greenberg: and a tremendous waste of taxpayers' money going towards keeping things the way that they are, right? That having an outside force, whether it is

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Richie Greenberg: law enforcement or anything, or anyone else coming in to say, well, we want to see the books, we want to look through an audit, we want to see all that. They're like, no, no, no, we got it. And they're panicking, because they don't want to lose control, that they've had a tight grip for a long time.

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Richie Greenberg: And, you know, I'm looking at a couple of articles online about this whole issue, and I'm looking at one right now from San Francisco here. They talk about,

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Richie Greenberg: how, again, they got it, everything's fine, you know, and the executive director of the political group Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, right, which we know, we've heard about them, we've…

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Richie Greenberg: You know, they've been around, lately, they've helped out with some, very high-profile recalls, right? Jay Chang, who was executive director, he told this news outlet.

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Richie Greenberg: that his organization, meaning Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, is going to be launching an ad campaign next week that will tell Trump to keep the National Guard out of the city.

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Richie Greenberg: Dear Mr. Trump, no thanks, we're good, love San Francisco. And they're gonna put billboards in Washington, D.C, and Mar-a-Lago. This… I'm reading this right there. They're also gonna put… they're gonna run TV ads on Fox Business Channel.

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Richie Greenberg: to show that Trump and San Francisco, that they've done a lot to move the political center to the political center, and they clean up their own act. This is what they want to do with their money, is to try and… is regain and commandeer the narrative.

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Erica Sandberg: Well, I think that's incredibly short-sighted, and you're… basically, you're putting pride ahead of practice, and that's a… that's a very bad thing to do.

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Richie Greenberg: I was surprised when I saw that, but yeah, wow, there's an interview right with Jay Chang.

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Erica Sandberg: So, so listen, what I would say to Jay Chang and anybody else who's got that same sort of missive, I want you to picture what this is like for us.

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Richie Greenberg: for people here, for people who are in the worst neighborhoods in the city, which is a large number of areas. And right near City Hall, right near City Hall.

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Erica Sandberg: Right, so I want you to think about what that tells people.

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Erica Sandberg: Send a very strong message to people who are in desperate situations. Workers, business owners, residents, right?

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Richie Greenberg: And tourists, some tourists, too.

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Erica Sandberg: Children, right, exact… oh, senior citizens, immigrants.

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Erica Sandberg: Because these are the areas where those people tend to live, right?

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Erica Sandberg: telling them.

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Richie Greenberg: Right.

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Erica Sandberg: Get upset, Richie.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: What are you telling them? You're telling them your politics matters more than their lives.

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Richie Greenberg: That's right.

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Erica Sandberg: dare you. That's disgusting. Because what, really, what is happening, and this is the vision I want people to have, is imagine you're in quicksand, and you're being sucked down.

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Erica Sandberg: somebody comes over and says, here's a rope, let me help pull you out. Are you going to go, well, gosh, what are your politics?

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Erica Sandberg: They're throwing that rope out to you, your kids, your neighbors, the people who work around you, your friends, your relatives, right? And somebody's throwing them that rope to get them to safety.

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Richie Greenberg: And then the person who is coordinating this safety and the rope then turns to the cameras and turns to reporters and says.

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Richie Greenberg: There's nothing going on here. There's no problem. There's no quicksand, the person's not slipping and will… is gonna probably suffocate, right? It's not even there. We got it, it's fine.

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Erica Sandberg: Right. So, and then, you know, this is a very important topic also, considering what just recently happened with

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Erica Sandberg: the peace deal in the Middle East, right?

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah, that was just yesterday, yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: It forced people, as they should have, to go, you know what? I don't like that, man.

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Erica Sandberg: Don't like him at all, but I'm really grateful for this, right? It helped. It helped.

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Erica Sandberg: untold numbers of people. You have to… you have to sometimes put your pride away.

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Richie Greenberg: And that's the problem. City Hall's pride, they are not, they're not swallowing their pride. They're not just standing back and just letting something else, someone else or some other agency hire above them to come in.

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Richie Greenberg: Because they also don't want to be embarrassed. They don't want to see that they had… that this, the situation existed. And, you know, we see, you and I, Eric, and we know people.

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Richie Greenberg: Here locally that have cameras and video, and they are out at night. So, in some of these areas, within a block or two of City Hall, within a block or two of where the Salesforce Tower is, at nightfall.

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Richie Greenberg: Until dawn the next morning, these areas become open.

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Richie Greenberg: Open drug markets and, fentanyl dealers.

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Richie Greenberg: and users' addicts slumping over, and there are videos of this every day, early in the morning, right before sunrise. There are people out there videotaping this and showing it on social media, posting it, showing that that's the reality of what is happening here.

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Erica Sandberg: That's right, and it's the height of privilege.

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Erica Sandberg: To… to say, I'm fine. We're fine! We're doing okay! When meanwhile, you have people who cannot leave their house.

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Richie Greenberg: without…

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Erica Sandberg: without… my gosh, I mean, literally can't, because it's blocked. It's blocked by dealers and users and criminals. It is… it is…

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Richie Greenberg: And so, circling back, when we hear people like Brooke Jenkins.

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Richie Greenberg: And people like Jay Chang, who's from this Neighbors Who Are Better San Francisco, and we hear Matt Dorsey, and we hear any of the other City Hall people

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Richie Greenberg: And the movers and shakers say, no thank you, we got it, everything's great here, love San Francisco, you know, here, on a billboard, you know, they are the ones who are actually pushing an alternate reality.

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Erica Sandberg: Right. Guess what, folks? You don't got it. You don't have it. It's not… there is… there is the bleeding. The bleeding is,

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Erica Sandberg: It's, it, it, it's… It's really hard.

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Richie Greenberg: I know.

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Erica Sandberg: It's so upsetting, because you're… these people know, Brooke Jenkins knows, Matt Dorsey knows, Jay Chang probably knows, a lot of people who are going, oh, we don't want Trump here. Well, you know what?

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Erica Sandberg: Then you figure it out.

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Erica Sandberg: How about…

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Richie Greenberg: That's right, do your job. Do your job and fix it.

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Erica Sandberg: How about then, tomorrow, you make sure that people can leave their homes, take their kids out, their elderly relatives out, and go to the damn store?

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Richie Greenberg: Because then, you know what? Who's gonna be, Erica, who's gonna be the first person out there to be applauding when that all is all fixed? You and I. We will both be there, we will be applauding.

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Erica Sandberg: 100%. Listen, I don't… it's kind of like…

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Erica Sandberg: Take the help when you need it. You just take the help.

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Richie Greenberg: It's like they're in denial. This is that whole thing about an addiction and in denial.

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Erica Sandberg: Right, try to… right, exactly. You go to the hospital, you need an operation. You know what? You may not want to know what your surgeon believes, because what is really most important is that you get the operation, the procedure, that's going to save your life. Now, if you don't like them, don't party with them.

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Erica Sandberg: Right? Don't go out to dinner with them. But…

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Erica Sandberg: Do they have what you need in order to survive? If so.

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Erica Sandberg: Say thank you very much, take what you need, and then maybe, instead of kvetching and complaining and, you know, the whole business, figure out what you need in order so that it never happens again.

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Erica Sandberg: But you have a duty. These people have a duty, right, to make sure that our city is safe, clean, and orderly. They're failing. They're failing, and this shows they're failing. And you know what?

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Erica Sandberg: that's something that they need to figure out. It shows right now how… how…

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very emotional, very emotional, I know. Very emotional.

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Erica Sandberg: It is really.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah, yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: You can like, like, everybody that we've mentioned. I don't have anything against them. You know, I just think it was… it was dumb. It was really dumb, and very, very short-sighted, and very much of an ego-driven, series of statements that people make.

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Richie Greenberg: You know… No.

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Erica Sandberg: Here, this is what… okay, people can't… if you are only listening to this, I will describe what I'm doing. Shut your mouth.

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Richie Greenberg: You know, the two fingers to close the mouth. It's like shutting your beak.

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Erica Sandberg: Spencer, I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is…

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Erica Sandberg: Be careful in terms of, do you… are you really thinking this through? What kind of message is that sending to people?

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Richie Greenberg: Well, here, I got a question for you right in closing, before we end our podcast episode today. Do you think that, publicly.

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Richie Greenberg: these different individuals, these people who have put out statements, saying, we got it, we got San Francisco and Trump, we don't need you, we don't need National Guard, we're okay, we got it.

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Richie Greenberg: They publicly say this, but behind the scenes, closed doors, privately, they actually do want him here, and they're doing some work back channels that maybe cannot be traced back to them, to say, yeah, we do want you here. What do you think?

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Erica Sandberg: Well, I mean, I think that's almost too much for me to speculate. What do you think? Do you think so?

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Richie Greenberg: I find it hard to believe that they are… that… that none of the, supervisors, there are 11 of them, that the DA, that… that Lurie and all of his contacts, or Lurie's people, his… his…

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Richie Greenberg: policy advisors and people that are helping him in City Hall. I would find it hard to believe that, that zero, there was no communication at all. I think that…

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Richie Greenberg: Maybe there's a way that they're trying to find a way to do this, because this is the thorn, the Achilles heel, this is the thorn in their butt, that until that goes away, they have to spend a lot of time, a lot of energy, and money one way or another.

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Richie Greenberg: to try and cover up. It's basically a cover-up, what they're doing. They're trying to force, through media, social media, and now they're even admitting advertising, to cover the reality of the humanitarian disaster that is out there.

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Erica Sandberg: Yeah, definitely. I mean, each one is going to have their own… their own reasons for doing it. I think it's extremely political. It's… obviously, this is… they're covering their butts, in a stupid way, sorry, just is. As far as Mark Benioff.

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Erica Sandberg: I have always found him to be an emotional person. He says what he thinks, he's gonna back what he wants to back. There's…

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Erica Sandberg: almost an admirable quality to that, in a way, which is like, yeah, I'm really sick of this, this is what I'm gonna do, this is what I think.

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Richie Greenberg: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Erica Sandberg: You know, and I get that, and…

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Erica Sandberg: you know, does it benefit him if there's… it's a safer place? Absolutely.

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Richie Greenberg: Does it benefit Benioff?

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Erica Sandberg: Yeah, you know, but right now, I'm going to implore everybody, is remember what your goal is, what you're there for. Is your goal to keep your job safe and tidy, or is it… is it for the community? You know, if you are an elected

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Erica Sandberg: civil servant, then you have a duty. You have a duty to your community, not to your own career.

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Richie Greenberg: Because we pay. We are paying for this, taxpayers are paying for this, we're paying for their salaries, we're paying for all the programs that are administered to the homelessness and drug addiction industry, and that's just keep it perpetuating, so we're paying for it.

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Erica Sandberg: We are, and something that… I know that we have to end this, but, something that's also important is that they're seeing the, problems associated with the…

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Erica Sandberg: the, you know, the Democrats, you know, is they feel… they feel like life is going on without them, and someone like Trump is gonna have a win, another win, another win, and that's…

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Erica Sandberg: they don't want that because that's their party. Well, I happen to have no party, so I don't give a damn about

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Erica Sandberg: you know, your little world in that way. And I think it's phenomenally…

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Erica Sandberg: disingenuous, because, again, who's your boss? Your boss… is us.

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Richie Greenberg: Okay, on that note, Erica, I want to thank you, and I want to thank listeners and viewers.

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Richie Greenberg: And, you know, you have any comments, questions, you can contact us on Twitter, X, you can find Erica, online, you can find myself, Greenberg Nation, Erica, you're Erica, what's your…

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Richie Greenberg: J. Sandberg. Erica J. Sandberg. That's right. You can contact us there, or we're actually setting up a new podcast homepage, where you can then see bios about each of us, and then contact us through there, and make a donation, even.

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Richie Greenberg: So we'll have information about that once that's up. But thank you again, listeners, view, and thank you, Erica.

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Erica Sandberg: And I'm gonna say it, we're gonna end. Really simple.

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Richie Greenberg: Really, really San Francisco? Alright, thanks, everybody, thank you.

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Erica Sandberg: Bye, y'all!