A lot of people I speak to these days feel helpless and uninspired. The headlines are dominated by failure, disorder, and bad behavior. It’s easy to conclude that decline is inevitable. But I still believe that all it takes is one capable, focused, values driven person to change the direction of a place and restore a sense of possibility.
San Francisco has spent the last several years as the poster child for urban failure. I loved the city when I first visited fifteen years ago. I even briefly considered moving there and opening a business. The city and its surroundings were breathtaking. But over the next decade, it became defined by crime, homelessness, drugs, and civic paralysis. When I last visited a few years ago, I couldn’t wait to leave. Even people I once thought would never leave San Francisco stopped defending it.
Then something quietly happened.
A new mayor took office. No grandstanding. No theatrics. He simply went to work.
Under Daniel Lurie, San Francisco pivoted and began moving in the right direction. Crime declined. Traffic fatalities dropped. Police staffing stabilized after years of erosion. Downtown activity began to return. Housing approvals accelerated. Childcare support expanded. The city started behaving like a city again.
None of this was revolutionary. It was common sense.
The progress came from Mayor Lurie treating public safety as a baseline obligation, recognizing that families and clean streets matter, and understanding that small, consistent improvements compound.
What’s most striking isn’t that San Francisco improved. It’s how quickly expectations reset once competence reappeared.
So to my friends who feel helpless, repair is happening.
Quietly.
In cities. In organizations. In families. In businesses.
And it is being led by people who will never trend, never dominate a news cycle, and never be described as transformational. They show up. They make decisions. They stay focused. And over time, things get better.
Let’s do this!
Shaun