Chesa Boudin & the Limits of San Francisco Liberalism

In San Francisco, the signs are everywhere. Near the famed Lombard Street, one is affixed to a lamppost. Several of them, picturing menacing men in black masks, offer admonishments for anyone strolling in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. “Safety Alert,” the words, bold black against orange, warn. “Leave Nothing Behind.”

The signs, property of the city, are there to tell residents and tourists alike to keep nothing of value in their automobiles thanks to a number of car break-ins over the past few years. Everyone, it seems, has a story about a theft or knows someone who had a close call. And if crime isn’t the favored topic among the city’s affluent and shrinking middle class, it’s the rampant homelessness and drug use, now spilling out from the foreboding Tenderloin.

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