San Francisco Mayor London Breed Talks Kamala Harris | Bloomberg Talks

Advice for Kamala Harris [Music] Bloomberg audio Studios podcasts radio news as we seiz upon the voice of San Francisco not just Nancy Pelosi but the mayor of San Francisco London breed is in Chicago part of this convention and with us right now at the table mayor it's great to see you thanks for joining thank you you have known kamla Harris for a long time you've been uh friends for 20 years outside of politics you know this candidate this nominee better than most people who we're going to talk with this week and I understand that she's had wonderful advice for you over the years I wonder what your advice is for her at this convention on Thursday night wow I me give kamla Harris advice I'm not used to that one as only a friend could yeah but the one thing I would say um when she is herself and giving it her all and speaking from the heart there is nothing like it she is strong she is firm she is committed to doing this work but also she's a very compassionate person who deeply cares about Justice and taking care of people and she's proven that time and time again with the work that she's done over the years well certainly she's leaned into her past experience as a prosecutor of course she was the da of San Francisco before she became Attorney General of the State of California and we've heard different iterations on the stage last night of this election being something of a prosecutor up against a felon how hard do you expect her to lean into that image knowing that for some segments of of the democratic Coalition especially it may actually be a bit problematic well I think it's important important for her to talk about the work that she did so not only did she prosecute people in San Francisco when we were dealing with the height of gun violence I mean she prosecuted people who committed murder and it's important to make it clear that she was basically not holding any bars and and doing that work but at the same time people who were in jail for small offenses her back on track program provided a second chance at life as long as people were willing to put in the work to get through the program so I think that you could support both it's she wrote a book about it she said it's not about being tough on crime it's not about being uh uh soft on crime but it's about being smart on crime and making sure that there's fairness there's Justice and there's balance well to stick with that Crime and Homelessness theme for a moment you have something in common with this city of Chicago and that you are held up San Francisco Chicago by Republicans on a regular basis as an example of what is wrong with Progressive politics when it comes to Crime I know that you've tried to make strides in San Francisco and how do you message that to when you're hearing so much from the other side well we have made strides and in fact San Francisco has one of the lowest crime rates of any major city in the country uh this is the lowest crime rate we've had in over a decade and not to mention we are on track to have even one of the most the lowest homicide rates we've had in the history of our city so when you fact check and you look at the data and look at actually what's happening in San Francisco people will be surprised when I talk to other Mayors they're like I wish I had those kind of small big city problems and the data doesn't lie and I think if people look deep into what is going on in San Francisco they'll see that it is one of the safest cities in the country of course it's not just uh about crime though it's about the wider issue of homelessness too you yourself have called for tough love when it comes to the notion of clearing out tent encampments for example is that tough love working what about progress on that front yeah it's it's been challenging but uh since I've been in office we've helped over 15,000 people exit homelessness we've never even had a point in time account with uh you know more than like 8,000 or so people so it's been really a tough struggle but we also have to make sure when people are rejecting what we're offering in terms of services we are now no longer just leaving them out on the streets and we're being a lot more aggressive to a certain extent it's working because more people are accepting help but there are still a really tough group of people um mostly tragically because of drug use that's having an impact we're we're we're still struggling with that point but we're still making progress the streets look better it looks cleaner uh we have one neighborhood that continues to experience more challenges than others but when you come to San Francisco and you drive around our city and you look around our city people are always like what is everyone talking about so you got to come see it for yourself and then check the facts in terms of the data as to what really is happening in San Francisco well if we can hold on to the issue of housing more Housing broadly here this is a big deal for this campaign and for this economy right now and I know for a fact that that's not new new for you you've actually uh made this a major issue for you as a city official as a commissioner as mayor taking different ideas experimental ideas to see what can be done to create more housing I know that there's an effort to get people to a point where they can afford a firsttime home but you need something to move into you've suggested a lot of different ideas and tried them out like converting empty public housing uh for instance City housing City buildings rather what advice do you have for the campaign that could be a national model to create more housing in this country well our uh kamla Harris said it on the stage to say getting rid of the red tape that makes it difficult to produce housing and fortunately in California that just happened with a bill that was passed by the state legislature led by Senator Scott weiner from San Francisco and that bill um will allow housing to be as a right if the zoning already allows for you to do four six eight stories why is is there so many obstacles that are able to get in the way and now that won't happen as long as you're following what the existing laws requirements for you got to that in San Francisco definitely we could have those or not have those we we're making our city more of a Transit first city as well as protected bike Lanes allowing different modes of transportations to thrive in our city so it's all of the above and bureaucratic red tape is at the heart of the challenges that exist and I love the fact uh that our vice president soon to be president put that at the Forefront of the conversation and California is already leading the way well certainly she has to at the Forefront of the conversation have these Notions of the economy knowing it ranks so highly consistently in polls as the top issue for voters another issue that ranks highly though is the Border in migration you hear frequently in the Republican camp that every state every city is now effectively a border City how do you view that issue when it comes not just to the city of San Francisco but the state of California as a whole and what be appropriate if we're going with a tough love kind of message here way is to deal with migration in the Border well it's important for um them to implement the plan that they're talking about uh to make sure that there's a a significant level of accountability but I also want to be very clear because it's not just one thing it's not just about people it's also about substances and in fact the National Guard the drug enforcement agency the US attorney's office who's working with us locally and including our state representatives the California Highway Patrol the National Guard they are all collaborating on using technology in a way that is you know making arrest at the border for the illegal fentanyl that continues to come into cities like San Francisco and so that aggressive effort using technology can help us address those issues in addition to the challenges with people who are who are coming over the Border um I I believe that kamla Harris is the right person to implement a a really tough strategy but also a compassionate and understanding one especially because it is so complicated in that we are a city we are a country built on immigrants and so we have to make sure that we're balancing that as well you say that she's the right person and yet and I'm sure you've heard this frequently in the last several weeks Republicans argue she was put in charge of the Border issue maybe not given the actual borders are title but this was an issue she was supposed to own as vice president she has been vice president for over three and a half years if she couldn't get control of it then how are we supposed to believe she could get control of it when she's actually sitting in the Oval Office herself well here's the thing control means different things and I go back to my experience of the control around illegal stuff sances that are making it across the border the number of arrests the number of drugs that have been confiscated as a result of the efforts of the White House of the federal partners that I mentioned earlier has yielded significant results and I believe that that component of what they're doing even now has been impactful and will continue to be more impactful in terms of some of the other challenges they have to continue to make sure uh that there's you know a push I mean everyone's talking about a wall of this and a wall of that a wall is not going to you know continuously keep people out the goal is to try and get a better control over the border and making sure that we're implementing the right policies and being fair and Equitable in our strategies and developing better relationships with the countries you know in order to help support them so that that we don't experience this challenge of everyone trying to you know flee from a particular location to get into the United States that's a big part of it as well but what happened to California's Economy Workforce and economy if Donald Trump did become the next president and shut down the Border as he says you had no immigration in the workforce could your economy sustain itself well that's I I don't I don't believe so I think it's immigration is an important part of you know how our society works and we need to make sure that we're balancing that uh with the needs of of the people that we're here to serve and ultimately we're seeing some incredible uh opportunities within the job markets all over uh the state of California and our goal is to do everything we can to to balance that but going back to some of the illegal uh activities around the drugs that is the thing that is harming our economy the most and that is the thing that is important to focus on as we continue to move in this direction well if you listen to Donald Trump he has said repeatedly that he actually thinks the economic problem with migration in part is that migrants are coming to this country and they're taking black jobs he said this on multiple occasions and it was certainly noted by the former First Lady Michelle Obama last night who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs one of those moments I think we've all seen uh on social media a lot uh in the last 12 hours uh certainly but she of course was on that stage speaking as a black woman and a powerful one at that someone who was the first lady of the United States speaking on behalf of another woman of color who is now the Democratic nominee and will be formally accepting it on Thursday you yourself are a woman of color as well and I wonder as we consider the historic nature of this candid how the appropriate way to talk about that is especially in the face of of language like we're hearing from Donald Trump do you address it head on or do you ignore it well I think you address it ahead on and I think it has been addressed for example implying somehow that Kam laare is a is a Dei candidate yeah and he I mean it's unbelievable when you look at her qualifications of her just look at her resume in comparison to his there is no comparison she wasn't born into privilege she worked really hard to get a law degree on her own to really fight for a number of positions that she ran for and to push for the kinds of policies that have helped to support Americans and the rights of women lgbtq community and so on and so forth I can go on and on but you know that's one of the challenges that sometimes you know women and women of color have is well how did you get there it must have been someone else and you know to be very clear you know when the man goes through a same process that doesn't get questioned and I think that's kind of the frustrating part of this which is why I love being a part of the democratic party because you see people who are elevating women you see many men who spoke last night at the DNC you know highlighting kamla Harris in in such an extraordinary way and it I'm really proud and and it's no comparison I think it's important for us to remind the American people not just of her qualifications but why is this a race in the first place in light of what Donald Trump has done to really you know create a a a huge barrier um in this country overall uh with his policies with his pushes with his lies with his disrespect and his divisiveness there should not be a question but we are going to continue to elevate KLA Harris and do everything we can to ensure that she gets elected the next president of the United States just Kamala Harris lastly we hear from Donald Trump and Republicans that kamla Harris you're the mayor of San Francisco is just another San Francisco liberal how do you respond to that well I would respond I mean the Republicans continue to point to San Francisco but at the end of the day often times they are picking up their iPhone you know which was introduced in San Francisco calling their Ubers are lift companies started and based in San Francisco to go to their Airbnb Company still and started in San Francisco and then to go and and tweet something nasty about our city which again was a company until recently in San Francisco $ 34 billion dollar of venture capitalist investment last year alone the AI capital of the world that's what I will say you can continue to try and put out a narrative but the facts tell a different story and we point to the facts and the economy and everything that San Francisco stands for on the world stage everything that everyone is using as far as technology it starts right in San Francisco and again we're looking forward to making sure kamla Harris gets elected because then San Francisco will be on a whole another National stage all right San Francisco mayor London breed great to have you here with us in Chicago maybe we'll see you in San Francisco sometime we appreciate your time mayor thank you so much for joining us