| | | | |  | | By Dustin Gardiner | | Presented by |  | | | |  SF Giants CEO Larry Baer | Eric Risberg/AP | REPUTATION OFFENSIVE: Of all the business and tech leaders trying to spread a message that San Francisco is in the midst of a comeback, perhaps nobody has been as outspoken as SF Giants CEO Larry Baer. Baer, one of the most successful execs in Major League Baseball, is spearheading Advance SF, the business advocacy group behind an advertising blitz to help the city counter doom-loop narratives as San Francisco struggles to recover from the pandemic. The campaign, “It All Starts Here,” features billboards and video ads highlighting San Francisco’s history as a place where new ideas are born that quickly spread around the world. Think smartphones, Google, Levi’s jeans, the martini, artificial intelligence, "Star Wars," LGBTQ rights, Pixar, Apple, Uber, the Summer of Love and television. Advance SF — a group that includes the Giants, the Gap, tech companies and OpenAI — has set aside $3 million for the ad campaign. The effort, which launched in October, has included 375 billboards, 140 signs on light posts and more than 16.8 million views on video ads. Its launch ad features former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Mayor Willie Brown. Baer recently chatted with Playbook about San Francisco and the campaign, which will soon expand to other major U.S. cities. Highlights of our conversation, which has been lightly edited for clarity and length: On how the ad campaign has been received, and comparisons to “I Love NY,” the slogan that aided NYC’s 1970s recovery: It's more than an ad campaign. It's sort of a statement about our city to ourselves and to the world. "I Heart New York" is a fantastic campaign. This actually says something in addition to, you know, internal support about San Francisco. It’s a message: "It all starts here." It’s about innovation. The undercurrent of it is the word "innovation economy." Very positive movements start here, progressive movements. Whether it’s gay marriage, anything related to technology with the internet and, now, it’s AI. So much does start here. On what national media and outside politicians have gotten wrong: The amplification of problems that were way overstated — whether it’s candidates doing commercials in San Francisco, even though they’re running for national office, or whether its certain media outlets taking a little nugget and amplifying it — because San Francisco is viewed as a liberal, progressive city. What I’ve seen is amplification of issues that exist everywhere, and very little focus on what’s really happening here, where the neighborhoods are thriving. | 
Pro-San Francisco advertisements with the slogan “It All Starts Here” have popped up around the Bay Area in recent months. The ads are part of a campaign to help repair the city’s image. | Courtesy of Advance SF | On how they settled on the slogan: We decided that we needed to focus on the quality of life in San Francisco, more so than the economic forces because the economic forces were actually very strong pre-pandemic here. So, it became a quality-of-life set of issues. And things we focused on were keeping the middle class, returning folks to downtown and the narrative around San Francisco — and all three needed to work together. So "It all starts here" became a way to internally and externally improve the narrative. IT’S WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to dgardiner@politico.com. | | | | A message from Chamber of Progress: SB 1490 is NOT about consumer transparency. It’s about the Digital Restaurant Association–and its chain-restaurant members–getting access to business data to help increase their backers’ profits. Learn how this well-intentioned bill backs the wrong group. | | | |  | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY | | EARLY EXIT: State Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s expansion of the state’s aid-in-dying law isn’t going forward this year. Blakespear pulled it from consideration a few days before it was due up in Senate Health, as first reported by POLITICO. “There is a reluctance from many around me to take up this discussion, and the future is unclear,” Blakespear said in a statement this afternoon. “The topic, however, remains of great interest to me and to those who have supported this bill thus far.” Nearly everyone, from the anti-assisted-dying California Catholic Conference to the pro-assisted-dying Compassion & Choices was against Senate Bill 1196 for being too expansive; in addition to other changes, it would have allowed dementia patients to request life-ending medication. Even state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, who authored the current End of Life Options Act that’s been in effect since 2016, said it went too far. Monday’s Senate Health hearing was set aside just to discuss Blakespear’s bill, so the committee will bump up other legislation meant to be heard later in the week. — Rachel Bluth | | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | ON THE BEATS | | |  A self-driving Waymo car on the streets of San Francisco on April 11, 2022. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | TOUGH ROAD AHEAD: California cities may soon be able to impose conditions on robotaxis after a divisive driverless-vehicle bill cleared its first committee hearing today. But Senate Bill 915, backed by labor groups and local governments like the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, still faces an uphill battle with proponents and critics gridlocked on the broader debate about regulating autonomous vehicle technology. Companies like Waymo, Tesla and Ford dispatched lobbyists to voice opposition, along with broader industry groups, and will keep trying to prevent restrictions on driverless vehicles. Even if the bill passes the Legislature, there’s no guarantee Gov. Gavin Newsom — who sided with the AV industry last year in vetoing the bill blocking autonomous trucks — will sign it into law. | | | | A message from Chamber of Progress:   | | | | | PAYING FOR THE RECOUNT: A recount in California’s tied Silicon Valley House primary, requested by a former campaign staffer for candidate Sam Liccardo, is being funded by a new political action committee whose donors have yet to be disclosed. Last week Jonathan Padilla, the former Liccardo staffer, requested a recount in the top-two primary race for second place between Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian. Though Liccardo has secured a spot in the November general election, his opponents Low and Simitian landed in an exact tie, creating the possibility of an unusual three-way contest between the Democrats. Liccardo’s campaign has denied coordinating with Padilla, but retiring Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo and others have questioned where Padilla was getting the money to cover a recount that could cost nearly half a million dollars. Now NBC reports that the daily checks to cover the tab are coming from a newly-formed political action committee, Count the Vote. The PAC won’t be required to report its donors and expenditures until July, however, well after the recount is completed. Low, who has opposed the recount, is calling it a political ploy by Liccardo. “Sam desperately wants to avoid a three-way race and the public deserves to know what was offered to the PAC or its secret donors in return for funding this recount,” he wrote in an emailed statement today. A spokesperson for Liccardo defended the recount, noting that there are more than 100 uncounted ballots in Santa Clara County alone, many of which could be counted if signatures are cured. “At a time when our democracy is under attack, it is deeply troubling that someone would try and stop the democratic process,” spokesperson Orrin Evans said, noting that Low’s campaign called election officials to try and stop the recount, as first reported in Playbook. “There are over 100 uncounted ballots. Count every vote.” — Sarah Grace Taylor | | | | GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we're your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE. | | | | | |  Steve Garvey talks to reporters during a Jan. 11, 2024, visit to the Skid Row area of Los Angeles. | Richard Vogel/AP | LIEN IN: Rep. Adam Schiff tore into his Republican opponent, former major leaguer Steve Garvey, over a POLITICO report Wednesday detailing his 40-plus liens for millions in unpaid taxes. “Just like Donald Trump, Steve Garvey believes that only suckers pay their taxes. First, we learned he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes. Now, we know that he has had millions of dollars in tax liens against himself and his businesses,” Schiff said. “Millions of Californians this week paid their taxes on time, something Steve Garvey hasn’t done for decades. Californians deserve a senator who will fight for them, not someone who thinks the rules don’t apply to him.”
| | WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY | | MONEY FOR MUSK: Tesla is asking its shareholders to approve a $55-billion compensation package for CEO Elon Musk and permission to move the company’s incorporation out of Delaware. (Los Angeles Times) TECH TROUBLES: An aerospace titan, a semiconductor equipment maker and a tech company announced they are collectively slashing more than 200 Bay Area jobs. (Mercury News) BUILDING A CASE: The San Francisco District Attorney is soliciting information from commuters impacted by recent Gaza war protests on the Golden Gate Bridge for a potential legal case against protesters. (San Francisco Chronicle) | | | | A message from Chamber of Progress: The Digital Restaurant Association “seeks to convince policymakers that they represent small businesses while pushing for legislation that ultimately benefits their bottom line.”
The president of the California Black Chamber of Commerce knows the Digital Restaurant Association is using SB 1490 as a smokescreen to get access to data and help their backers’ turn a profit.
So why is California taking up former Uber CEO (and current DRA backer) Travis Kalanick’s pet bill?
Learn more about the real motivations behind SB 1490. | | | | | LOS ANGELES: About 1,700 Disneyland characters and parade personnel are petitioning for a union election. If they win, contract negotiations will follow. (Los Angeles Times) SAN FRANCISCO: Ex-city commissioner Jon Jacobo resigned from his nonprofit job after multiple women accused him of misconduct — including sexual assault and rape. (The San Francisco Standard) SAN DIEGO: The number of homeless people in San Diego County has risen every month for two straight years, according to new numbers from the Regional Task Force on Homelessness. (San Diego Union-Tribune) | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
