Mayor Lurie: Flip the Switch on Your PromiseS
The Power Failure Chronicles: When Will San Francisco Finally Keep the Lights On?
San Francisco has endured more than 514 documented power disruptions in just 25 years—a staggering statistic that undercuts every promise of resilience and equity our city proclaims. And the hits keep coming: June 2025 alone saw at least four separate outage alerts blasted to residents, punctuated by diesel-generator fumes and scrambled schedules.
June’s Outage Scorecard
June 9 – “Planned YBI Outage.” A morning maintenance cut for Coast Guard work on Yerba Buena Island left up to 50 homes guessing when their refrigerators would hum again.
June 21 – Island-wide Failure. By breakfast, SFPUC had already fired up 2 MW of emergency generators; by mid-afternoon it was issuing full “Power Outage on Treasure Island” warnings. Same day, two separate emails—same misery.
June 22 – Another “Planned Outage.” Less than 36 hours later, residents got a fresh notice of yet more scheduled downtime.
June 24 – Déjà Vu Blackout. A new alert for Treasure Island proved the fixes hadn’t held.
That’s six official emails covering four blackout events in a single month—an average of one crisis notice every five days.
Why This Is Unacceptable
Every flicker costs something: insulin warms in powerless fridges, Wi-Fi drops during tele-health calls, and diesel fumes choke an island that’s supposed to model sustainable redevelopment. When outages climb past 500, the issue isn’t bad luck—it’s broken governance.
SFPUC runs the municipal grid feeding the islands.
TIDA approves every new unit and business that plugs into that grid.
When these agencies fail in tandem, entire neighborhoods lose their safety net.
A Direct Appeal to Mayor Daniel Lurie and “New San Francisco”
Voters just handed the keys to a new City Hall team—Mayor Daniel Lurie pledged a no-nonsense rebuild of essential services (washingtonpost.com). Here’s how to start delivering on that pledge:
Embrace radical transparency. Publish a live outage dashboard with cause, fix status, and accountability owner for each incident.
Harden the infrastructure now. Underground critical feeders, install sectionalizing switches, and stand up solar- battery storage microgrids on both islands.
Unify the message. One portal, one timeline—no more dueling notices from SFPUC and TIDA.
Make residents whole. We demand an emergency declaration NOW, a detailed grid upgrade report!
Bottom Line
Innovation is San Francisco’s brand—but a city that powers AI startups shouldn’t leave seniors hunting for flashlight batteries. New San Francisco has the leadership, the mandate, and the moral obligation to end this blackout cycle—starting today. Until then, every fresh “planned outage” email is another reminder that the clock is ticking, louder than any diesel generator ever could.