{"id":211840,"date":"2026-03-09T17:31:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/211840\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T17:31:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:31:40","slug":"concerns-after-tenderloin-bodyguard-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/211840\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerns after Tenderloin bodyguard fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a busy Saturday night in Chinatown, as massive crowds turned out for the Chinese New Year parade. Numerous elected luminaries and political hopefuls shook hands and posed for photos \u2013 but they all paled in comparison to Olympic star <\/a>Eileen Gu<\/a>, who served as grand marshal for the event.<\/p>\n

At 8:45 p.m., Gu and Mayor Daniel Lurie, who had finished the parade separately, appeared together to light the firecrackers, marking the end of the procession.<\/p>\n

While Lurie has largely tried to avoid partisan rock fights during his time as mayor, Gu remains a geopolitical Rorschach test<\/a>. The Olympian, who was born in San Francisco, recently took home multiple medals for China, her mother\u2019s home country, inflaming some U.S. conservatives.<\/p>\n

On the mayor\u2019s Instagram (opens in new tab)<\/a>, he and Gu kept things positive and focused on their hometown, though the comments section was more mixed.<\/p>\n

But the night wasn\u2019t done yet.<\/p>\n

After the firecrackers, partygoers headed to the after-party banquet. Only a handful of elected officials who still had energy left showed up: Lurie, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman and Supervisor Chyanne Chen. And none are even on the ballot this year.<\/p>\n

As Lurie poured Treasure Island-made Gold Bar Whiskey for guests, newly appointed Police Chief Derrick Lew had another duty: carrying on the annual tradition of delivering an exaggerated estimate of the parade crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we broke a million, I think,\u201d Lew said. \u201cI\u2019m told 1.28 million.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cheers erupted, as the figure equals the entire population of San Francisco and Oakland, combined.<\/p>\n

\"AChris Larsen drives a cuttlefish-themed float with his wife Lyna Lam. | Source: Han Li\/The Standard<\/p>\n

And who else was partying hard? Crypto billionaire Chris Larsen, who wore a shiny gold suit and sunglasses, and rolled in on a cuttlefish-themed float with dancers and music. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe weather was phenomenal,\u201d Larsen told Power Play at the after-party. \u201cEverybody looked happy, relaxed, celebratory.\u201d<\/p>\n

As reporters left the event, a familiar figure was spotted walking alone in blinking red shoes: former mayor Willie Brown, 91, who was heading home for the night. \u2014 Han Li<\/p>\n

Got tips? Send to us at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SeveralSan Francisco police officers respond to an altercation in which two people were arrested after a fight involving Lurie\u2019s security team on March 5. | Source: Courtesy: Nevin Kelly-Fair<\/p>\n

MAN-ON-THE-STREET: Everyone\u2019s seen the video<\/a> by now. Lurie, hands in his pockets, walks away from his police security detail, which was in a physical brawl with a man in the Tenderloin. The now-viral clip has spiraled across the interwebs, with San Francisco\u2019s ideological opponents using it to portray the city as out of control.<\/p>\n

The incident has raised some important questions. Why did the mayor exit his vehicle in the first place? And will he continue to step out onto the city\u2019s streets, as he\u2019s been known to do over the past year, having candid moments with the city\u2019s homeless residents? The mayor\u2019s office has declined to comment on these questions. At City Hall on Friday, Lurie told reporters, \u201cI feel like the people who are on our streets are part of my business,\u201d according to the San Francisco Chronicle. \u201cI was worried about them, and I was worried about [the] safety of pedestrians and cars coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three security experts who spoke with The Standard<\/a> said the mayor\u2019s exiting of the vehicle on Thursday violated protocol.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a failure of basic protective methodologies,\u201d said Don Mihalek, a former senior Secret Service agent and former Presidio park police officer. \u201cHe should have never gotten out of the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caleb Gilbert, a Silicon Valley-based executive protection expert, concurred. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a protocol where that is appropriate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Retired San Francisco Police officer Paul Lozada, who runs Exodus Protection Group, said, \u201cI understand that Mayor Lurie is a very public figure and wants to be out in the open and wants to hold babies. But when you are dealing with the homeless community and very crime-ridden areas of the city, you have to treat him like he is the president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s dust-up, which happened the same day as a shocking daylight stabbing in Chinatown (opens in new tab)<\/a>, is also challenging the mayor\u2019s public relations strategy for the city. Lurie has been relentless with his message that San Francisco is back, and has even thrown roughly $1 million of his own money into that project. While Thursday\u2019s events may not be a representation of the city as a whole, tell that to your uncle in the Midwest who\u2019s watching the videos on his Facebook account. \u2014 Gabe Greschler<\/p>\n

UPZONING LOVE: Remember Lurie\u2019s family zoning fight? The plan, approved in December <\/a>after a bruising political battle<\/a>, aims to bring denser housing to the city\u2019s western and northern neighborhoods. The issue has become a talking point for some candidates to run against incumbent supervisors, District 2\u2019s Stephen Sherrill and District 4\u2019s Alan Wong, both of whom backed the family zoning plan.<\/p>\n

But a new poll suggests the policy may be more popular than critics claim.<\/p>\n

The survey, conducted by the moderate political group GrowSF, which supports both Sherrill and Wong, found that zoning changes in their districts are broadly well-received. The poll surveyed 400 likely voters in each district and found that 84% (opens in new tab)<\/a> of District 2 voters support upzoning. Even the controversial Marina Safeway project<\/a> received 58% support. In District 4, 65% of voters (opens in new tab)<\/a> back the zoning plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud to support candidates who understand what\u2019s necessary to address the city\u2019s affordability crisis,\u201d said Steven Bacio, GrowSF\u2019s co-founder. \u201cThose opponents running on an anti-housing, anti-affordability platform are placing a bad bet in a city with some of the highest rents and home prices in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamie Hughes, a consultant for Lori Brooke and Albert Chow \u2014 who are running against Sherrill and Wong, respectively, and oppose the upzoning plan \u2014 said the polling is misleading. \u201cThis is an outside interest group with their own agenda. I don\u2019t think their polls can be trusted any more than the tech billionaires and gun industry-aligned Republicans who fund them.\u201d \u2014 H.L.<\/p>\n

HORSE LAWSUIT: Nearly two years ago, The Standard broke a big investigation<\/a> into years of alleged horse and employee mistreatment at Golden Gate Park, a story that ended up kicking out the riding company that had a contract there with the parks department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, the owners of Chaparral Corp. are facing yet another lawsuit on top of the multiple legal challenges uncovered in The Standard\u2019s 2024 article.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The previously unreported suit, filed in Monterey County on Feb. 20 against Chaparral and the city of Marina, alleges that sexual harassment, animal welfare issues, and discrimination occurred at one of the company\u2019s ranches south of San Francisco. Filed by former employees Katrina Brehm and Colleen Knopf, the suit claims that higher-ups took no action after a ranch hand was accused of sexual harassment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two also say the ranch\u2019s horses were not cared for \u2014 allegations similar to those The Standard uncovered in its own investigation. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that a former employee who had been abusing drugs continued to live on the property after his employment ended. They also allege that a parolee with an attempted murder conviction was hired as a contractor to avoid a background check, and that the individual worked around children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city of Marina and the co-owner of Chaparral, Sue Pennell, did not respond to requests for comment. \u2014 G.G.<\/p>\n

\"ADerrick Lew speaks after being appointed as police chief. | Source: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades\/The Standard<\/p>\n

\u2018HART\u2019-LESS: This week, San Francisco Police Department brass quietly demoted a veteran commander who was nearly named its new chief. Former Commander Cmdr. Jack Hart was one of three finalists<\/a> for the chief position that was eventually given to Derrick Lew.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Hart and newly appointed Assistant Chief (opens in new tab)<\/a> Nicole Jones were both unanimously endorsed by the Police Commission, which chooses the finalists, Mayor Daniel Lurie ultimately chose Lew, who barely made it to his desk with only four of seven votes.<\/p>\n

Now, in the first major reshuffling of department leadership under Lew, Hart has been demoted from commander of risk management back to the rank of captain in the Strategic Investigations Unit, multiple sources say.<\/p>\n

Anyone with the rank of captain can be elevated by the chief and, conversely, demoted back to captain. Cap. Stephen Jonas, who now heads the unit, is Hart\u2019s new boss.<\/p>\n

Hart, who changed his LinkedIn profile to reflect his new role, could not be reached for comment. Department spokesperson Evan Sernoffsky said the transfer was part of the command staff restructuring. \u2014 Jonah Owen Lamb<\/p>\n