Dean Preston is the most far left member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. Preston is a Democratic Socialist who has attempted to block and obstruct police involvement in any of the city’s problems such as homelessness and drug abuse. He is a big supporter of defunding the police and prison abolition. So, when Mayor London Breed announced plans to start arresting drug users to get them off the streets, Preston called it reactionary and cruel.

We have been informed that the Mayor’s Administration is preparing to start arresting people for public drug use. Arresting people for drug addiction is not “moderate” nor “commonsense.” It’s reactionary, cruel, and counterproductive.

— deanpreston.bsky.social (@DeanPreston) May 23, 2023

Preston’s comrades showed up at that announcement and turned it into a circus. One deranged person threw a brick at the mayor. Preston has set himself in opposition to the mayor and to DA Brooke Jenkins who replaced recalled left-wing extremist Chesa Boudin. In short, San Francisco leaders and voters have been turning away from some of the left-wing excess and Dean Preston is doing all he can to prevent it.

Preston has been opposed by a new group of centrists known as Grow SF. It has been described as the spiciest political feud in the city. Preston’s approach, always a favorite among leftists, is to pretend everyone who opposes him is really a right-wing Republican (something which is considered beyond the pale in SF).

“I think a lot of people identify as Democrats in San Francisco because there’s no real path to victory as identifying as Republicans,” Preston told SFGATE. “I have no doubt that Mr. Buss and the other folks in GrowSF, were they somewhere else, would probably proudly be wearing their Republican hats.”

Buss would disagree.

“Dean subscribes to an ideology that allows no room for nuance,” he said. “If you don’t agree with his particular extreme, he will immediately react by going to the other extreme, calling you names and making things up. He’s like a middle school boy who just discovered communism and thinks that’s the solution to all the world’s problems. And if you disagree with him, he’s a bully.”…

“Dean is such an outlier, and that’s why he’s the focus of so much attention from San Franciscans writ large,” Buss said. “He’s not able to negotiate because he’s an ideologue. Ideologues prevent things from happening because you’re either with them or against them. I would like to elect someone who is sensible, rational and clear-headed. Someone who says, ‘You may not agree with me on everything, let’s work together on what we do agree on.’”

Supporters of Grow SF have been calling for someone to run against Preston for months. This caught the attention of Elon Musk back in April:

Today, Musk said he would put his money where his mouth is, vowing to donate $100,000 to dumpdean.org which is an effort of GrowSF. Musk’s tweet came in response to one from Garry Tan who has been one of the people vocally opposing Preston.

I will double that

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 22, 2023

It’s worth noting that all of this was prompted by a thread Preston put up on solutions for the city’s car break in problem. As you can see, Preston argued the problem would go away if tourists would just stop leaving things people might want to steal in their cars. This was widely mocked.

Finally, the defund the police politicians offer solutions to crime. Incredible: https://t.co/iWjGjCAuIu

— Lee Fang (@lhfang) September 22, 2023

America's worst elected official https://t.co/28l8k9lKgQ

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) September 21, 2023

What's next for San Francisco, a "don't wear that skirt, ladies" campaign to reduce sexual assault?

— Jon Gabriel (@exjon) September 21, 2023

Option 1. Punish criminals

Option 2. Make citizens like myself have to post notes likes this on their car pic.twitter.com/bhQBnLNECA

— Jason Hanson (@JasonTheHanson) September 21, 2023

There are hundreds more like this but you get the idea. Dean Preston’s solution for crime isn’t to stop the criminals it’s to advise the innocent victims they are to blame if something bad happens. Does his plan even work on a practical level? Families visiting the city may not have a convenient place to store everything they brought with them. They should be able to leave stuff in the trunk for 15 minutes while they stop for lunch or to see a park. But in SF they can’t do that safely.

Preston has already announced his run for reelection and as of now he doesn’t have any opposition. But that’s expected to change. Someone will step up to claim the $300,000 or more worth of support that Grow SF has to offer.

Here’s a local news report on the plague of break ins. The focus of this one isn’t just on the individuals who lose valuables and have to repair damage, it’s also on the impact this has on city businesses. Stick around to the end and you’ll see the reporter doing the interview for this story had his car broken into last week.