The centerpiece of Daniel Lurie’s campaign for mayor was a promise to enlist San Francisco’s wealthiest to open their wallets in support of the city. After his November 2024 election, Mayor Lurie pursued this project with vigor, establishing a handful of public-private partnerships to revitalize downtown, clean up city streets and bring new technology to the San Francisco Police Department.

Insisting that the privileged pay their fair share is laudable. As always, the devil is in the details. Finding mechanisms to tax the wealthy creates consistent revenue streams for established city programs that are subject to rigorous oversight. Handing over essential services to self-interested millionaires and billionaires can result in the City Hall corruption that Lurie has vowed to clean up.

To understand the potential risks with Lurie’s plan, look no further than the recently shuttered San Francisco Park Alliance.

The nonprofit Parks Alliance was established in 2011 to solicit private funds to pay for improvements to the city’s public spaces. It partnered with the Recreation and Parks Department, and the Department of Public Works, often granting money to community groups to take on beautification projects.

Millions of dollars were raised. A 24-member board of directors that included some of the city’s most politically well-connected, among them Kanishka Cheng, a former aide to Mayor London Breed and president of now-defunct TogetherSF, and Liz Farrell, wife of former District 2 Supervisor and mayoral candidate Mark Farrell, were appointed to oversee the disbursement of funds.

At a certain point, something went very wrong. In June of this year, the Parks Alliance was shuttered after it was discovered that it had become bankrupt. Nearly $4 million in funds earmarked for specific projects were used to cover the alliance’s operating costs. The financial improprieties became public after an email from Board Chair Louise Mozingo was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle describing the Alliance’s financial situation as “a dumpster fire.” Others, including District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, have been harsher, calling the Alliance a “Ponzi scheme” Rec and Park Director Phil Ginsburg, who recently resigned, admitted he knew of the financial shortfall for several months, but failed to alert other city officials.

Some community groups, now facing financial ruin, describe a long history of delayed payments from the handsomely funded Parks Alliance. Many of the promising projects they hoped to pursue are now tabled, indefinitely.

The Parks Alliance is now being investigated for financial malfeasance by the District Attorney and the Board of Supervisors. 

This wasn’t the first time the Parks Alliance has been mired in scandal. The organization was used by former Department of Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru for what federal investigators described as a “slush fund.” 

Contractors were directed by Nuru to donate money to the Parks Alliance before being granted lucrative deals. Nearly $1 million made its way into Nuru’s slush fund. The federal investigation ended with more than a dozen city employees and contractors being charged and/or found guilty of bribery, money laundering and fraud. Nuru is serving a 7-year sentence in the U.S. Penitentiary in Lompoc.

The Public Works scandal cost San Francisco taxpayers more than $100 million in various pay-to-play schemes. Financial documents revealed that charitable donations were  used to pay for lavish perks like retreats for Rec and Park staff at tony resorts.

Politically interested billionaires like Michael Moritz, the founder of the late TogetherSF, crypto king Chris Larsen, and artificial intelligence chief Sam Altman, have been tapped by Lurie for the public-private non-profits created by the recently elected mayor. Recently, the Board of Supervisors approved legislation that waives ethics rules, allowing the solicitation of private funds for various initiatives including those related to LGBTQ, immigration and reproductive rights. The lone vote against the measure, District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan warned, “There are countless big corporations and developers who are currently asking the assessor for tax reductions . . . Is it a good idea for the assessor to be asking these same people for donations, no matter how good the cause?” 

Philanthropy can be no replacement for taxes. A recent study by two New York University professors found that although corporate philanthropy has grown significantly in the last 5 years, income inequality is worse than it’s been since the Great Depression. The “few crumbs” doled out to ‘save the world’ . . . never will. The math simply doesn’t work.”

And, well-intentioned plans like Lurie’s almost inevitably devolve into the kind of corruption that’s become all-too-familiar in San Francisco.