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Mark Farrell (politician)

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Mark Farrell
44th Mayor of San Francisco
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 23, 2018
Preceded byEd Lee
London Breed (acting)
Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
In office
January 8, 2011 – January 23, 2018
Preceded byMichela Alioto-Pier
Constituency2nd district
Personal details
BornSan Francisco, California, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (affiliated)
Residence(s)San Francisco, California
Alma materLoyola Marymount U. (BA) 1996[1]
University College Dublin (MA)
University of Pennsylvania (JD) 2001[1]
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionLawyer
WebsiteBoard of Supervisors
District 2

Mark Farrell is an American politician and lawyer serving as 44th and current mayor of San Francisco since January 23, 2018. Prior to his appointment as mayor, he served on the Board of Supervisors for nearly two terms, representing District 2. It includes the neighborhoods of Marina, Cow Hollow, Pacific Heights, Seacliff, Lake District, Presidio Heights, Jordan Park, Laurel Heights, Presidio, and part of Russian Hill.

Personal life and education

Mark E Farrell was born on March 15, 1974,[2] the only child of Lena (née Ewoldt), a former stewardess[3] from Probstei near Kiel and John Farrell, a former Air Force pilot, now an attorney, and grew up near the Palace of Fine Arts on Broderick Street.[1] Farrell spent his summers at his cousin's family farm in Probstei.[4][5]

He attended both Stuart Hall and Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, and subsequently received his B.A. in 1996 from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, his M.A. from University College Dublin in Ireland, and J.D. in 2001 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in Philadelphia.[6]

His wife, Liz, was raised in Danville, was a morning TV news producer, and is a stay-at-home mom to Madison and Jack at a four-bedroom condo in Jordan Park.[1]

Career

Prior to being elected to the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Farrell practiced law as a corporate and securities attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Silicon Valley for 3 years, joined Thomas Weisel Partners as an investment banker where he was an integral part of the Internet & Digital Media team for over 5 years, and subsequently co-founded Quest Hospitality Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm focused on the hospitality and travel sector.[6] Prior to his election to the Board of Supervisors, he served as a mid-level director of Quest Hospitality Ventures,[7][8][9][10][11] now Thayer Ventures[12][13][14][15][16] a venture capital firm.[1][6]

San Francisco Board of Supervisors

Supervisor Farrell was first elected in November 2010 by the voters of District 2, and subsequently reelected in November 2014 for his second term. Supervisor Farrell currently serves as Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, as a founding member of the 2016–17 Super Bowl Bid Committee, and also serves on eight other local and state Boards and Committees.[17][18][19][20]

In June 2016, Farrell was ordered to repay $191,000[21] in unlawful campaign funding after the City ethics panel voted, 5-0, to uphold the original 2014 decision of the San Francisco Ethics Commission that he should have to forfeit back to the City the amount raised from just two donors and used late in the 2010 election by Common Sense Voters,[22][23][24][25] an independent expenditure committee, with improper communications from a campaign consultant. Farrell was exonerated by the California Fair Political Practices Commission, although the campaign consultant Chris Lee and Common Sense Voters were found to be in violation of federal campaign finance laws, but a further complaint was filed with the City commission by Janet Reilly, who lost to Farrell by 256 votes. City law, stricter than state law, holds candidates personally responsible for staff as well as themselves, whether they knew about the illegal communication or not. In an unusual move, Farrell responded with a lawsuit against the City in May to prevent further collection efforts from the Treasurer's office, and settled with the City for $25,000 in Oct. 2016.[26][27]

Supervisor Farrell's legislative priorities include advancing policies and projects that address housing affordability and the cost of living, homelessness, boost local economic development, ensure neighborhood vitality, and enhance public safety and quality of life issues that affect all San Franciscans.

Since his election, Supervisor Farrell ushered through a unanimously supported two-year City budget that reflects San Francisco values and priorities, reformed the way San Francisco pays for retiree health care benefits - solving a $4.4 billion unfunded liability, and passed small business tax credit legislation so the City's small businesses can hire more employees and create more local jobs. In addition, Supervisor Farrell created a public-private partnership between the San Francisco non-profit Kiva.org and San Francisco's Office of Small Business to provide small businesses citywide greater access to capital at 0% interest, and became the first elected official in California to personally endorse Kiva borrowers on the platform.

Mark Farrell introduced an anti-gun ordinance in 2015, that placed onerous regulations on the only firearm retailer in the city, High Bridge Arms, causing the retailer to go out of business. Farrell told the San Francisco Chronicle, “From my perspective, if the last gun store in San Francisco wants to close its doors because of my legislation, so be it."[28]

To address homelessness in San Francisco, Supervisor Farrell led the effort to double San Francisco's Homeless Outreach Team, authored and pass Laura's Law, which is a state law that allows for community-based compelled mental health treatment for the severely mentally ill, and has hosted numerous hearings on services and solutions to reduce and end homelessness in San Francisco.

To help keep families in San Francisco, Supervisor Farrell created the Schoolyards Project which opens public schoolyards on the weekends to create more open space and foster a greater sense of community and annually sponsors the Marina Family Festival in District 2. Supervisor Farrell has also called hearings on family flight to find and discuss the root causes which are causing families to leave San Francisco, and has worked on policies and projects to help reverse family flight.

To help integrate the benefits of technology into residents' everyday lives, Supervisor Farrell led a broad coalition to create “Free Wi-fi” in city parks, plazas and open spaces and is working to expand online access to all communities across the city. Supervisor Farrell also authored and passed the City's landmark open data legislation that continued San Francisco's national leadership in the open data movement and will promote further local economic development and government efficiency.[citation needed].

Kiel, Germany - Sister City

Kiel, Germany, his mother's hometown, is now a Sister City of San Francisco, due to Farrell efforts.[5][5][4]

Mayor

Farrell was appointed as mayor by the Board of Supervisors on January 23, 2018, succeeding acting mayor London Breed. Breed, in her capacity as President of the Board of Supervisors, had been serving as acting mayor since the death of Mayor Ed Lee on December 12, 2017. Farrell's appointment is due to expire on June 5, 2018, when a citywide special election will be held. The winner of that election will serve out the remainder of Lee's uncompleted term (until January 8, 2020).[29]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Knight, Heather (December 29, 2010). "Mark Farrell, District 2 supervisor, a novice". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  2. ^ "Mark E Farrell, Born 03/15/1974 in California". CaliforniaBirthIndex.org.
  3. ^ "Neue Partner: Kiel und San Francisco" Es geht auch um Wirtschaftsinteressen und globale Probleme wie den Klimawandel.. Lübecker Nachrichten. 2017-09-22. ...two cousins gave the impetus - the Kiel management consultant Thomas Ewoldt and Mark Farrell, a city commissioner in San Francisco. Farrell's mother is from the region of Probstei near Kiel. The stewardess emigrated decades ago and lives in San Francisco. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |dead-url=, |registration=, and |subscription= (help); Invalid |script-title=: missing prefix (help)
  4. ^ a b https://www.shz.de/regionales/kiel/ungleiche-schwestern-kiel-und-san-francisco-werden-partnerstaedte-id17852076.html
  5. ^ a b c Schwenke, Karen (2017-10-05). "Wie Kiel und San Francisco zusammenkamen" So mancher reibt sich noch die Augen und fragt: Wieso ist eigentlich ausgerechnet Kiel die Partnerstadt von San Francisco geworden? Dahinter verbirgt sich keine politische, sondern eine ganz private Geschichte. Und die beginnt im Jahr 1965.. Kieler Nachrichten. Out of sheer love of adventure and against the wishes of her father, the 23-year-old farmer's daughter Lena Ewoldt traveled from the provost in 1965 to America by ship. Actually, she wanted to work for only a few months in the USA after graduating from the home economics school in Kiel. Today she is 75 and still lives in San Francisco. Because of course she has remained because of love: In order to earn money, she hired at an airline as a stewardess and got to know the young Air Force pilot and later lawyer John Farrell. The two married. In 1974, her only child Mark was born. Four decades later, her son, as city councilor of San Francisco, partnered with Kiel. Lena indirectly provided for that to happen: "It has always been like staying at a hostel in our home," says Mark Farrell (43). "My mum always had visitors from Germany and in the summer we were in the provost." There on the farm of the family Mark spent as a child weeks and months together with his numerous cousins. For the only child, they were like siblings. He has the closest relationship to Thomas Ewoldt. The Kiel business consultant and the Californian politician visit each other regularly. A few years ago, there were the first considerations on how the two cities could connect professionally beyond the private sector. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |dead-url=, |registration=, and |subscription= (help); Invalid |script-title=: missing prefix (help)
  6. ^ a b c "District 2 - Board of Supervisors". 25 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Quest Hospitality Ventures - Crunchbase". Crunchbase.
  8. ^ https://www.linkedin.com/company/quest-hospitality-ventures
  9. ^ "Our Firm - Thayer Ventures". www.thayerventures.com.
  10. ^ "Quest Hospitality Ventures I, L.P.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com.
  11. ^ "Thayer Ventures to Raise New Funds to Finance Hospitality Technology Startups".
  12. ^ "Venture capital funds bulk up for hospitality technology disruption - tnooz".
  13. ^ Douglas, Danielle (10 June 2012). "Thayer Lodging forms new venture fund" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  14. ^ "Skift Q&A: Hospitality Investor Lee Pillsbury on 100 Years of Industry Disruption". 4 December 2013.
  15. ^ "Leland Pillsbury '82, Founder, Co-Chairman, and CEO, Thayer Lodging Group, Inc. - Kellogg School of Management - Northwestern University". www.kellogg.northwestern.edu.
  16. ^ "Thayer Ventures Launches $100M Travel Technology VC Fund; Announces Leland Pillsbury as MD". 11 January 2017.
  17. ^ "City and County of San Francisco - Mark Farrell". 5 July 2016.
  18. ^ "Board of Supervisors : District Information". 5 July 2016.
  19. ^ "Board of Supervisors : Newsletter". 5 July 2016.
  20. ^ "Board of Supervisors : Staff". 5 July 2016.
  21. ^ "Mark Farrell sues SF over $191,000 election-law fine".
  22. ^ Sabatini, Joshua. "SF Ethics Commission united behind fining SF supervisor $191K". The San Francisco Examiner.
  23. ^ Lybarger, Jeremy. "Supervisor Farrell Won't Pay His Ethics Fine — Or Talk About It". SF Weekly.
  24. ^ In the Matter of : COMMON SENSE VOTERS, SF 2010; VOTE FOR MARK FARRELL FOR DISTRICT 2 SUPERVISOR AND CHRIS LEE
  25. ^ ITEM-7-Farrell-Referral-and-Response-Letter-FINAL
  26. ^ Knight, Heather; Green, Emily (May 4, 2016). "Mark Farrell sues SF over $191,000 election-law fine". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  27. ^ Green, Emily (October 18, 2016). "SF Ethics Commission slashes fine for Farrell campaign violations". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  28. ^ Johnson, Lizzie (October 30, 2015). "San Francisco's last gun shop gives up the fight". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  29. ^ "Rules dictate how SF's next mayor may be chosen and how long they may serve". San Francisco Chronicle. 12 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.

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