Mark Farrell walks through SF Chinatown seeking support for his mayoral bid

（San Francisco) Mayoral candidate Mark Farrell walked through San Francisco Chinatown on a Saturday seeking support from the Chinese community for his bid for mayor. He emphasized combating anti-Asian hate and public safety would be his top priorities once he is elected in November 2024.

Farrell has been considered as one of the top candidates for the mayor race in the upcoming November election. He was born and raised in San Francisco. He served as the Supervisor for District 2, which covers Marina and Pacific Heights neighborhoods, for seven years and subsequently served as Acting Mayor when former Mayor Edwin Lee passed away unexpectedly in December 2017.

On March 30, Saturday, Farrell first held a rally at Portsmouth Square. Then he had a merchant walk around Chinatown's busy streets. He also attended the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association monthly meeting to greet the family association leaders and made a presentation on his agenda for running for mayor.

Farrell said at the rally that he would put public safety as his top priority once he got elected in November. "The Chinese community is in every neighborhood in San Francisco. The number one concern is public safety, especially for the Asian community who faces the challenge of anti-Asian hate and violence," Farrell said.

"The City Hall lacks focus. Like I did when I was the mayor, I will bring public safety back, and that's why I am running for mayor to fight against Asian hate crime," Farrell added.

"We need to clean up the streets in San Francisco. The streets belong to our families, children, and seniors," Farrell said on the issues of homelessness and drug addicts. "I will treat them with options. It will no longer let the people living in tents. People died on the streets last year because of drug addiction. We need to take an aggressive approach. We need to get people off the streets."

Farrell said his campaign has been focused on helping neighborhoods like Chinatown be

more clean, safe, and vibrant for the residents, workers, and visitors.

"We lost 600 police officers in recent years," Farrell said when he was the Acting Mayor, he created a plan to hire 250 more officers and aggressively fund police academy classes. He would do the same when he is elected.

Among the supporters gathered at the rally, retired San Francisco Police Department Deputy Chief Garret Tom endorsed Farrell for mayor. "I got to know Mark (Farrell) from Day 1," Tom said Farrell had the qualification and experience as the mayor to run the city. He had confidence in Farrell.