Opinion: I support Daniel Lurie to be our next mayor

Why do I support Daniel Lurie for mayor? Because Daniel is like "a blank piece of paper", uncontaminated. He has his own political views to make San Francisco a better city for all.

Daniel is not a professional politician. He was born and raised in San Francisco. He is determined to contribute to the City of San Francisco and hopes to improve the unpleasant status quo and problems that have emerged in San Francisco over recent years, including the deep concerns and worries of the Chinese community on public security and economy, in particular on the local small business development.

I love San Francisco as much as Daniel does. 50 years ago, I followed my husband to study abroad in Chicago to pursue his Ph.D. My husband decided to leave Chicago after teaching at the university for 10 years. We chose to settle down and start a business in San Francisco Chinatown because San Francisco has been our dream city for long.

We started the Ten Ren Tea Shop in San Francisco Chinatown over 40 years ago and it was also the first Ten Ren shop in the SF Bay Area.

In 2023, Ten Ren Tea just celebrated its 70th anniversary. However, our business in San Francisco Chinatown has been so slow in recent years. Fewer tourists are coming to Chinatown, although the pandemic is over and the tourism has been up to the pre-pandemic level worldwide. All Chinatown businesses are struggling to survive.

There are reasons and factors, including the high numbers of violent and property crimes in San Francisco, homeless people everywhere, dirty streets, Union Square no longer lively and full of empty stores. When the Union Square has fewer shoppers, as a consequence, fewer shoppers would walk in San Francisco Chinatown.

Turning the situation around starts with city government leadership. Any government works like a human being's body. It needs to be replaced with new blood before it can be reborn.

Now we are in the final week prior to the November 5 election. Among many candidates for mayor, a number of them are career elected officials. In my opinion, professional elected officials are "politicians" who tend to be more bureaucratic and are more likely to get involved in corruption.

Daniel is an executive and entrepreneur who has made huge contributions to society and communities. He has created great ideas and wanted to make a change at our city government and stop corruption.

In my eyes, Daniel is like "a blank piece of paper". People attack him for being inexperienced, but he has no scandals, has a beautiful family, understands the responsibilities of being a parent, and has the enthusiasm to serve the people.

If we continue to vote for "politicians" as the next mayor of San Francisco, the future of the city can be easily predicted and will have no change. We need to vote for a mayor who is truly willing to serve the people. Your choices are easy. Please cast your votes for mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie.

*Lily Lii is the founder of the San Francisco Chinatown Ten Ren Tea shop which is part of the globally-operated Ten Ren Tea Corporation with headquarters in Taiwan. She has also managed the SF Chinatown tea shop on a daily basis for over 40 years.