New Supervisor Alcaraz Is Already Out

The Facts

Freshly appointed District 4 Supervisor Isabella "Beya" Alcaraz resigned Thursday night after just one week in office, prompting Mayor Daniel Lurie to apologize Friday. "This rests on my shoulders," he said. "We are going to thoroughly review our vetting process, and we will get better."

Alcaraz stepped down amid revelations about her pet store business, The Animal Connection. The store's new owner told Gabe Greschler at The Standard that Alcaraz left behind dead mice, feces, and trash when she transferred ownership earlier this year. Text messages obtained by Joe Eskenazi at Mission Local showed Alcaraz admitted to paying employees "under the table" and misreporting business expenses to, presumably, avoid paying her business taxes.

Alcaraz has the shortest tenure of any Supervisor in San Francisco history, serving just seven days.

The Context

Alcaraz's appointment on Nov. 6 was unusual from the start. She approached Lurie at a night market in September—having never met him before—to inquire about the supervisor role. She had no political or government experience and had never attended Supervisor meetings.

The District 4 seat had been vacant since October 18th, when Supervisor Joel Engardio was officially removed from office after being recalled by voters over his support for closing the Great Highway to cars.

The GrowSF Take

The ending was less of a surprise than the beginning. Insiders and observers alike questioned Alcaraz's qualifications from the start. We were certainly surprised! We liked that she had a small business background, but worried about her lack of experience and unclear priorities.

The ending was inevitable, though, as soon as the revelations about her business practices came to light. Running a dirty store is one thing, but evading taxes, and paying employees under the table is disqualifying for any public official.

We hope the next appointee is better.