We talk with Dean Preston, attorney and former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
We discuss how Trump is threatening cities with Democratic mayors, and the reactions to those threats. In San Francisco, the mayor's reaction has been muted, while other cities' mayors are resisting.

Dean joins Mario Riviera, a San Francisco-based journalist and documentary filmmaker in another one of his documentaries discovering hidden subcultures and events around America. This investigative documentary uncovers what happened when ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) entered San Francisco to conduct large-scale immigration arrests. Through raw footage, eyewitness accounts, and exclusive interviews, this film captures the tension, fear, and resilience surrounding the ICE raids that shook the Bay Area. Explore the real stories of immigrants, families, and local officials as they navigate the impact of federal immigration enforcement in one of America’s most well-known sanctuary cities.

Another episode of the Doomloop Dispatch, the news show covering the worst parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. In this episode, Kevin and D Scott talk to Dean Preston, a tenants rights attorney and former San Francisco supervisor. We get into the damage done by the “Doomloop” narrative and Dean’s constant battles to create more affordable housing in San Francisco. So much good stuff in this one!

At a time when Democrats across the country are being begged by their constituents to stand for something, the local Democratic party and City Hall leaders are proudly championing their “moderate” bona fides, standing for nothing. They offer concerts and vibe shifts in place of principles, and elevate civility and cheerfulness over results. At every opportunity, this new political formation ignores the housing and economic needs of working people and those in poverty. In some ways, it feels like the dystopian fantasies of the Network State movement are being grafted onto our living, beloved city: limitless police spending, elimination of social programs, privatization of public services, and repression of any dissenting views.

San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about the tech billionaire-backed astroturf campaigns that flooded his district with money and disinformation. We dig into how tech barons are reshaping local politics through alleged "grassroots" groups, what it means for democracy when dark money drives housing and policing policy, and how Preston sees the fight for tenants' rights and progressive politics moving forward.

The City of Sensitive Frauds is a gripping and uncompromising documentary directed by Mario Riveira and Abraham Woodliff that exposes the human cost of gentrification in San Francisco and Oakland. What started as a small 15-minute project grew into a full-length film featuring raw street interviews with unhoused residents, conversations with local artists like Gunna Goes Global and Doggtown Dro, and insights from political voices, including former Supervisor Dean Preston. Through unfiltered stories, the film reveals how developers, landlords, and politicians—often presenting themselves as progressive—have accelerated displacement and erased the cultural fabric of the Bay Area. More than just a documentary, it’s a call to action that captures the human cost of profit-driven development and challenges viewers to rethink what “progress” really means for our communities.

Even those who opposed the funding and acquisition strategy that led to this project are now celebrating 650 Divisadero. We welcome their support. This project will help people survive and thrive in San Francisco. There is still time for the city to acquire more sites like this one and use our voter approved law to fund the construction of more affordable homes for San Franciscans. Our mayor should seize this opportunity for the benefit of all San Franciscans.

Katie talks about dishonest tech bros and corporate Dems with tenants rights attorney and former San Francisco Board of Supervisors representative Dean Preston, comedian and Dystopia Now podcast co-host Kate Willett and housing organizer Shanti Singh. Then Katie is joined by Palestinian journalist Laila Al Arian to discuss Israel's ongoing murderous campaign against Palestinian journalists and the complicity of Western leaders and journalists.

Preston argues that instead of ushering in a new era of solutions, the mayor has recycled tired strategies that prioritize political optics over proven public health responses. Lurie’s early tenure was marked by the rollout of a “Fentanyl State of Emergency” ordinance and a “Breaking the Cycle” initiative—both of which Preston likened to similar announcements under former Mayor London Breed.

[A]ccording to a new audit by the Budget and Legislative Analyst, it should be: Interdepartmental services accounted for more than $1.3 billion in the 2022-2023 budget. And, according to the audit, requested in 2024 by then-Sup. Dean Preston, $332 million was unspent that year.

We’re talking about more than half of next year’s projected deficit—and it’s not entirely clear where all that money wound up.

“SFMTA is literally taking one of its most successful lines, the 5-Fulton, lopping off a chunk of the route that goes down Market Street, and de facto replacing the bus line there with Waymos,” former Supervisor Dean Preston wrote on BlueSky. “What happened to Transit First?”

Dean’s major accomplishments in just five years in office will have long-term consequences (at least as long as they remain law), especially in keeping rent-burdened working-class and poor tenants in their homes and off the streets. The more impactful aspects of Dean’s program were enacted against the wishes of the political establishment; they were achieved at the ballot box through the efforts of everyday San Franciscans, most of them organized through groups such as the city’s Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) chapter.

Preston urged the audience to protect the city’s most vulnerable — low income, working class, homeless and immigrants — during the current hostile political climate. Dro spoke about countering cultural erasure by being vocal. 

For a decade plus, gentrification has been a media fixation in the Bay with cable, print and online news approaching the issue from almost every conceivable angle.

Unlike other approaches though, The City of Sensitive Frauds tells the story of gentrification from the perspective of those being pushed out, not those moving in.

Many of San Francisco’s Democrats are increasingly using Trump-style language and tactics, especially since tech billionaires took over the local Democratic Party ahead of the 2024 election. Though San Francisco leaders pride themselves on not being Republicans, the distinction between them is growing dimmer.

City leaders are pretending to be powerless when it comes to saving the Fillmore’s only grocery store. The defeatism reminds me of what the Democrats have been doing in Washington, D.C. — capitulating to billionaires without a fight. We need leadership, not excuses and surrender. It’s what the community is demanding.

The East Bay-based grocery chain’s latest closure drama harks back to a similar saga generations ago

As the November election approaches, fake videos and audio snippets generated by artificial intelligence continue to appear online, stoking concern that quickly advancing “deepfake” technology could be used to sway races and sow political misinformation.

Concerned that state and federal lawmakers will be too slow in their response, San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston consulted with local election officials for the past several months to figure out what The City might be able to do on its own to fend off AI-generated falsehoods.