Mayor Lurie’s Wednesday morning rally to support his fentanyl measure had more supporters lined up onstage than it had people in attendance, but more importantly, Lurie appears to have enough SF supervisor support to pass his measure next week.

New SF Mayor Daniel Lurie’s first big initiative will be his fentantyl state of emergency ordinance, intended to address the overdose crisis and improve conditions on the city’s streets. Lurie’s plan needs to pass the SF Board of Supervisors, but aspires to add more shelter beds and treatment facilities, solicit private funding to address the addiction epidemic, and eliminate oversight and reviews in the awarding of nonprofit contracts.

KRON4 reports that Lurie held a Wednesday morning rally at City Hall to build support for his measure before it heads to the board. "We have a crisis that needs the urgency and demands urgency, and that's what you're seeing from my administration and everybody behind me," Lurie said at the rally, according to NBC Bay Area.

Well, Lurie has people behind him on the podium, alright. And in the lower left of the photoset above, we see local anti-drug crusader Tom Wolf, an RFK, Jr. buddy who serves as a West Coat director for the Foundation for Drug Policy Initiatives. Will that be one of the nonprofits that gets these less-oversight, no-bid contracts from Lurie’s administration? And will Lurie’s policies end up being influenced by RFK, Jr-style anti-vaccine junk science? We shall see!

But while Lurie had many supporters on the podium, there weren’t many in front of him in the actual audience. That’s mostly press in the audience above, capturing the stagecraft that makes it look like a well-attended rally up on the steps.  

But audience size may not matter, because Lurie appears to have the audience he really needs — the six members of the SF Board of Supervisors required to give Lurie’s plan approved.

Lurie just tweeted within the last hour that he’s lined up six co-sponsors of the measure, so that right there is the six votes he needs. Plus, the Chronicle reported that Supervisor Connie Chan voted for the measure in a committee hearing today, so that gives Lurie a solid seven-vote majority.  

Chan tells the Chronicle that she’s pleased that Lurie has added a little more board oversight to the handing out of nonprofit contracts. And those nonprofit contracts may be what makes the difference on whether Lurie’s plan helps clean up drug users’ lives and SF streets, or whether it just lines the pockets of sham anti-vaxxers or self-enriching “anti-crime” nonprofit directors.

Related: Lurie Rolls Out Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance, But Supervisors’ Dissent Already Brewing [SFist]

Image: @DanielLurie via Twitter