Jonathan Weber frames San Francisco's changes in new book City on the Edge

Jonathan Weber, who has reported on San Francisco for more than three decades, discussed his new book City on the Edge on a Commonwealth Club stage in June, laying out how technology, politics and money transformed the city's cultural and civic life.

Weber opened with a personal history of the industry and the city, recounting the excesses of the late 1990s at The Industry Standard and the magazine's rooftop parties. He said the magazine once sold "7,750 ad pages" at the millennium peak, an industry record he cited while explaining how rapid expansion masked structural fragility. "We're we're in another bubble," Weber said in response to a question about today's AI-driven valuations, arguing the current cycle is larger in scale than the dot-com era because tech now accounts for a far greater share of local employment.

Weber described a political "city family" that for decades crossed ideological lines and concentrated influence in the hands of a few leaders. "The term was actually coined by by Willie Brown," he said, noting how successive mayors and power brokers perpetuated a network of influence long after they left office. Weber also tied changes in philanthropy and cultural institutions to a new, less city-rooted wealthy class that gives differently than earlier generations. He cited the San Francisco Art Institute's financial troubles and the subsequent campus purchase by Laurene Powell Jobs as illustrative of that shift.

The author placed housing and transportation at the center of the city's current challenges. He described zoning and construction costs as structural obstacles to building more housing despite state-level reforms favored by the YIMBY movement. On transportation, Weber said ride-hailing companies filled gaps left by poor taxi service but later raised prices after a period of subsidized fares, and he warned that autonomous services like Waymo have unclear economics.

Weber closed by criticizing social-video platforms'impact on civic life and journalism. Describing himself as "a word guy," he called the rise of TikTok "a catastrophe" for public political culture and suggested in-person reporting and events as partial defenses against misinformation.

The discussion ran about an hour and included audience questions; Weber will appear for a book signing after the talk.