Fortune - SF Mayor London Breed talks reopening

April 30, 2020

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Senate Democrats continue to push for a childcare bailout, Gap Inc. faces a crisis, and we hear from San Francisco Mayor London Breed. Have a lovely Thursday.

– Mayor to mayor. It’s been two months since Mayor London Breed locked down San Francisco, and who knows how long since she ate a vegetable.

That last part might be an exaggeration—but the mayor of one of the first U.S. cities to impose a coronavirus shutdown did tell members of Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women community yesterday that she doesn’t love eating vegetables and prefers takeout from a local juice shop to get her vitamins.

Breed joined us for a video chat about leadership during the crisis yesterday. The event was the second virtual gathering Fortune MPW has hosted, following a session with Merck vaccine expert Dr. Julie Gerberding.

Besides juicing, listening to public-health experts, and figuring out how to responsibly re-open her city (it could involve takeout and delivery for non-essential businesses, too, like boutiques), Breed is staying at home, exercising and watching Tiger King to relax, and taking regular calls with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and a dozen other big-city mayors in the state. On that last topic—Breed told the MPW group that she’s grateful to work with a politically-aligned governor and that her “heart goes out to” peers like Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms who are trying to keep their cities safe while sparring with state leadership. “She is an incredible person and doing a great job despite the circumstances,” Breed said of Bottoms.

Thanks to Mayor Breed for joining us yesterday—read on for more from her talk here.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Goodbye because of all that. Citigroup made a discovery about its senior employees: men and women leave those roles for very different reasons. Women tend to say they've chosen to depart because of something about the company or its leadership, while men blame their relationship with their direct manager. Bloomberg

- Childcare cause. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tina Smith are still pushing for their $50 billion bailout for the nation's childcare system in the next coronavirus stimulus package. The senators first proposed the plan earlier this month and this week sent a letter to Senate leadership with the support of more Congressional colleagues. HuffPost

- A final fall into the Gap? Is the coronavirus crisis what finally kills Gap Inc.? The retailer, now led by CEO Sonia Syngal, was once the iconic American brand, but is now at the center of trends and financial realities that don't bode well for its post-pandemic future. Marker

Movers & Shakers: Molly Langenstein, president of Chico's and White House Black Market, has been named CEO and president of parent company Chico's FAS.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- UAW to GM. Federal investigators have long been looking into corruption at the United Autoworkers union; now they're probing UAW leaders' interactions with Mary Barra's General Motors. Authorities aim to figure out whether GM "violated U.S. labor law barring companies from providing union officials with items of value." The investigation is focused on one specific employee training center jointly operated by GM and the UAW; GM says it has been cooperating with the government in the investigation. Wall Street Journal

-Virus vaccine. In the race for a coronavirus vaccine, one woman has pulled ahead. Sarah Gilbert, a professor at Oxford University's Jenner Institute, developed a vaccine for the coronavirus MERS and is making progress on COVID-19. The billionaire-backed " Manhattan Project" for a vaccine, in comparison, has few women involved. New York Times

- UNintended. The lockdowns and disruptions to health services caused by the coronavirus pandemic could prevent 47 million people worldwide from accessing contraceptives—leading to 7 million unintended pregnancies, according to the UN. UN

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