These are the comments that remind me of the core user base of out of touch SF people.
The concept of soft power, where you have power through friendship, influence, and relationships is a surprisingly difficult concept for a lot of folks. It's a nuanced concept and it takes nuance to pull off, but when done right it's far more effective than hard power. Hard power is people do it because you tell them, soft power is they do it because you get them to want to do it. Informal arrangements make some people uncomfortable.
100%, because he's mayor. He has real power, and you use that to create soft power. Nothing else matters now, he's mayor. They have to deal with him, and by trying to make that easy and being gracious with the people who were against him, he can gain a LOT of soft power.
They raised ticket prices a few weeks ago, fwiw. He has a bully pulpit, but that's about it.