#### Love what you read? Love that it was free? **Mission Local will never have a paywall.** All our articles are free for everyone, always. Help us keep it that way — donate to our **end-of-year fundraiser** to make _Mission Local_**free for your neighbors**. Donate today! When the story broke that Beya Alcaraz, the pet shop owner turned District 4 supervisor, had allegedly left a stash of dead pets decomposing in the store’s freezer, the metaphor seemed a little too on the nose, even for this town. How could this happen? How could Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office fail to properly vet a candidate who _literally had skeletons in her closet?_ Alcaraz was sworn in on Nov. 6 on her 29th birthday. That’s young, but it’s hardly unprecedented: Katy Tang and Carmen Chu were both 29 when they were appointed supervisor. Sean Elsbernd was 28. Chris Daly was only 28 when he was elected. Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our **free daily newsletter** below. Sign up But here’s the thing: Tang, Chu and Elsbernd had advanced degrees and/or years of experience in government. Daly won a hard-fought vote of the people. Alcaraz had none of these attributes. Her resume was largely six years atop a pet shop. Then a succession of articles about troubling conditions there — and Alcaraz’s own slipshod alleged business practices — quickly evaporated that. Alcaraz, whom _Mission Local_ has learned did not know the distinction between a motion, resolution or ordinance, showed remarkable hubris putting herself forward for a job she was in no way qualified to perform. But Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office should never, _ever_ have allowed this situation to devolve in public. This should have been politely handled behind closed doors and Alcaraz should never have been advanced. This failure to do even the most basic of background checks was a great disservice to Alcaraz. Make no mistake: This was an embarrassing, preventable, self-induced and damaging bungle by Lurie, himself a political newcomer. It shows questionable knowledge of and concern for the actual work done by the Board of Supervisors. It absolutely does not show respect for the 80,000-odd residents of District 4, who deserve a legislator who knows how to legislate. It was a hell of a move for a mayor who will next year be asking the city’s voters for _more_ power, including the ability to unilaterally hire and fire people. As the slow-moving trainwreck of Alcaraz’s appointment began to pick up speed, the mayor pushed back on the accusation that she was unvetted. Alcaraz was “absolutely” vetted, he told a gaggle of reporters on Nov. 12. A day later, she resigned because of details reported in _Mission Local_ of which he was unaware. District 4 voters on Oct. 20 received a poll describing Alcaraz’s life story but using the pseudonym “Sarah Reyes.” She was appointed on Nov. 6. There was plenty of time to make the calls that were not made. So, as for vetting, to borrow the “Princess Bride” line from Inigo Montoya: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” Isabella “Beya” Alcaraz, a 29-year-old former small business owner, was sworn in as the new District 4 supervisor on Nov. 6, 2025. Photo by Junyao Yang. Your humble narrator has spoken to the staffers of former mayors, who were, in their day, tasked with vetting would-be city commissioners. That’s a lot less scrutiny than an appointment to an elected position (though I’ve talked to staffers who did that, too). But even prior aspirational planning commissioners, MTA commissioners et al. were subjected to far more scrutiny than Alcaraz appears to have been. The first step in vetting a would-be appointee is going through their voting records. In Alcaraz’s case, this would reveal that she has failed to weigh in on three elections since 2019 alone, including last year’s Democratic primary. The next step is to go through residency records — Alcaraz does indeed live in her District 4 home — and then, in the case of a business owner, the next step would be to go through complaints. In fact, the _San Francisco Examiner_ did this regarding Alcaraz’s former pet shop and found that inspectors from two city agencies visited the store on at least four occasions in response to complaints about gnarly conditions there. All of the above could be done without leaving the house. One needn’t call up the head of the health or building inspection departments — though a mayoral staffer could do that. But all of the above records are available online. You could find this information. Journalists _did_ find it — and quickly. Complaints of the sort the _Ex_ discovered might then compel someone to do a little more legwork — to drop in on Alcaraz’s former place of business or otherwise contact the new owner and any employees. The _San Francisco Standard, San Francisco Chronicle_ and _Mission Local_ did this. A mayoral staffer who might not want to tip off the world that a virtual unknown is up for a supervisor position could just say that they were looking into giving Alcaraz a job. Just to see what people say. At the pet shop, they had a _hell of a lot_ to say. And they had the documents to back it up — in writing, and with photos and video. But the most crucial — and intuitive — part of vetting a candidate is to simply ask them to self-disclose anything that could be used against them. Is there anything the appointing authority should know? Is there anything that could come out about them that would discredit the appointing authority? Even if a candidate was falsely accused of something, it’s important to admit this so that the appointing authority can have a ready response if it comes up. Appointing authorities do not like to be surprised. It is unclear if this question was asked of Alcaraz. But even if it was, it should never have been left to Alcaraz to vet herself. Mayor Daniel Lurie and his District 4 Supervisor appointee Beya Alcaraz take a merchant walk on Irving Street on Nov. 7, 2025. Photo by Junyao Yang. The play-by-play of the making and unmaking of Supervisor Beya Alcaraz is waiting to be discovered. We may never know the whole story. That would require all parties to reveal confidential — and embarrassing — details. But we can wonder. To start with: Why was this job open for nearly three weeks following the departure of Supervisor Joel Engardio — when most everyone anticipated, for months, that Engardio not beat the recall? _Mission Local_ has heard credible reports of multiple would-be candidates who, in the past several weeks, either declined the job or took themselves out of the running. The political calculus for these would-be appointees appears to have been untenable: It is difficult to conceive of a District 4 appointee voting for the mayor’s pending upzoning plan and remaining a viable candidate for election. A politically ambitious candidate would do better to simply run in 2026 after the sand settles. Being a supervisor is also a hard job. The hours are long. The speeches are many. The critics are fierce. The paycheck is not necessarily enough for the kind of mid-career professionals who would have the experience necessary to pull it off. In 2018, when Jessica Ho lost to Gordon Mar for the District 4 seat, Ho was Supervisor Katy Tang’s _sixth_ choice to succeed her in the job. This was many years before upzoning and the closure of the Great Highway were factors in Westside politics. Alcaraz may have distinguished herself by simply wanting the job. Because even if the floors of Acaraz’s pet shop were so clean you could eat off them and even if her business practices were commensurately sparkling, her appointment would’ve been a disappointing choice from Lurie. And a revealing one. For one of the most challenging and critically important roles in city government, Lurie selected a person who has no understanding of government and had previously evinced no interest in local politics. She was, in fact, the only supervisor appointee in at least the last 30 years to come with zero experience in either government or politics. Alcaraz’s first hire as an aide was not a deeply experienced wrangler of government to hoist her up a legislative mountain — someone like Mike Farrah, Bill Barnes, Sunny Angulo or Jen Low — but a city staffer who formerly produced videos for the mayor’s office. This is unfortunate. This indicates a belief on the part of the mayor and his appointee that the purpose of government is not to _do_ things but just to _sell_ them. At a press conference on Friday, Mayor Daniel Lurie was contrite. He took responsibility for this strange and terrible saga. “This is not the first time I’ve done something wrong; it won’t be the last,” he said. “But what I commit to the people of San Francisco is: I’m going to learn from this. We are going to thoroughly review our vetting process and we will get better. But let me be clear that this rests on my shoulders.” These are the right things to say, but, unfortunately, they came after the wrong things to do: A catastrophic lapse in oversight and the wholly avoidable public humiliation of a 29-year-old woman. Sad but true: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. #### Keep Mission Local free—match your gift today! We have a **big year-end goal:** $300,000 by Dec. 31. Thanks to generous donors, every dollar donated up to**$76,500** **will be doubled!** It's more important than ever that _everyone_ has access to news that reports, explains and keeps them informed. Paywalls don’t serve anyone. _Your support makes it possible_ for Mission Local’s content to be **forever free — for everyone**. Donate ## Latest News ### Maria Su to become permanent S.F. superintendent, sources say ### Beya Alcaraz was least experienced S.F. supervisor appointee in 30 years, data shows ### New S.F. supervisor, Beya Alcaraz, abruptly resigns after controversy ## Follow Us * X * Instagram * YouTube * LinkedIn * Mastodon

Sign up below to get Mission Local’s **free newsletter** , a daily digest of news you won’t find elsewhere. Sign up In a series of text messages obtained by _Mission Local_ , Mayor Daniel Lurie’s new pick to lead District 4, Beya Alcaraz, wrote that she paid some of her former pet shop workers “under the table,” apparently misreporting her business expenditures and skimping on paying taxes by doing so. She texted that her taxes “will be less, since I pay people under the table now…” and estimated that her business held perhaps $75,000 in cash “on top of the reported revenue.” Alcaraz also wrote of writing off dinners and drinks with friends or “clients” as a business expense, and then sometimes receiving cash back from her companions. Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our **free daily newsletter** below. Sign up _Mission Local_ verified that the messages are from Alcaraz’s cell number. Accounting professionals said that while business owners cutting corners and writing off personal expenses is common, the potential tax-dodging is more serious. Jerry Dratler, a retired accountant and the former chief accounting officer of Williams Sonoma, said that behavior of this sort is “pretty prevalent” in this and every city, among businesses small, medium and large. He said the practice of overstating business expenses by paying for non-work events — and then being remunerated in cash — was “a foot fault.” But he saw Alcaraz’s texts as tantamount to an admission that she filed false tax returns — “and that’s pretty damn serious. That goes beyond being a sloppy business operator.” Texts between new District 4 supervisor Beya Alcaraz and Julia Baran, who took over Alcaraz’s former pet store. Lurie on Friday tapped Alcaraz for the District 4 seat left vacant for 20 days after the departure of recalled former supervisor Joel Engardio. The March 28 text messages further cloud the appointment of Alcaraz, a 29-year-old with no experience in government or serious involvement in community service. It also raises more questions about the vetting and decisionmaking process by Lurie to select Alcaraz. In a statement, Alcaraz said, “I don’t owe a dollar in taxes, and I paid the young people who came to work in my store because I believe in my core that young people in my community and every community deserve to be paid for their work. I worked seven days a week to keep my business open through the pandemic and always ensure that my employees were paid, and I’m going to use that experience every day as I work to make life easier for small businesses and families in the Sunset.” A statement from the mayor’s office read “Supervisor Alcaraz knows how hard it is to run a small business in San Francisco. She’s going to bring the same grit and determination she brought to her business to her new role advocating for families and small businesses in the Sunset.” The mayor’s office did not answer questions regarding if it knew about Alcaraz’s alleged business practices, or condoned them. Lurie has rejected the notion that his nomination was a misguided or cavalier endeavor. Alcaraz was “absolutely” vetted,” he told Channel 7’s Monica Madden. “She can’t help that she’s 29 years old.” Mayor Daniel Lurie and his District 4 Supervisor appointee Beya Alcaraz take a merchant walk on Irving Street on Nov. 7, 2025. Photo by Junyao Yang. The March 28 text message exchange was between Alcaraz and Julia Baran, who took over Alcaraz’s pet store, the Animal Connection, from Alcaraz in May. Baran’s experience taking over Animal Connection from Alcaraz was also the crux of a story published by the _San Francisco Standard_on Nov. 10 — Baran shared documents showing that Animal Connection “was in the red by tens of thousands of dollars” between 2020 and 2023. Baran also spoke of and shared videos depicting Animal Connection as beset with rodent infestations, a foul odor, “squalor” and a stash of dead pets sitting in the freezer. When the prospective buyer Baran asked Alcaraz about work schedules for pet shop staffers, Alcaraz noted that “my under the tables come in as needed. And then I have another under the table seasonal hire when the boarding gets busy!” In the text exchange, Alcaraz said she estimated there was an additional $50,000 to $75,000 in cash on top of the reported revenue in the business’ ledger. Baran replied “Between the two under the table you’re paying them about $30K a year, so I figured it was at least that.” While the business listed expenses of $35,000 for taxes and licenses, Alcaraz texted “It will be less, since I pay people under the table now, but that’s payroll taxes and sales tax mostly.” Dratler noted that it is “not illegal per se” to keep messy books. “But if you use that information to file your tax return?” That, he says, is different. Sharky Laguana, the former president of the small business commission, said that the behavior described in the text messages is unambiguously illegal. But he said he still has sympathy for Alcaraz and all small business owners. “The law requires employers to collect and remit taxes for payroll and withhold workers’ taxes. There is no dispute that is what the law requires,” he said. “With that said, there are a lot of cases where the ability to get paid under the table helps people who are on the edge of poverty. It helps people who are immigrants.” On top of paying workers under the table, Alcaraz wrote in the texts that “I also live off a big portion of the non cash revenue. I spend expense [sic] a bit of money on my personal life so I can use it as a tax deduction. E.g. I pay for my dinner and drinks with my friends or ‘clients’ as a business expense and then they may or may not pay me back in cash. When you see meals and entertainment, office meals, travel, etc that’s usually what that’s for.” Baran is 26 and, like Alcaraz, a city native. She said she is not paying workers under the table or writing off nights out as business expenses. Following publication of the _Standard_ article on Friday, she was contacted by the mayor’s office. After she shared several photos and videos of wretched conditions in the pet shop, a mayoral aide texted “Are there specific actions you’re hoping we can do to remedy the situation?” Baran tells _Mission Local_ that there are: “They should own up to what they did, apologize and promise to do better.” #### Keep Mission Local free—match your gift today! We have a **big year-end goal:** $300,000 by Dec. 31. Thanks to generous donors, every dollar donated up to**$76,500** **will be doubled!** It's more important than ever that _everyone_ has access to news that reports, explains and keeps them informed. Paywalls don’t serve anyone. _Your support makes it possible_ for Mission Local’s content to be **forever free — for everyone**. Donate ## Latest News ### He died in a San Francisco jail. 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