San Francisco hasn't even sworn in its new mayor yet and already the plot is thick: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been tapped to co-chair mayor-elect Daniel Lurie's transition team, and Lurie has reportedly been personally calling tech CEOs to ask — more or less — please come back, we miss you.

Let's be honest about what this is. After years of watching companies flee to Austin, Miami, and anywhere that doesn't require a permit to exist, San Francisco is doing the political equivalent of texting your ex at 2am. The difference is, this time the ex might actually respond.

Having Altman in the room isn't just symbolic — the guy runs arguably the most consequential AI company on the planet, headquartered right here in the city. If Lurie is serious about rebuilding SF's relationship with the tech industry, co-opting one of its most visible figures into the governance process is a smart, if eyebrow-raising, first move.

The libertarian in us wants to cheer. Less bureaucratic resistance to business, more economic activity, more tax revenue that might — might — actually fix a pothole or two. San Francisco has spent the better part of a decade treating its most productive industry like an uninvited guest. A course correction is overdue.

But let's not pop the champagne yet. Transition teams make announcements. Mayors make policy. The real test isn't whether Lurie can get Altman on a committee or charm a few executives over dinner — it's whether he can deliver on the boring, unsexy fundamentals: permitting reform, public safety, a city government that doesn't actively punish people for trying to build things.

Tech didn't leave San Francisco because CEOs stopped liking sourdough. They left because operating here became an obstacle course. Altman's presence on the transition team is a promising signal. But signals aren't reforms.

We'll be watching to see whether this is the start of something real — or just the most expensive photo op in the city's recent history.