I mean, someone signed off on the footings of the millennium tower, too. SF is not taking a cautious, informed approach, they’re just burying their heads in the sand.

Friction piles are used around the world, including in far more seismically active areas like Japan. In fact, in many ways they can be advantageous. I don't think I've read a single article on the Millennium Tower where a professional claimed that the tower engineers did anything but apply proper, modern structural engineering. At best the few criticisms are more like, "but I wouldn't have done it."

When unexpected things happen it doesn't always mean anything was done wrong, or even that anything should be done differently in the future.

Especially it seems SF is an area where it would seem wise to be a bit extra cautious...since you're both seismically active and in a marine environment.

You are more cautious than the SF city government - basically all of the recent (and future) construction is in the most seismically unsound parts of the city!