[azinman2]

Except SF ran a deficit of 100M last year despite record revenue. Youd never know they have billions more than just s few years ago, the streets are in a shameful condition, homeless situation is quite bad, and public transit is a joke. They're doing a terrible job of managing their money.

[Decade]

It’s not the money that’s terribly managed. And it’s our money, not theirs.

It’s that we have an awful degree of citizen participation, being directed with a dumb combination of social feel-good and suspicion of authority. So, a couple days ago, we had Proposition B, which forbids the City of San Francisco from spending less than $64 million of the general fund on parks, gradually increasing to $89 million, even if the city is running a $100 million deficit, in addition to a percentage of property tax, with additional committees and reports. This proposition passed overwhelmingly. Along with every other proposition that suggested increased taxes.

It’s hard to run a city effectively when you’re being hamstrung by all sorts of requirements and interminable committees.

Streets could be in better condition if fiber and sewers could be coordinated with each other and with other street maintenance.

Homeless could be better if we acted like we were a state-level region with state-level decision-making, so let’s build housing for the people already, and not a cluster of democracies squabbling over a homeowner’s right to what’s in the sky over a several-square-mile region.

Public transit… It reminds me of the James Madison quotation, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Sadly, public transit is run by men (and women), not angels, so there’s all sorts of possibilities for corruption and selfish decisions. From requirements designed for the benefit of campaign contributors, to iron-clad income security for people whose jobs should have been automated away. It’s a mess, and attempts to fix it with regulations tend to block sensible decisions and cause loopholes.

In summary, it’s not the money that is mismanaged. It is the people.

[ubernostrum]

Some of those things are not entirely within SF's power to fix, though, or are complex beyond belief to solve.

I don't think anyone has good solutions for homelessness, for example, and transit is complicated by the fact that all the neighboring counties have to agree to most changes/upgrades to transit systems, and some have a history of vetoing or refusing to participate.