by Josh Koehn : sfstandard – excerpt
A network of “tech families” in San Francisco are forming a new political group that intends to spend up to $5 million a year—over the course of decades—to radically rewrite the script on housing, transportation, education and public spaces in the city.
Abundant SF, whose name gives a nod to a line in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1937 inaugural address, is seeking to make a sustained investment in YIMBY ballot measures and candidates who are ideologically aligned on the group’s core tenets, according to more than a dozen people who are familiar with the organization.
While other political groups backed by tech money have flexed their muscles in San Francisco, what’s novel about Abundant SF is its ambitious targets and prolonged time commitment….
Aaron Peskin, the president of the Board of Supervisors, had not heard of Abundant SF before being contacted for this story, but he seemed unconcerned by a new political player in town backed by substantial tech money.
“God bless them, they have the right to spend their money however they choose,” Peskin said. “But I don’t think there’s anything new here. All I have to say is: same shit, different name.”…
Disclosure: Michael Moritz, a partner at Sequoia Capital, provided initial funding for The Standard and Together SF. He is not involved in editorial decisions.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to clarify that Abundant SF supporters also have ties to Effective Governance California…(more)
RELATED:
Michael Moritz’s strange and terrible diagnosis of San Francisco
by Joe Eskenazi : missionlocal – excerpt
Let us start with the premise that San Francisco is a city with serious challenges and an unserious government. Let us be frank: This is a poorly governed place. You could even claim it’s the worst-run big city in the United States. And long has been…
Once you get into the why, though — why is San Francisco, a place that’s so rich and so replete with smart government officials, governed so abysmally? — it gets tougher…
San Francisco’s problem is not liberalism. It’s incompetence. It’s sloth. It’s poor governance, dysfunctional bureaucracy, and casual corruption enabled by vast and steady torrents of wealth… (more)
These articles attmept to place the blame for San Franciso’s woes on the influence of big money on San Francisco politiics. Certainly money is a large factor, but, after seeing the results of a lot of investigations conducted by all of our local media, I tend to agree with Joe.
San Francisco’s problems begin and end wtih incompetent dysfunctional bureaucrats and contractors, hired and managed by under-qualified or corrupt department heads and managers. Who hired these people? Why is the transportation system run on floppy discs and why are our teachers not being paid? These are the problems we need to solve. How can we replace incompetant and under-performing management and staff?
Those wealthy people who feel compelled to throw money into city politics should do a better job of vetting the people they select to run for office. They should look for people with proven mangement skills. We should all demand more from all our city officials.