San Francisco's budget is an interesting thing. In some ways, I think it goes back to the city that fits into the box and the city that is trying to burst out o

San Francisco's budget is an interesting thing. In some ways, I think it goes back to the city that fits into the box and the city that is trying to burst out of it. I think SF still thinks of itself as a small, scenic city of 850000, a strange hybrid of cosmopolitan and provincial traits. It fits neatly into a small box. For this version of SF, a small, pleasant place with a stable population, a budget over 11 billion (last year's number) is huge. It's enough that SF gov't can burn hundreds of millions on programs that don't solve problems and still stay solvent. I think the problem is that the 11+ billion dollar budget actually reflects a much bigger and more dynamic city that is outgrowing that small box, and you can see the strain. This San Francisco needs a vastly improved public transportation system. San Francisco's city streets are overwhelmed, and the NIMBYs near my neighborhood aren't wrong when they say traffic from higher density will grind to a halt with the higher density apartments the YIMBYs are asking for. We can't do this with our existing infrastructure, we can't do this if everyone's going to get to work in their own SUV with their own parking space, and I personally believe we're already seeing this paralysis even with our restrictive building codes (largely because in the absence of proper housing, 8 adults will cram into a single family house, and they'll all want to park somewhere). Public transportation needs to be safe and efficient, it needs to have a vastly greater coverage reach, much of it should ideally be underground in SF proper, and it needs to link suburban and exurban areas to allow people to reach job centers. I'm a parent, and SF park and rec summer camps filled up so fast that people are waiting by the computer, watching the international clock, and are content if they can fill up a third of their schedule (it's a real crapshoot). San Francisco needs vastly expanded services. We'll need a much better storm draining and sewage system, maybe with pumps in some areas, we need better drainage "sinks" and areas with more soil filter, probably expanded sewage treatment centers, we need to relieve bottlenecks. It goes on and on. When you think about what SF needs to get done, 11 billion doesn't seem like so much. Unfortunately, as it stands, I think SF views it as a windfall that can buttress ineffective government and wasteful programs. From what you've read, you can probably tell I'm not an anti-government type, though I am wary of excessive government programs, since I do think they have a tendency to be wasteful. SF needs good government and proper infrastructure badly, and it's going to cost $$.