Remember when, less than 3 years ago, SF projected a $108M surplus for the next two years? Woulda been a nice time to clean up some of this technical debt! Or

Remember when, less than 3 years ago, SF projected a $108M surplus for the next two years? Woulda been a nice time to clean up some of this technical debt! Or how about the SF Emergency Sirens, taken offline in late 2019 for a "2 year" upgrade plan that officeholders implied was already in place? In August 2023, with no progress whatsover, with the Maui fire disaster fresh on their minds, Mayor Breed & Supervisors President Peskin touted they'd finally funded a plan to return them to service soon: https://www.sf.gov/news/mayor-breed-and-board-president-peskin-announce-citywide-outdoor-public-warning-system-upgrade https://www.sf.gov/news/mayor-breed-and-board-president-pesk... In that same August 2023 timeframe, Peskin said the plan would bring this "need to have" system "up and running" & to "state of the art" by end of 2024, for $5.5M: https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/san-francisco-city-leaders-look-to-bring-back-emergency-sirens-by-end-of-2024/ https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/san-francisco-city... Of course, this was just more blatant self-exonerating bullshit from our local political machines immune from any real accountability for incompetence in basic public functions. A mere 6 months later in February 2024, nothing's been started, Peskin admitted "we don't even have a plan", the department is still waiting until "funding is identified", and the cost estimate has ballooned to $20.5m: https://abc7news.com/san-francisco-sirens-emergency-911-alert-system/14461668/ https://abc7news.com/san-francisco-sirens-emergency-911-aler... That works out to $170K+ for each of 119 units – units that each could probably just be a weatherized consumer-grade handheld device with multiple mobile/packet/sat radios, & a simple authenticated-playback app, mounted on existing poles that presumably already have power and even loudspeakers.