"The three charter reform measures Lurie and Mandelman have proposed are 1) giving the mayor powers currently held by independent City Hall commissions, 2) making it harder to put ballot measures on San Francisco election ballots, and 3) making the City Administrator's term ten years instead of five years, and giving the Administrator more authority over contracts."
"Mandelman and Lurie push all of these measures as promoting 'accountability,' but what happens to this vaunted accountability when Lurie makes mistakes, or steers contracts to his donors and buddies? Do recall Lurie's major fuck-up with the Beya Alcaraz District 4 supervisor appointment. The man makes mistakes."
"The City Charter is effectively San Francisco's Constitution. And considering San Francisco has the longest and most complicated City Charter in the US, this vague concept of charter reform sounds like something we can all get behind."
Mayor Daniel Lurie, after 14 months in office, is pursuing charter reform to expand mayoral powers. San Francisco's City Charter, the longest and most complicated in the US, currently distributes authority among the mayor, Board of Supervisors, and various commissions. Lurie and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman propose three measures: transferring independent commission powers to the mayor, restricting ballot measure access, and extending the City Administrator's term while increasing their authority. Proponents claim these changes promote accountability and reduce bureaucratic diffusion, but critics question whether accountability mechanisms exist when the mayor makes errors or potentially directs contracts to allies. Lurie's previous missteps raise concerns about concentrating additional power in his relatively inexperienced administration.
#san-francisco-politics #mayoral-power-consolidation #charter-reform #government-accountability #municipal-governance
Read at sfist.com
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