Months and millions later, maybe few changes to city commissions after all

"I think our focus will be in other places the next few months. The goal is laudable but there are good arguments from individual bodies about why these changes concern them. Instead, the changes put forward will be far less controversial, like proposals to eliminate inactive bodies, for example."

"Board President Rafael Mandelman said that he's currently working on a charter amendment ballot measure that includes things that make sense and are not going to be a huge political fight, like eliminating the Sanitation and Streets Commission, which was created to oversee a department that no longer exists."

"The notion of cutting back San Francisco's 152 commissions or task forces was thrust into the political limelight in 2024, when the political pressure group TogetherSF pushed Proposition D onto the ballot. Prop. D would have created a hard cap for city commissions at 65. The measure served as a soft-money vehicle for Mark Farrell's mayoral candidacy, with more than $9 million pumped into the measure."

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors is holding a hearing on recommendations to streamline the city's 152 commissions and task forces, but supervisors express little interest in implementing the task force's full proposals. The effort, which involved $10 million in spending and contentious meetings, appears to be losing momentum. Supervisors are reluctant to remove decision-making authority from bodies like the Commission on the Status of Women or eliminate committees overseeing homelessness spending. Instead, the board plans to pursue only minor, uncontroversial changes such as eliminating inactive commissions. Board President Rafael Mandelman is developing a charter amendment focusing on changes unlikely to provoke political opposition, such as dissolving the Sanitation and Streets Commission, which oversees a department that no longer exists.

Read at Mission Local