SFInc

San Francisco Business Times - January 15, 2007

S.F. Inc. gives shareholders the bad news

San Francisco Business Times - January 12, 2007

by Arthur Bruzzone

It's getting to that time of the year for annual reports. So, let's review San Francisco's largest employer. That being, of course, San Francisco Inc., or the City and County of San Francisco, employing 26,665 workers, and headed by its CEO, Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Let's start with the budget. Since Newsom assumed the head of San Francisco Inc., he's increased the budget by $1 billion dollars. The 2003 total budget was $4.7 billion. His 2007 proposed budget is $5.7 billion.

Keep in mind that the population in 2003 was about where it is today, or 750,000 residents. So, in the last three years we've had zero population increase and a 22 percent increase in the budget.

It gets worse. The mayor's own controller, Edward Harrington, forecasts a $172.8 million deficit in the next fiscal year. Shareholders, take note.

Now, let's get to performance, starting with the city's chief responsibility: safety.

Each year, the F.B.I. gathers stats on "violent crimes" (murder, robbery, aggravated assaults) from around the country . When the present administration took over, the S.F. police reported 5,725 violent crimes. In 2005, they reported 5,985 violent crimes. The city is headed toward a record 7,122 violent crimes for 2006, as reported by the F.B.I.'s half-year report issued in October 2006.

Clearly, 10 fewer homicides do not tell the whole story.

Now for customer satisfaction and city performance. The Office of the Controller issues a Performance Measure Report. In 2004, 65 percent of citizens rated city services as fair to poor. City government received the same rating in 2005. In other words, only 37 percent rated city services good to very good.

Let's take some specifics, comparing 2003 and 2005. Quality of park buildings dropped from 42 percent (2003) to 40 percent. Condition of city streets, down 1 percent. Number of potholes repaired, down 3 percent. On time performance of the public transit, no change, 70 percent. The voter mandated goal, 85 percent. Homelessness? In October 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that no system exists to track the millions spent, and homeless housed.

If city government was a major corporation, the shareholders might have some serious questions at the next shareholders' meeting.

A billion-dollar increase in expenses and no noticeable improvement in services or customer satisfaction, and, with regard to homelessness, a major gap in reporting -- the upcoming mayoral race should provide shareholders that opportunity.

Arthur Bruzzone is host and producer of the weekly Comcast/SF TV series "San Francisco/unscripted."

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