City watchdog launches inquiry into Lurie’s controversial OpenGov deal

<div class="content-grid article-content"><div class="Metadata_container__fxAzw"><div class="flex flex-row gap-x-md"></div><div class="Metadata_metadata__W_0LF"><span>By <a class="" href="https://sfstandard.com/author/gabriel-greschler/">Gabe Greschler</a></span><time datetime="2025-11-19T14:00:00.000Z">Published Nov. 19, 2025 • 6:00am</time></div></div><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">A fiscal watchdog in City Hall is reviewing a controversial software contract Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office signed with OpenGov in October, after The Standard raised questions about favoritism and transparency in the process.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Legislative Analyst has launched an inquiry into the contract to determine whether the selection of OpenGov to overhaul the city’s convoluted permitting system followed city rules. The results could undermine how Lurie is trying to rapidly implement his PermitSF initiative, which promises to cut through government bureaucracy, a cornerstone of his 2024 campaign.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The Standard <u><a data-post-id="1eb26456-369f-4d88-8238-5c4e8981bf1e" href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/10/15/san-francisco-daniel-lurie-ned-segal-opengov-technology-contract/">was first to report in October</a></u> that one of Lurie’s chief policy advisers, Ned Segal, steered the $5.9 million contract to San Francisco-based OpenGov after disregarding recommendations from city employees to contract with another company that offered a cheaper software option. </p></div><div class="!p-0 !m-0"></div><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The Standard found that the company’s top executives had previously donated to the mayor’s nonprofit, Tipping Point Community, and that Lurie and his wife <a data-post-id="e24a4c79-c03c-40ce-b3f0-b058afb5383c" href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/10/29/san-francisco-daniel-lurie-investments-opengov/">indirectly held investments</a> in the company through their family’s trust.</p></div><figure class="ImageBlock_ImageFigure__ZnquR inset-image mobile-grid-full mobile-grid-full" data-align="none"><div class="relative"><div><img alt="A person is smiling outdoors, wearing a white shirt and a green vest with a name tag. The background is blurred and has greenery." class="block lazyloaded" data-nimg="1" decoding="async" height="2002" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1001px) 600px, (min-width: 768px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S3840x2560-FPNG" srcset="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S640x427-FPNG 640w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S750x500-FPNG 750w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S768x512-FPNG 768w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S828x552-FPNG 828w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S1024x683-FPNG 1024w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S1080x720-FPNG 1080w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S1200x800-FPNG 1200w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S1920x1280-FPNG 1920w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S2048x1365-FPNG 2048w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_cb1qae654d68pcdogm26pg921k/-S3840x2560-FPNG 3840w" style="color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 3003 2002'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=='/%3E%3C/svg%3E&quot;)" width="3003"/></div></div><figcaption class="basis-full mt-[10px] text-xs text-gray-550 font-inter leading-[18px]">The mayor’s policy chief, Ned Segal, favored OpenGov, despite city staffers’ concerns with the software.<span class="image-caption-divider"> | </span><span class="image-credit"><span class="sr-only">Source: </span>Drew Angerer/Getty Images</span></figcaption></figure><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">During the selection process this summer, staffers from multiple city departments raised concerns about OpenGov’s software capabilities, including customer management and security.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Documents showed that Lurie’s family had previously made at least two indirect investments in OpenGov, which was acquired last year by Cox Enterprises for $1.8 billion.</p></div><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The mayor’s office has denied that OpenGov received preferential treatment or that donations to his nonprofit and his family’s indirect investments factored into the contract.</p></div><div class="!p-0 !m-0"></div><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The BLA’s review was prompted by Supervisor Jackie Fielder, chair of the Board of Supervisors’ Government Audit and Oversight Committee, and an increasingly vocal critic of the Lurie administration. She has scheduled a <u><a data-post-id="dcd962f3-9cf4-415c-bef6-2465b74c32a5" href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/10/21/serious-concern-supervisor-calls-hearing-mayor-lurie-s-5-9m-opengov-deal/">January committee hearing</a></u> on the contract, during which the BLA’s findings will be presented, according to a spokesperson, who added that the supervisor also plans to request testimony from Segal.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Meanwhile, the Civil Service Commission, which conducts hearings about hiring and the treatment of city workers, is investigating whether the contract should have been presented to its governing body for approval.</p></div><figure class="ImageBlock_ImageFigure__ZnquR inset-image mobile-grid-full mobile-grid-full" data-align="none"><div class="relative"><div><img alt="A woman sits at a table with a laptop, a coffee carafe, and hand sanitizer, speaking into a microphone. She gestures with one hand, looking engaged." class="block lazyloaded" data-nimg="1" decoding="async" height="2000" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1001px) 600px, (min-width: 768px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S3840x2560-FPNG" srcset="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S640x427-FPNG 640w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S750x500-FPNG 750w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S768x512-FPNG 768w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S828x552-FPNG 828w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S1024x683-FPNG 1024w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S1080x720-FPNG 1080w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S1200x800-FPNG 1200w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S1920x1280-FPNG 1920w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S2048x1365-FPNG 2048w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_j1cs71hf1938feu0iadcd4lk29/-S3840x2560-FPNG 3840w" style="color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 3000 2000'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=='/%3E%3C/svg%3E&quot;)" width="3000"/></div></div><figcaption class="basis-full mt-[10px] text-xs text-gray-550 font-inter leading-[18px]">Supervisor Jackie Fielder will hold a hearing in January about the OpenGov contract.<span class="image-caption-divider"> | </span><span class="image-credit"><span class="sr-only">Source: </span>Magali Gauthier for The Standard</span></figcaption></figure><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">A key focus of the BLA’s report will be how the mayor’s office structured the procurement process.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">In May, as part of Lurie’s PermitSF initiative, the Mayor’s Office of Innovation released a “request for information,” a more informal process that allows the city to talk with a variety of vendors about their products for a project. Such a request also opens the door for vendors that aren’t approved by the city, such as OpenGov, to showcase their services. When a department is ready to make a purchase, it begins an official bidding process known as a “request for proposal.” </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">But the “request for information” process allowed the Mayor’s Office of Innovation to bypass a more rigorous and objective evaluation process and <a data-post-id="6bc57da4-49ac-47c1-a28a-e2e352d5f52a" href="https://sfstandard.com/opinion/2025/08/25/daniel-lurie-permitsf-opengov/">finalize the contract </a><u><a data-post-id="6bc57da4-49ac-47c1-a28a-e2e352d5f52a" href="https://sfstandard.com/opinion/2025/08/25/daniel-lurie-permitsf-opengov/">in August</a></u>. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Mayor spokesperson Charles Lutvak said in a statement, “The city’s permitting process is slow, complicated, and opaque, and it’s holding back our recovery—with OpenGov, we’re going to continue our work to make it faster, simpler, and more transparent so we can bring our city back stronger than ever.”</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The overhaul of the permitting system, which has long been criticized as overly cumbersome, is part of Lurie’s goal to streamline the city's bureaucracy. The mayor wants to make it easier for businesses to operate in the city, including streamlining permitting for events or expansions, which he sees as a way to help downtown’s post-pandemic economic recovery.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Under the current system, those seeking permits must apply through multiple city agencies, which use 20 types of software to manage the process. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The mayor’s office faces a February deadline to implement the OpenGov software, which promises a single landing page for permit approvals. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">An Oct. 31 weekly status report obtained by The Standard showed the project’s status in red, meaning there were “issues present with major impact to scope, schedule [and] resources.” On Nov. 14, the status, issued by Angelica Au, OpenGov’s director of professional services, was changed to yellow, indicating a “potential risk to project delivery.”</p></div></div>

Lurie family invested in tech firm that won controversial city contract

‘Serious concern’: Supervisor calls for hearing into Mayor Lurie’s $5.9M OpenGov deal

<div class="content-grid article-content"><div class="Metadata_container__fxAzw"><div class="Metadata_metadata__W_0LF"><span>By <a class="" href="https://sfstandard.com/author/josh-koehn/">Josh Koehn</a> and <a class="" href="https://sfstandard.com/author/gabriel-greschler/">Gabe Greschler</a></span><time datetime="2025-10-21T22:35:23.899Z">Published Oct. 21, 2025 • 3:35pm</time></div></div><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Supervisor Jackie Fielder on Tuesday called for a public hearing into a <u><a data-post-id="1eb26456-369f-4d88-8238-5c4e8981bf1e" href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/10/15/san-francisco-daniel-lurie-ned-segal-opengov-technology-contract/">multimillion-dollar contract</a></u> Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office recently signed with a software company to streamline the city’s permitting process despite city staffers’ concerns over its cost and performance.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">An investigation by The Standard last week found that Ned Segal, <u><a data-post-id="5565f584-ad70-458b-96d5-cfd582e105c4" href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/12/17/ned-segal-san-francisco-housing-economic-development/">one of the mayor’s top policy chiefs</a></u>, took unusual steps to secure a one-year, $5.9 million contract with OpenGov, a San Francisco company that counts more than 2,000 government agencies across the country as clients. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The company has ties to Lurie’s former nonprofit Tipping Point, with its founders collectively donating tens of thousands of dollars to the organization. In addition, Katherine August-deWilde, a member of OpenGov’s advisory board and leader of Lurie’s <a data-post-id="1badc39b-1823-45c2-98dd-4965291371b8" href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/10/06/house-daniel-lurie-power-players-mayor-s-political-deck/">Partnership for San Francisco</a>, has contributed as much as $2.85 million to his former nonprofit.</p></div><div class="!p-0 !m-0"></div><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">“My concerns around the OpenGov contract boil down to four elements: the cost, the quality, the procedure, and OpenGov’s relationships to the mayor,” Fielder, who is chair of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee, said in a statement. “Any one of them on their own [is] eyebrow-raising, but combined, they are cause for serious concern.”</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Other parts of City Hall are also scrutinizing the deal.</p></div><figure class="ImageBlock_ImageFigure__ZnquR inset-image mobile-grid-full mobile-grid-full" data-align="none"><div class="relative"><div><img alt="Three people in conversation at an indoor social event, two men and one woman, holding drinks and dressed in business casual attire." class="block lazyloaded" data-nimg="1" decoding="async" height="2000" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1001px) 600px, (min-width: 768px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S3840x2560-FPNG" srcset="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S640x427-FPNG 640w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S750x500-FPNG 750w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S768x512-FPNG 768w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S828x552-FPNG 828w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S1024x683-FPNG 1024w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S1080x720-FPNG 1080w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S1200x800-FPNG 1200w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S1920x1280-FPNG 1920w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S2048x1365-FPNG 2048w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_ogf99kg0gt5cp841do24ramp0l/-S3840x2560-FPNG 3840w" style="color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 3000 2000'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=='/%3E%3C/svg%3E&quot;)" width="3000"/></div></div><figcaption class="basis-full mt-[10px] text-xs text-gray-550 font-inter leading-[18px]">Zac Bookman, CEO of OpenGov, secured a contract with the city in October. <span class="image-caption-divider"> | </span><span class="image-credit"><span class="sr-only">Source: </span>Adria Malcolm/Getty Images</span></figcaption></figure><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The city’s Civil Service Commission, which holds public hearings about contracts, hiring, and the treatment of employees, has launched an investigation into the OpenGov contract and whether it should have been reviewed by its members before receiving approval.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Sandra Eng, the commission’s executive director, said there were plans for the OpenGov contract to go before the commission, but the city’s Department of Technology and the mayor’s office intervened. (According to the Civil Service Commission’s policies, certain software is exempt from commission approval.) </p></div><div class="!p-0 !m-0"></div><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Eng said the investigation was launched after the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21 made a complaint about the contract.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">“Too often we see millions of dollars wasted on private contracts that are unnecessary or overpriced,” said Sarah Perez, Local 21’s vice president, in a statement. “We’re alarmed and disturbed that the city had no intention to see if our existing staff could perform this work. Instead, they’re trying to sidestep the Civil Service Commission entirely.”</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">In addition to $1.9 million in implementation fees, the OpenGov contract will cost the city $4 million annually to streamline permitting across roughly a dozen departments. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Clariti, a company that city staff rated higher than OpenGov’s software, is already working with the Department of Public Works on a separate project. Records show that hiring Clariti to resolve the permitting issues would cost the city $1.6 million in implementation and $528,000 annually.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Contracting experts and city staffers said that Segal’s role in securing the contract was unusual from the start and that his actions were perceived as an effort to steer the contract to OpenGov. Email records show Segal and OpenGov CEO Zac Bookman were in discussions more than a month before the city put out what’s known as a “request for information” to technology companies, an informal process to assess how vendors can help on a project. </p></div><figure class="ImageBlock_ImageFigure__ZnquR inset-image mobile-grid-full mobile-grid-full" data-align="none"><div class="relative"><div><img alt="" class="block lazyloaded" data-nimg="1" decoding="async" height="1667" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1001px) 600px, (min-width: 768px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S3840x2561-FPNG" srcset="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S640x427-FPNG 640w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S750x500-FPNG 750w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S768x512-FPNG 768w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S828x552-FPNG 828w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S1024x683-FPNG 1024w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S1080x720-FPNG 1080w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S1200x800-FPNG 1200w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S1920x1280-FPNG 1920w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S2048x1366-FPNG 2048w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jd4gr6i7tl2i72t87tmrmqji1g/-S3840x2561-FPNG 3840w" style="color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 2500 1667'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=='/%3E%3C/svg%3E&quot;)" width="2500"/></div></div><figcaption class="basis-full mt-[10px] text-xs text-gray-550 font-inter leading-[18px]">Mayor Daniel Lurie’s former nonprofit Tipping Point has receieved money from an advisor for OpenGov and its founders.<span class="image-caption-divider"> | </span><span class="image-credit"><span class="sr-only">Source: </span>Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/The Standard</span></figcaption></figure><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">“Zac can help us think through permitting technology,” Segal wrote to Bookman and Florence Simon, the mayor’s innovation director, on April 2, adding a smiley face to a line that noted the OpenGov CEO had been “patiently waiting for the right partner.” </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Fielder criticized the cost of OpenGov’s software amid a budget crisis this year that resulted in Lurie <u><a data-post-id="9e8948aa-a69b-4465-a905-755b6bc3f9c7" href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/06/05/daniel-lurie-budget-cuts-san-francisco-nonprofit-grants/">cutting social service programs</a></u> to compensate for shortfalls.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">“When we are told repeatedly that there is not enough money to fully fund critical services like food banks, domestic violence prevention, and immigration legal services, it is very odd to then see the mayor’s office go out of its way to offer a contract to a company that not only scored worse but also cost more than its competitors,” Fielder said.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Fielder is requesting that the hearing be held before the Government Audit and Oversight Committee. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The mayor’s spokesperson, Charles Lutvak, described the city’s permitting system as “slow, complicated, and opaque.” </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">“We reviewed 50 proposals to improve it, and OpenGov is the best partner for us to do that,” wrote Lutvak. “We look forward to continuing the conversation with the Board of Supervisors about how we are creating a faster, simpler, and more transparent permitting system that will accelerate our city’s recovery.”</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Lurie and Segal both defended the OpenGov contract in a meeting last week with Planning Department staff. Segal argued that while the software did not score as high as Clariti’s product, the technology offers a better roadmap for the future. The Standard <a data-post-id="6bc57da4-49ac-47c1-a28a-e2e352d5f52a" href="https://sfstandard.com/opinion/2025/08/25/daniel-lurie-permitsf-opengov/">reported</a> in August that Segal made the decision to award the contract to OpenGov with input from Elizabeth Watty, the new lead of the mayor’s PermitSF initiative. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">“I’ve been here nine months now,” Segal said last week. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’m going to keep making mistakes. They’re always going to be well-intended, hard-working, ethical mistakes, but I’m going to make mistakes. This was not one of them.”</p></div></div>

San Francisco political leaders just got a pay raise. Here’s what they’re making


<p>Amid a <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2024/05/31/san-francisco-budget-deficit-breed-plan/">tough budget season</a>, San Francisco&#8217;s top elected officials will receive a cost-of-living pay raise soon, based on rising inflation.</p>



<p>The Civil Service Commission, a City Hall governing body that oversees political leaders&#8217; salaries, voted on June 3 to increase wages for seven citywide elected officials by 2.6%. The raises will go to the mayor, city attorney, district attorney, public defender, assessor-recorder, treasurer and sheriff.</p>



<p>Mayor London Breed, who currently makes $374,036 a year, will get a $9,725 raise to $383,760 for the fiscal year starting July 1, according to the <a href="https://www.sf.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/6-3-24%20Item%20%2311%20Annual%20Salary%20Adjustment%203rd%20year%20of%205%20year%20Cycle%20of%20Salary_5.pdf">commission’s report</a>.</p>



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<p>While the commissioners were able to agree on a raise for the seven citywide officials, they failed to reach consensus on a package for the Board of Supervisors. After spending hours discussing the intricacies of a possible five-year plan for supervisors' pay increases, they punted the question to the commission's next meeting. </p>



<p>Supervisors now earn $163,878 a year. The commission staff's <a href="https://www.sf.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/6-3-24%20Item%20%2310%20Salary%20Setting%20for%20the%20City%20and%20County%20of%20San%20Francisco%20for%20a%205%20year%20Cycle%20_5.pdf">report</a> offered three options for a one-year increase: no change, the same 2.6% increase approved for the seven citywide leaders, or a roughly 1.5% increase that mirrors negotiations with the city employees' labor union.</p>



<p>The Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, Angela Calvillo, appeared before the Civil Service Commissioners to advocate for an increase.</p>



<p>"Board members do not ask me to come and advocate for their salary, I just want the public to know that," Calvillo said. "However, we believe there is some fairness in the equity as you began the next five-year salary setting for the board members."</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1618" height="2031" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/tenderloinpublicsafetymeeting-78.jpg?w=1618" alt="Several people sit at a table during a panel discussion. Two people are visible; one in a police uniform and another wearing a red outfit. A large backdrop displays the word &quot;RENEWAL.&quot;" class="wp-image-282226" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/tenderloinpublicsafetymeeting-78.jpg 1618w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/tenderloinpublicsafetymeeting-78.jpg?resize=239,300 239w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/tenderloinpublicsafetymeeting-78.jpg?resize=768,964 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/tenderloinpublicsafetymeeting-78.jpg?resize=1224,1536 1224w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1618px) 100vw, 1618px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Civil Service Commission agreed on a raise for seven citywide officials including District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, left, and Sheriff Paul Miyamoto.</figcaption></figure>



<p>Calvillo cited the supervisors’ workload with the sprawling city budget and their relatively low salary compared to the other elected officials. The commission's staff report data showed that the San Francisco supervisors are making slightly more than the average pay of the county supervisors of the Bay Area's nine counties.</p>



<p>Jacqueline Minor, the president of the Civil Service Commission, described the process as "really tough work" and expressed appreciation for the staff’s reporting of historical salary data as valuable context for the discussion.</p>



<p>Controversy previously erupted at the commission’s 2019 salary review meeting, where the supervisors' expiring five-year salary increase plan was approved. One commissioner <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SF-commissioner-who-voted-against-supervisors-13895461.php">voted no</a> on the 12% increase (which was carried in a 3-1 vote), alleging conflicts of interest. Douglas Chan, the commissioner, argued that the commission staff who had recommended the raise served “at the pleasure of the board.” Chan left the board in July 2023.</p>



<p>The commission will meet again on June 17 to further discuss the supervisors' pay plan, and the city’s Controller’s Office will also discuss their study of the impact of the raises on the city’s budget.</p>



<p><em>Jonah Owen Lamb contributed to this story. </em></p>


Asian Americans have been on both sides of the affirmative action debate


<p>In the 1980s, esteemed Berkeley professor and self-described unrepentant supporter of affirmative action Ling-Chi Wang was on a mission—one that would be cited in a major Supreme Court case ruled on Thursday.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Wang spent the latter half of the decade trying to prove that Asian American applicants were discriminated against and get the University of California Berkeley to admit it. One example of the unfairness, Wang found, was the lack of credit for Asian languages by the university’s foreign language requirement.</p>



<p>“The university kept denying that they singled students out for discrimination, but they did,” Wang told The Standard.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Joining Wang’s cause was a group of students who would later become a generation of high-profile Asian American leaders—like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/13/affirmative-action-asian-americans-us-universities">author Jeff Chang</a> and San Francisco’s Assemblymember Phil Ting—who rallied under the name Student Coalition for Fair Admissions. They eventually notched a victory in 1989 when <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-04-07-mn-1075-story.html">university leaders apologized for the practice</a> and vowed to end it.&nbsp;</p>



<p><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/race/summary.html">Decades later</a>, the contours of the debate over affirmative action have changed.</p>



<p>On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that race can’t be a factor in college admissions in higher education, a blow to affirmative action advocates. <a href="https://studentsfor.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/SFFA-v.-Harvard-Complaint.pdf">The case</a> against Harvard—specifically, Harvard College, the university’s undergraduate school—cites arguments Wang made in the 1980s and involves an organization with a name that’s uncannily similar to Student Coalition for Fair Admissions—except this time, <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/supreme-court-affirmative-action/">Asian Americans are the face of the other side of the debate.</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/6/15/affirmative-action-ruling-explainer/">In a case that dates to 2014</a>, Students for Fair Admissions—an anti-affirmative action group led by conservative strategist Edward Blum <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/19/us/affirmative-action-lawsuits.html">behind numerous legal challenges</a>—has argued that Harvard’s consideration of race in admissions discriminates against Asian Americans and violates their civil rights.&nbsp;</p>



<p>&#8220;The opinion issued today by the United States Supreme Court marks the beginning of the restoration of the colorblind legal covenant that binds together our multi-racial, multi-ethnic nation,&#8221; Blum <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/supreme-court-issues-most-popular-ruling-yet-1809720">told Newsweek</a> following Thursday’s decision. &#8220;These discriminatory admission practices undermined the integrity of our country&#8217;s civil rights laws.”</p>



<p>Blum did not respond to requests for further comment in time for publication.</p>



<p>To Asian Americans involved in past battles for affirmative action, cases like Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard adds to divisions in the community over prioritizing merit and tests. Though 53% of Asian American adults agree affirmative action is a good thing, only 21% say that colleges should consider race and ethnicity for college admissions, according to a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2023/06/08/asian-americans-hold-mixed-views-around-affirmative-action/">June Pew Research Center study</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Is Diversity For Asian Americans?: The College Admissions Crisis | We Gon&#039; Be Alright Ep. 3" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UpqQeS8XA4Q?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Student organizers from the &#8217;80s push for fair admissions reflect in a Indy Lens Storycast episode.</figcaption></figure>



<p>“We won the political battle, but we lost the narrative battle,” said Chang, a journalist and the author of books like <em>We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation</em>. “[Affirmative action opponents] know our history better than a lot of us do.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-berkeley-s-five-year-saga">Berkeley’s Five-Year Saga</h2>



<p>From around 1984, Wang and others began looking at admissions data after hearing frustrations of quotas at top universities, leveling out gains made in Asian American enrollment. He continues to emphasize the distinction that he challenged admissions policies that admitted Asian American students at a lesser rate than white students, not affirmative action efforts that benefited other students of color. </p>



<p>“It breaks my heart to see this,” Wang said of ongoing divisions. “Minorities pitted against other minorities. There’s no reason for that to happen.”&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2500" height="1668" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-2500x1668.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-176970" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-2500x1668.jpg 2500w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-300x200.jpg 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-768x512.jpg 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-650x434.jpg 650w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-370x247.jpg 370w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-800x534.jpg 800w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-450x300.jpg 450w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-20x13.jpg 20w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-185x123.jpg 185w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-740x494.jpg 740w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-400x267.jpg 400w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-1600x1067.jpg 1600w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-225x150.jpg 225w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-900x600.jpg 900w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/INLINED2_AffirmativeActionCal062923-72x48.jpg 72w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Ling-Chi Wang at his home office in San Francisco, on June 28, 2023. | Jeremy Chen/The Standard</figcaption></figure>



<p>All the while, the Student Coalition for Fair Admissions formed to keep the pressure up with protests, press conferences and organizing the student body. After previously adopting a name specifying Asian Americans, the group changed its name to expand the fight for other historically excluded students, Chang said.</p>



<p>The group fostered a generation of Asian American political leaders in California, including Assemblymembers Phil Ting and Al Muratsuchi, and Cecillia Wang, the deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union. Charles Huang, co-creator of the popular game Guitar Hero, is another notable name.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Organized pressure led to the creation of an Asian American task force on admissions and a <a href="https://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/oag/p-722.pdf">California state audit on admissions</a> of white and Asian American students at UC Berkeley. The audit found that the university&#8217;s admission rates for Asian Americans decreased from 1981 to 1987, and that they were admitted at lesser rates than white students as the total number of applicants increased.</p>



<p>In 1989, Berkeley’s chancellor <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-04-07-mn-1075-story.html">publicly apologized for the university’s admission process</a> having a disproportionate impact on Asian American applicants and vowed to fix it.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What’s Changed?</h2>



<p>Because of the “life-changing experience” for the student organizers, Ting went from studying business to pursuing civil rights advocacy, particularly for Asian Americans. Today, Ting and his co-organizers from the 1980s have an increasingly tougher time convincing fellow Asian Americans of why they were fighting for affirmative action.</p>



<p>“Asian Americans were trumpeted as a reason to get rid of affirmative action,” Ting told The Standard. “You have a number of right-wing operatives who’ve really organized—in particular, Chinese Americans and recent immigrants—into really believing that affirmative action does not benefit them.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>Doug Chan, an attorney and member of the San Francisco Civil Service Commission, is critical of Harvard, agreeing the case is simply about discrimination against Asian American studen...

San Francisco is understaffed by thousands. It takes 8 months to hire one worker


<p class="has-medium-font-size">San Francisco City Hall’s open job rate has more than doubled since the pandemic. It takes the city eight months on average to hire someone.</p>



<p>San Francisco is short more than 4,000 workers to run its Muni transit system, 911 call center, police department, hospitals and other critical agencies. But the city is taking an average of 255 days to fill each job, according to a San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report released Wednesday.</p>



<p>The report says the effects of understaffed critical city services are everywhere:&nbsp;</p>



<p>● <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/public-health/san-francisco-911-dispatchers-warn-burnout-makes-citys-system-unprepared-for-next-emergency/">Answering time at the 911 call center has increased</a> and <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/criminal-justice/as-san-franciscans-make-fewer-911-calls-sfpd-takes-longer-to-respond/">police response time has slowed</a>, jeopardizing San Franciscans’ safety.&nbsp;</p>



<p>● <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/community/lack-of-inpatient-beds-in-sfs-public-hospitals-forces-families-to-go-outside-the-city-for-care/">Hospital capacity consistently exceeds staffing limits</a>, resulting in <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/public-health/san-francisco-ambulance-emergency-response-time/">diverted ambulances</a> and reduced levels of care.</p>



<p>● <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/transportation/thousands-of-muni-riders-face-chaos-under-line-change-plan/">Muni</a> is running <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/politics/lawmaker-appeals-to-gov-newsom-for-5b-in-transit-funding/">fewer buses</a>, increasing <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/transportation/new-express-bus-to-downtown-san-francisco-coming-soon/">passenger wait times</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“Critical city services are suffering,” said Karen Kennard, jury foreperson. “The city’s highest priority should be to fill vacant positions in departments such as Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and the San Francisco Police Department.”</p>



<p>A San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesperson said the mention of increased passenger wait times is outdated and references an the Omicron Covid outbreak in February 2022.</p>



<p>&#8220;We do still have a lot of vacant positions, but they’re not causing Muni delays,&#8221; said SFMTA spokesperson Stephen Chun. &#8220;In fact, our service is faster and more reliable than it has been in decades.&#8221;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2500" height="1667" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-2500x1667.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-142431" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-2500x1667.jpg 2500w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-300x200.jpg 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-768x512.jpg 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-650x433.jpg 650w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-370x247.jpg 370w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-800x533.jpg 800w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-450x300.jpg 450w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-20x13.jpg 20w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-185x123.jpg 185w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-740x493.jpg 740w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-400x267.jpg 400w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-1600x1067.jpg 1600w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-225x150.jpg 225w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-900x600.jpg 900w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INLINED2_HospitalizedNurses032423-72x48.jpg 72w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco is among the city agencies short on staff, a grand jury report found. | Justin Katigbak for The Standard</figcaption></figure>



<p>Before the pandemic in 2019, the city listed 2,230 vacant jobs out of a total 32,855 budgeted jobs—a vacancy rate of 6.8%. By 2023, the vacant jobs rate has more than doubled to 13.7% with 4,793 vacancies out of 35,088 budgeted positions.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Drawing on a <a href="https://missionlocal.org/2022/03/city-employees-march-against-low-staffing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mission Local article</a>, the grand jury said it was stirred by media reports to investigate the city’s slow turnaround at filling positions in an average time of 255 days—three times as long as it takes neighboring San Mateo County to fill a government job vacancy. The jury recommends a new hiring timelines goal of 60 days to make a conditional offer of employment.</p>



<p>The Mayor’s Office takes an average of 22 days to fill a position due to a review process. The jury recommends the mayor work to reduce this to five business days.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“Applicants cannot wait months to be hired,” the report said. “They often accept other positions before they can receive an offer from the city.”</p>



<p>“Current hiring initiatives aren’t doing enough to fill critical vacant jobs,” Kennard said. “Further action must be taken to address the root causes of this crisis.”</p>



<p>The jury found the following reasons that the number of vacant jobs is increasing:</p>



<p>1. The city takes too long to hire.</p>



<p>2. City recruiting and retention is difficult.</p>



<p>3. Demand for critical city services outpaces city hiring.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2378" height="1586" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-172206" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1.jpg 2378w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-650x434.jpg 650w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-370x247.jpg 370w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-800x534.jpg 800w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-450x300.jpg 450w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-20x13.jpg 20w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-185x123.jpg 185w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-740x494.jpg 740w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-400x267.jpg 400w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-1600x1067.jpg 1600w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-225x150.jpg 225w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-900x600.jpg 900w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/BreedExcellenceScholarship_06052023_004-1-72x48.jpg 72w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2378px) 100vw, 2378px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mayor London Breed | Isaac Ceja/The Standard</figcaption></figure>



<p>The Mayor’s Office said it has already taken steps to slash hiring times by 40% in a new plan approved by the <a href="https://sf.gov/news/civil-service-commission-approves-proposal-expedite-city-hiring-san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Civil Service Commission in January</a>.</p>



<p>The San Francisco Police Department and Department of Emergency Management did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.</p>



<p class="has-large-font-size"><strong>Relying on Overtime</strong></p>



<p>The city has handled more vacancies by increasing overtime spending and hiring temporary workers.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The report notes San Francisco’s general hospital, run by the Department of Public Health, relied heavily on this tactic during the height of the pandemic. The police department was also recently granted a <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/politics/watch-how-the-25-million-sfpd-overtime-debate-went-down/">$25 million overtime allowance after a heated debate at the Board of Supervisors (which you can...

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