How SF government became a hulking, 34,800-person behemoth

It’s a perennial complaint: San Francisco’s government is just too damn big.&nbsp;



That concern has come to the forefront in recent weeks after Mayor Daniel Lurie <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/28/san-francisco-mayor-daniel-lurie-budget-layoffs/">proposed layoffs</a> in an effort to resolve a <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/30/san-francisco-budget-daniel-lurie-deficit-proposal/">historic budget deficit</a>.&nbsp;



Salaries and employee benefits account for the largest chunk of city spending: 43% of the current budget. A <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2025/sf-city-employees/">recent analysis</a> found that San Francisco has the most public employees in core functions of any U.S. metropolis, even after detangling its unusual status as both a city and county.



Our workforce wasn’t always such a behemoth. The Standard analyzed City Hall’s growth over the past 20 years, revealing that it has far outpaced San Francisco’s population.



In 2005, the city employed 26,900 people, according to the Department of Human Resources. Twenty years later, it had 34,800, a 29% increase. During that time, the city’s population grew by 8%, from 780,000 in 2005 to 842,000 in 2025, according to the <a href="https://dof.ca.gov/forecasting/demographics/estimates/">California Department of Finance</a>.&nbsp;



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The mayor’s push to cut around 100 jobs would represent a thin slice of the city’s ballooning bureaucracy — just 0.29% of City Hall’s workforce. Lurie’s office, which also proposed slashing 1,000 unfilled roles, says the mayor is not focused on the number of employees but on prudent spending practices.&nbsp;



“It is really about, ‘How do we not spend money we don&#8217;t have?’&#8221; Sophia Kittler, the mayor’s budget director, said. On Thursday, a Board of Supervisors committee <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/06/26/san-francisco-mayor-daniel-lurie-layoffs-negotiation-budget/">approved $15 million to avoid some</a> of Lurie&#8217;s layoffs. 



The Standard contacted three dozen city departments to discuss why they have grown over the past two decades. Four major themes emerged: voter-approved ballot measures, new state and federal laws, and expanded city responsibilities and projects; additionally, as these factors swelled the ranks, more support personnel were needed to bolster the larger workforce.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-that-long-long-list-of-ballot-measures">That long, long list of ballot measures</h2>



Successful ballot propositions have forced the city to beef up its staffing.&nbsp;



Take the <a href="https://www.sf.gov/reports--december-2024--about-our-city-our-home-fund">Our City, Our Home initiative</a>, which passed with 61% of the vote in 2018. The measure, also called Proposition C, imposed taxes on businesses to raise money for homelessness services. But raking in all that money requires more staff to administer it. From 2020 to 2025, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing nearly doubled in size, from 124 to 232 workers; a spokesperson attributed this in part to Prop. C. The additional personnel were needed to acquire city-owned housing sites and oversee grants, among other responsibilities.&nbsp;



Or consider the library system. In 2022, San Franciscans overwhelmingly voted to mandate that city libraries be open systemwide at least 1,400 hours per week. Today, San Francisco remains the only big city in California with all its library sites open seven days a week. To keep the lights on, library staffing grew by 23% from 2005 to 2025.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-outside-pressures">Outside pressures</h2>



It isn’t just local lawmaking that has inflated San Francisco’s government. State and federal legislation also play a role in dictating City Hall’s size.&nbsp;



Just look at the Department of Public Health. A driver of its addition of around 1,800 employees in the past 20 years — the most of any city department —&nbsp;was the federal Affordable Care Act. Obamacare vastly expanded the number of people eligible for Medi-Cal, whose healthcare is <a href="https://www.ppic.org/blog/counties-are-key-partners-in-the-medi-cal-program/">provided by the department</a>. Since 2013, the number of San Franciscans enrolled in Medi-Cal has grown by more than 100,000, forcing the health department to add staff.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>&#8216;It is really about, &#8220;How do we not spend money we don&#8217;t have?&#8221;&#8216;<cite>Sophia Kittler, the mayor’s budget director</cite></blockquote></figure>



“As the primary safety-net health care system for the city, SFDPH has become the primary health home and has provided care to many of these new Medi-Cal recipients,” the department wrote in a statement.



That’s just the tip of the iceberg regarding staffing up to comply with outside regulations and programs. The Public Utilities Commission has brought on more staff due to new state water regulations, the city attorney’s office expanded to deal with updates to California’s conservatorship laws, and the Environment Department swelled as it absorbed Obama-era stimulus funding and California Energy Commission grants.



<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="1600" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png" alt="The image features an abstract, colorful illustration of multiple interconnected faces and figures, merging together with a playful, surreal style with pastel colors." class="wp-image-413676" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png 1600w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png?resize=150,150 150w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png?resize=300,300 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png?resize=768,768 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png?resize=1536,1536 1536w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png?resize=180,180 180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-services-more-staffers">More services, more staffers</h2>



Many departments said they’re simply doing more to serve San Franciscans today than they were in years past.



The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency grew its staff by 11% in the past decade to improve service on city buses and trains, according to spokesperson Erica Kato. “Prior to 2019, we under-invested in transit maintenance, training, and supervision,” Kato said. “Muni reliability suffered.”&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote>&#8216;We are just constantly growing. And not necessarily subtracting.&#8217;<cite>Nicole Neditch, a policy director at SF think tank SPUR</cite></blockquote></figure>



Other government agencies have simply taken on more responsibilities.&nbsp;



The Department of Emergency Management, which has grown by 44% to 308 employees since 2005, became a sponsor for a <a href="https://www.bayareauasi.org/about-us">regional security program</a>, created a <a href="https://www.sf.gov/coordinated-street-response-program">coordinated street response division</a>, and is receiving 15.5% more 911 calls than it did in fiscal 2011-12, the earliest available data.



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The Fire Department has also been impacted by that 911 surge; it has staffed up to handle a near doubling of emergency services calls in the past 20 years, according to Chief of Staff Adrienne Sims.



The Recreation and Parks Department has also shouldered more responsibility as it has grown 11% to 952 workers from 856 two decades ago. During that period, the department added more parks to its purview, which required more staff to maintain. The department said the public has also asked for more staff to address vandalism and after-hours calls. That required hiring more park rangers: from 12 in 2005 to 55 today.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">More employees means … more employees</h2>



As the workforce grows, so do the responsibilities of supporting agencies like the Ethics Department, which oversees financial disclosures and ethics enforcement of city employees. The department has 26 employees, representing a 160% increase since 2005.&nbsp;



The same goes for the Human Resources Department, which has grown by 53% (89 employees) since 2005.&nbsp;



“Once you introduce new legislation, once you add a new department, once you add staff to a particular program, it is very difficult to take those pieces away,” said Nicole Neditch, a governance and economy policy director at the SF-based think tank SPUR. “We are just constantly growing. And not necessarily subtracting.”

Lurie’s budget axes 1,000 city jobs, sources say

For the first time in more than a decade, San Francisco government workers may be laid off to shore up a massive city <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/03/05/san-francisco-budget-deficit-departments-daniel-lurie/">budget deficit</a>, The Standard has learned.&nbsp;



In order to close the $782 million gap, Lurie intends to permanently eliminate around 1,000 jobs, sources said. Most of those positions are currently vacant or, to a lesser extent, filled by employees slated for retirement. But he may also axe positions in up to 17 departments, with each losing up to 10 employees, sources said. 



Details of <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/04/18/daniel-lurie-san-francisco-budget-departments-cuts/">Lurie’s first budget</a> since being elected in November were shared in a meeting Wednesday between the mayor’s staff and communications directors for city departments. Roughly two dozen press officials for city departments attended the meeting in the mayor’s office at City Hall, sources said. Han Zou, acting communications director for Lurie, led the proceedings and was joined by the mayor’s press secretary, Charles Lutvak, and chief of staff, Staci Slaughter. 



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Lurie’s team reiterated that the top budget priorities are preserving funding for <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/27/san-francisco-budget-cuts-district-attorney-public-defender/">public safety</a> departments, housing initiatives, and street cleaning, sources said.



Funding details for other departments and policy priorities weren’t made clear in the meeting, sources said, leaving many wondering what agencies could be hit by layoffs.



The mayor’s office declined to comment on potential layoffs and what was discussed at Wednesday’s meeting. News of the possible cuts has caused anxiety among city workers and the unions that represent them. 



“I’m sick to my stomach,” one union official said. “140 people? That’s solvable. We can avoid that.”



Supervisor Connie Chan, who is budget chair, declined to share details of her discussions with Lurie on layoffs or other funding cuts. But layoffs have become harder to avoid, she said, as city officials work to not only plug a major deficit but to navigate the economic uncertainty of the Trump administration. Chan said she and Lurie support <a href="https://missionlocal.org/2025/05/s-f-to-budget-400m-in-reserve-in-anticipation-of-federal-cuts/">reserving $400 million</a> in the budget to <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/04/10/san-francisco-lurie-budget-trump-2-billion/">prepare for federal cuts</a>.



“I will say that even one job lost is very painful. That’s an impact not just to that individual but their family and friends, and their coworkers,” Chan said, adding that supervisors would comb the budget to find alternatives to layoffs. “Right now there are no good options.”



If approved by the Board of Supervisors, it will be the first time since Gov. Gavin Newsom was mayor that dire budget projections force city officials to impose widespread layoffs. In fiscal year 2008-09, more than 700 employees were laid off, followed by roughly 960 in 2009-10 and more than 200 in 2010-11, according to the city&#8217;s Department of Human Resources. 



Kim Tavaglione, president of the San Francisco Labor Council, which represents most city workers, said layoffs shouldn’t be needed. She argued that alternatives to cuts are possible, saying tech titans such as Airbnb should drop their multimillion-dollar tax lawsuits against the city.



“We’re going to fight for every position that we can,” Tavaglione said. “The city is already short-staffed. There’s work that won’t get done.”



Gabe Greschler contributed to this report.

Mayor orders San Francisco workers back to office 4 days a week

Mayor <a href="https://sfstandard.com/search/?query=daniel%20lurie">Daniel Lurie</a> is ordering San Francisco workers back into the office at least four days a week in an effort to enhance city services and turn the page on the shift to remote work during the pandemic, according to <a href="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/daniel-lurie-remote-work-memo.pdf">a memo obtained by The Standard.</a>



The memo notes that most city workers are already in the office five days a week, but almost a third come in fewer than four days. Of those, most show up just three days a week. 



Lurie is directing the Department of Human Resources to oversee the change, which has a target date of April 28 for &#8220;full implementation,&#8221; while giving notice to unions and opening discussions with labor leaders.



“Increased in-office presence provides critical operational benefits to the city as an employer, as well as in its primary mission in serving the public,” Lurie wrote in the memo. “Those benefits include improved overall personnel and departmental performance through enhanced communication and collaboration, a stronger team culture and better employee engagement.”&nbsp;



Reasonable accommodations will be made for people with disabilities while also abiding by the <a href="https://www.sf.gov/information--family-friendly-workplace-ordinance">Family Friendly Work Ordinance</a>, which allows for remote work for people who have unique situations in caring for children and relatives.



The memo asserts that bringing city workers back to the office will increase productivity, but the strategy also appears to be aimed at revitalizing the downtown core, which remains relatively empty compared with pre-pandemic times.



The decision to <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/10/01/sfs-biggest-employer-brings-workers-back-downtown-and-the-neighbors-are-loving-it/">require workers to return to the office</a> follows similar actions by large San Francisco companies that include Salesforce and Gap. Their requirements were met with excitement by small businesses, such as restaurants and coffee shops, located near the offices.



“It’s hard to argue with any moral authority to our large private-sector employers that their workers should come back to the office when many of our own city workers aren’t,” Supervisor Matt Dorsey said in a statement. 



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However, commercial office vacancies remain higher in San Francisco than in many other major cities. San Francisco&#8217;s overall office vacancy rate is 34.2%, according to real estate firm Cushman &amp; Wakefield.&nbsp;



“Bringing our workers back to the office will make our services more effective and responsive to our residents,” Charles Lutvak, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with our partners across the departments and in labor over the coming weeks to implement the mayor’s plan.”



During his campaign last year, Lurie said “the key” to revitalizing downtown&#8217;s worker presence was “making them want to return, not trying to force them.”



He added, “That means making our streets safe and clean, closing the drug markets, supporting our small businesses, and setting the conditions for arts and cultural events to flourish downtown.”



It remains to be seen if other city and state government agencies will follow suit. There are thousands of state workers based in San Francisco, and most <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article299661349.html">go into the office twice a week</a>.

Facing fiscal crisis, SF City Hall eyes layoffs for the first time in years

Layoffs — they’re not just <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/11/19/tech-layoffs-reinvention-new-jobs/">for the tech industry</a> anymore.



For the first time in more than a decade, the San Francisco government may hand out pink slips to address a fiscal crisis.



Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office signaled the possibility publicly during a Board of Supervisors budget committee hearing Wednesday. This follows his order of <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/01/15/daniel-lurie-hiring-union-labor-city-hall/">a partial hiring freeze</a> when he first took office to begin addressing the city’s $876 million budget deficit.



Closing budget gaps has become an even tougher task under President Donald Trump, who has threatened to yank federal funding from sanctuary cities.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="1668" width="2500" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250205_8393232314_budgethearing_asd_9.jpg?w=2500" alt="A man stands at a podium speaking, his hands clasped, in an ornate wooden room. He's wearing a gray suit." class="wp-image-363863" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250205_8393232314_budgethearing_asd_9.jpg 7881w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250205_8393232314_budgethearing_asd_9.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250205_8393232314_budgethearing_asd_9.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250205_8393232314_budgethearing_asd_9.jpg?resize=2500,1668 2500w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250205_8393232314_budgethearing_asd_9.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250205_8393232314_budgethearing_asd_9.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Interim budget director Benjamin McCloskey told supervisors Wednesday that the city may need to cut workers.</figcaption></figure>



Layoffs of city workers would write Lurie’s first year in office into local history books. Gavin Newsom was the last mayor to conduct widespread layoffs over structural budget deficits; he concocted an agreement with labor unions to <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/15-000-S-F-workers-given-layoff-notices-3271246.php">give 15,000 city workers the boot</a>, only to hire them back with shorter workweeks, saving $50 million.



Kim Tavaglione — executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, a group whose member unions represent most of the city&#8217;s 35,000 workers — said layoffs would have repercussions.



“It&#8217;s not like the relationship will end if we come up with conflict around the budget. It doesn&#8217;t work that way,” Tavaglione said, noting that the council will work with any sitting mayor. “But we do have pretty good memories.”



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Possible layoffs were teed up by former Mayor London Breed, but the Lurie administration is tacking in the same direction. During the budget committee hearing, Benjamin McCloskey, the mayor’s interim budget director, outlined the city’s grim fiscal future.



The mayor’s office instructed departments that “layoffs are not preferred, but if absolutely necessary for a department to meet its target, to please identify them,” McCloskey told the supervisors.



While San Francisco’s private sector is no stranger to layoffs — including a particularly <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/11/19/tech-layoffs-reinvention-new-jobs/">brutal 2024 for the tech industry</a> — the city has been “really lucky” to rarely need to cut staffers, said Ed Harrington, a former city controller, a role central to San Francisco’s budgeting.



Often, the city has allowed employees with seniority to “bump,” or transfer, into positions in departments that are doing well financially, in lieu of downsizing. But San Francisco’s fiscal realities may be so dire that such transfers aren’t possible, Harrington said.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="2500" width="1668" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/8420072128_luriepublicsafety-24.jpg?w=1668" alt="The image shows a man in a gray suit and purple tie, looking to the side with a slight smile. The background is a muted blue, and there's a shadowy hand visible." class="wp-image-364412" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/8420072128_luriepublicsafety-24.jpg 4002w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/8420072128_luriepublicsafety-24.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/8420072128_luriepublicsafety-24.jpg?resize=768,1151 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/8420072128_luriepublicsafety-24.jpg?resize=1668,2500 1668w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/8420072128_luriepublicsafety-24.jpg?resize=1025,1536 1025w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/8420072128_luriepublicsafety-24.jpg?resize=1366,2048 1366w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1668px) 100vw, 1668px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">If Lurie moves forward with layoffs, he will be the first mayor since Gavin Newsom to make widespread staffing cuts over structural budget deficits.</figcaption></figure>



The city last laid off more than 100 permanent employees under Newsom&#8217;s watch, amid the Great Recession: 772 layoffs in the fiscal year 2008, 962 in 2009, and 218 in 2010, according to data provided by the Department of Human Resources. Harrington said raising the possibility of layoffs might bring labor to the table to find creative solutions to lessen the blow, like the one <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/15-000-S-F-workers-given-layoff-notices-3271246.php">Newsom deployed in 2010</a>.



“If you&#8217;re talking about things being so serious that you&#8217;re contemplating layoffs, everyone begins to view the world differently,” Harrington said.



Creativity may be needed. McCloskey said San Francisco’s finances aren’t improving at pace: Office vacancies remain high, and the hospitality industry is recovering slower than hoped, leading the city to revise its revenue projections downward.



The upshot? The city’s last look into its budgetary crystal ball was too optimistic, and now it’s short hundreds of millions of dollars.



There are even more looming threats: Trump is threatening to axe federal funding to cities, including hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency money owed to San Francisco. A U.S. District Court judge <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-grants-loans-funding-freeze-court-1bc457d8e333dd8a8f374572ea33927c">temporarily froze that order</a>, but it may still move forward. Whether or not FEMA will reimburse more than $234 million is a budget “risk,” budget documents noted.



“I don’t need to tell anyone in this room that there’s a lot of uncertainty on the federal level,” McCloskey said.

Top official resigns in nonprofit scandal; Breed plays defense

Sheryl Davis, head of San Francisco&#8217;s embattled Human Rights Commission, resigned Friday morning after The Standard raised questions about spending for the Dream Keeper Initiative, a program she led.



On Thursday, The Standard reported that Davis had signed off on $1.5 million in contracts toward a nonprofit executive <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2024/09/12/san-francisco-dream-keeper-initiative-sheryl-davis-james-spingola-nonprofit/">with whom she shared a home</a> while never disclosing the relationship to the city. When presented with evidence of the connection, the mayor&#8217;s office said Thursday that Davis was on leave.



The Standard learned Friday that Davis is being represented by a criminal defense attorney, Tony Brass, <a href="https://oaklandside.org/2024/06/24/oakland-mayor-attorney-tony-brass-fbi/">who briefly served</a> as a lawyer for Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao after the FBI raided the city leader&#8217;s home.



&#8220;Ms. Davis has submitted her resignation, effective immediately, and will fully cooperate with any investigation,&#8221; Brass wrote in a statement. &#8220;She has always prioritized service and commitment to her community, and will continue to do that now.&#8221;



The mayor&#8217;s office announced Friday that Mawuli Tugbenyoh, a staffer at the Department of Human Resources, would serve as acting director of the Human Rights Commission.



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The Dream Keeper Initiative, which has directed tens of millions of dollars toward the city&#8217;s Black communities each year, was a flagship project of Mayor London Breed. It was first conceived in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. 



In recent months, however, the program has been dogged by questions about transparency and whether funds were spent appropriately. The Standard reported in July that, among other issues, millions in funds allocated to the Dream Keeper Initiative <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2024/07/22/san-francisco-dream-keeper-intiative-black-community-whistleblower/">had gone unspent</a>, while some of the initiative&#8217;s partners had spent money in ways that raised eyebrows among city officials.



Board President Aaron Peskin, who has called for both internal and third-party investigations into the scandal, said in an interview with The Standard, &#8220;Everything tells me this goes all the way to the top. To London Breed herself. And I don’t say that lightly.&#8221;



The Standard’s investigation found that Davis approved contracts for the nonprofit Collective Impact, run by James Spingola, without notifying City Hall about their relationship. In addition to sharing a home address, Davis co-owns a car with Spingola. The arrangement appears to violate city rules requiring disclosure of personal relationships with recipients of city funding. 



Spingola, who has led Collective Impact since 2020, was appointed by Breed to the Juvenile Probation Commission. The mayor&#8217;s office said Friday it did not have any updates about Spingola&#8217;s role at the commission.



On Thursday morning, The Standard asked Breed at a downtown event whether she had known about Davis’ connection with Spingola.



“I will be finally answering your question, but not right now,&#8221; Breed said. When pressed on the matter, Breed replied, “No means no. At another time.”



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2334" height="2334" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1341-thegraduates-230605-edited.jpg?w=2334" alt="A smiling man in a black puffer jacket and jeans stands next to a smiling woman in a green coat in an ornately decorated room with arched doorways in the background." class="wp-image-311068" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1341-thegraduates-230605-edited.jpg 2334w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1341-thegraduates-230605-edited.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1341-thegraduates-230605-edited.jpg?resize=300,300 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1341-thegraduates-230605-edited.jpg?resize=768,768 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1341-thegraduates-230605-edited.jpg?resize=1536,1536 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1341-thegraduates-230605-edited.jpg?resize=2048,2048 2048w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1341-thegraduates-230605-edited.jpg?resize=180,180 180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2334px) 100vw, 2334px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">James Spingola, left, and Sheryl Davis, now the former executive director of the Human Rights Commission, have shared an address since at least spring 2021, according to voter records.</figcaption></figure>



Collective Impact did not respond to a request for comment. One former board member who spoke on the condition of anonymity said she was &#8220;very surprised&#8221; by the revelations, calling Spingola &#8220;an amazing human.&#8221;



&#8220;No one ever knew that anything other than aboveboard behavior was happening,” said the former board member. &#8220;If I was still on the board, I would want to have a third-party investigation to really understand what happened.”



On Friday, Black leaders rallied outside City Hall and decried media coverage of the Dream Keeper Initiative that they said overwhelmingly focused on the program&#8217;s flaws rather than its many successes.



&#8220;They are going after to dismantle [Dream Keeper Initiative],&#8221; said Phelicia Jones, founder of Wealth and Disparities in the Black Community. At the same time, Jones and others advocated for increased transparency from the program, with Jones calling for an audit.



&#8220;We want to know where is our money and how was it spent,&#8221; Jones said.



Tugbenyoh, who was informed about the change of leadership in a call from the mayor&#8217;s office, said the appointment was &#8220;a bit unexpected.&#8221; He said the Human Rights Commission does important work, and that he plans to create more oversight to &#8220;rebuild the public&#8217;s trust in how those dollars are spent.&#8221;



&#8220;I know that he’s well prepared to handle the complexities of heading up the department,&#8221; said state Controller Malia Cohen of Tugbenyoh, who formerly worked for her as an aide.



Asked about the scandals surrounding the Dream Keeper Initiative, Cohen said,&nbsp;“I think everyone has to pay close attention to how every tax dollar is spent.&#8221;

Lawmaker calls for investigation into embattled Human Rights Commission

Board President Aaron Peskin has called for an investigation into a city department following allegations about the Dream Keeper Initiative, a flagship project of San Francisco Mayor London Breed&#8217;s that has fallen under scrutiny in recent months.



On Thursday, <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2024/09/12/san-francisco-dream-keeper-initiative-sheryl-davis-james-spingola-nonprofit/">The Standard published a story</a> revealing that the initiative&#8217;s top decision maker, Human Rights Commission executive director Sheryl Davis, approved $1.5 million in contracts to a nonprofit executive with whom she shared a house.



Davis is on leave as of Thursday, according to the mayor&#8217;s office. The mayor will appoint an interim leader for the Human Rights Commission.



The Standard&#8217;s investigation found that Davis signed off on contracts for the nonprofit Collective Impact, run by James Spingola, without notifying City Hall about her relationship. In addition to sharing a home address, Davis co-owns a car with Spingola. The arrangement appears to run afoul of city rules around disclosing personal relationships with recipients of city funding.



Davis did not respond to a request for comment about her leave.



Peskin, a candidate in the November mayor&#8217;s race, isn&#8217;t the only one to call for an investigation. On Thursday, mayoral candidate and former Supervisor Mark Farrell called for Breed to fire Davis and for a federal investigation into the Dream Keeper Initiative and the mayor&#8217;s role in the program.



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In July 2020, Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Shamann Walton and other city leaders <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-plans-to-redirect-120-million-from-15447811.php">proposed</a>&nbsp;redirecting city funds from law enforcement to support economic and cultural development in San Francisco’s Black communities. In February 2021 <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Here-s-how-San-Francisco-plans-to-redirect-120-15980236.php">introduced a more detailed plan</a>, dubbing it the Dream Keeper Initiative and calling for a $60 million annual investment. In total, city leaders have budgeted roughly $300 million for the program. 



In recent months, however, the initiative has been dogged by questions of transparency and oversight of how funds are used. Human Rights Commission staffers have directed much of the initiative, though the money is distributed through various city departments. Records show that, in 2021 and 2022, Davis approved three contracts totaling $1.5 million directed towards for Collective Impact, Spingola&#8217;s nonprofit, as part of the Dream Keeper Initiative.



Mayoral candidate and nonprofit executive Daniel Lurie said Breed had &#8220;handed a blank check to her closest allies with zero oversight.&#8221;



In a statement on Thursday, Breed said that she was &#8220;committed to ensuring the integrity of the program and continuing the good that it does with full transparency.&#8221; 



Breed said she has directed the Department of Human Resources and the city attorney&#8217;s office to investigate questions about the Dream Keeper Initiative. On Thursday, the Chronicle published a story that showed a &#8220;litany&#8221; of issues around Human Rights Commission spending, and questionable accounting practices.



Peskin called the questions about Davis and Spingola&#8217;s relationship &#8220;very serious and deeply disturbing and can’t be brushed under the rug.&#8221;



&#8220;I will be utilizing the Board of Supervisors unlimited power of inquiry,&#8221; Peskin said in an interview with The Standard. &#8220;To call public hearings and bring forward the controller and other oversight authorities to fully report and tell us the status of what they know and how they’re going to thoroughly investigate this matter, get to the bottom of it and hold people accountable.&#8221;

San Francisco city workers rally, opposing billions spent on outside contractors

The unions representing San Francisco’s city workers rallied Tuesday to cry foul over the billions of dollars the city spends on outside contractors each year. They say some contractors charge up to $300 an hour for workers, sometimes more than doubling the cost of hiring someone in-house, and that the city would be better off hiring more employees to alleviate its <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2024/01/08/san-francisco-mayor-breed-cuts-red-tape-budget-crisis/">yearslong staffing crisis</a>.



“Why not give that work to us and save the taxpayer?” San Francisco Department of Public Works Junior Engineer Jon Gausman said. “We’re not even staffed up. We could be bringing more people in.”



Pushing San Francisco away from its longtime reliance on outside contractors has become a focal point for the coalition of 12 unions, representing over 25,000 city workers, that are in the midst of a contentious contract negotiation with city leaders. The specter of a widespread strike has hung over the city since the unions <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2024/01/17/strike-threats-at-san-francisco-city-hall-rally-for-public-employees/">launched their contract fight last month</a> and may become a <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2024/01/16/will-san-francisco-unions-go-on-strike-labor-fight-could-upend-mayors-race/">central sticking point</a> in Mayor London Breed’s bid to win reelection in November.&nbsp;



A June 2023 civil grand jury <a href="https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/2022_2023/2023%20CGJ%20Report_Time%20to%20Get%20to%20Work%20-%20San%20Francisco%27s%20Hiring%20Crisis_062123.pdf">report</a> found that the number of vacancies in the city more than doubled since the Covid pandemic began, causing Muni to run fewer buses, reducing the <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2022/12/20/san-francisco-ambulance-emergency-response-time/">level of care in local hospitals</a> and jacking up answering times in the <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2023/05/01/san-francisco-911-dispatchers-warn-burnout-makes-citys-system-unprepared-for-next-emergency/">911 call center</a>. City worker unions proposed in their bargaining with the city that San Francisco achieve full staffing in key services by 2025, improve hiring processes based on the grand jury report and <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2024/01/17/san-francisco-budget-deficit-1-4-billion-cuts-london-breed/">balance the upcoming budget</a> by reducing contracting, not cutting vacant positions, according to coalition spokesperson Luke Thibault.



There are currently 3,200 vacant full-time jobs in San Francisco, according to Department of Human Resources spokesperson Jack Hebb. That total represents a lessening of the vacancy crisis, according to Hebb, who said the city’s vacancy rate declined by nearly 30% from January 2023 to January 2024. 



At the beginning of 2023, the city had 34,500 full-time equivalent employees. Over the next year, the city hired 10,260 employees, while 9,560 employees stopped working for the city during that time. So by January 2024, the city had more than beat out attrition and increased its workforce by 700 full-time equivalent employees. That total city staff of 35,200 is the highest it’s ever been, Hebb added.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3000" height="2001" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/p0a7776.jpg?w=2500" alt="A crowd is marching with signs saying &quot;FIX OUR CITY&quot; and &quot;NOT PRIVATE GREED,&quot; advocating for public services." class="wp-image-253386" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/p0a7776.jpg 3000w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/p0a7776.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/p0a7776.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/p0a7776.jpg?resize=2500,1668 2500w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/p0a7776.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/p0a7776.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Jon Gausman, center, chants at a union workers rally on Tuesday.</figcaption></figure>



San Francisco began contracts worth an average of about $6.7 billion each year from 2018 to 2023, according to its <a href="https://data.sfgov.org/City-Management-and-Ethics/Supplier-Contracts/cqi5-hm2d/about_data">supplier contracts database</a>. That’s about the same amount—$6.7 billion—that the city budgeted to spend on personnel wages and benefits <a href="https://www.sf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-08/AAO%20FY2023-24%20%26%20FY2024-25%20-%20FINAL%2020230731.pdf">during the current fiscal year</a>, which ends in June.&nbsp;



There’s nothing inherently bad about cities contracting services out to third parties, according to John Pelissero, the director of government ethics at Santa Clara University&#8217;s Markkula Center. The movement toward contracting out work began in the 1970s, and research has shown that third parties can provide more efficient services in some cases and help cities and their taxpayers save money on payroll and post-retirement benefits, such as pensions, he said.&nbsp;



The union coalition, however, argues that the city is actually overpaying on major contracts. In a report released Tuesday, it pointed to the city’s 10-year, <a href="https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&amp;ID=11990847&amp;GUID=353EB39A-4790-4184-923C-50F1C4BDCBF5">$90 million contract</a> with a private company called AECOM to work on the sewer system. In the contract’s fee schedule, AECOM said it planned to bill up to $300 per hour for some of its employees. That includes a built-in fee for the company’s overhead and profit on top of the worker’s salary. AECOM’s hourly rates dwarfed, in many cases, what it would cost to pay a city worker to do the same work, even when factoring in fringe benefits, according to the union.&nbsp;



But a direct wage comparison may be missing the point, according to Pelissero, since cities are more concerned with the overall cost-effectiveness of a proposal as opposed to specific hourly rates.



The Public Utilities Commission, which contracts with AECOM, and the Department of Human Resources did not reply to requests for comment on the hourly fees.



Cost aside, Gausman, a lifelong San Franciscan, said the city should recognize that employees have a larger stake in the results of their work than outside companies.



“A contractor who’s a global entity may not even see it as a big deal, or might not be around in five or 10 years to stand by that work,” Gausman said. City employees, on the other hand, have to live with that work for years to come. “There’s a different kind of sense of ownership over the infrastructure in the city.”



Editor’s note: the story has been updated to clarify the number of employees the city hired between January 2023 and 2024.

San Francisco city unions rally for more pay, threaten to strike

Hundreds of city employees packed the front steps of San Francisco City Hall on Wednesday as a coalition of unions launched what promises to be a tough contract fight, with the threat of strikes already in the air before negotiations have begun.



“We’re going to strike if we freaking need to,” said Kristin Hardy, the San Francisco vice president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021, which represents about 16,000 workers.



The contracts of over 25,000 unionized public workers—including nurses, Muni bus drivers, plumbers, librarians, 911 dispatchers and more—will expire on June 30, according to the union coalition. As that date approaches, the unions will be negotiating new agreements with the city.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3000" height="2001" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-26.jpg?w=2500" alt="A group protests with signs reading &quot;FIX OUR CITY,&quot; a woman in purple speaks passionately into a microphone." class="wp-image-240352" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-26.jpg 3000w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-26.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-26.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-26.jpg?resize=2500,1668 2500w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-26.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-26.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kristin Hardy, the vice president of SEIU 1021, speaks in front of a crowd of San Francisco public employee union workers on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday. </figcaption></figure>



But the reset comes at a tough time. While labor leaders prepared to rally outside City Hall, Mayor London Breed’s budget director was inside <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2024/01/17/san-francisco-budget-deficit-1-4-billion-cuts-london-breed/">presenting a bleak budget forecast</a> showing a $245 million deficit in the fiscal year beginning this July and a $555 million shortfall the following year. To balance the budget, Breed has already told department heads to prepare for a 10% cut and to stop hiring new full-time employees outside of key staffing areas.



But the unions want the city to take the opposite approach to the thousands of job vacancies across the city. Letting those jobs go unfilled is shameful, SEIU 2015 executive Kim Evon said, adding that the vacancies can force city workers to take on the responsibilities of two or even three people.



There are currently about 3,000 vacant city jobs, according to the San Francisco Department of Human Resources. Despite those vacancies, city employment is currently at its highest level in the past five years, with 36,600 employees as of Jan. 1, the department said in a statement. That’s thanks to an efficiency project launched last year that has sped up how long it takes to fill vacancies and cut the vacancy rate by nearly 30%, according to the department. However, shortages persist in the behavioral health and public safety fields.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3000" height="2001" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-34.jpg?w=2500" alt="A protest in front of a stately building, with people holding &quot;FIX OUR CITY&quot; signs." class="wp-image-240355" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-34.jpg 3000w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-34.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-34.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-34.jpg?resize=2500,1668 2500w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-34.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-34.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Hundreds of city workers are pushing for better pay and working conditions as the city faces looming budget deficits.</figcaption></figure>



Labor organizers also decried the over <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2023/03/29/city-records-show-sf-failed-to-properly-monitor-nonprofits-that-got-millions/">$1 billion San Francisco pays each year</a> to outside organizations to fulfill services for the city.



“Why are billions of taxpayer dollars being funneled year after year to private contractors outside of San Francisco?” said International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21 President Bianca Polovina from the podium, drawing boos and jeers from the crowd.



“Mayor Breed appreciates and respects the rights of organized labor coming together around important issues, and she looks forward to engaging in the bargaining process that is already underway with our labor partners,” Mayor’s Office spokesperson Parisa Safarzadeh said. Labor groups have seen significant positive gains during previous negotiations with Breed, including the average annual base salary for San Francisco public employees growing 23% in the past five years and additional sick leave paired with no layoffs during Covid, according to Safarzadeh.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-workers-cite-burnout-hazards">Workers Cite Burnout, Hazards</h2>



San Francisco’s leadership has focused too much on appeasing corporations, conferences and tourists at the expense of city workers, said Heather Bollinger, a registered nurse at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.



“It rubs me the wrong way because everybody that steps foot in this city is a potential patient at San Francisco General Hospital and we do not have the resources for that,” said Bollinger, who has worked as a nurse for 16 years.



As nurses at San Francisco General have become increasingly burned out, patients can wait for <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2022/12/20/san-francisco-ambulance-emergency-response-time/">up to eight hours in the emergency department</a> or six months for an appointment, Bollinger said.



The hospital has launched several initiatives to speed up nurse hiring as quickly as possible in the face of nationwide challenges hiring medical providers, the Department of Public Health said in a statement. When the hospital is short staffed, it adds additional support with contracted nursing staff, having nurse managers work with patients and more.



The average time to see a provider at the San Francisco General Hospital Emergency Department was 56 minutes in 2023, according to the department.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3000" height="2001" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-32.jpg?w=2500" alt="A large crowd holding signs that read &quot;FIX OUR CITY&quot; during a protest or rally, with many wearing blue and purple." class="wp-image-240354" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-32.jpg 3000w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-32.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-32.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-32.jpg?resize=2500,1668 2500w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-32.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116budgetdeficitandlaborrally-32.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Hundreds of workers, carrying signs and making impassioned chants, made their presence known outside City Hall.</figcaption></figure>



Meanwhile, San Francisco’s Muni bus drivers have also increasingly faced hazards beyond dodging reckless drivers on the city’s streets, according to Anthony Ballester, president of the Transport Workers Union of America Local 250A.



Muni drivers see shootings, stabbings and robberies take place on their buses, all of which takes a toll on their well-being, Ballester said. A key component of his contract negotiation will be fighting for the city to offer hazard pay in a wider set of incidents, including instances when someone threatens a driver without actually touching them.



“It affects your mind,” Ballester said of the assaults.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-decades-without-a-strike">Decades Without a Strike</h2>



San Francisco public workers <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2024/01/16/will-san-francisco-unions-go-on-strike-labor-fight-could-upend-mayors-race/?utm_campaign=SF%20Standard%20Daily&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=SF%20Standard&amp;utm_content=hero">haven’t gone on strike since the 1970s</a>. That’s because the city outlawed public workers from striking following turbulent labor conditions that decade.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3000" height="2001" src="https:/...

It takes 150 days to hire a San Francisco worker. Mayor says that’s progress

San Francisco has an embarrassingly <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2023/06/22/san-francisco-takes-255-days-to-hire-one-city-worker/">slow process to hire new staff</a>, but Mayor London Breed touted progress Friday in filling vacant city jobs thanks to a 2022 initiative that began to streamline the application, interview and hiring process.



Whether the hiring spree continues is unclear because the city is staring down <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2023/12/13/san-francisco-budget-cuts-800-million-deficit-taxes-spending/">huge budget deficits</a> that could climb as high as $800 million over the next two fiscal years. But the Mayor’s Office said a multi-agency effort that included the City Administrator and Controller’s offices, as well as the Department of Human Resources, has <a href="https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&amp;ID=12516705&amp;GUID=1F403263-557E-406E-8D91-F1B4F77CFBD9">reduced the average time to fill all job types</a> to around 150 days—compared with the average 255 days cited in a Civil Grand Jury report last summer.



“We are working every day to overcome bureaucratic obstacles to deliver services faster and more reliably,” Breed said in a statement. “We are seeing improvements to our hiring, contracting and government operations, which means better service for our residents, workers and businesses.”



Last year’s <a href="https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/2022_2023/2023%20CGJ%20Report_Time%20to%20Get%20to%20Work%20-%20San%20Francisco%27s%20Hiring%20Crisis_062123.pdf">Civil Grand Jury report</a> identified an “unprecedented hiring crisis,” leading to service issues such as longer waits for Muni buses and responses to <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2023/05/01/san-francisco-911-dispatchers-warn-burnout-makes-citys-system-unprepared-for-next-emergency/">911 calls</a>, and reduced levels of care in city hospitals. Another byproduct of the staffing shortage, particularly in the police department, has been a large increase in overtime.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1708" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-scaled.jpg?w=2500" alt="An ambulance enters a hospital." class="wp-image-147424" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-2500x1668.jpg 2500w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-650x434.jpg 650w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-370x247.jpg 370w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-800x534.jpg 800w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-450x300.jpg 450w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-20x13.jpg 20w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-185x123.jpg 185w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-740x494.jpg 740w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-400x267.jpg 400w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-1600x1067.jpg 1600w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-225x150.jpg 225w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-900x600.jpg 900w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AmbulanceResponseTimes12142022_0125-1-72x48.jpg 72w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Ambulance response times in San Francisco have suffered as a result of ongoing staffing shortages.</figcaption></figure>



The multi-agency effort—dubbed the Government Operations Recovery Initiative, or “GovOps”—has led to a 50% surge in applications for vacant city positions compared with last year, a 25% increase in hires, a 25% drop in the time to complete hires and a nearly 30% drop in the job vacancy rate, according to the Mayor’s Office.



City officials identified a number of issues resulting in hiring slowdowns, ranging from legacy processes in the city’s civil service system to the Covid pandemic.



“We are laser-focused on reforming a system that was created over 120 years ago to better match the city’s contemporary needs,” Carol Isen, the city’s director of human resources, said in a statement.



The Civil Grand Jury report released on June 21 noted that city job vacancies had doubled since the start of the pandemic, from 6.8% in 2019 to 13.7% in 2023. This was caused, in part, by the lasting effects of a hiring freeze.&nbsp;



“It’s hard to overstate just how severely the city’s service delivery capabilities were affected by the public health emergency,” Controller Ben Rosenfield in a statement.



Among the key hiring improvements are improved marketing strategies for open jobs and automated reference checks. Improvements in contracting include a standardized online portal for contract review, online noticing of future contract opportunities and streamlined approvals.



“Over the last year, the Government Operations team has been working to identify and make changes to improve how we hire, buy goods and services and make payments,” City Administrator Carmen Chu said in a statement. “[These] are core operational processes that are pain points for every department and have a huge cumulative impact on how we deliver public services. Each positive change, no matter how small, makes a difference.”



The Grand Jury report cited the Department of Public Health as suffering from the highest vacancy rate, with over 1,000 unfilled positions of around 4,700 vacancies among all city departments at the end of 2022. The hardest hit were nursing positions at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="4000" height="3000" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FEATURED_UCSFNurseStaffing092623-02.jpg?w=2500" alt="Nurses protest outside of a hospital." class="wp-image-204957" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FEATURED_UCSFNurseStaffing092623-02.jpg 4000w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FEATURED_UCSFNurseStaffing092623-02.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FEATURED_UCSFNurseStaffing092623-02.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FEATURED_UCSFNurseStaffing092623-02.jpg?resize=2500,1875 2500w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FEATURED_UCSFNurseStaffing092623-02.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FEATURED_UCSFNurseStaffing092623-02.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 4000px) 100vw, 4000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Dozens of nurses at UCSF on Sept. 26, 2023, protested the staff shortages that increase the risk of workplace violence for health care providers in San Francisco.</figcaption></figure>



City officials told The Standard that the health department saw its job vacancy rate improve from 13.5% at the beginning of last year to 11% as of this month. The rate for registered nurses dropped from 12.2% to 9.62% during those respective periods.



The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency showed more dramatic improvements in hiring by bringing down its vacancy rate from 12.5% to 4.93% over the last year, according to the city’s HR department. The number of funded full-time jobs for the transit agency dropped by more than 270 positions, but the vacancies decreased by more than 470, suggesting the agency didn’t just eliminate jobs to improve its numbers.



San Francisco’s funding for <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2023/02/22/muni-raised-me-literally-as-the-daughter-of-a-bus-driver-i-cant-wait-for-this-transit-inspired-art-show/">transit operators</a> remained static with 2,598 positions over the last year, while the vacancies from February 2023 to last month dropped from 161 to 96, according to the city’s HR department.



Job vacancies have become a key political wedge ahead of elections this year. Last month, Supervisor Ahsha Safaí—<a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2023/07/26/ahsha-safai-raises-149k-in-sf-mayor-race/">a challenger to Breed</a> in November—proposed a $39.5 million appropriations bill supporting overtime for health workers, stating the funds were originally set for hiring nurses and other medical support positions at San Francisco General Hospital as well as Laguna Honda, one of the largest skilled-nursing facilities in the country.



<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/2023/08/WellnessHubs011123-34.jpg?w=2500" alt="Supervisor Ahsha Safaí speaks during a Board of Supervisors meeting." class="wp-image-194590" srcset="htt...

Assault, gunfire, stabbing: San Francisco’s front-line workers don’t feel safe

It happened after noon as people were leaving work for lunch.&nbsp;



A car pulled up alongside another vehicle parked on Leavenworth Street near Golden Gate Avenue. Shots rang out through San Francisco’s rough-and-tumble Tenderloin neighborhood. When police arrived on the scene, they found two people suffering from gunshot wounds. A third victim later walked into a city hospital seeking treatment for a gunshot.



The Oct. 12 shooting rattled employees of Tom Waddell Urban Health Center, a medical facility on that street corner that serves some of the Tenderloin’s most vulnerable—homeless people and residents of supportive housing.



“Some employees felt traumatized, and they left and went home to just process the situation,” said Cheryl Thornton, an eligibility supervisor at the clinic who was working that day. “But others stayed working, because it’s happened before.”



Plus, there were still patients to treat.



Though a shooting at the footsteps of a public health clinic is a rare occurrence in San Francisco, it wasn’t the first time that the problems of the city’s struggling Downtown had endangered the lives of the people tasked with alleviating them.



For Laronda Mayfield, who works at the city’s Human Services Agency (HSA), the worst moment came two years ago, when a man charged through a plastic glass window over the front desk, destroying computers and forcing her and a social worker to flee out the back door. It took six sheriff’s deputies to restrain him, she said.



“That was one of the latest horrifying incidents I’ve experienced here since the pandemic,” Mayfield told The Standard.&nbsp;



The problems faced by these workers—many of whom are city employees—came to greater public attention in September, when an inhabitant of the Windsor residential hotel <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2023/09/13/man-arrested-after-stabbing-person-multiple-times-in-tenderloin/">stabbed a social worker four times</a> in an attack the district attorney believes to be an anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="4032" height="3024" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_4067.jpg?w=2500" alt="The text seems to be a description of a picture. Here's a clearer and corrected version:

The picture shows the Windsor Hotel with the sun in the background." class="wp-image-200946" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_4067.jpg 4032w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_4067.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_4067.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_4067.jpg?resize=2500,1875 2500w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_4067.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_4067.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 4032px) 100vw, 4032px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Officers responded just after 11 a.m. Sept. 13 to reports of a stabbing at the Windsor Hotel on Eddy Street. </figcaption></figure>



In the aftermath, the victim’s union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021, <a href="https://develop.sfstandard.com/2023/09/15/stabbing-of-san-francisco-social-worker-could-have-been-prevented-union-says/">said the attack could have been prevented</a> had the city taken threats against the social worker more seriously.&nbsp;



It’s a view that many workers on the front lines of issues like homelessness, addiction and mental health echo: They need more protection.



“You’re always on guard because of the neighborhood and what’s happening,” Thornton said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unsafe-environments">Unsafe Environments</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2007" height="1339" src="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023_oct_31_violencecityemployees_0267a.jpg" alt="Cheryl Thornton stands on the sidewalk facing off camera with pedestrians congregating behind her outside of her place of work in San Francisco. " class="wp-image-218652" srcset="https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023_oct_31_violencecityemployees_0267a.jpg 2007w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023_oct_31_violencecityemployees_0267a.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023_oct_31_violencecityemployees_0267a.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://content-develop.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023_oct_31_violencecityemployees_0267a.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2007px) 100vw, 2007px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Pedestrians stand on a curb during a portrait session with Cheryl Thornton, left, outside the Tom Waddell Urban Health Clinic in San Francisco on Oct. 31, 2023. </figcaption></figure>



Workers like these perform some of the most important—and least glamorous—jobs in San Francisco. They are tasked with keeping vulnerable people housed, fed and healthy.



“They are not the highest-paid people in the city, but they are the ones who are the glue to the city,” said Theresa Rutherford, president of SEIU Local 1021, which represents many of these employees.



But as the Covid pandemic and the proliferation of cheap, deadly fentanyl exacerbated problems like homelessness and addiction, these workers increasingly have felt threatened.



For Mayfield, the irate client hurtling through the plastic glass was just one of many incidents she and her colleagues have faced in the last few years.



She has worked in the Human Services Agency’s piebald Moorish Revival building on Mission Street since the agency moved there in 1992. Her job is to help low-income residents access benefits like supplemental nutrition and MediCal.



Her work is so important that she was one of the employees coming into the office every day during the pandemic. But that means she also saw the neighborhood deteriorate before her eyes as Covid shuttered San Francisco.



The block of Mission between Eighth and Ninth streets is a hotspot for homelessness and drug use in the South of Market neighborhood. She says it is traumatic and terrifying to see people using fentanyl and fighting in the streets outside.



“It just breaks my heart every single time,” Mayfield said.



It has gotten so bad that few HSA employees go out to lunch anymore or exit the building until their shift is over, she added.



But although the HSA building is guarded by a sheriff&#8217;s deputy daily, the neighborhood’s broader ills sometimes cross its threshold.



Last year, a man overdosed in the building’s lobby. When paramedics arrived on the scene and tried to move him, a gun fell out of his sock, Mayfield said. Another coworker was attacked on the day she returned from maternity leave.



“She didn’t even make it in the door,” she said. “I haven’t seen her since.”



In October, Mayfield turned to the city’s Human Services Commission to ask for help. “What is it going to take for us to get help?” she asked, according to <a href="https://www.sfhsa.org/sites/default/files/media/document/migrated/10.27.22%20HSC%20meeting%20minutes.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">meeting minutes</a>.



In an email, the HSA told The Standard that it has contracted with Urban Alchemy, a nonprofit focused on improving public safety, to provide street monitoring, safety and de-escalation services. It has also assigned additional guards at the entrance, enhanced screening protocols at the metal detector and keeps in contact with police about safety and street conditions.&nbsp;



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The situation is similarly difficult at Tom Waddell. According to Thornton, one of her colleagues was physically assaulted and knocked to the ground while taking a cigarette break on the back steps. The Leavenworth side of the building—part of an area known as Pill Hill—is the site of many tents and a lot of open-air drug dealing and use.



In an email to The Standard, the Department of Public Health admitted that Tom Waddell is the “clinic most affected by violence in the area due to its location.” In the coming weeks, it plans to fit Tom Waddell’s public-facing windows with ballistic-proof acrylic overlays.&nbsp;



The health department said it holds biweekly meetings with clinic leadership to address safety issues.&nbsp;



The department “has been regularly surveying Tom Waddell Urban Health Center staff about safety concerns including increased building safety, potential security escorts and opportunities to receive trauma services, which are already accessible to them through SFDPH,” it said.



The Department of Human Resources added that, in agreement with SEIU Local 1021, the city had deployed signs in work sites across San Francisco to inform members of the public that assaulting a city employee is a punishable offense under California law.&nbsp;



Despite those efforts, Tom Waddell remains a difficult work environment.



“We have encounters,” Thornton said. “Not all the encounters end up be...

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