San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is pushing the city's first comprehensive charter overhaul in 30 years, targeting a 540-page document that required 12 departments to approve a single $1.7 million toilet. Meanwhile, a BART encampment fire that knocked out Transbay Tube service for 12 hours exposed what happens when agencies know about infrastructure risks and defer to other jurisdictions anyway. Across California, the through-line is the same: government structures optimized for insider navigation and bureaucratic self-preservation, at direct cost to taxpayers and public safety.
SF's 540-page city charter is the longest in the country, and it was built to protect insiders. Lurie is finally tearing it apart.
They are accused of harvesting grandma's ballot, pocket $777K salaries, and wield incredible political power in San Francisco. All on your tax dollars.
BART knew about the encampment, had legal authority to clear it, and asked Oakland nicely. Then it burned.
Fareed Zakaria just said the quiet part out loud: blue cities are out of control. But San Francisco might actually be charting a different course.
Forbes celebrates her as history's greatest giver. But without stewardship, the outcomes are spotty at best.
We proved local politics is winnable. Now we're recruiting the next wave—and you need to apply to get in.
We’re starting a citizen’s union for people who care about what works
Instead of fixing endemic graft, overtime abuse, and union-protected waste, they're holding your commute hostage for a November tax bailout.
Teachers and parents have a common enemy—and it isn't each other. It's a pension system running a 20-year scam.
A Seattle frontline worker exposes what we all see in the encampments—and why California banned the cure.