Are you one of the many San Francisco residents without photo identification? Does it make navigating the city and accessing its services more difficult?
Well good news! The City of San Francisco has a solution for you and it’s called the SF City ID Card.
San Francisco residents can get a City photo ID card, which can be used to prove residency and access certain San Francisco city programs. Read More
Check out today’s photo!
Do you know where it was taken? Send your guess to info@resetsanfrancisco.org - and you could win a Reset T-shirt!
This week’s photo was submitted by Bernadette Le, a local photographer.
With unemployment in San Francisco still stubbornly high, we need to look at every resource available to put our neighbors back to work. And with the city’s budget deficit projected to be nearly $400 million next year alone, solutions need to be both creative and affordable.
As the San Francisco Chronicle’s John King smartly pointed out a while back – we might not need to look further than what’s right in front of us to help at least 60 San Francisco families get back into this economy – by tapping into this city’s entrepreneurial spirit. Read More
In February, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the state agency with oversight of rail and light-rail transit systems slammed Muni for pervasive safety problems. The CPUC threatened Muni with fines of up to $20,000 a day if the safety issues they cited are not addressed. For an agency currently facing a $22 million budget deficit this fiscal year, daily fines of $20,000 are not something Muni can afford.
The CPUC report listed eight major Muni safety violations, including problems with defective tracks, as well as poorly operating tunnel control systems. The CPUC report alleged that Muni dragged its feet on fixing persistent problems, such as the worn-down N Judah and J Church tracks at Church and Duboce. CPUC also claimed that Muni failed to respond to 13 findings from a 2008 audits and to dozens more inspection findings from 2009 and 2010. CPUC also accused Muni of failing to provide over 30 accident reports from the last two years. Read More
In the last two decades, the percentage of San Francisco’s per capita government revenue consisting of rent and concessions has dropped by a large margin (even adjusting for inflation). This is evident in the screenshot above from the California Common Sense San Francisco data transparency portal, a series of interactive data visualizations that help San Franciscans to understand their governments’ finances.
In 1991, rent and concessions accounted for 3 percent of San Francisco revenue. By 2007, that number had dropped to approximately half at 1.5 percent. Since then, the percentage has returned to 2 percent. There is an ongoing debate in San Francisco about what the city should charge – or if the city should charge at all - to use public assets. Here is some data to add to that debate. Read More
By: Ben Butterworth
Our President has his supporters and detractors but you have to love his recent push to crowdsourcing better government.
First he launched his plan for Open Government way back in 2009. But now he’s really stepping it up. A few weeks ago he launched his foray into User Generated Government with We the People, the White House based crowd-sourcing site.
Now a National Dialogue on Improving Federal Websites is taking public comments on how to improve the constellation of federal websites. Take a look. There is nothing too fancy about it, but the foundational principle of asking us what we think is near and dear to us here at Reset. Read More
By: Victoria Holliday
Last week the Census Bureau released figures showing that nearly 1 in 6 Americans now live in poverty. The US poverty rate climbed from 14.3 percent to 15.1 percent in 2010. This increase represents the highest level of recorded poverty since 1993. (The poverty line in 2010 for a family of four was $22,314.)
This news highlights why the SF Food Bank Hunger Challenge is so relevant. Living on $4.72 a day for food on the SF Food Bank Hunger Challenge is the reality for the 41,743 San Franciscans who rely on food stamps. Read More
By: Dakin Sloss
According to California Common Sense, in the last two decades, San Francisco’s government per capita spending on infrastructure has almost perfectly followed stock market trends (even adjusting for inflation).
In 1991, San Francisco general fund spending on public works, transportation and commerce was approximately 6 percent, but during the dot-com bubble that nearly doubled to almost 11 percent. As the bubble burst, that dropped dramatically falling below 6 percent in 2004. With recovery and the housing bubble, the figure returned to 9 percent only to drop back to 6 percent in the most recent recession. Read More
For many of us, looking down at our Smartphone or tablet and seeing anything other than those familiar curved lines indicating we are, in fact, currently connected to WiFi can be extremely disheartening. After experiencing the swiftness and ease that WiFi can provide, even 3G just can’t cut it.
So, it can be a little frustrating when our devices won’t connect to WiFi in many parts of the City. But imagine what it must be like for those of us in San Francisco who can’t connect to the Internet whatsoever? Read More
By: Phil Ting
As Assessor-Recorder of San Francisco, I focus much of my attention on fighting foreclosures because my office is City Hall’s front line when it comes to the mortgage crisis and the decline of home prices in San Francisco.
The Notices of Default and all the subsequent foreclosure procedures are filed with our office, our appraisers review properties to temporarily reduce assessed home values and our staff is working on over-drive to handle Informal Reviews and the historic number of cases filed with the Assessment Appeals Board.
As compelling as the facts and figures can be (and I’ll get to that if you read further), it is San Franciscans like Curtis Warren and his neighbors in Bayview-Hunters Point that serve as a moving reminder that foreclosures are far more than a financial crisis local governments… but rather an urgent issue affecting real people who are the heart, soul and backbone of our City. Read More
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