Municipal management: Things could maybe be worse (San Francisco) compared to your municipality

As much as I write about DC, and clearly the problems in municipal government, the utilization of resources, the design of programs, and failures in service provision result from similar kinds of systems failure, this expose of failures in governance, management, and fiscal responsibility in San Francisco, "The Worst-Run Big City in the U.S." from the San Francisco Weekly, is pretty shocking.

Interestingly, if you have read Siegel's book The Future Once Happened Here, you can see what's happening is no different than what has happened elsewhere in cities like New York, Los Angeles, DC, and Philadelphia. To some extent, NYC has improved significantly although there are still problems. But the problems are worse in the other cities.

The problem is when the liberal ideal to help is coupled with lack of management controls, systems, and accountability. Eventually, it spirals out of control for a couple reasons. First, municipal workers become an interest group in and of themselves, and work to receive constantly rising incomes, pension benefits, and eased work rules.

Second, because problems are mostly seen as lack of enough money rather than how the funds are used, what the intended outcomes are, whether or not the outcomes are achieved, and why or why not.

Although the author of the SFW piece attributes the problems to "hyperdemocracy." Maybe that's an issue too. I think that the public's social concerns and desires to solve problems get used by the interest groups--workers, government agencies, nonprofit organizations--in order to maintain and strengthen these bodies in ways that become disconnected from the public good, because representing the public good, and the city overall, becomes disconnected from the work of the agency.

From the article:

There are ways San Francisco can maintain its rampant democracy while establishing a system that abhors waste and incompetence:

Return much of the day-to-day control of city operations to an unelected, long-term city manager — who would also be responsible for negotiating union contracts.

Institute detailed citywide planning to avoid waste and duplication of services, while ensuring essential city functions are provided for.

Emphasize best practices in each individual city department, and let go of workers who aren't needed because of productivity gains.

Eliminate all budget set-asides and mandatory staffing levels, and let the city develop budgets that meet the needs of today and tomorrow, not yesterday.

Fire people who are incompetent — and that includes those at the top-heavy management level.

Instead of telling us how much money has been spent on a problem, focus on whether the problems are getting solved.