Why one think tank is pushing SF to reset its governance structure

San Francisco's governance structure needs a reset, a new report finds.

Why it matters: The pandemic and corresponding downtown visitor drop-off , combined with longstanding issues like homelessness , have stressed the city's ability to deliver services.

Context: The government of the city and county of San Francisco is bigger than many state governments and has over 34,000 employees, according to Nicole Neditch, governance and economy policy director at urban policy think tank SPUR.

Yes, but: The latest city survey assessing residents' satisfaction with services shows that grades for government and safety fell the most, something SPUR attributes to the "overgrown garden" that is San Francisco's government structure.

State of play: SPUR's recent report details a number of issues that appear to prevent efficient, streamlined delivery of services.

• Because the mayor, Board of Supervisors and government commissions share responsibility for department heads, lines of accountability are often blurred, which makes advancing a citywide agenda difficult, per the report.
• The governance structure has also become bloated with commissions, something the city itself has acknowledged , the report notes. San Francisco currently oversees 126 commissions — 57 decision-making and 69 advisory — and many overlap.
• The Homeless Oversight Commission, for instance, exists alongside the Our City, Our Home Oversight Committee, the Shelter Monitoring Committee and the Local Homeless Coordinating Board — all are involved in the homelessness response system.
• At the same time, eliminating a department, commission, board or piece of legislation is difficult, leading to a build-up of bodies without a stated purpose, according to the report.

What they're saying: People perceive the mayor as a central authority, but the reality is more complicated, Neditch told Axios.

• ''We have all of these commissions that have sort of been given powers to appoint and dismiss department heads, really manage the operations of particular departments, which … diffuses the power from the mayor."
• "It's just kind of this cycle," Neditch added. "It's a balance of trying to make sure that no one person has too much power within the city. But then it also diffuses it and people just don't know who to hold accountable anymore or how things work."

SPUR's recommendations include:

• Remove language from the city charter that restricts mayoral staffing and management.
• Reorganize the mayor's office for a more manageable number of direct reports. Currently, 43 department heads and seven staff members report directly to the mayor.
• Merge departments with similar functions and constituencies.
• Reduce the overall number of commissions.

The big picture: Ahead of November's election , many politicians are looking to cut red tape in a bid to follow through on issues like affordable housing production and business permitting.

• "The mayor believes we need comprehensive charter reform to make government more efficient and to address the bureaucracy that has been layered on piecemeal over the years," Mayor London Breed spokesperson Jeff Cretan told Axios via email. "This SPUR report is an important start to that conversation."
• Neditch, who confirmed that SPUR briefed the mayor's office and other officials on the report, said the next stage will be key.
• "I've gotten the sense that people are pretty aligned on the recommendations," she said. "Now it comes to implementation."