Authorized by voters last year, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors has formally approved the creation of a new Department of Sanitation and Streets (DSS) and Commission, separate from the Department of Public Works (DPW).
The DSS will not only be tasked with keeping the city’s sidewalks and streets clean, with new baseline standards, reporting requirements and audits, but will also be responsible for proactively cleaning, maintaining and ensuring access to public bathrooms throughout the city, effective July 1, 2022.
Another department to add to the city’s already bloated bureaucracy. But hey, if they can actually keep the streets clean, no complaints from me.
This was literally my first thought. Passing the buck, yet again, courtesy of SF taxpayers.
True, but ultimately we voted for this as a city. Personally, I voted against it for the aforementioned reasons, but if they do their job I’ll be happy.
Agreed. I’m usually not in favor of adding another department/committee but the streets are a big enough and focused enough issue that hopefully this ends up being more efficient than keeping it under DPW. Or it could be a literal sh*t show.
Without accountability in housing, drugs, and public health services, all this really equates to is cleaner streets for the homeless. We literally watch people wait for DPW to finish so they can move their tents back in. They have nowhere else to go, and the drugs are abundant.
Perhaps this is a chance to return to the weekly residential street sweeping program, which was so successful until dirty Ed (Reiskin) cut it back to twice a month.
Maybe they could hire homeless people to fill the dozens of desk jobs this is going to create, help them off the streets so the City will be a little cleaner.
The DSS will not only be tasked with keeping the city’s sidewalks and streets clean, with new baseline standards, reporting requirements and audits, but will also be responsible for proactively cleaning, maintaining and ensuring access to public bathrooms
For some unfathomable reason I’m reminded of the criticism offered about Lillian Hellman: “every word … is a lie, including “and” and “the.”
“proactively cleaning, maintaining and ensuring access to public bathrooms”. This sounds like one of those Emperor Norton proclamations.
The Public Officials having again notoriously betrayed the confidence and trust imposed in them by a trusting people; and having shamefully disregarded the public interest and the people’s welfare to feather their own nests; now, therefore, We, Norton I, Emperor of America and Protector of Mexico, do hereby order all such Officials to resign forthwith, and do declare their said offices vacant from the date hereof.
Not every idea he had was crazy.