Oh You Want to Speak with the Manager, Do You?

Good luck, San Franciscans. None are on duty.

Image courtesy of X account @dbofsf

If you ever wandered around San Francisco and wondered why so many things are broken or dysfunctional, blighted or dangerous, but nobody seems to care or take responsibility, you’re not alone.

Welcome to an unmanaged city.

Of course it might make sense to reach out to your district supervisor. Once alerted, he or she will get right on it. Maybe send a team out to mend, clear, or clean, then update you on progress.

Well no, unless you’re lucky or persistent enough.

Supervisors Aren’t Managers

During the crazy Covid era, I responded to a message from a distraught young woman who lived in the South of Market neighborhood. Her little alleyway had been taken over by a large crowd of rowdy drug users. They partied all day and screamed all night. There was human urine and excrement all over the street, as well as on her entryway and door handle. It was disgusting and dangerous.

At the time, Matt Haney was the district’s supervisor. She asked him to join, and he did. Yet when she explained her plight and begged for help, Haney became frustrated. Before dashing off to a meeting he turned to her and said, “What do you want me to do? I’m just a legislator!”

For me, that was a moment of clarity. There are no managers in the San Francisco store. That poor girl was on her own. As we all are.

This realization was further affirmed when, during that same pandemic timeframe, I took a walk around Fishermans’s Wharf. I stopped in a number of stores, normally full but then empty. The streets were desolate, the mood sour.

Aaron Peskin was the district’s supervisor, but when I asked the workers and owners if he had come by to check on the situation and provide assistance, all said no. Their anger was palpable. “We’re hurting, going to close, Peskin hasn’t done s__t,” they said.

Because, though it should be, that’s not the primary focus of the position.

Supervisors can assume more managerial duties but most don’t.

I hear it constantly. Why hasn’t Jackie Fielder, District 11 supervisor, cleaned up the illegal drug scene that’s going down on 16th Street? Because she neither wants nor needs to. Fielder will do the same as Haney did that day. If she responds at all, it will be with a “Sorry, not my department,” then move on to what’s on her personal agenda, such as trying to get a public bank off the ground.

So What Does a Supervisor Do, Anyway?

While you may want your district supervisor to listen to you and then solve the problems you describe, resolving them is barely in their job description.

Here’s a basic breakdown of a San Francisco district supervisor’s job description:

• Introduce and vote on legislation, declare ordinances and resolutions. This is the bread and butter of their jobs. Most love this part.

• Participate in budget matters. Along with the mayor, they decide how public funds are allocated. Powerful stuff.

• Represent your district. Sure they ought to be responsive to your needs and concerns, but “representation” is painfully vague. How? And do what?

• Attend public hearings, meetings, and forums. They talk and listen, but take action? “Wow, I had no idea the toilets in the public restroom are blocked! I’ll get right on that!” is not the likely response.

There are more tasks involved, to be sure, but mundane operations is far (far) down the list.

Some supervisors are more intimately involved than others. It may be a low bar to be impressed when one goes into a small business and gives a business card to the owner with a, “If you need anything, call me,” as District 2 supervisor Stephen Sherrill recently did. In the end, though, that’s a choice, not a requirement.

More often what the supervisor hopes to achieve while in office is personal. Which is why pet projects (like leading the measure to close the Upper Great Highway, which District 4 supervisor Joel Engardio did against his constituents wishes) can take precedence over ensuring functionality.

Give 311 a Try

Instead of city managers who walk your blocks, assessing what needs to be done to create a well-run district and city, you have a number. Call 311 or use the app.

For the most part the 311 dispatchers are helpful. You can report everything from graffiti to garbage and they'll route your concern to the proper city department.

Is it perfect? No, not even close. But for certain non-emergency issues like dumped furniture, this system can and often will take charge.

In many ways these employees are the unsung heroes of San Francisco. I can only imagine the number of stressed-out, furious residents they hear every day. They’re usually polite and responsive.

Push for Reprioritization

Back to the supervisors. They are not too busy or important to ignore you and your concerns. Remember, you elected them and they work for you.

Explain what’s happening and the remedy you want. Make sure to follow up. As civil servants, supervisors earn a decent salary, at around $125,000. That’s more than what a Walgreens or Starbucks manager earns, and they have to help miffed customers all day, and usually with a smile.

Here is the entire board of supervisors and how to contact each. If you don’t know which district you live in, check here. However you aren’t limited. If you spot something that needs rectifying in another district, go for it. This is your city.

• Connie Chan (District 1)
  Phone: (415) 554-7410
  Email: ChanStaff@sfgov.org

• Stephen Sherrill (District 2)
  Phone: (415) 554-7752
  Email: SherrillStaff@sfgov.org

• Danny Sauter (District 3)
  Phone: (415) 554-7450
  Email: SauterStaff@sfgov.org

• Joel Engardio (District 4) Sunset, Parkside
  Phone: (415) 554-7460
  Email: EngardioStaff@sfgov.org

• Bilal Mahmood (District 5)
  Phone: (415) 554-7630
  Email: MahmoodStaff@sfgov.org

• Matt Dorsey (District 6)
  Phone: (415) 554-7970
  Email: DorseyStaff@sfgov.org

• Myrna Melgar (District 7)
  Phone: (415) 554-6516
  Email: MelgarStaff@sfgov.org

• Rafael Mandelman (District 8)
  Phone: (415) 554-6968
  Fax: (415) 554-5163
  Email: MandelmanStaff@sfgov.org

• Jackie Fielder (District 9)
  Phone: (415) 554-5144
  Email: jackie.Fielder@sfgov.org

• Shamann Walton (District 10)
  Phone: (415) 554-7670
  Email: Shamann.Walton@sfgov.org

• Chyanne Chen (District 11)
  Phone: (415) 554-6975
  Email: ChenStaff@sfgov.org

Let me know how it goes.