Research
Research from GrowSF
The Formula Retail Ban Hurts San Francisco
San Francisco has strict limits on any business with 11 or more locations in the world. This means that practically every supermarket, hardware store, and coffee shop needs to go through a lengthy…
San Francisco Pays for the Mental Health System the State Dismantled
San Francisco is in the middle of a behavioral health crisis that plays out on our streets, in our emergency rooms, and throughout our legal system. At the center of this crisis is a basic…
One-way streets are especially dangerous to pedestrians
1 . San Francisco’s streets are engineered for speed, not safety Walking in San Francisco often feels like a game of chance. Whether it’s a driver speeding through a crosswalk or a near-miss with a…
San Francisco’s budget is bigger than 17 U.S. states
San Francisco’s budget is larger than 17 U.S. states including New Mexico ($10.5B), Alabama ($12.6B), and Oklahoma ($12.6B). At $15.9B total, the scale of our city budget is massive. This analysis is…
San Francisco has the longest city charter in America
To understand San Francisco, you need to understand our city charter. And to fix the problems in San Francisco, you need to fix our charter. Think of our charter, basically, like our city’s…
How San Francisco built a Homeless System that Fails its Most Vulnerable
San Francisco’s approach to homelessness is called “housing first.” This sounds great, but it only serves about one third to one half of homeless people well. Many people need psychiatric care, many…
Why San Francisco Can’t Get More People Into Treatment
San Francisco faces many challenges, but perhaps none is as visible or as heartbreaking as our drug crisis. We've struggled for years to effectively address addiction and its consequences on our…
What is going on at SFUSD?
By Patrick Wolff There has been a lot of dramatic news about San Francisco’s public schools (SFUSD) over the last two weeks. Let’s break down what happened: September 17: A salacious news article…
Ranked choice voting education key to November election
With at least five serious candidates in the running for mayor, it's likely that no single candidate will secure more than 50% of first-choice votes in November---making it more important than ever…
