Yes on Proposition B
Reunify Public Works & Street Sanitation departments
What is it?
Proposition B is a Charter Amendment introduced by the Board of Supervisors which will partially repeal a ballot measure from 2020 which split the Department of Public Works into two departments: Department of Public Works and the Department of Sanitation and Streets.
Fiscal impacts
Prop B will save taxpayers between $2.5 million and $3.5 million per year for the next two years, and likely more in future years.
Why is this on the ballot?
This is a City Charter amendment. All charter amendments must be approved by a 50% + 1 majority.
- Sponsor: Supervisor Aaron Peskin
- Co-sponsors: Supervisors Connie Chan and Rafael Mandelman
- Placed on the ballot by: Supervisors Connie Chan, Matt Dorsey, Rafael Mandelman, Myrna Melgar, Aaron Peskin, Dean Preston, Hillary Ronen, and Catherine Stefani
Why vote yes?
Proposition B is a partial repeal of November 2020's Prop B, which GrowSF opposed. The 2020 Prop B broke apart the Department of Public Works (DPW) into two departments: DPW and the Department of Sanitation and Streets (DSS), and created a new commission to oversee DSS, called the Sanitation and Streets commission.
As we said in 2020, cracking apart one department into two would not guarantee better outcomes or accountability, but would instead create more bureaucracy and expense for the city.
Two years later and the implementation of 2020's Prop B is still underway. Now we have a chance to undo the mistake of Prop B, at least partially, by passing the new Prop B which will cancel the divorce and keep the responsibility for street cleanliness and maintenance under the same roof: DPW.
But it's not all roses and puppy dogs — this will keep the new Sanitation and Streets commission while stripping it of any actual authority. So while keeping DPW whole is definitely a win, getting a new commission that can be staffed with political cronies that have no real power or accountability is... not great.
So, while this year's Prop B isn't perfect and we'll still end up with an extra, totally unnecessary commission, we at least end up slightly better off than before, so you should vote Yes.