San Francisco Has A Lot of Commissions. Should We Keep Them?

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KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

San Francisco’s government has long been shaped by a tension between efficiency and public oversight. After voters approved Prop E in 2024, a new Commission Streamlining Task Force was created and it recently recommended cutting and merging many of the city’s roughly 150 boards and commissions—potentially reducing them by more than 40 percent. But the proposals, which critics say would limit the power of oversight bodies like the police and ethics commissions, sparked major pushback, and now the Board of Supervisors says it will likely act only on “non-controversial” changes. Will efforts to streamline city government ever make headway—and should they? Guests: Jonah Owen Lamb, staff writer, SF Examiner Io Yeh Gilman, reporter, Mission Local Lauren Post, former member, Public Works Commission Amerika Sanchez, member, Human Rights Commission; went through Urban Habitat incubator program to help people of color join commissions; served on 2 commissions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for KQED podcast comes from California environmental voters.
0:04.2	More than one in five California homeowners are uninsured.
0:07.3	California environmental voters is working to help those affected.
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0:14.0	Olivia loves a challenge.
0:16.1	It's why she lifts heavy weights and likes complicated recipes.
0:21.6	But for booking her trip to Paris, Olivia chose the easy way with Expedia.
0:25.6	She bundled her flight with a hotel to save more.
0:28.6	Of course, she still climbed all 674 steps to the top of the Eiffel Town.
0:33.6	You were made to take the easy route.
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0:41.3	Flight inclusive packages are at all protected.
0:44.3	From KQED.
0:48.3	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:50.3	Okay, you may or may not remember Propy, which was on the 2024 ballot. It was one of
0:57.3	dueling measures that aimed to cut back on the number of city commissions, of which there are
1:01.9	around 150. Here to tell us what may or may not result from the commission streamlining
1:07.6	task force. We're joined first by reporters. Jonah O'am-Lam, Senior
1:12.6	Reporter at the San Francisco Standard. Welcome. How's it going? And we got I.O.
1:16.9	Yeh Gilman, a reporter at Mission Local. Welcome, I.O. Thanks for having me. Okay, Jonah, we're
1:24.0	talking about the San Francisco commissions. I've always wondered, why are there so many?
	...

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