Skyline of Financial District at dusk, San Francisco, CA. (Photo: Jose Luis Stephens/ Shutterstock)
New Study Finds San Francisco To Be Worst Run City In U.S.
‘Numbers don’t lie’
By Evan Symon, June 19, 2024 4:36 pm
According to a new WalletHub study released this week, San Francisco is the worst-run city in the United Stated, followed closely behind by Oakland and Gulfport, MS.
For years, San Francisco has struggled with many issues including a high crime rate, a growing number of homeless people in the city, a massive city deficit, and the overall worst recovery of any city from the COVID-19 pandemic. When WalletHub was creating the survey, they sought to measure the effectiveness of local leadership by determining a city’s operating efficiency.
Directly quoting WalletHub:
“We can learn how well city officials manage and spend public funds by comparing the quality of the services residents receive against the city’s total budget. Using that approach, WalletHub compared the operating efficiency of 148 of the largest U.S. cities to reveal which among them are managed best. We constructed a “Quality of Services” score made up of 36 metrics grouped into six service categories, which we then measured against the city’s per-capita budget.”
When it came to the city services score, San Francisco ranked pretty high, coming in 24th. San Francisco actually came in first when it came to resident health, having the lowest infant mortality rate, 12th in infrastructure and pollution, and 15th when it came to education. However they also faltered heavily in other categories, including being all the way down at 101st when it comes to overall safety and 133rd in it’s economic rank.
However, other areas also fared far worse. San Francisco, along with Oakland, had amongst the worst violent crime rate. When it came to the quality of roads, SF was the fifth worst in the nation, tying with their Bay neighbor Oakland. And finally, San Francisco ranked dead last, tied with Nashville, as having the worst long-term debt outstanding per capita. Overall, it meant that San Francisco was also dead last in their total budget per capita rank – a sharp contrast to their high city services score.
Compared to previous years, San Francisco also got an overall last place in 2023, and a second-to-last place in 2022.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed quickly challenged the results after they came out on Tuesday. According to her office “WalletHub does this every year and every year, it’s misleading and inaccurate, because this study compares San Francisco’s budget (City AND County) with other cities (City only budgets).”
However, WalletHub soon fired back, with WalletHub communications manager Diana Polk noting, “I would like to clarify that WalletHub relies on the Fiscally Standardized Cities (FiSC) dataset as it provides a reliable source for making accurate, apples-to-apples comparisons at city level between different municipalities. We do not alter the data provided by FiSC in any way to ensure an unbiased comparison.”
City financial experts also noted that the study fairly accurately shows San Francisco’s financial problems on a larger scale.
“The WalletHub study only further highlights the problems San Francisco is facing,” James Porter, an accountant who has helped relieve bloated city budgets in California, Arizona, and Nevada, told the Globe on Wednesday. “San Francisco is claiming it’s because it is city and county together, but that doesn’t absolve them of the massive problems. Lots of cities have that city-county connection and are doing just fine. No, San Francisco has good services at the cost of their finances being a car wreck. Their economy is not doing so great, and the study shows all of that.”
“It’s an election year, so some people are getting more defensive about this, especially in San Francisco where Breed, who challenged the study, is currently losing to another candidate. When it comes down to it, San Francisco just isn’t in good shape.
“Numbers don’t lie.”
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San Francisco topped a record high of over 800 overdose deaths since last year while open-air drug markets and homeless encampments are widespread in the downtown area. Zerohedge has a heartbreaking article about a young man named Noah who grew out of the foster care system at age 19 only to end up on the streets in San Francisco addicted to fentanyl. Democrats completely control San Francisco and they have enabled more drug use in the City more than ever before, and the non-profits who are taking millions of dollars from, have done absolutely nothing to getting kids like Noah help. Sadly, San Francisco Democrats did more to stop the distribution of Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine than they did to stop the distribution of Fentanyl.
(https://www.zerohedge.com/political/noah-short-story-fentanyl-addicted-child-utopian-hellhole-san-francisco)
While San Francisco continues to devolve into a Democrat induced hellhole, Democrat Mayor London Breed asked her challenger Mark Farrell during the mayoral debate on Monday to prove his loyalty to the LGBTQ2S+ community by naming three LGBTQ advisers to his campaign as well as three drag queens in the city or prove his loyalty to the cause. Complete insanity!
(https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/06/18/san-francisco-mayoral-debate-democrat-mayor-breed-asks-challenger-to-name-3-drag-queens/)
Oh my.
There is NO EXCUSE for what has happened to NOAH.
He’s a kid! He is VERY messed up and lost now. God help him.
San Francisco Democrats couldn’t care less.
the lack of transparency, ineffective law enforcement, dehumanization of the homeless, political self-interest, and a perceived crisis in leadership – can be seen as symptoms of a deeper problem: ideological capture.
When ideology trumps evidence and compassion, it can lead to a distorted reality where policies are designed to serve the interests of a particular group or worldview, rather than the needs of the community as a whole. This can create a self-perpetuating cycle, where those in power resist any attempts to challenge the status quo or implement alternative solutions.
Ideological capture can manifest in various ways:
Selective data collection and interpretation: Data may be collected and presented in a way that supports the prevailing ideology, while inconvenient facts are ignored or dismissed.
Policy resistance: Evidence-based solutions may be resisted or undermined if they conflict with the dominant ideological narrative.
Entrenched power structures: Those who benefit from the status quo may use their influence to maintain their positions and resist change.
Lack of accountability: The absence of effective oversight and accountability mechanisms can allow those in power to act with impunity. Sound familiar? I think so.
While San Francisco continues to devolve into a Democrat induced hellhole, Democrat Mayor London Breed asked her challenger Mark Farrell during the mayoral debate on Monday to prove his loyalty to the LGBTQ2S+ community by naming three LGBTQ advisers to his campaign as well as three drag queens in the city or prove his loyalty to the cause. Complete insanity!
(https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/06/18/san-francisco-mayoral-debate-democrat-mayor-breed-asks-challenger-to-name-3-drag-queens/)
Breed pitched the question during Monday’s debate, putting the five candidates on the same stage. They were each given the opportunity to ask a fellow candidate a question, and Breed used the opportunity to ask challenger
Somebody needs to hit the toilet flush lever for this city. Because that what this city is a stopped up toilet. I had to go there today for business and it was disgusting. At least Willie Mays did not have to play ball here when it was this bad.
San Francisco spends over $17,500 per resident.
My town in SoCal spends just over $900 per resident. For that, the city has re-paved every street in town in just the past five years. Even the goat trails through the orange groves are all sporting brand new pavement.
That’s odd. I just read an article that said SF is the happiest city in California!