Daniel Lurie rose to power in large part because he promised to dismantle the city’s notorious bureaucracy and make government work better for frustrated residents.
Now, the mayor and a coalition of reformers are eyeing the city’s charter — a roughly 540-page governing document, almost twice the size of L.A.’s — as a major step toward that goal. Lurie argues that the behemoth charter stands in the way of a more efficient — and effective — City Hall, and he is considering asking voters to help him shrink it.
Lurie is teaming up with Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, a moderate ally, and coordinating with the urbanist think tank SPUR for what could become a November 2026 ballot measure that will chip away at the myriad rules nestled in the charter — essentially, the city’s version of a constitution. They argue that excessive and redundant laws have gummed up city operations in a way that makes it difficult to deliver services and address some of San Francisco’s most daunting challenges…