For many years, the city of San Francisco neglected its infrastructure. The delivery of city services calcified. Gavin Newsom was elected Mayor to challenge the status quo and reinvigorate government in SF.

The first few years were rough - with the dot com boom going bust, the city was in serious financial trouble. The Mayor pulled together community groups, labor unions and our city’s elected family to deal with those big challenges.

This year, Mayor Newsom has taken another step towards making government work better for you. 311 is now in effect and working well (remember some politicians fought this remarkable tool), so it is fitting that the Mayor unveiled his budget at the 311 call center.

The proposed budget makes real investments in our streets. This investment, more than $36 million, allows the city ­ for the first time ­to meet our repaving needs and includes $5.4 million more for street repaving over last year.

The budget also adds 250 new police officers, taking us a long way toward our goal of getting the Police Department the officers it needs to do its job.

Newsom’s budget brings real innovation back to dealing with San Francisco’s housing crisis. With millions of dollars devoted to dealing with our public and affordable housing stock, the Mayor is taking real steps to solving this problem.

The budget also focuses on MUNI: New technology to make the system work better. More drivers to ease pressure on the system and help achieve better service records.