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By Gavin Newsom
San Francisco Examiner
I hope Examiner readers will understand my pride at how much we have been able to accomplish during the last four years in city government.
San Francisco is the first city in the United States with a universal health care program. Our 311 customer service system has already answered more than 800,000 calls — it is bringing better customer service to our residents and greater accountability to city government. Care Not Cash and other homeless programs have shown solid results, and new initiatives such as the Community Justice Center will help us continue making progress addressing homelessness and panhandling.
We have accomplished a great deal. But there is more to be done. “Good enough” never is. Where something is working, I say, let’s make it better. Where something isn’t working, I say, let’s change it.
One of the things I am most proud of as mayor are the reforms we have made in our city’s archaic civil service system, including performance-based promotion and greater investment in professional development and training. Common-sense reforms with a simple goal: to encourage innovation, while demanding accountability.
It’s a lesson learned from the private sector, where businesses are always innovating in order to compete. There is no reason that government cannot perform in the same way. And there is no reason for any city official — be it the mayor, a department head or commissioner — not be held accountable for his or her performance.
It is in this spirit of accountability and innovation that I asked every member of my senior staff, department heads and city commissioners to offer their resignations.
A recent Examiner column called this request “blowing up boxes.” And I agree. The truth is, sometimes you need to blow up some boxes in order to keep government moving forward. What’s more, these jobs don’t belong to us, nor should they. They belong to the voters. And frankly, if we don’t perform, we should not keep them.
I am excited about the possibility of a second term as mayor. But I am not guaranteed it. Whether I win or lose in November, the residents of San Francisco can count on one thing: There will be a new administration in place come January.
That administration will start with a clean slate — ready to learn from the mistakes of the last four years and build on our many successes. I hope to have the privilege to lead that administration, to make permanent the hallmark of innovation and change on our city government.
But I am not waiting until the election to make reforms that are needed now. Complacency is the enemy of progress. This city deserves a government that will move it forward. A government led by men and women who are unafraid to challenge the status quo and who are always willing to innovate.
We have done a great deal in the last four years — but we can do so much more if we are bold enough to try it.
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