San Francisco’s government is doing better at delivering services to its residents, according to the Office of the Controller. In the Controller’s Aug. 20 report for the fourth quarter of the city’s 2015 fiscal year, improvements were cited in transportation, water conservation, recreation sites usage, and more.
From July 2014 to May 2015, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) addressed a shortage of operators by training an additional 467 new individuals; over that same time, SFMTA claimed to have improved its delivery of scheduled services from 94.9 percent to 99.5 percent, above its goal of 98.5 percent. Meanwhile, the average daily number of customer complaints about Muni safety, negligence, discourtesy, and service delivery decreased slightly, by 1.1 percent.
Gov. Jerry Brown mandated cities cut back their water usage by at least 25 percent, and city departments have reduced their average monthly water use by 28.6 percent. (Water sold to city residential customers is down only 7.1 percent.) Also during the same fiscal year, public booking of park facilities increased by 17 percent, there was a slight increase of 3.6 percent of people registered in recreation courses, and the fine art museum attendance increased by 17.4 percent.
Lest people get lost in the numbers, Mayor Ed Lee said city residents are reporting being more satisfied by the level of services provided to them. “City government has an obligation to make the lives of all of its residents better, and we are using this unique time of prosperity to ensure all San Franciscans benefit with increased city services,” said Lee. “Just last week, I signed a fiscally responsible, two-year balanced budget that makes historic investments in housing, transportation, education, and public safety that at the same time supports our continuing economic recovery and protects social safety net services for residents most in need.”
