Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
San Francisco, California
| San Francisco, California | |
 | |
| General information | |
 | |
| Mayor: | Edwin M. Lee |
| Last mayoral election: | 2011 |
| Next mayoral election: | November 3, 2015 |
| Last city council election: | 2014 |
| Next city council election: | November 3, 2015 |
| City council seats: | 11 |
| City website | |
| Composition data | |
| Population: | 837,442 |
| Gender: | 49.3% Female |
| Race: | White 48.5% African American 6.1% Asian 33.3% Native American 0.5% Pacific Islander 0.4% Two or More 4.7% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic or Latino 15.1% |
| Median household income: | $73,802 |
| High school graduation rate: | 85.9% |
| College graduation rate: | 52.0% |
| Related San Francisco offices | |
| California's 9th congressional district California's 13th congressional district California Legislature California state executive offices | |
San Francisco is a city in California. It is consolidated with the County of San Francisco, which means that the city and county share a government and their boundaries are coterminous. As of 2013, San Francisco's population was 837,442.[1]
City government
- See also: Mayor-council government
The city of San Francisco utilizes a "strong mayor" and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.[2]
Mayor
The mayor serves as the city's chief executive, and is responsible for proposing a budget, signing legislation into law, appointing departmental directors and committee members and overseeing the city's day-to-day operations. The mayor also possesses veto powers, and presides over city council meetings.[2] Edwin M. Lee is the current Mayor of San Francisco.[3]
City council
The San Francisco City Council - more commonly known as the Board of Supervisors - is the city's primary legislative body. It is responsible for adopting the city budget, approving mayoral appointees, levying taxes and making or amending city laws, policies and ordinances.[4]
Membership
The city council consists of eleven members, each of which are elected by one of the city's eleven districts.[4]
A full list of city council members can be found here.
Advisory boards
A series of advisory boards and commissions that are made up of non-elected citizens, whom city council members have appointed and approved, advises the San Francisco City Council. The roles of these boards and commissions are to review, debate and comment upon city policies and legislation and to make recommendations to the city council.[5]
For a full list of San Francisco's commissions, boards and committees, see here.
Elections
2015
The city of San Francisco, California, held nonpartisan elections for mayor and board of supervisors on November 3, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was June 9, 2015.[6] One of the city's 11 supervisor seats—District 3—was up for election. The winner of the District 3 race served the unexpired term of former supervisor David Chiu ending after the regularly scheduled election on November 8, 2016.[6]
2014
The city of San Francisco, California, held nonpartisan elections for the Board of Supervisors on November 4, 2014. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 10, 2014.[6]
San Francisco utilized ranked-choice voting for municipal offices, eliminating the need for runoff elections.[6]
Five seats were up for election. These included Districts 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10.
Budget
The city's budget process operates in bienniums from August 1 to July 31. The City Charter gives responsibility for drafting an expense and capital budget to the Mayor, which must then be submitted to the Board of Supervisors for review and approval. The city is required by state law to maintain a balanced budget.[7]
2013-2015
San Francisco's adopted operating budget for the 2013-2015 biennium was $15.8 billion, or $7.9 billion annually. It included funding for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, 300 new police and 120 new firefighters, and a new Recreation and Parks clubhouse in each of the city's districts.[8]
Contact
Office of the Mayor
Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: (415) 554-6141
Fax: (415) 554-6160
Email: mayoredwinlee@sfgov.org
See here to contact individual council members.
Ballot measures
- See also: San Francisco ballot measures
San Francisco is a city-county equivalent. A list of ballot measures in San Francisco is available here.
Initiative process
Population as of the July 2011 census update: 812,826.[1] San Francisco is a charter city.
San Francisco has its own initiative process for ordinances determined by the city charter. The state process (see above for details) is applicable wherever the city is silent. The signature requirements are 5% of the votes cast for all candidates for mayor in the last preceding general municipal election for mayor. Circulators must comply with the relevant code regarding identification. The pre-approval process includes registration and publication of the intention to circulate in a newspaper. Otherwise the process is governed by the California Election Code.
The San Francisco City Charter
Lobbying
In 2013, San Francisco's federal lobbying related expenses amounted to approximately $500,000. The issues for which the city filed in 2013, as well as the number of reports, can be seen in the box below.[9] The issues column lists the generic issues that lobbyists working for local governments are required by law to disclose on quarterly federal disclosure forms.[10][11] The reports column gives the number of reports lobbyists filed in regards to each generic issue. To learn more about the details of the specific issues for which San Francisco filed reports, read the federal disclosure forms by clicking the "Issues" links in the box below.
| Federal Lobbying Issues, 2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Reports | Issues | ||
| 8 | Utilities | ||
| 7 | Transportation | ||
| 4 | Marine, Boats & Fisheries | ||
| 4 | Energy & Nuclear Power | ||
| 3 | Fed Budget & Appropriations | ||
| 3 | Economics & Econ Development | ||
| 3 | Housing | ||
| 3 | Homeland Security | ||
| 2 | Radio & TV Broadcasting | ||
| 2 | Natural Resources | ||
| 2 | Urban Development | ||
| 1 | Science & Technology | ||
| 1 | Defense | ||
| 1 | Health Issues | ||
| 1 | Immigration | ||
Website evaluation
- See also: Evaluation of California city websites
 A- |
|
|---|---|
| Budget |  |
| Meetings | |
| Elected Officials | |
| Administrative Officials | |
| Permits, zoning | |
| Audits | |
| Contracts | |
| Lobbying |  |
| Public Records | |
| Local Taxes | |
 | |
| Transparency grading process | |
In 2011 San Francisco earned a Sunny Awards for having a perfect website transparency score. San Francisco also launched a data transparency portal to help citizens interpret the raw data.[12]
The good
- Budget
- Proposed and adopted budgets, as well as budget development information, is available.[13]
- Budgets are archived to 1996.
- Audit
- Meetings
- Elected officials
- Administration
- Permits and zoning
- Management and audit reports for various City departments are posted.[26] Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports with Independent Auditor's Reports are also posted.[27]
- Contracts
- Vendor contract information is available.[28]
- Lobbying
- Information on lobbyists registered with the city is available through the San Francisco Ethic Commission.[29] The information discloses activity expenses, political contributions, contacts of public officials, and payments promised by clients.[30]0
- Individual filings, including payments received, are available for lobbyists on behalf of the city.[31]
- Public records
- Tax information is available through the Controller's Office and the Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector.[13][34]
The bad
- Lobbying
- Membership in taxpayer funded lobbying associations is not disclosed.
See also
- Cities in California
- Largest 100 U.S. cities by population
- Ten cities facing the worst of the pension crisis
External links
- City and County of San Francisco Official Website
- Office of the Mayor
- Board of Supervisors
- City Charter and Code
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 U.S. Census, "State and County Quick Facts," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 City of San Francisco, "Government," accessed on September 3, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Office of the Mayor," accessed on September 2, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 City of San Francisco, "City Council," accessed on September 3, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Boards," accessed on August 26, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 City and County of San Francisco, "Past Election Results," accessed September 15, 2021
- ↑ City of San Francisco Controller's Office, "A Guide to San Francisco's Budget Process," accessed April 2, 2015
- ↑ City of San Francisco Mayor's Office, "Mayor Lee Signs San Francisco’s Balanced Budget For Fiscal Year 2013-14 & 2014-15," July 24, 2013
- ↑ Open Secrets, "City of San Francisco, CA," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ U.S. House of Representatives: Office of the Clerk, "Lobbying Disclosure Act Guidance," accessed on November 11, 2014
- ↑ Open Secrets, "Methodology," accessed on November 11, 2014
- ↑ San Francisco Examiner, "New Web tool breaks down San Francisco government data," September 18, 2011
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 City of San Francisco, "Finance and Budget," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Audits," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Annual Salary Ordinance
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "FY 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Board of Supervisors Meeting Information," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Board of Supervisors Meeting Information," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Meeting Archives," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Board of Supervisors
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Mayor's Office," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "City Agencies," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Office of the City Administrator," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Planning," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Permits," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Budget Analyst
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Purchasing," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Ethics Commission," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Lobbying," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Lobbyists on behalf of the city," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Public Records Request," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Sunshine Ordinance," accessed on September 8, 2014
- ↑ City of San Francisco, "Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector," accessed on September 8, 2014
 |
State of California Sacramento (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
