Lurie promised a permitting overhaul. It was troubled from the start(sfstandard.com)
sfstandard.com
Lurie promised a permitting overhaul. It was troubled from the start
https://sfstandard.com/2026/05/13/daniel-lurie-opengov-permitting-permitsf-san-francisco/
The old permit process was a joke: fraught with delay, arbitrary decisions and red tape. You literally have to pay an expediter to get a permit in SF. In most countries in the world That’s code for “some to handle the bribe”. I’m not accusing anyone of corruption (though there was a case of corruption uncovered in sf planning recently). I’m saying the system was broken and ripe for abuse.
As far as I can gather from the article, The new system is a few months late and a few permits short. (Which frankly doesn’t sound so bad)
The question: is it better than what was there before? (I haven’t even seen the new one but I can tell you ANYTHING is better than the old)
Yes, the contract was important to the vendor. How could it not be? Yes a former employee would have wanted more staff on the project. Of course. Yes someone at the permit office is derisive about someone doing her job in a new way. That’s absolutely to be expected.
At the end of the day the only thing that matters is: can residents and businesses owners get a permit in a fair, fast and reliable way.
I don’t give a shit about any of the other noise in this article.