A lot of things in San Francisco are pretty messed up—it can get overwhelming. Why can’t anything get done in San Francisco? A lot of our problems are glaringly obvious, why aren’t they getting fixed?

A big reason? The structure of San Francisco’s government. We have a strong Mayor system that doesn’t give the Mayor any authority, a system that puts real decision making power in the hands of unelected commissioners, a system that lets a single individual derail projects that have widespread support. It all adds up to a system that incentivizes inertia and keeps the status quo.

A lawsuit could potentially force San Francisco’s school board to radically change the way it elects school board members just months before the next election. In this guest editorial, John Trasviña lays out why this baseless change will have terrible consequences for SFUSD and San Francisco’s public schools, and what you can do to stop it.

It can be hard to stay on top of everything that happens in San Francisco politics—City Hall Digest navigates all the latest developments to make sure you’re in-the-know. This week’s City Hall Digest digs into corruption in unlikely places (Human Resources?), how meddling from the Board of Supervisors tanked a promising program before it even started, and the New York Times investigates how San Francisco tried (and failed) to implement Portugal’s successful drug treatment program.

It can be hard to stay on top of everything that happens in San Francisco politics—City Hall Digest navigates all the latest developments to make sure you’re in-the-know. This week, Supervisors Connie Chan and Aaron Peskin took advantage of the holiday break to dump some coal in San Francisco’s stocking—the Supervisors sent a joint letter to City Attorney David Chiu, asking him to explore suing the state to prevent a new streamlined housing law from taking effect. But residents fed up with seemingly never-ending property crime got some good news—crime in San Francisco took a major dip over the holidays, thanks to increased law enforcement efforts directed by Mayor London Breed.

It can be hard to stay on top of everything that happens in San Francisco politics—City Hall Digest navigates all the latest developments to make sure you’re in-the-know. This week, budget cuts at SFUSD and across city departments dominated the news. Superintendent Matt Wayne announced SFUSD will eliminate 900 vacant positions to close the school district’s budget gap, and Mayor London Breed asked all city departments to suggest 10 percent budget cuts for the next year. And in San Francisco’s new, budget-constrained reality, the Board of Supervisors is reexamining a 2019 law that allows the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to spend freely without much accountability.

San Francisco needs to get it together. The March 5 primary election is a perfect place to start. Voters often overlook primary elections, but that’s a mistake. This March, two foundational, but often overlooked, groups are on the ballot: the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (SFDCCC), and San Francisco Superior Court judges. That’s why TogetherSF Action developed the Get It Together, SF Voter Guide as a free resource for voters for the next election. Our blog previews what you can expect from our voter guide and the upcoming primary.