City Of Oakland Must Avoid SPUR Recommendations Slapping A San Francisco Gov Model Because It's SF

City Of Oakland Must Avoid SPUR Recommendations Slapping A San Francisco Gov Model Because It's SF
City Of Oakland Must Avoid SPUR Recommendations Slapping A San Francisco Gov Model Because It's SF What follows is a discussion I am launching based on a little-known November 2021 document called "Making Government Work: 10 ways city governance can adapt to meet the needs of Oaklanders". The document by San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR) was done after a series of interviews with some Oaklanders (not me) and then the series of 10 recs was issued. You can see the document here: https://ift.tt/UHbTQaF My reaction be below and expressed in this livestream video room. Too much concern about Mayor and City Council without consideration for Oakland Employees who are tasked with getting the job done. We've had a generation of focus on Mayor and City Council, and nothing's improved, so we need to get out of that mental model and toward a more comprehensive one. I'm concerned that we're about to make the same cognitive mistakes. Better to actually model-out how the city works conceptually, then test various approaches within that model. The SPUR Recommendations do nothing but shift deck chairs on the Titanic and does not consider how it would work in actual practice. For example, it invites conflict between the City Auditor and City Controller. And Oakland residents care less about Mayoral Power than actual service delivery. When Kofi Bonner was Economic Development Chief and Interim City Manager in 1996-97, he came up with the "Area Teams" approach, matching service delivery to City Council District. It really improved performance evaluation and adjustment, then It was thoughtlessly scrapped. Slapping a SF model just because it's SF is completely unnecessary and Oakland is not East San Francisco. We need a system that actually improves the involvement of professionals who do service design and delivery via data collection / action. I also noticed there was no system installed to improve interaction between City Council and City Staff; the tampering rule must be eliminated ASAP. Replace it with a set of rules of engagement. Councilmembers are the city's sensors, so a connection with staff is logical. Stay tuned.
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_3Wa2pszII