In a significant meeting on Wednesday afternoon, the five-member Commission Streamlining Task Force of San Francisco gathered to deliberate culling nine commissions as part of their effort to streamline the city’s 149 governing bodies.
The initial phase of this endeavor was relatively straightforward, with minimal opposition. The task force successfully eliminated the first 31 commissions deemed ‘inactive,’ noting that two-thirds of these bodies had not met at all over the past year.
As discussions shifted to the remaining 118 advisory groups, the task force encountered considerable pushback, particularly regarding the fate of the Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board.
This board has sparked considerable debate, especially in light of recent endorsements by the sheriff for political candidates aligned with controversial ideologies. Kim Tavaglione, the executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, articulated the necessity for maintaining the oversight board, stating, “You have to look at the moment we are in… If you don’t think that deserves oversight, no more said.”
Attendance for the Sheriff’s Oversight Board has been notably low, with previous reports highlighting instances where only one or two individuals attended meetings.
District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, who initially supported the creation of the Sheriff’s Oversight Board in 2020 through Proposition D, voiced his concerns as well. He warned that abolishing the board would undermine a vital mechanism for ensuring accountability within the sheriff’s department.
Moreover, Walton pointed out that because the board was established via a ballot measure, the Streamlining Task Force lacks the authority to dissolve it outright. “You can’t change charter commissions without some voter initiative or some approval by the voters,” he emphasized.
The City Attorney’s Office echoed Walton’s stance, confirming that while the task force could recommend a charter amendment to the Board of Supervisors for consideration, any actual elimination of the board would ultimately require voter approval.
Ed Harrington, the head of the Streamlining Task Force, reiterated this point in a meeting, asserting that changes to the commission would go back to voters if they were to occur. Despite the challenges, the general sentiment among voters appears to favor a reduction in commissions, as evidenced by their previous support for establishing this culling task force.
During the meeting, the task force also assessed other commissions, including the Sweatfree Procurement Advisory Group, which was created in conjunction with the Sweatfree Contracting Ordinance of 2005.
This group mandates the city to source its uniforms and garments from manufacturers that do not engage in sweatshop practices. Last month, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman attempted to pass legislation aimed at dissolving this advisory group but was unable to secure enough support from the Board of Supervisors.
Consequently, the fate of the Sweatfree Procurement Advisory Group rested with Harrington’s task force, which ultimately decided to defer any discussions regarding its elimination until a subsequent meeting scheduled for Nov. 5.
The Juvenile Probation Commission, in contrast, received a recommendation to remain operational. Margaret Brodkin, the commission’s president, expressed her relief at the decision but criticized the method in which the evaluations were being conducted.
Brodkin stated, “I feel like this is going in the wrong direction. It seems like your default position is like, ‘prove it.’ Prove that you can do something valuable.”
Harrington welcomed such feedback, arguing that the meetings presented an opportunity for public participation. He acknowledged the task force’s limitations in terms of staffing and resources, which made it impractical to attend every commission meeting for thorough evaluations.
“If somebody’s meeting, and they’re trying to do good work, I have no reason to second-guess,” Harrington said, expressing a preference for community input over prescriptive assumptions.
A notable instance illustrating this approach occurred with the evaluation of two commissions located in the South of Market area.
Initially, the task force had considered recommending the elimination of both the SoMa Community Stabilization Fund Community Advisory Committee and the South of Market Community Planning Advisory Committee. However, after receiving public comments about the positive impacts of these groups on the local community, the decision was postponed, and a further evaluation will take place on Oct. 1.
Following Wednesday’s meeting, the task force still has 113 commissions to evaluate before their deadline of Feb. 1, 2026, to present recommendations for cuts or mergers.
Harrington likened the task to tending a garden: “It’s a garden that was overgrown. You pull the weeds, but you don’t go and start trying to just prune all the plants because you feel like it today. And so, we are trying to pull the weeds, the things that have died.”
As the process unfolds, the future of many commissions remains uncertain, and the task force’s decisions will likely continue to provoke discussion and inquiry.
image source from：missionlocal
