Newly elected San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced Tuesday morning that his administration will “implement a new governance structure” when he takes office on January 8 next year.
Lurie won a controversial election for mayor in a crowded field last month. announcing victory a few days after the elections and the next morning the concession of the incumbent mayor London Breed.
According to Lurie’s press release, the reorganization will allow him to “deliver on his promise to create a government rooted in accountability, service and change.”
The press release noted that City Hall’s current organizational chart has 56 agencies reporting to the mayor through the chief of staff, with a centralized policy director. The planned new governance structure for Lurie’s administration will transform the organization into a chief of staff and four policy chiefs who will report directly to Lurie. According to the press release, the four policy heads will deal with the areas of ‘housing and economic development; infrastructure, climate and mobility; public health and welfare; and public safety’.
Each of these four police chiefs will oversee “a portfolio of agencies representing between $2 billion and $6 billion in government spending.” The individual police chiefs will also “provide strategic coordination among a number of city departments, working as a partner to the department heads,” while reporting directly to the mayor.
The city manager will also work closely with the four heads to align the departments under the city government.
“City Hall’s current way of doing business is outdated, ineffective and lacks a focus on results,” Lurie said in the announcement. “I am restructuring the mayor’s office so that your administration is coordinated and responsible in delivering clean and safe streets, addressing the fentanyl crisis, building housing quickly and ensuring a full economic recovery. The changes we are making at the top will help remove barriers to effective governance that impact every San Franciscan.”
The release further noted that the plan would help Lurie fulfill his campaign promise of greater accountability to his administration, saying that “this reorganization is a critical first step in ensuring that promise is kept.”
The release also noted that San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR) made similar good governance recommendations in an August 2024 report. That report states that “the lack of clear, coordinated action to address major challenges has led to a growing perception that city government is not responding quickly enough to meet the growing needs of the people it serves.”
Last month, Lurie his transition team announcedincluding OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and retired fire chief Joanne Hayes-White.
Lurie will become the city’s 46th mayor next year.
