The recent and current drenching storms have reminded me of the saga of San Francisco bus stop shelters from about ten years ago. Sadly, it's a good parable of how SF government works. Or more correctly, doesn't.
Initially the plan was for basic enclosures: three walls and a roof, to keep sun and rain off people while they waited for the bus. But then various supervisors, agencies, etc swooped in and demanded that they design custom shelters "to uniquely suit San Francisco's unique needs." Many of these decisions are, on their own, for laudable reasons. Some are flat-out stupid.
First, the back wall had to be largely eliminated so that wheelchairs "wouldn't lose dignity by having to back in."
Then they decided to make all the walls glass, so that people's views weren't obstructed.
Then somebody decided that they had to make the shelters public art, so that the sidewalks weren't crowded with utilitarian boxes. The winning pitch made the roof wavy red plastic curves, supposedly to look like a seismograph reading.
How did all these work out? The glass walls all get smashed, to the point that the agency isn't bothering to repair them anymore. The art roof design meant that there were multiple gaps between the curves and the top of the walls. What we have are two side walls (often just frames because the glass is smashed), no back wall, and a roof with sizeable gaps. We have bus shelters that expensively fail to perform their most basic function: sheltering people from sun and rain while waiting for the bus.
This has sadly repeated itself multiple times, most recently with our $20k trash can fiasco. All too often, they get wrapped up in process and lose sight of the desired outcome - which is to solve a problem.
And we all pay the price.
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