San Francisco's current mayoral candidate on Thursday unveiled a policy plan that would make the entire city government “digital by default” if elected, pledging to digitize all constituent services within two years and ensure all city services are accessible online 24/7.
The campaign of Mark Farrell, who served briefly as mayor in 2018 and then on the city's Board of Supervisors for eight years, noted that San Franciscans' ratings of city services have declined over the past four years under current Mayor London Breed, according to a 2023 city survey. Farrell's “digital by default” platform would expand the city's digital options over the next two years, as well as expand the city's Civic Bridge program, which connects volunteers with government to bring outside expertise to city projects.
Farrell said in a statement that these actions will correct the poor ratings and help the city leverage local technology talent to improve the accessibility and delivery of critical government services.
“I am running to challenge the status quo at every level of city government,” Farrell's statement said. “Mayor Breed has failed to leverage the technology and talent in our own backyard to make city government and services more accessible and convenient for residents and businesses. We need a leader with significant and successful experience in the private sector. On day one, I will drive policies that leverage technology and talent to make city government digital by default.”
Services Farrell proposed digitizing include permit applications, bill payments and service requests. Farrell said the new digital service will focus on a user-friendly mobile interface, accessibility and security of personal information.
Farrell's proposal also includes hiring a new director for the Mayor's Office of Civic Innovation who has technology experience and can drive innovation across city departments and employees.
The proposal follows on from Farrell's work on the city's Board of Supervisors from 2010 to 2018. As a board member, Farrell helped strengthen San Francisco's open data policy and developed a plan to make city data publicly available in machine-readable formats.
Under former Mayor Ed Lee, Mr. Farrell helped bring free Wi-Fi access to public parks through a deal with Google. He also led a plan to build broadband service citywide, but the effort stalled when he didn't seek funding for the project before leaving office.
“San Francisco has always been a hub for innovation, but over the past six years we have seen how bloated bureaucracy and poor leadership have held back our potential,” Jay Nass, who served as chief innovation officer under Lee, said in a news release. “Breaking down the bureaucracy requires us to forge stronger partnerships between City Hall and local tech leaders. To do that, we need a Mayor who understands how business, academia and civil society can work together to tackle our biggest challenges. I am confident we can reclaim our title as the innovation capital of the world and deliver city services to all our constituents efficiently, effectively and equitably.”
