San Francisco Good Government Awards 2023

Department of Technology Municipal Fiber Team
Joseph John, Public Safety Systems Director
Brian Roberts, Senior Policy Analyst
Rene Simon, Fiber Optic Engineering Manager
Joshua “Josh” Uusitalo, Outside Telecommunications Plant Supervisor
Kevin Kohmann, Project Manager
Randy Casañas, Fiber to Housing Technician Supervisor

The Department of Technology’s Municipal Fiber Team spearheaded the Fiber to Housing project, a partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA), to provide free, high-speed internet to low-income families, seniors, and students. The team expanded the city fiber network to connect affordable housing buildings and local communities where commercial internet providers had failed to deliver reliable and usable service. As a result, thousands of households have been given wired or wireless internet access at no cost throughout 63 locations, including SFHA affordable housing and nonprofit-supported single-room occupancy hotels and residences. In 2022, residents of more than 500 new units received free high-speed internet access, allowing nearly 200 children and young adults to continue their distance learning.

Permit City Team
Samuel Chui, Senior Project Manager, San Francisco Public Works
Umesh Gupta, Senior Project Manager, Department of Technology
Andrea Labutan, Building Manager, City Administrator
Amanda Johnson, Strategic Programs Manager, City Administrator
Gustavo Bojorquez, Customer Service Manager, City Administrator
Mori Wallner, Business Analyst

Permitting in San Francisco can involve 18 departments. Before opening of the San Francisco Permit Center at 49 South Van Ness, those departments were housed in 14 buildings. In 2020, six project managers from divisions of the City Administrator's Office oversaw creation of the center, which established a one-stop shop for construction, special events, and business permits in a modern physical environment with high-quality network services and customer experiences. A key deliverable was implementing a physical and virtual network that supports the diverse technology of each permitting department while ensuring information security. Today, state-of-the-art computer workstations enable staff to examine plans digitally and review projects with customers in real time. A new team of in-person customer service representatives demystifies the permitting process. The center is increasing inter-departmental collaboration and inspiring initiatives to create end-to-end digital processes to streamline customers’ interactions with the city.

Housing Acquisition Initiative Team
Daniel Adams, Senior Advisor, Housing Initiatives, Office of Mayor London Breed
Salvador Menjivar, Director of Housing, Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH)
Dylan Schneider, Manager of Policy and Legislative Affairs, HSH
Elizabeth Hewson, Manager of Supportive Housing Programs, HSH
Lisa Agustin, Finance Director, Finance and Budget, HSH
Monique Colon, Assistant Contracts Manager, HSH

The Housing Acquisition Initiative Team, six managers from the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, took advantage of new state and local resources to quickly acquire new housing units for use as permanent supportive housing for the homeless. To date, 987 of the desired 1,000 units have been obtained, 625 of them through the efforts of the Housing Acquisition Initiative Team and others through the efforts of a predecessor team that included some of the current team’s members. The team was instrumental in securing $136 million in competitive Homekey grant awards from the State of California to leverage local investments in housing acquisition, including Our City, Our Home resources. Homekey is a statewide effort to sustain and rapidly expand housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness by procuring hotels and other types of properties and converting them to interim and permanent housing.

Public Integrity Refuse Rate Reform Team
Yvonne Meré, Chief Deputy City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office
Keslie Stewart, Chief of Public Integrity and Investigations, City Attorney’s Office
Ronald Flynn, formerly Chief Deputy City Attorney, City Attorney’s Office
Todd Ojo, Project Manager, Controller’s Office
Eryl Karr, Audit Manager, Controller’s Office
Glynis Startz, Project Manager, Controller’s Office

The Public Integrity Refuse Rate Reform Team successfully spearheaded work by the City Attorney’s Office and the Controller’s Office in response to a public integrity investigation tied to former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. That three-year effort has improved city laws and processes, reducing fraud risks. The team’s legal, financial, and analytical work underpinned a two-year negotiation with the city’s refuse rate provider, Recology, that resulted in a refund to San Francisco ratepayers of more than $100 million and in an additional $25 million settlement that addressed other public integrity issues. In addition, the team identified deficiencies in the laws and financial arrangements that previously framed the city’s regulation of refuse service and managed a working group process to develop a new model for this work. The resulting ballot measure sought to improve oversight and create new accountability safeguards in the city’s management of residential and commercial garbage and recycling services. Voters approved the measure in June 2022.

Chief Simon Pang
Assistant Deputy Chief, Community Paramedicine
San Francisco Fire Department

As Assistant Deputy Chief of Community Paramedicine, Simon Pang helped conceive and then implemented the Street Teams concept, which has garnered national interest by decreasing the police response to many behavioral crises on the street. Chief Pang oversees four teams: EMS-6, which responds to frequent 911 users, directing clients to social and psychiatric services; the Street Crisis Response Team, which responds to acute behavioral crises; the Street Wellness Response Team, which responds to wellbeing checks; and the Street Overdose Response Team, which responds to opioid overdoses. These teams have diverted 15,000-plus calls from the Police Department and have responded to 18,000-plus calls. Chief Pang was instrumental in creating the Community Paramedicine course curriculum — now legislated by the State of California — and he oversees the most comprehensive Community Paramedicine program in the state. As a nationally recognized leader in the field of community paramedicine, he regularly collaborates with jurisdictions across the country.