Mayoral candidate Farrell argues San Francisco should be 'digital by default'

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 measures will correct declining ratings and help the city leverage local tech talent to improve the accessibility and delivery of critical government services.

“I am running to upend the status quo at every level of City government,” Mayor Farrell's statement read. “Mayor Breed has failed to leverage the technology and talent in our backyard to make City government and services more accessible and convenient for residents and businesses. To bring City government into the 21st century, we need a successful leader with extensive private sector experience. From day one in office, I will advance policies that leverage technology and talent to make City government digital by default.”

Among the services Farrell proposed to digitize are permit applications, bill payments and service requests. Farrell said the new digital services will focus on user-friendly mobile interfaces, accessibility and the security of personal information.

Farrell's proposal also includes hiring a new person with technology experience to the Mayor's Office of Civic Innovation who can drive innovation across city departments and staff.

The proposal builds on Farrell's work while he served on the city's Board of Supervisors from 2010 to 2018. As a member of the board, he 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've watched bloated bureaucracy and poor leadership stifle our potential,” Jay Nass, who served as chief innovation officer under Mayor Lee, said in a news release. “To break down the bureaucracy, we need to build stronger partnerships between City Hall and local technology 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'm confident we can reclaim the title of innovation capital of the world and deliver city services to all of our constituents efficiently, effectively and equitably.”

Author: Keely Quinlan Keely Quinlan reports on privacy and digital government for StateScoop. She is an investigative reporter for Clarksville Now in Tennessee, where she currently lives, and has covered local crime, courts, public education, and public health. Her work has appeared in Teen Vogue, Stereogum, and other outlets. She earned her BA in Journalism and MA in Social and Cultural Analysis from New York University.

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