Why can't SF spend grant money?

Good morning! Here’s the latest:

How can it be so hard to spend millions of dollars? A new report shows the city left $47 million in grants on the table in the last budget cycle, and Kelly Waldron looks at what’s keeping departments from using the money on time.

But there’s an “aura of good feeling” in City Hall, according to D8’s Rafael Mandelman, now President of the Board of Supervisors. Read our intro interview with Mandelman, who talks with Mission Local about his past as a progressive, expanding conservatorship, and how to help Mayor Lurie’s staff not pick fights.

Picking fights seems to be what the Valencia Street bikeway excels at. Now that the center bike lane is being torn up, the street’s become a chaotic “choose your own adventure” for cyclists, and everyone’s mad. Again.

More soon,

Sara

P.S. Did you see our first-ever impact report? It’s wildly impressive what Mission Local pulled off last year, given the fact that “our entire staff could fit in a minivan.” Check it out.