A San Francisco Voter Guide for People Who Aren’t Insane

Pirate Wires published a November voter guide and marked San Francisco Proposition B No. The measure would create a municipal banking corporation and, later, a public bank.

The guide’s objection is political lending. Solana writes that the City does not need a public bank, and that the reason to build one is a new pool of financing for people who are already connected at City Hall. That is the loan-picking problem: appointed boards, public money, and no resident checking accounts.

The rest of the guide’s standard is simpler than this charter amendment. Fund the public goods that already exist. Do not stand up a new institution that still has no capital. Prop B appropriates $0, and the Controller’s range is still $310 million to $460 million.