Results From the ‘Dumb Laws’ Contest

A few weeks ago, I launched what I called a “Dumb Laws” contest. I asked San Franciscans to tell me about the city rules and regulations that frustrated them most. The permits that took too long. The fees that made no sense. The codes that seemed designed to make life harder instead of easier.

The response was overwhelming. We received submissions from residents across the City: homeowners and renters, small business owners and retirees, parents trying to build a deck and merchants trying to install a security gate. Some wrote a few sentences. Some wrote pages.

I read every one.

Some were funny. Old laws still on the books that no one enforces, and everyone has forgotten. Under Health Code Section 407, for instance, it is technically unlawful to carry bread through public streets in an open basket. That baguette poking out of your grocery bag? A violation.

Some were frustrating but fixable. Multiple residents wrote about being ticketed for parking in their own driveways. I co-sponsored legislation this year to fix that.

And some were just frustrating. Families trapped in bureaucratic loops for months, paying thousands of dollars to make simple improvements to their own homes.

But what they had in common was this: People are paying attention to how their government works. And when something doesn’t make sense, they notice.

I didn’t run this contest to mock city government. I ran it because I believe the people navigating these rules every day are often the first to know when something has stopped working. A regulation that made sense 50 years ago may not make sense today. A process designed for one purpose can become an obstacle to another. Good intentions can calcify into bad outcomes.

Government should make your life easier, not harder. When you call City Hall, you should get an answer. When you apply for a permit, the timeline should be clear. When a rule no longer serves the people it was meant to protect, we should have the humility to change it.

That’s the kind of government I believe in. Not smaller for its own sake, but smarter. More responsive. More human.

My office is reviewing the submissions now. We’re researching the codes, talking to city departments and identifying which rules are within our power to fix. Some will require legislation. Some will require pressure. Some may require voters.

I want to thank everyone who participated. You didn’t just complain. You showed up. You told us where the system is broken, and now we have work to do. This isn’t the end of the conversation. It’s the beginning.

Let’s get to it.

Supervisor Alan Wong represents District 4 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Reach his office at wongstaff@sfgov.org or 415-554-7460.