{"id":37709,"date":"2024-11-19T12:46:02","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T20:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=37709"},"modified":"2024-11-19T12:46:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T20:46:03","slug":"ben-rosenfield-san-franciscos-adult-in-the-room-bids-adieu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/11\/19\/ben-rosenfield-san-franciscos-adult-in-the-room-bids-adieu\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Rosenfield, San Francisco\u2019s \u2018adult in the room,\u2019 bids adieu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A by\u00a0JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong> NOVEMBER 2, 2023 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Controller Ben Rosenfield, left, in 2008 at the goodbye party for his predecessor Ed Harrington, right. The fella in the middle, Mayor Gavin Newsom, appointed Rosenfield, who was re-appointed to a 10-year term in 2018 by Mayor Mark Farrell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mission<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sign up below to get Mission Local\u2019s free newsletter<\/strong>, a daily digest of news you won\u2019t find elsewhere.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With San Francisco\u2019s budgetary prognosis heading deeper and deeper up the creek, the city today lost its paddle: Longtime controller Ben Rosenfield announced that he\u2019s turning over his calculator and departing City Hall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like so many San Francisco government hands<\/a>, it felt as if Rosenfield was the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel; he\u2019s always <\/em>been here<\/a>. And if by \u201calways\u201d you meant nearly 27 years working for the city and 16 as controller, you\u2019d be right. In the past month or so, he\u2019s been telling a select handful of colleagues that he was readying to depart. This week, he braced everyone for today\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have loved the job, and I have loved the work,\u201d Rosenfield told Mission Local. \u201cBut, it\u2019s also true that I\u2019ve been doing it for a very long time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosenfield was \u2014 and is \u2014 fastidiously nonpartisan. His departure prior to next year\u2019s pending Book of Revelation-caliber budget nightmare<\/a> could well be leveraged to gin up any number of partisan arguments or fuel a further news cycle of dopey doom loop stories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, according to a handful of Rosenfield confidants, City Hall higher-ups across San Francisco\u2019s political spectrum, and Rosenfield himself, the number spurring the controller\u2019s departure isn\u2019t the city\u2019s stratospheric budget or troublesome burgeoning deficit but, rather, 50. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As in the big five-o:<\/em> Believe it or not, Rosenfield won\u2019t turn 50 until January 27; other than a schoolteacher gig a year out of college, working for San Francisco is the only job he\u2019s ever had. There is never a good time for a city controller to leave his post, Rosenfield admits \u2014 but 50 makes things nice and neat. On to whatever\u2019s next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jennifer<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He has, after all, always <\/em>been the caretaker.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ben Rosenfield in a recent photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As you\u2019d expect of the chief money person in a city with a larded-up $14.6 billion budget, Rosenfield is pretty good with numbers. But to cite his fiscal expertise as the source of Rosenfield\u2019s unique position of near-universal trust and respect from all public and private corners of the city would be a bit like saying Daniel Day-Lewis is a good actor because he remembers all his lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosenfield, who was tapped for this job in 2008 as a 33-year-old wunderkind, is lauded for his affability, non-partisanship, selflessness, ingenuity, and uncanny knowledge of the Lilliputian ropes holding together our budget. Rosenfield honed a particular skill to, by some alchemy, rummage through the municipal sofa to find a few coins to run imperiled programs \u2014 and, finally, he possessed the gentle but firm ability to inform an elected official or department head that they were overspending their budget and must rein things in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kahnfectionsnew<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe just knows more about the city budget than anyone else,\u201d said Sean Elsbernd, the mayor\u2019s chief of staff and a former supervisor. Elsbernd started in government a year after Rosenfield, and noted that the latter was perhaps the final holdout in City Hall to obtain a cell phone. Rosenfield, after all, was able to do a lot of stuff in his head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no one who knows every drawer, every nook and cranny like Ben does,\u201d Elsbernd continued. \u201cHe knows every single account, he knows the revenue, he knows what revenue goes into what account. He is a computer. You ask him what happened in 2017 to this fund, and he can tell you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board President Aaron Peskin also likened Rosenfield to a computer: \u201cA really nice <\/em>computer.\u201d Rosenfield \u201cknew what his duties and responsibilities were. He would, calmly and respectfully, not challenge your ideas, but make them better.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Velvet<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe knew what people wanted, but was creative enough to put other ideas on the table. Everybody who gets involved in government starts out by wanting to do the best for their city, state, country. Ben was able to refocus people in the heat of battle, as people were mistreating each other and pursuing political agendas. He could always bring us back to what\u2019s best for San Francisco. And he could do that because he was selfless. Let the egotistical politicians feel like they\u2019re still getting credit; he never cared about credit. He wasn\u2019t in it for self-aggrandizement, and that was his magic.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe business of human life and politics is getting people on board with your ideas,\u201d continued Peskin. Rosenfield\u2019s ability to consistently galvanize City Hall politicos and move the city\u2019s best interests forward indicated that he was \u201cthe best and most subtle politician in City Hall, bottom-line.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
San Francisco City Hall. Photo by Eleni Balakrishnan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rosenfield stressed that dread or frustration over next year\u2019s looming budget debacle \u2014 which will, cherry on top, come during a mayoral re-election campaign and the contract negotiations for more than a score of public-sector unions \u2014 did not fuel his decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MCCLA<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean he was thrilled with this year\u2019s budget process, during which difficult decisions were punted to 2024 and the city remained solvent, in large part, because of fiscal legerdemain and dipping into the prodigious reserves Rosenfield, in years past, pushed to establish. He expressed as much to his City Hall colleagues and also put it in black and white<\/a> for all to read in his revenue letter regarding this year\u2019s budget.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn that letter, we noted that the budget very heavily relied on one-time sources, drew on reserves, and on remaining federal relief,\u201d Rosenfield said. \u201cWe offered that critique to the mayor\u2019s proposed budget, and the mayor and board did not change anything in the proposed budget. There are larger gaps left than we hoped.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are, he said frankly, \u201chard times ahead for the city, and hard choices for the mayor and board in coming years.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And those times will be harder without a consummate professional, budget maestro and human cooling rod like Rosenfield in the mix. Both Elsbernd and Peskin, independently, referred to him as \u201cthe adult in the room.\u201d Rosenfield\u2019s calmness and maturity will be sorely missed in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot many people in this building have the kind of universal credibility, charm and nerdy know-how,\u201d said Rudy Gonzalez, the secretary-treasurer of the city\u2019s Building & Construction Trades Council. \u201cHaving been part of a few rounds of ballot and budget negotiations, I can say I will miss his technical expertise and, above all else, his commitment to the city of San Francisco \u2014 no matter the audience, be they a business, a mayor or a union worker.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have many reasons to lose sleep these nights,\u201d Gonzalez continued. \u201cThis just added another.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cI have many reasons to lose sleep these nights. This just added another.\u201d RUDY GONZALEZ, SECRETARY-TREASURER OF THE CITY\u2019S BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The fiscal reserves San Francisco is steadily burning through are there, in part, because Rosenfield pushed to sock this money away. By the end of the present budget\u2019s term, the city will have liquidated some 43 percent of its pre-pandemic reserves. And, in spite of Rosenfield\u2019s warnings, we have not used the time that money has bought to make structural changes to match San Francisco\u2019s new fiscal reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen times are bad, there is a rush for money. When times are good, there is a rush for money,\u201d said former controller Ed Harrington, a close Rosenfield ally. \u201cThere\u2019s always a rush. There is always a desire to spend more than there is to spend.\u201d A controller\u2019s most basic function, Harrington says, \u201cis just making sure that people are doing things as responsibly as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a hard job, and one that doesn\u2019t end when the sun goes down. And, come February, it\u2019ll be someone else\u2019s job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosenfield, the father of 13- and 16-year-old girls, emphasizes that he \u201cisn\u2019t going anywhere.\u201d He wants to \u201cdownshift\u201d for a little while, and then move into something \u201cin public service, and for the public good. That\u2019s as far as I\u2019ve gotten.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 27 years in City Hall, he\u2019s excited to leave the building. San Francisco will always have its problems. But Ben Rosenfield can\u2019t always <\/em>be the caretaker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEE ALSO:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The revelations of San Francisco\u2019s mad budget<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>by JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong>JULY 24, 2023, 5:30 AM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco spends HOW MUCH on toilet paper?<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>by JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong>SEPTEMBER 18, 2023, 12:15 AM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore: San Francisco\u2019s 2023-25 budget<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>by\u00a0WILL JARRETT<\/a><\/strong>AUGUST 3, 2023, 6:00 AM<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

getbackjoejoe@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n