{"id":79699,"date":"2026-03-11T22:33:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T05:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=79699"},"modified":"2026-03-11T22:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T05:33:24","slug":"supervisor-alan-wong-launches-dumb-laws-contest-inviting-san-franciscans-to-identify-outdated-city-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=79699","title":{"rendered":"Supervisor Alan Wong Launches \u201cDumb Laws\u201d Contest Inviting San Franciscans to Identify Outdated City Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO<\/strong> March 11, 2026<\/strong>– Supervisor Alan Wong today announced the launch of a new \u201cDumb Laws\u201d Contest, inviting residents and small businesses to submit examples of outdated, burdensome, or unnecessary city laws, regulations, permit requirements, and administrative processes.<\/p>\n

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The initiative aims to highlight everyday rules that may no longer make sense for San Franciscans and to spark conversation about modernizing city policies that create unnecessary barriers for residents and businesses.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs a Supervisor, part of my responsibility is making sure our city\u2019s laws reflect the needs of our residents and merchants. When rules become outdated or unnecessarily burdensome, it is important that we take a closer look,\u201d said\u00a0Supervisor Alan Wong<\/strong>. \u201cOver time, every city accumulates regulations that may have been created with good intentions. But as the city evolves, some of those rules become outdated, overly complicated, or simply unnecessary. When that happens, they can create real frustrations for residents, small businesses, and community members who are just trying to navigate everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis contest is meant to start a conversation about those rules,\u201d\u00a0Supervisor Alan Wong\u00a0<\/strong>added. \u201cWe are inviting San Franciscans to submit examples of laws, regulations, permit requirements, fees, or administrative processes that they believe are outdated or unnecessarily burdensome.\u201d<\/p>\n

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San Francisco has no shortage of unusual or outdated regulations. Some older laws are simply odd, such as the rule against carrying bread or pastries through public streets in exposed containers under San Francisco Health Code Section 407, or the highly specific exception allowing families to keep two female goats without a stable permit under Health Code Section 27. Other rules raise more practical concerns, including city animal regulations that allow residents to keep up to four fowl but do not distinguish between hens and roosters, meaning crowing roosters are still technically permitted in residential neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

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At the same time, the City has made progress in recent years by modernizing certain regulations. Small businesses once faced complicated permit processes simply to place tables and chairs outside their storefronts, until reforms following the Shared Spaces program helped simplify those requirements while maintaining safety and accessibility. The city has also worked to streamline rules around storefront security gates and other improvements that help businesses protect their property.<\/p>\n

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To highlight how regulations can affect everyday life, two community members joined Supervisor Wong at Wednesday\u2019s announcement to share their experiences navigating city rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear constantly from neighbors who feel like city government just doesn\u2019t work for them. Many times it\u2019s not the big issues that frustrate people the most, it is the small, everyday rules that make life harder for residents and small businesses. This effort is about identifying those outdated or unnecessary rules so we can fix them and make government work better for everyone,\u201d said\u00a0Frank Noto, Inner Sunset resident and community leader<\/strong>. \u201cPeople have been talking about these kinds of issues around kitchen tables for years. I am glad someone is finally willing to say it out loud and invite the public to help identify the rules that no longer make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfter our family business was vandalized, what should have been a simple fix, replacing the glass and installing a protective gate, turned into a bureaucratic nightmare. We spent weeks navigating permits, design requirements, and approvals. In the end it took many days of work and nearly $30,000 just to get permission to protect our storefront,\u201d said\u00a0Cyn Wang, Vice President of the Entertainment Commission and owner of Wang Insurance Agency<\/strong>. \u201cSmall business owners who are already victims of crime should not have to fight through layers of bureaucracy just to secure their property.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The contest invites San Franciscans to submit examples of city rules, regulations, or administrative processes that appear outdated, unnecessarily complicated, or burdensome. Submissions will be reviewed based on several criteria, including whether the entry references a real San Francisco law, regulation, or permit requirement, whether the rule appears outdated or unnecessarily complicated, and whether it creates real confusion, costs, or burdens for residents or small businesses.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI want to make city government more accessible for residents. Too many feel that city government is making their lives harder, nickel-and-diming, penalizing and imposing upon them. Some think that having more new ideas and fancy laws is a good idea, but I think sometimes less is more,\u201d said\u00a0Supervisor Alan Wong<\/strong>. \u201cLocal government is supposed to make people\u2019s lives easier, not harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selected submissions will be recognized by the Supervisor\u2019s Office and featured on social media. In some cases, the examples may help inform future policy discussions or potential legislative efforts to modernize San Francisco\u2019s municipal code.<\/p>\n

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The\u00a0deadline for submissions is Monday, March 30, 2026<\/strong>, and winners will be announced later in April.<\/p>\n

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Residents and businesses interested in participating can submit their ideas through the online form available at:\u00a0https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/1WCPTibzCoGnyvLwoq8S92zLwFcge6SibCBq_QpqokzE\/viewform?edit_requested=true<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO March 11, 2026– Supervisor...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79700,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79699\/revisions\/79700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}