THE SAN FRANCISCO Planning Commission and Board of Appeals have come to represent the worst of city government. For years these boards did the mayor's bidding and promoted reckless overdevelopment. The results are everywhere: empty lots where nonprofit offices once stood; overpriced lofts instead of family housing.

To register their disapproval, voters passed Proposition D in March, giving the Board of Supervisors say over half of the boards' appointments. Mayor Willie Brown obviously didn't get the hint. Rather than make some much-needed changes, Brown recommended incumbents William Fay and Hector Chinchilla for two of his four Planning Commission slots. Even worse, he recommended the ever conflicted John McInerney back to the Board of Appeals (along with two other current members: Arnold Chin and Sabrina Saunders).