IT'S GOING TO be quite a year.

By the end of 2006, California could have a new governor, the balance of power in Congress may have shifted away from the Republicans, the balance of power at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors may have shifted away from (or back toward) the Mayor's Office, the latest police scandal may lead to major changes (or not) in the SFPD, and the future of southeast San Francisco, and housing policy in the city, will begin moving in the right (or a very wrong) direction.

And that's just a tiny taste of what's to come.

It's a year when San Francisco is poised to make some great strides forward, or some horrible mistakes. Here are our suggestions for New Year's resolutions for the key players:

For Mayor Gavin Newsom: When it comes to the media spotlight, nobody does it better. When it comes to actually implementing substantial policy changes – or even articulating an overall vision of the city – Newsom has a lot more trouble.

Take, for example, the soaring homicide rate, particularly in African American neighborhoods. Newsom shows up to visit the projects and play some basketball. He vows to make changes and do better. But he's never followed up on Sup. Ross Mirkarimi's demand for more community policing in the Western Addition, and his office actually sabotaged a special commission's effort to establish a true community-based model that had great hope of repairing the damaging rift between the department and communities of color. He's not helping Sup. Chris Daly with his proposal to spend $20 million more on youth and violence-prevention programs. He hasn't shaken up the ineffective homicide division that can't seem to solve any cases.

Newsom brags about housing the homeless, but as far as we can tell, his overall housing policy is driven entirely by the needs of private developers who want to build pricey condos. And once again, the city's going to stagger through a budget crisis with no coherent direction.

In 2006 Newsom needs to get real: Hold the cops – and the chief – accountable, and get rid of the ones who don't belong on the force. Create a community-policing program that has some distance from the dysfunctional police department's normal chain of command. Hire a strong planning director – and enact a moratorium on all new market-rate housing until that person has a chance to develop a real housing policy aimed at preserving and creating affordable housing for San Franciscans. Work with the supervisors on tax reform and budget overhaul, and don't just present another patched-together plan that blames Washington and Sacramento for our problems.

For the supervisors: The progressive coalition has frayed a bit over the past year, and we've expressed some doubt about whether board president Aaron Peskin can pull it back together. Aside from the disaster of his flip-flop vote on Home Depot, he's done a decent job of heading off some of the worst ideas coming out of the Mayor's Office and private developers, but it's time for a more aggressive stance.

For starters, the board needs to take the city's long-term finances a lot more seriously. Let's face it: San Francisco needs at least an additional $250 million a year – every year – to fund an adequate level of services. We've been hollering about this for years now, and nobody's paying attention, so we'll say it again: It's time for a long-term, comprehensive new revenue plan. Now.

It's also time to put public power back on the top of the agenda. Community choice aggregation is a great step, but as long as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. controls the grid, the city will pay too much, get bad service, and lose a fortune in general-fund cash.

Passing a public-financing program for mayoral elections will do wonders to level the playing field and allow a progressive candidate a fighting chance.

And since housing is perhaps the most important issue facing the city, and the mayor is prepared to let developers completely and profoundly change the southeast neighborhoods (and the demographic makeup of the city), the board needs to take the initiative, pass legislation enacting a three-year ban on all new market-rate housing construction and establishing guidelines for a new citywide housing plan.

And since existing affordable housing is so valuable (it's much, much cheaper to preserve what we have than to build something new), why not deny condo conversion permits, forever, to anyone who created a tenancy-in-common by evicting any tenant, and enact a large (say, $50,000) conversion fee for all TIC-to-condo applications (with the money going to affordable rental housing)?

For the school board: First things first – adopt a strong sunshine policy. This has been debated for years now, and there's finally something credible on the table, put forward by board member Mark Sanchez. But it needs to go further: The board needs to enforce penalties for noncompliance and strict deadlines for responding to public records requests and appeals.

The board will hire a new superintendent this year – and the members need to check the applicants' credentials carefully. Arlene Ackerman had a history in past jobs of aloof, top-down management and reacting badly to direction and criticism. The next superintendent must be not only a top-flight educator but someone who is open and accessible (even to critics) and who wants to work with, not against, the community. The first thing that new person should do is rescind Ackerman's gag order and allow staffers to speak freely to the press and public.

For Rep. Nancy Pelosi and the local Democratic Party leadership: This is the year to fight back against Bush and his agenda – not by trying to act like lightweight Republicans but by showing that Democrats have better ideas. A good way to start: Admit that privatizing the Presidio was a terrible idea, and use that disaster as an example of why the Republicans shouldn't be allowed to privatize any more national parks.

Pelosi needs to start acting like the leader of a viable opposition party and openly and aggressively challenge abuses of power by the federal government in two key areas: the war in Iraq and the war on drugs. Pelosi has moved a few steps in the right direction on Iraq (but still was the only Bay Area Democrat to support the bloated defense appropriation bill). She needs to push the party to make this a national issue – or she needs a challenge this year.

Meanwhile, the federal government needs to stop wasting vital resources on an unwinnable and counterproductive war on marijuana. The solution is simple: Remove marijuana from the Schedule I narcotic list, as Rep. Barney Frank has tried to do for years with almost no help from his party.

It's going to be a hell of a year. We'll keep you posted.