Let's walk through the timeline here. Ronen left the Board of Supervisors roughly 16 months ago. She then decamped to Spain for what we can only assume was a well-earned period of reflection, tapas, and distance from San Francisco's perpetual dysfunction. Now she's back in the Mission, this time as the leader of one of the neighborhood's most established organizations.

If this feels like the familiar revolving door between San Francisco government and the nonprofit world — that's because it is. It's a well-worn path in this city: serve in elected office, build your network and your brand on the taxpayer dime, then glide into a leadership role at an organization that frequently interfaces with (and receives funding from) the very government you just left. It's not illegal. It's not even unusual. But it is worth noting every single time it happens.

La Raza Centro Legal does real, substantive work providing legal services to low-income and immigrant communities in the Mission. That work matters, and whoever leads the organization should be judged on results — not résumé. The question is whether Ronen's political background makes her the best person for the job, or simply the most connected.

As one SF resident put it, the nonprofit-to-government pipeline in this city "runs in both directions, and the same people always seem to be on the train."

We wish Ronen well, genuinely. But San Francisco's cozy ecosystem of politicians, nonprofits, and public dollars is exactly the kind of arrangement that deserves scrutiny — not applause. The Mission deserves leaders who are accountable to the community, not just comfortable within the system.