And yet, here we are.

The SFBA Bench Collective — a grassroots group operating with gloriously straightforward logic — has been popping up handmade benches around San Francisco, including a recent installation at Bayview Plaza. Their mission statement is almost painfully simple: "When cities fail to provide benches, we build and install our own."

That's it. No $4.7 million feasibility study. No 18-month community engagement process. No environmental impact review for a piece of wood with legs. Just people who got tired of standing around waiting for a government that charges them a fortune in taxes and delivers... standing room.

Let's be clear about what's happening here. San Francisco's annual budget is north of $14 billion — roughly $16,000 per resident. We have entire departments dedicated to "public space management." And yet a DIY punk-rock bench collective is filling a gap that city planners apparently can't. The fact that this group exists at all is both deeply charming and profoundly embarrassing for City Hall.

There's a libertarian parable buried in every two-by-four they screw together: when government becomes too bloated, too slow, and too obsessed with process over outcomes, regular people just start doing the work themselves. It's beautiful, honestly. It's also a damning indictment.

We love the energy. We love the benches. But we'd love it even more if San Francisco's bureaucracy could handle the radical, revolutionary act of giving people a place to sit down without needing a citizen insurgency to make it happen.

Until then — long live the Bench Collective. Keep building.