Say what you will about San Francisco — the budget deficits, the bureaucratic bloat, the transit delays that make you question the nature of time itself — but this city still knows how to put on a show at dawn.

An early morning at SFO this week served up the kind of sunrise that makes you briefly forget you just paid $7 for a bottle of water past security. Golden light spilling across the tarmac, silhouetting planes against the Bay — the sort of scene that reminds you why people moved here in the first place, before they got priced out and moved to Sacramento.

We'll be the first to point out when San Francisco wastes your money or fails to deliver on basic governance. That's the job. But intellectual honesty cuts both ways, and the honest truth is this: the natural beauty of the Bay Area is an asset no city supervisor can squander, no matter how hard they try.

SFO itself, for all its quirks, remains one of the better-run pieces of major infrastructure in the region. It largely pays for itself, operates without draining the General Fund, and — unlike certain municipal railway systems we could name — actually gets people where they're going on a semi-reliable schedule. It's almost like things work better when there's accountability and a clear mission.

So here's your moment of zen for the week. Enjoy the sunrise. Then remember that beauty doesn't pay the bills, fix the streets, or balance a $800 million budget shortfall. San Francisco's setting is world-class. The question, as always, is whether its leadership can even come close to matching it.

Happy Wednesday, SF. Now back to work.