Something massive is happening in San Francisco Bay — literally. More whales have been showing up in our waters, and for once, this is a story where the government might actually deserve a sliver of credit.

The short version: decades of environmental regulations banning the direct dumping of wastewater into the Bay have quietly paid off in a big way. The water is cleaner, the ecosystem is recovering, and now some of the ocean's largest creatures are RSVP-ing to the party.

As one Bay Area resident put it, "The water has become an order of magnitude cleaner since we banned dumping wastewater directly into the Bay. The more they police this, the cleaner the water gets and the more wildlife we'll see. Back in the day, going for a swim in the Bay was unimaginable."

Here's the thing — this is actually a case study in how regulation should work. Set a clear standard. Enforce it. Let the results compound over time. No endless bureaucratic task forces. No $1.2 billion study on the feasibility of studying the problem. Just: stop dumping sewage into the water, and good things happen. Revolutionary concept.

It's a refreshing contrast to so much of what we see in Bay Area governance, where billions get funneled into programs with little accountability and even less measurable impact. The whale situation is proof that well-targeted policy — the kind that establishes simple, enforceable rules and then gets out of the way — can produce genuinely spectacular outcomes.

Of course, one local couldn't resist the obvious Star Trek reference, noting the whales probably "want to know where to find the nuclear wessels." Fair enough. San Francisco does have that energy.

For a city that spends a lot of time arguing about what's broken, the return of whales to the Bay is a rare, unambiguous win. Take a moment. Walk down to the waterfront. You might just spot a humpback doing something more productive than your last city council meeting.