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This juvenile justice policy case describes the strategic challenge faced by a San Francisco consultant, asked by the city''s Mayor Willie Brown, to resolve a bitter and long-standing dispute as to how to structure the city''s approach to youthful offenders. Consultant Mimi Silbert-herself renowned for her work to rehabilitate adult felons-must find a way to forge a compromise between those who favor institution- based treatment-led by the city''s probation officers-and those "youth advocates" who favor youth services delivered in community-based settings. Symbolic of, and central to, the dispute: how to deal with dilapidated Juvenile Hall, the central youth detention center disliked by youth advocates-who would rather see it closed than modernized. Long-stalled physical improvements, if they are to come at all, appear to await resolution of a philosophical dispute, if they are to come at all.