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Nobody thinks this is a perfect city budget. San Francisco officials had to close a massive deficit, and next year will be just as bad. The mayor’s proposal doesn’t adequately address the long-term issues, which is not surprising: She’s running for re-election, and major cuts to services will make a lot of voters mad, and increases in taxes will make her major donors mad.
But as the budget comes before the full board Tuesday/16, it’s safe to say that Sup. Connie Chan, who chairs the Budget and Appropriations Committee, did the best possible job in a tough situation. The supes found almost $60 million in cuts, and used that money to save $60 million in essential services that were on the chopping block.
The cops are getting too much money. Public health is getting too little. Breed has created a mess by demanding mass arrests in the Tenderloin without funding the courts, the Public Defender’s Office, or the sheriff at the level needed to handle all the new cases.
In fact, as usual, the supes only messed with about one percent of the mayor’s budget—because unlike Congress or the state Legislature, the legislative branch in San Francisco has only very limited authority over spending priorities.
Being budget chair in these times, with the responsibility for everything and only limited authority to change anything, is a thankless job. It appears that the budget Chan negotiated will pass, probably unanimously.
Federal money is available to fund as many as 4,000 new units of affordable housing in San Francisco, but the Mayor’s Office ignored the program until the supes made it an issue.
Now the Housing Authority is, cautiously and on a limited basis, applying for some of that money.
The Government Audit and Oversight will hold a hearing Thursday/18, and Housing Authority officials will discuss their plans and progress. That hearing starts at 10am.
The Rules Committee will consider, and possibly pass on to the full board, a series of proposed City Charter amendments that, among other things, could change oversight and accountability for the police and other city departments.
Sup. Shamann Walton wants to make the director of the Department of Police Accountability an elected position; that, supporters argue, would make the department more accountable to the voters. It would also continue a slow trend of taking power away from the mayor, who has more authority than most urban chief executives in the country.
Sup. Aaron Peskin wants to add an inspector general to the Controller’s Office, and give that person the authority to issue subpoenas for documents and compel testimony. (Would have been nice to have someone in that position during the mess that was the gerrymandering of the supes seats last year. I tried to get records of the mayor’s communications with task force members, and Breed’s staff said no such records existed. I find that almost impossible to believe—but I don’t have subpoena power.)
There are also proposed changes to retirement plans for the cops, the firefighters, and per-diem nurses. The police measure would allow officers and sergeants (not the top brass) who want to retire after 25 years of service to collect their retirement pay and continue working, in essence getting almost double their pay.
The idea is to encourage experienced cops to stick around instead of, say, picking up retirement than moving to another police department. At the last hearing on this, Sup. Hillary Ronen asked how many cops were actually doing that now; the department had no answer. She asked for more clarification about what the existing problem is and how this might solve it (at a pretty high cost). We will say what the cops say.
That meeting starts at 10am.
This month is Laborfest, SF’s annual tribute to the labor movement, and the First Unitarian Universalist Church will host “Workers Voices” on Saturday/20 and Sunday/21. Here’s the lineup:
Saturday/20: For the Union Makes Us Strong! A Night of Solidarity Song
A night of working-class music, with performances by Bay Area choral groups. These include picket line favorites The Freedom Song Network, South African/Civil Rights ensemble Vukani Mawethu, La Peña Community Chorus with freedom songs of the Americas and, the night’s honorees, Pat Wynne and the Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Heritage Chorus. 6 pm – 9pm, Thomas Starr King Room.
Sunday/21: Labor Notes Conference/Area Organizing Campaigns Report Back and Discussion
This year’s Labor Notes Conference in Chicago, combined with the Great Labor Arts Exchange, hosted almost 5,000 people, with thousands more turned away. Join Peter Olney, organizing director emeritus of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and invitees SF Jobs with Justice, La Colectiva de Mujeres Original, East Bay DSA and other workers’ organizations in motion to capture this wave, and see where it will take us. Do you like the union? Yes! 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., (the Chapel [not the Sanctuary])
Solidarity on Stage – An Evening of Labor Storytelling
The right wing would silence working people’s voices; this event lifts them up and celebrates them, in all their multicultural glory. Hear from working-class novelist Michael Dunn, picket-line chant leader Bill Shields, area spoken word artists and, our headliners, the domestic workers theater troupe, La Colectiva de Mujeres Original. 5pm – 8pm, The Chapel.
