Mayor Daniel Lurie finally made a rather modest statement about San Francisco’s Sanctuary City status last week when he said that the city isn’t going along with Donald Trump’s latest crackdown.
That’s a step—but it’s been a long time coming. Lurie has been very quiet about the city’s vulnerable immigrant population; in fact, his budget cuts funding for immigrant legal services. He has said nothing about an ICE van running over protesters.
It’s going to get worse, and Lurie is going to have to either allow Trump to attack the city, or stand up and fight back.
He could, for example, tell the police to arrest federal agents when they break the law—and last I heard, running over pedestrians, even at a protest, is a violation of California law.
The Board of Supes will hold its final vote on the Budget Tuesday/22, and nothing is going to change: The Billionaire Budget will again pass, 10-1, will go into effect, and the board will soon recess for most of August.
The budget, as we have mentioned, includes no new taxes on the rich, no new revenue from big corporations … but it does include some new fees, mostly on San Francisco residents who are not among the city’s most wealthy.
Let’s look at just some of the ways we will all be paying to fund more cops, and protect the billionaire class:
The Recreation and Park Department will start charging fees to reserve a tennis or pickleball court outside of Golden Gate Park (where there are already fee systems). The department will also charge new fees for “recreation programs,” which could include summer camps for kids, a lifeline for working-class parents who can’t afford expensive summer child care.
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The city will now charge for parking in Golden Gate Park. Rec-Park will add “a cost recovery surcharge to the fees for the use of City golf courses, outdoor event facilities, picnic areas, and athletic fields.” Senior discounts at public golf courses will be limited to weekdays (note to Lurie: Not all golfers are rich, and some of us are over 65 and still have day jobs during the week).
The city will, for the first time, start charging a local vehicle registration fee for all cars registered in SF, and that money will go directly to the cops.
The cost of using City Hall for short-term events will go up.
Muni fares are also going up.
The average San Franciscan who uses facilities paid for by our tax dollars will pay more, maybe hundreds of dollars more, every year, so that the people who can afford private summer camps, private golf courses, private tennis courts, and drivers to take them to the parks don’t have to pay anything.
Sup. Jackie Fielder was the only board member to vote against most of these fee hikes.
The supes will, unless there’s an unexpected shift, finally approve the ordinance giving Lurie the ability to divert voter-approved affordable housing funds into short-term shelter. And they will approve a measure that essentially bans people from living in RVs, in many cases forcing families onto the streets.
The Coalition on Homelessness will hold a rally and a silent procession into City Hall to mourn the death of democracy. The rally starts at noon on the steps of City Hall; the procession begins at 1pm. The meeting starts at 2pm.
Sup. Bilal Mahmood has agreed to amend a bill that would have effectively blocked any new programs for the unhoused or any mental health or substance treatment facilities in much of the Haight and the Tenderloin. The original bill, which is promoted as a measure to mandate at least one new center in each district, would have barred any new facilities within 1,000 feet of an existing facility, making much of his district off limits.
Now the limit is 300 feet.
The measure would also prohibit the city
from siting a new, City-funded homeless shelter, transitional housing facility, behavioral health residential care and treatment facility, or behavioral health specialized outpatient clinic (collectively, “Covered Facilities”) in a neighborhood where the neighborhood’s share of the City’s shelter and transitional housing beds exceeds the neighborhood’s share of the City’s unsheltered persons
I get the concept: The Haight, the Tenderloin, the Mission, Bayview, and Soma shouldn’t have to take on the burden of providing all the city’s social services. The main sponsors of the bill represent those districts (although Sup. Myrna Melgar, who represents a westside district, is also on board).
It will be interesting to see how Sup. Stephen Sherrill, who represents Pacific Heights and the Marina, will react to this concept.
But I also wonder how much sense it makes to put, say, a homeless shelter in a neighborhood far from other city services when even public transit is becoming more and more expensive—and shelters don’t give out free Muni passes.
That measure comes up at the Budget and Finance Committee Wednesday/23. The meeting starts at 10am.
The Cuba Solidarity movement is showing a three-part film series called “War on Cuba” Saturday/26. The in-person event is in Santa Cruz (517 Mission St.) but you can join by zoom. Register in advance at bit.y/RW25Jul26. It starts at 7pm.
