After next Wednesday, June 24, opponents of cuts in the mayor’s budget that affect the city’s most vulnerable residents, can only cross their fingers.
It’s the last day for public comment before the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Appropriations Committee. Residents and representatives of the People’s Budget Coalition, comprising dozens of nonprofit service providers, are expected to continue their hard push to change hearts and minds. And it comes a week after two protest actions at City Hall.
“This has just been an amazing day,” said Kate Kuckro on Thursday when up to 150 people gathered for a second day of protest. “We’re cautiously optimistic, but we really won’t know until next week.” Kuckro is co-executive director of the Community Living Campaign, which advocates for seniors and people with disabilities and is a part of the People’s Budget Coalition. CLC also works with the Dignity Fund Coalition, which helped pass the Dignity Fund statute in 2016 to ensure and stabilize city funding for that population.
The protest actions were named “All Roads Lead to City Hall” and led by seniors dressed as “Wizard of Oz” characters Dorothy, the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion. In song and chant, they implored city officials to “have a heart, a brain and some courage.”
The two-year budget includes roughly $9 million in cuts to services for seniors and people with disabilities, including $3 million from the Department of Disability and Aging Services. Among the services that will lose significant funding are legal assistance, digital access, ReServe workforce positions, home care advocacy, LGBTQ+ programs, and several of the city’s popular “Village” programs.
The same group had toured offices of the mayor and supervisors on Monday, sharing their own lyrics to the tune of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow:”
“Somewhere in San Francisco, there are funds, to help those needing home care, food or a computer hub; Somehow in San Francisco, there’s a way, to help disabled and seniors, stay in their homes and age. Somewhere, there’s a way, to pass a real people’s budget, so we can stay.”
On Thursday, the focus was strictly on the office of Mayor Daniel Lurie, who was not there. An aide at the door was unable to say why the mayor could not attend or what he was doing at the time. Neither were any other of the mayor’s representatives on hand or able to comment. Instead, the aides suggested sending an email to the city communications department.
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to approve the interim budget on June 23, followed by a public hearing on Tuesday, June 24. Final approval is set for June 26.
On June 25, the day after the Public Comment hearing, the Supervisors will reallocate any savings identified by the Budget Analyst to “add-backs” to restore cuts. Those recommendations, along with additional increases provided by the mayor, will be voted on July 21.
“After today, we’re continuing to do a lot of behind-the-scenes work,” said Kuckro. “We’re talking to supervisors and their staff and continuing to coordinate with our partners and coalitions.”
In-person public comment will be taken by the city’s Budget and Appropriations Committee on June 24, in Room 250 at City Hall. The meeting begins at 10 a.m.
Comment remotely by phone. Dial 415-655-0000, and enter the WebEx password posted on the agenda 24–72 hours prior to the meeting. Or call the City Clerk at (415) 554-5184. When connected to the hearing, press *3 to enter the public-comment queue and wait until the clerk calls on you.
Email comments to Board.of.Supervisors@sfgov.org, or Brent.Jalipa@sfgov.org, the clerk of the budget committee.
Kuckro called the response from elected officials this week “promising.” For example, she said, “if you walk through the halls today, you’ll see that Supervisor (Shamonn) Walton’s office has actually taken all of the postcards that we shared with him from all the voices from seniors and people with disabilities and posted them along the wall.” Walton represents Potrero Hill, Dogpatch and the Bayview.
At Monday’s protest, much to the delight of the crowd, Supervisor Connie Chan, who represents the Richmond District, popped out of her office and gave an impromptu speech, saying, “We will stay in this fight until we get this done.” Chan chairs the supervisor’s Budget Committee and is running for the Congressional seat held by retiring Representative Nancy Pelosi.
A few offices down the hall, Supervisor Danny Sauter, who represents Chinatown and other areas on the city’s north side, noted that his district has the highest number of seniors in the city, and he pledged to fight the cuts. After he spoke, the crowd chanted “No place like home” and waved lollipops, a reminder of the movie’s Lollypop Guild.
“Tin Man” Art Persyko, 75, said today’s action reminded him of acting in school pageants in his youth, and said the protest was “inspiring and we seem to be having an effect.”
Dressed as Dorothy, complete with a farm girl’s gingham dress and a toy dog in her basket, 84-year-old Hene Kelly of Noe Valley led the crowd around the second floor of City Hall. “I’m asking the mayor to have a heart and use his brain to do the right thing,” she said.
Thursday was a combination protest rally and picnic. Crowds gathered on blankets on the plaza in front of City Hall as program after program affected by the cuts – from senior and disability advocates to HIV prevention groups to City College sexual violence prevention, homeless and housing support and more – made presentations or performed.
“I’m here because funds for so many socially constructive programs are being diminished, especially by the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’,” said Richard Wood Massi, 80. “It’s having ripple effects down to every local level. I’ve been getting letters from my health insurance company saying that several of my doctors are no longer on contract, that I can’t see them without paying.
And because San Francisco doesn’t seem to be willing to tax billionaires or the very wealthy, who could easily afford to help out … we need to protest, to stand up and unite with each other and forget about our differences.”
For others, the cuts pose loss of services that help them navigate an increasingly digital world, fill income gaps or even preclude poverty with part-time jobs, stay agile through exercise activities, healthy through food and nutrition programs and avoid isolation – a documented accelerator of health decline – through home support and social engagement offered by programs such as the “villages.”
Maria Salcedo, 55, stood outside the mayor’s office with her daughter, whose face is tattooed on her chest. An employee of Homey, a referral agency for community service work, she said, “I’m afraid I’ll lose my job. We already lost half of the staff due to cuts.”
Kelly recognized the mayor is in a tight situation, although he’s giving an additional $75 million to public safety agencies: San Francisco Police, the Sheriff’s Department, the Probation Department, and the District Attorney’s Office.
“We don’t live in Oz and we know that San Francisco budget situation is dire,” she said. “Some hard decisions will need to be made. But we also don’t want to be forced to move to Kansas.
“San Francisco is our home. It is where we worked, where our providers are, where our friends are, where our communities are. Without them, we will suffer greatly, and for many of us be “forced to go without basic necessities and possibly be forced into a facility or to become homeless. You can’t let this happen.”