Mayor, supervisors want input on City budget at Saturday meeting
District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu briefed a community meeting at Taraval Police Station April 19 about the state of the City budget. Photo: Tom Prete / Ocean Beach Bulletin
With San Francisco facing a deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars for the fiscal year that starts July 1, the mayor and west-side representatives on the Board of Supervisors are asking the public for help.
They’re not asking for money — at least not at the moment — but instead are seeking guidance.
Mayor Edwin Lee, District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu and District 7 Supervisor Sean Elsbernd are holding a town hall meeting on the City budget at 10 a.m. Saturday at the San Francisco Zoo. There they plan to explain the City’s budget situation and ask the people they represent for their opinions about where cuts might be made and which services should be protected.
Chu, whose district consists primarily of the Sunset and Parkside neighborhoods, is the chair of the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee. She explained to a recent community meeting at the Taraval police station that San Francisco budget is $306 million in the red, but if state and federal budget cuts reduce funding to the City, that would drive the deficit even higher.
“We’re not going to be able to balance the budget without making some cuts” to City services, she said.
Richmond District residents will get their own chance to voice their views on the budget on April 27, when Lee and District 1 Supervisor Eric Mar hold a meeting at the Richmond Recreation Center at 6 p.m.
The San Francisco Zoo is at Sloat Boulevard and 47th Avenue. Zoo admission is not required to attend the meeting, which is scheduled to conclude at 11:30 a.m. Paid parking is available at the zoo for $10 and is accessible from eastbound Sloat Boulevard, but free street parking is relatively abundant in the area. In addition, Muni bus lines 18 and 23 run nearby, along with the L-Taraval streetcar.
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Ms. Chu-
It is clear yoy don’t want to address the issue of out of control salary and benrfits to the 25,000 city workers.
“Cuts will be made to services” you say.
Obviously, you have no experience in the business world. Having a stuck up attitude is not a substitute for competence.
Please do this: raise the salary and benefits of all city workers. That will get us to bankruptcy court and the first real adult will finally address the hard issues.