By Kevin Stark
The Public Press

After a month of political jockeying, protests and two days of marathon budget negotiations, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget Committee approved a framework budget for the coming fiscal year.

Yet it was a tentative victory for the progressive caucus, as there will doubtless be millions of dollars shifted around for weeks as officials horse-trade before the final budget is passed later in July. And this budget plan leaves looming questions about how state budget cuts will affect the city's fortunes, as well as the possibility of conflicts with the mayor months hence, when it comes time for him to spend the money.

By Hank Drew and Patricia Decker
The Public Press

Protesters challenge cleanup plans at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Photo by Hank Drew/The Public Press.

More than 100 protesters enjoyed a beautiful sunny Tuesday afternoon in the shadow of one of the most toxic plots of land in California.

The group gathered at the gates of the old Hunters Point Naval Shipyard to voice their concerns that Lennar Corp., which is developing the former maintenance base into a residential complex, could leave the area even more toxic, and that the U.S. Navy plans to cap and seal the radioactive Parcel E2 area of the shipyard.

"Don't cap! Clean!" protesters shouted as speakers explained the Navy's intentions.

By Michael Pistorio
The Public Press

San Francisco’s budget fight has swung into high gear, with two heavy weights – public safety and health – sparring over money and launching intensive campaigns to sway public and supervisorial opinion any way they can.
While lobbying is typically connoted with big business using money and power to influence legislation – think tobacco, auto and pharmaceutical industries – this season’s coalitions of interest groups include police officers, healthcare workers, firefighters and city attorneys, and all are hitting the streets and City Hall corridors hard to get their message out.

By Kirsty Brown
The Public Press

The number of bike lanes is set to nearly double after the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's board of directors officially gave the long-awaited city bike plan the green light.
 
Mayor Gavin Newsom announced the addition of 34 miles of bike lanes, which would increase the total number by 76 percent in the city.

By Bethany Fleishman
The Public Press

This weekend's Pride celebration will elevate the status of marriage-equality activists to a position of parity in the gay-rights movement with advocates from four decades ago when the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration Committee joins local veterans of the 1969 Stonewall protests to form a new parade contingent called “Stonewall 2.0.”

San Francisco District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly fighting for a 'people's budget'

By Kevin Stark
The Public Press

In a reprieve for San Francisco mental health services, Mayor Gavin Newsom restored funding to the decades-old Tenderloin Self Help Center, a drop-in counseling and service provider, according to Jackie Jenks, executive director of the parent organization, Central City Hospitality House. 

San Francisco supervisors say they want to work with mayor

By Kevin Stark
The Public Press

In a day of high tensions, as hundreds of San Francisco firefighters and public health activists held loud, competing rallies outside City Hall, the Board of Supervisors Tuesday sent a message to Mayor Gavin Newsom: Let's rework the budget priorities together.

By Michael Pistorio and Kevin Stark
The Public Press

Public Defender Jeff Adachi was among the handful of politicians protesting the mayor's proposed cuts Wednesday. Photo by Hank Drew/The Public Press. [See video from the protest]

In a day of protest inside and outside City Hall, the Board of Supervisors' Budget and Finance Committee shoved a wrench in Mayor Gavin Newsom's interim budget Wednesday, while nearly 1,000 rallied outside for more equitable cuts to save health services.

The committee approved shifting $82 million from the mayor's interim public safety budget to the San Francisco Department of Public Health and other city departments getting cut by Newsom's budget ax.

"I truly do not believe this budget reflects the priorities of this city," Board President David Chiu said.

District 11 Supervisor John Avalos, the committee chair, proposed moving $42 million from police, $17 million from the sheriff and $23 million from firefighters to departments facing cuts. Avalos called his proposal “an equitable approach that we don’t already have. I don‘t see how we can get the mayor involved without this amendment.”

By Kevin Stark and Lizzy Tomei
The Public Press

Michael DeCarlo Wright is a Tenderloin Self Help Center cleint who could lose job search services he has used for many years. Photo by Monica Jensen/The Public Press.

Hundreds of San Francisco's most vulnerable people -- the mentally ill, homeless, and seniors among them -- will be pushed out of the social services safety net and even further into the margins if proposed cuts to the Department of Public Health go through.

San Francisco is facing one of the largest budget deficits in recent memory, and city politicians are scrambling to balance the budget with the least amount of pain. Mayor Gavin Newsom has proposed slashing more than $169 million from the health department's share of city general funds as city leaders try to bridge a $438 million deficit this month.