Morality is a term that’s been co-opted by those in the US whose politics tend to do the greatest harm to the most people. Those of us who are queer, who struggle with addictive substances, who are broke and on the dole—those of us who are not the successful or the pure by this society’s standards—are denied access to moral judgment. We are burdens on society. We are corrupters of youth. We are the fallen. On June 5, religious leaders representing Jews, Friends, Catholics, Buddhists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, Muslims, Pentecostals, and Lutherans sent the political leaders of San Francisco a very different message: “One’s moral compass always points toward compassion. These religious leaders are far from alone.

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Mayor Newsom released a budget today that will terminate critical health and human services, while pumping up salaries for police by 25% and adding many new high paid patronage positions into his own administration.

Some highlights of the devastating impact of the budget include:

1. Closure of Ella Hill Hutch Shelter, which serves up to 100 people every night in the Western Addition.
2. Closure of Caduceus Outreach Services, a mental health treatment and wrap-around support program for severely disabled homeless adults with co-existing addictive disorders.
3. Almost total elimination of SRO Families United program (66% cut) for families with dependent children living in hotels.
4. Cut of 22% to residential substance abuse and mental health treatment programs budgets.
1. Removal of support from Conard supportive housing program for severe psychiatric disabilities.
2. Closure of Cortland Acute Diversion Unit for individuals in psychiatric crisis.
3. Loss of 12 out of 24 community-based medically-supported detox beds.
4. Many more residential cuts yet to be determined.
5. Cut of 30% to all outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment.
6. Almost total elimination of STOP treatment program.
7. 1,600 people will lose psychiatric treatment through Private Provider Network.
8. Closure of Tenderloin Health, homeless multi-service center in the Tenderloin serving over 300 people a day, 16,000 unduplicated people a year. This program provides health services, HIV case management, HIV prevention, mental health services, harm reduction work, improving quality of life by getting people out of rain, hygiene kits, bathrooms, snacks, crisis intervention, and 30,000 shelter reservations a year.

What Can We Do?

Protest Newsom’s proposed budget!

Where:

The Bellaire Tower building—home of Mayor Gavin Newsom (1101 Green Street, at Leavenworth Street)

Bus 45 (Leavenworth/Union stop), Bus 27 (Leavenworth/Jackson stop), Bus 12 (Pacific/Leavenworth stop).

When:

Wednesday, June 11, 6:00 p.m.

Join more than 50 religious leaders from diverse faith traditions to influence San Francisco’s budget priorities for poor and homeless people.

Sponsored by Religious Witness with Homeless People.

Thursday, June 5, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
San Francisco City Hall, South Light Court

For more information contact Sister Bernie Galvin at 415.929.0781.

As San Francisco’s June budget proposal for the 2008-09 fiscal year looms ahead, advocates of public services must come together and assert our voices, demanding that the services, which benefit the most marginalized populations of the city, not be cut. The Mayor’s office projects a $300 million deficit, and, at this point, the budget lies in Newsom’s control.

As the City moves forward to shut down shelters and eliminate mental health services, we must intervene and demand that our supervisors stand up to the war being waged against those of us whose very existence depends on the services the Mayor wants to eradicate.

If the Mayor’s 2007-08 budget is any indication of what lies ahead, then the city can anticipate cuts and the elimination of programs that serve populations in need such as the homeless community, low-income families, people living with HIV/AIDS, low-income seniors, people caught in the justice system, and immigrants.

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Last night, on San Francisco’’s freezing streets, blond, fresh-faced Shaun Fausz rested aching knees after trudging the piers all day seeking work on boats.

52-year-old Robert, a witty, intelligent African-American, lay under open sky.

Disarmingly intelligent Shalako Brooks curled on hard concrete fighting insomnia with only vodka to help him sleep. He can’’t return home. A crack addict lit his single-room occupancy hotel room on fire. At 8:00 a.m., he had to use the Department of Public Health bathroom “when people were shooting up and passed out in toilets.”

Wheelchair-bound elders waited for dawn sitting in the frigid dark. Women walked all night evading predators.

These and 160 other unhoused men and women were victims of a cruel April Fool’’s joke. The safe haven refuge where they sat all night in chairs was locked and dark.

At midnight March 31, Mayor Gavin Newsom closed for good Buster’s Place, San Francisco’’s only 24-hour non-medical drop-in center.

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Last June, Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed devastating public health cuts, prompting hundreds to rally at City Hall. Now, the Mayor has announced $18 million in “mid-year cuts” to the Health Department—including some programs that the Board of Supervisors saved last July.

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On July 24, the Board of Supervisors approved a record budget for the City and County of San Francisco: a whopping $6.06 billion.

As our readers know, despite the huge amount of money available to the Mayor for this year’s Budget, his proposal focused on a so-called “back-to-basics” approach of increasing funding for police and infrastructure, with very generous allocations to certain pet projects, such as the controversial Poverty Court, which could throw more homeless people in jail while pretending to refer them to services cut by the same Budget.

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San Francisco’s budget crisis seems to be getting worse every day. In an almost predictable fashion, poor and homeless people including families are being expected to pay for it. Homeless drop-in centers for adults and families are slated for closure. Over 500 people will lose their mental health treatment, and over 3,500 people would lose their substance abuse treatment.

While the health department is expecting a devastating round of cuts, other city departments such as SFPD and SFFD come out unscathed. There are no plans to cut any of the Mayor’s office, even the expensive public relations expenditures such as the Mayor’s Press Office. Non-profits are being slashed while civil service managers would go on earning. In fact, if the manager’s salaries within the city were capped at $90,000 a year, including overtime and bonuses, the city could save over $131,000,000.

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