SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — San Francisco residents on Tuesday delivered more than 1,500 postcards to Mayor Daniel Lurie and the Board of Supervisors, warning that proposed budget cuts would harm workers, families and vulnerable communities across the city.
The Worker Agency stated the effort included “hundreds of workers, families and concerned residents representing dozens of labor and community organizations.”
The groups “took over the corridors of San Francisco City Hall” and delivered “over 1,500 postcards to Mayor Daniel Lurie and the Board of Supervisors.” The postcards described the “clear and deep harm that proposed budget cuts would have on them and the entire city of San Francisco.”
“Residents from every walk of life” showed up to let the mayor know that “this is his last chance to do the right thing.” They urged him not to “slash critical services for immigrants, seniors, LGBTQ+ individuals, youth and working families across the city.”
The movement stemmed from the fact that “Mayor Lurie’s budget will become public on June 1.” With that, this week is a “critical time in the development of the budget.”
Anya Worley-Siegmann, coalition coordinator for the People’s Budget Coalition, said openly that “budgets are moral documents.” The People’s Budget is “an independent coalition, bringing together over 150 member organizations — including nonprofits, community groups and labor unions — committed to a just and equitable city budget.”
While the mayor claimed that his “hands are tied,” Worley-Siegmann rejected “the false premise.” She continued, stating that “he has choices,” and that “he is choosing to cut existing, successful sources of revenue like Prop 1.”
She added that he also is “choosing to oppose new revenue while advancing immediate and irreparable harm to immigrants, seniors, kids and working families.”
Worley-Siegmann mentioned that the mayor is “digging (them) deeper into deficit.”
She added that before the budget becomes public, “this is a chance to listen to (the mayor’s) constituents and make morally right, fiscally responsible decisions” for the future of San Francisco.
A postcard from Sam, a community member who receives services at a clinic, pleaded with the mayor, writing, “Mr. Mayor, I need the clinic on 134 Golden Gate…They saved my life. Plz don’t close them.”
Lisa, who works for the Larkin Street Youth Clinic, which is in danger of closing if the budget cuts go through, wrote on a postcard to the mayor, “We provide vital services to the most vulnerable youth in the most vulnerable location in the city where most people don’t want to go.”
“I show up for these youth/young adults that the rest of the city forgets about or would rather not deal with,” Lisa wrote.
She proposed that they can even “generate money for the city,” but they were just “never given the resources to do that.” She urged the mayor to “give (them) a chance to prove everyone wrong.”
Overall, Lisa said she wanted to “provide ‘LOVE.’ Some of these kids have never been hugged or told they matter and (she) tell(s) them daily.”
Jackie Flores, a case manager at La Raza Community Resource Center, said on another postcard, “I respectfully ask and urge that you do not cut funding of MOHCD. These funds are critical in supporting working families through our programs.”
She continued to describe what would happen if the programs get cut, stating they are “a lifeline for many of the families [they] serve, who will suffer immensely if these funds are cut.”
She asked the mayor to “please consider the community you serve as you move forward with a decision.”
In all, the people of San Francisco urged the mayor to consider the harm his budget could inflict on the community and to reevaluate his decisions before the budget goes public on June 1.
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