San Francisco Mayor, Regulators Set to Clash Over Police Funding

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At its meeting on Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors heard Mayor of London Breed advocate for a bill for additional temporary funding for the police and street ambassador patrols and cable the bill next week. Legislators have also introduced an extension to the current pandemic-related moratorium on evictions.

The board also set aside a controversy over sex work, shielded one from a shelter law dispute, and incapacitated one for babbling about socialism.

Additional raise at showdown

The meeting began with Breed calling on the board to support a number of next steps on her public safety agenda, including an already contested $27.6 million supplementary budget to pay police overtime and salaries to retired officers who will serve in as community ambassadors in the districts.

Breed’s remarks were more conciliatory than the tough speech she gave earlier in the day at a press conference at Tenderloin. She was a firm believer in the need for approval points to address short-term staffing issues within the San Francisco Police Department, while working on long-term solutions to the department’s current layoff problems, which in turn caused a surge. in overtime expenses.

The additional bill will be considered in committee for the first time on March 15, possibly in opposition to a new $25 million bill funding Department of Public Works to pay the janitors, who were quickly hired under a special program.

Both additional bills are being reviewed on an expedited basis. The police addition is backed by six wardens but faces varying levels of skepticism from others. Eight votes are required to pass it.

District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, President of the Board of Directors, later in the meeting, he called for better cooperation between Breed and the board, but not at the expense of “avoiding our financial obligations.”

“We should be asking questions about structural budgetary issues in the department,” Peskin said.

District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston has already staked out a position against additional funding for the police.

Overtime pay wasn’t the only item on Breed’s public safety shopping list.

The mayor called for support for another $199,286 to fund new drug prosecutors, as well as an increase in the grant for more urban alchemy street ambassadors to cover the Tenderloin and Mid Market areas, as well as the approval of a new contract with San Francisco Police Officers Association which will include retention bonuses as well as recruitment incentives and lateral transfers.

Breed has vigorously defended Urban Alchemy, which is coming under increasing scrutiny, calling the non-profit organization a “transformative presence” in the city’s crisis areas and offering a “second chance” to ex-prisoners serving as ambassadors.

During questions from the Mayor, Breed answered Preston’s questions about his requests for more ambassadors in the Lower Shelf area and in those parts of the Tenderloin that he said were not guarded by unarmed patrols.

In response, Breed said that the ambassadors faced security issues in some areas and that she could not “micromanage” where the non-profit group sent ambassadors, but said she was open to discussing this further.

Dispute Disclaimer

Three resolutions intended for unanimous adoption, but with varying degrees of controversy, were discussed rather briefly during the meeting.

The funniest of the resolutions—at least to political nerds—was Preston’s bill condemning a Congressional resolution that conflated socialism with genocidal communist regimes in order to confuse progressive politics with socialism.

Warden 4 Joel Engardio disagreed with both the language and overall propriety of the resolution, blocking its passage last week. He then conferred with Preston and proposed amendments, which were accepted and the bill passed unanimously.

“I appreciate that my colleague amended this resolution so that it does not discount the well-founded concerns of respected Democrats who voted in favor of the House resolution,” Engardio said during the discussion. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on more pressing issues.”

Meanwhile, District 9 Chief Hillary Ronen asked that her resolution calling for the legalization of sex work go ahead, but she pulled out some special parliamentary procedural sauce to deal with Dorsey’s blocking of her resolution in defense of the city’s sanctuary ordinance.

The request to remove the rule requiring a committee appeal allowed the resolution to be passed by a simple majority vote.

Warden 6 Matt Dorsey said that he was still determined to advance his changes in the ordinance of the sanctuary.

The board voted 10-1 to continue unrestricted remote public comment, while more formal board rules on the matter will be developed next month. The amended proposal provides that city councils and commissions will be exempt from the temporary rule.

Warden 8 Rafael Mandelmanwho introduced the issue ended up voting against it after the board approved the amendments made by Dorsey. This was met with considerable resistance within the committee from fellow executives and members of the public.

The question is how to continue remote public comment for those who need it and still prevent abuse.

Engardio, speaking out in support of maintaining unrestricted remote public comment, noted his involvement in an earlier political battle over a 2015 vote initiative to expand remote participation that lost.

“Necessity made possible what we didn’t want to do in 2015,” Engardio said during the discussion, highlighting the need for access to public comment for ordinary people with busy lives. “We need to look for more ways to stimulate civic engagement rather than limit it.”

Eviction moratorium in memory of Tom Xe

The main new case presented to the board during roll call is Preston’s new ruling extending the Covid moratorium on evictions for another two months after the mayor’s state of emergency is lifted.

Breed was expected to lift his emergency pandemic statement, which is separate from the declared public health emergency that ended Feb. 28, some time after the federal state of emergency ended May 11.

Peskin acknowledged that former supervisor Tom Xie passed away on March 5, along with other supervisors. The ceremony was hosted by District 1 Superintendent Connie Chan.

Peskin also unveiled a memorial to Larry Hunt, the famed busker who passed away on February 23rd.

So while regulators have been able to resolve some minor differences, the bigger question of what constitutes a Fair Recovery Plan will come up sooner than you think.

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