Jake McGoldrick: Budget and Geary Transit Improvements

The City budget is moving into the final stretch as the Supervisor's Budget Committee completes its final week of review of the mayor's budget.

While it still is not clear what the final outcome of this process will be, the broad outlines are becoming clear. The Board of Supervisors, working cooperatively with the mayor's office, has identified several sources of revenue from minor fee increases designed to ensure that those who make special use of city services pay the full cost of those services.

In addition, careful negotiations with several City unions have resulted in agreements whereby city employees will temporarily pick up contributions to their retirement accounts previously made by the City, in exchange for a wage increase in the future. While the board has considered increases in business taxes in light of recent lawsuits that decreased the business community's share of our City's tax burden, such proposals would have to be approved by the voters and thus would have no effect on this year's budget. Finally, I suggested, and the board has agreed, that the City should allow the so-called "New Jobs Tax Credit" to expire because of the complete lack of information demonstrating that this tax credit resulted in the creation of any jobs. In the absence of such information, the credit must be considered corporate welfare. Once again, however, the effect of this will not be seen until future budget years. These types of creative and cooperative solutions have gone a long way toward closing the gap and reaching a balanced budget.

What is clear at this point is that the latch-key and after-school playground programs for which my office secured funds last year will be carried forward in this year's budget. We also convinced the mayor's office to restore funds to the Richmond Neighborhood Center that had been cut in the mayor's first budget submission. Moreover, we were successful in getting these programs included in the mayor's baseline budget, making it more likely that they will be included in subsequent budgets submitted by the mayor. I consider this a significant victory for Richmond families during a very difficult budget year.

In addition, I am continuing to fight to make sure that there are no cuts in senior programs at the Richmond Senior Center. While it appears that this effort will be successful, we do not have final confirmation as of presstime.

Finally, I have been working with other supervisors to find ways to avoid cuts in crucial social services - services for which demand has increased as families face the realities of our economic recession. It is my hope that we will be successful in all of these endeavors, but we will not know until later in the summer.

Bettering Geary Transit

On a related note, I am happy to report that my office secured $600,000 in funding from the Transportation Authority for a Major Investment Study (MIS) for Geary corridor transit improvements. An MIS is a planning study for transportation projects that may add capacity to a transit system. An MIS evaluates alternative modal concepts to determine their effectiveness in solving transportation problems and is a necessary precursor to funding actual improvements. Funding for this study brings the Geary corridor one step closer to transit improvements that will increase the ability of Richmond residents to travel to and from downtown in a faster and more convenient manner without the necessity of using cars.

Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee

Finally, I am happy to report that the board of supervisors passed my legislation establishing a pedestrian safety advisory committee that will advise city departments on the formulation and implementation of policies affecting pedestrian safety.

Applications for the advisory committee will be accepted by the clerk of the Rules Committee of the Board of Supervisors. To find out more about applying for this committee, call 554-4447.

Jake McGoldrick is a San Francisco supervisor representing District 1.