Budget must be equitable

Supervisor Eric Mar

Ensuring equity and fairness in the 2010/2011 budget

I am working hard with my colleagues on the SF Board of Supervisors' budget and finance committees and our community service providers to ensure that critical safety net services are restored for our families, children, seniors and other vulnerable populations, while trying to balance the city's $483 million budget deficit.

The mayor's budget contained millions of dollars of cuts to after-school programs for children, youth employment, outpatient services for mental health, and hundreds of other cuts to critical services that our community relies on.

To ensure long-term equity and adequate resources for our city programs, I have been working with community and labor organizations to support the hotel fairness initiative and other revenue generating efforts for our communities. I have been working with District 1 neighborhood groups and individual leaders to address a number of important projects proposed for the Richmond District.

The mayor's budget also contained $2.1 million in cuts to senior services, some of which directly affect the Richmond. I have made it my priority to work to restore these services so our seniors can maintain their independence.

I have convened a working group focused on the concept of "aging in place." Aging in place ensures that our seniors can live and flourish in our communities instead of relying on supportive housing. This takes the support of the City, the community and simple home upgrades to make dwellings more safe and suitable for a senior. I am currently developing legislation that may provide incentives for homeowners to make their homes more senior friendly.

Community Involvement in Land Use Issues

From the old Alexandria Theatre, to the proposed renovation and housing project at the Safeway at Ocean Beach, to a proposal for a CVS Pharmacy at the old Albertsons site on 32nd Avenue, to a renovated science building at the University of San Francisco, there is so much going on in the district with a lot of involvement from our community.

Our voices are being heard. Developers and project sponsors are modifying their plans to better work with the needs of the neighborhood. Residents are becoming more and more organized, building new relationships and demanding stronger community benefits. I have been pleased to be active in many of these discussions and negotiations and look forward to continuing to work with you to make our neighborhoods and communities more livable.

My office will continue our support for community engagement and to hold project sponsors and city department more accountable and to ensure that proposed projects are ones that fit with the character of our neighborhoods and support neighborhood-serving businesses, schools and community organizations.

Improving our Shelters, Holding Fast Food Companies Accountable

With a coalition of homeless advocacy organizations and leaders, I recently passed legislation at the Board of Supervisors that will reform our shelter bed reservation system. Currently, the system is confusing, complicated and constantly changing. Homeless people are forced to wait for hours to get a bed, only to be turned away while the City reports vacant beds each night. This results in more people on the streets and for longer periods of time.

My legislation will increase city services at city-run shelters, including increasing on-site reservation capacity at certain shelters and providing training for shelter staff on ADA laws. It will also require shelters to provide orientation to new shelter clients, provide case management services to those clients most in need of such services, and comply with the new smoking laws that I recently sponsored to prohibit smoking in shelters. With the passage of this legislation, our streets will be safer, less homeless people will be sleeping outdoors and there will be greater opportunities for our homeless population to turn their lives around.

I am also working on a piece of legislation to protect the health of our children. It comes on the heels of the passage of a recent law sponsored by Supervisor Ken Yeager in Santa Clara County that bans toys in kids' fast food meals that have high caloric, sugar and fat content.

Restaurant offerings such as fast food and sodas are tied to overeating, poor nutrition and severe weight gain in children. National costs for treating obese or overweight children in hospitals nearly doubled from 2001 - 2005. This is an epidemic and I believe treating it will take many different approaches. Banning enticing lures, such as toys, is just one. I hope to have a draft ready by the end of summer to begin working through the legislative process.

San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar represents District 1.