Tell Mayor Two-Face That Funding Decisions Should Not Be Determined With A Coin Flip!
Cartoon by ISF Member Leia Phipps
In recent newsletters we have asked that you re-amplify a Call To Action (CTA) published by the HIV Advocacy Network (HAN) demanding that Mayor Lurie and the Supervisors fund HIV services in the upcoming city budget. Our city representatives have not been hearing us so we need to act on this CTA once again, even if you have already done so. We have to flood their email inboxes with renewed demands!
So that I’m not just repeating the same background information as the last two times this CTA was announced, I decided to write a different article to give you a better idea of why it is so important that as many people as possible demand that these funding cuts be reversed. After all, Mayor Lurie promised that he wouldn’t cut these programs. As my mom always told me, a promise is a promise!
"Access to culturally-competent health care is a fundamental right. This includes robust funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. As mayor, I will continue to backfill any federal funding cuts."
These are the words of Candidate Lurie and is one of the many broken promises he made during his campaign for mayor (https://lurieforsf.org/priorities/lgbtq/). It is because of promises like this that he had the support of many in the LGBTQ+ Community. Not only has he decided against backfilling funding shortages he has also made very deep cuts to what the city has budgeted for HIV services in the past.
Now that he has been sworn in as Mayor he has clearly forgotten that he made these promises. It is very surprising that he has the nerve to make these significant cuts. After all, it is he who declared that health care is a fundamental right requiring robust funding. He must be reminded of this and other promises he made.
The Board of Supervisors share much of the blame for these programs being cut because they have sat quietly by while the Mayor, in all versions of his proposed budget, has decided to deprive San Francisco residents of having access to this “fundamental right.” For example, the San Francisco Health Commission, a body that advises the Board on health-related budget issues, abdicated their power to criticize and advise the Mayor regarding budget cuts at the beginning of March for a budget cycle that isn’t final until the end of June. While the Mayor has the final word on the budget in San Francisco, it is up to the Board of Supervisors and their advisory commissions to identify which budget items should be funded in the final budget.
As an example, the lion’s share of available funds have so far been earmarked for public safety programs, such as hiring new police officers and buying new vehicles. The Mayor needs to make better choices. For example, he could decide to defer these expenses until a future budget. After all, we are repeatedly told that crime is down in San Francisco so why the critical need for new hires and equipment? Clearly the SFPD has adequate funding to keep the public safe. There are many line items in the budgets of other city departments which could be deferred as well.
Conversely, by gutting health-related programs and putting off funding until future budgets for these critical services we will have epidemics exploding in the City which will need to be treated at a much greater expense then if they remain funded. Instead of making efforts to continue to reduce the spread of HIV and related diseases, Mayor Lurie has instead decided to cut prevention services which will have the exact opposite of the desired effect on the future of the community.
As an employee of the City of San Francisco, Mayor Lurie undoubtedly has regular insurance-covered prostate exams and colonoscopies to detect early his risk of getting certain cancers. He does not wait until he is diagnosed with cancer before he begins expensive and often unsuccessful treatments. Low-income San Franciscans should not be deprived of the same level of preventative care.