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Supervisor Peskin Unveils Money for District 3

Supervisor Aaron Peskin talks about the distribution of funds from the 2001-02 city budget in District 3.

By Ethen Lieser

About 20 people crammed into a meeting room in the Chinese Newcomers Service Center in Chinatown to hear Supervisor Aaron Peskin. Though the humid air had many people sweating and fluttering fans, much of the discomfort was forgotten when Peskin described how funds from the 2001-02 city budget would be distributed to District 3.

Mayor Willie Brown’s $5.2 billion budget proposal, the largest in San Francisco history, was divided into six subgroups: health care, housing/homelessness, youth and neighborhood services, women’s safety, employment and economic development, and quality of life issues. The Finance Committee’s revised version was trimmed down by $27 million and it reallocated some $15 million, most of which would go to public health and housing programs. The Finance Committee will present its revised budget to the full board on July 16. It is expected to be finalized on July 30.

Some of the biggest winners were healthcare organizations and nonprofits. Peskin said every nonprofit in San Francisco would receive a 2 percent cost of living adjustment. That announcement drew one of the largest applauds.

“[It] was our way of saying to the nonprofits that we care about them,” Peskin said, “that we’re psychologically behind them and to let them know that their work is valuable to San Francisco.”

California has allocated $77 million for healthcare, but during the meeting in Chinatown, Peskin said he pursued more state funds and gathered an extra $5 million, which will be used for the financially-strapped San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). Some $60,000 will also be given out to the Chinatown Health Center, the only one of nine health centers in the area that doesn’t have a bilingual social worker on staff. Because of the funds, Peskin said the center will now be able to hire bilingual social workers.

“From a policy perspective, I think that we realized if SFGH is to remain viable and to be able to serve the most vulnerable people in San Francisco, it needed a booster shot,” Peskin said. “I think the [supervisors were] very distressed when we watched the general hospital in Washington, D.C., a 200-year-old institution, close its doors. And we want to make sure that SFGH is there to continue to serve the people.

“Relative to nonprofits, I believe the [supervisors] became very acutely aware of the growing disparity … city workers who work for the civil service bureaucracy were getting 5 percent pay increases year in and year out. The people who work with them side-by-side at SFGH and at the Department of Human Services, were getting paid much less … for the same amount of work.”

One of these nonprofit organizations benefiting from the 2001-2002 budget is the Chinese Newcomers Service Center, which caters to new immigrants and low-income families in District 3. Julia Ling, the executive director of the center, said the $50,000 allotted will help fund Web site upgrades, free computer classes for adults and teenagers, and additional programs, such as job training and ESL classes.

“It’s great,” Ling said about the funding she will receive. “Especially for a small agency like ours, it is definitely going to help out a lot. With the current economic situation, raising funds is extremely tough, so this [is] helping us to continue to provide good service to our clients.”

Peskin also focused on the San Francisco housing situation and a couple of new initiatives to the budget. The budget has allotted $205 million for housing, which will help fund the I-Hotel building project and renovation plans for the North Beach housing projects on Bay Street.

Throughout the meeting, Peskin commended active community involvement from the people in the room for making sure important health and nonprofit organizations get their share of the budget.

“It is very important for citizens of San Francisco to contact their supervisors and advocate … a fair and well-distributed budget,” Peskin said.

Reach Ethen Lieser at elieser@asianweek.com.