‘Investment Needed Yesterday’ Theme of City Budget Town Hall

District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, who represents much of Ingleside on the city’s Board of Supervisors, held a town hall meeting Wednesday to engage his constituents in the city budget. City officials, namely City Controller Ben Rosenfield, were on hand to help answer questions.

The meeting’s purpose is to inform the city’s two-year budgeting process that will come to a head in coming months. The budget deficit has risen to $291 million because of higher costs, lower revenues and unforeseen expenses such as police overtime.

Over the course of the two-hour meeting held at Balboa High School community members advocated their concerns as residents and nonprofit workers who serve the community.

Priorities that Safaí said were on his radar were mental health services, public safety, street cleaning, food security and affordable housing.

However, the budget cuts may be serious impediments to achieving those goals.

“We weathered the pandemic, which really decimated a lot of our local tax revenues that we depend on,” San Francisco City Controller Ben Rosenfield said. “Business tax, hotel tax, sales tax, we know all of that declined precipitously as soon as the pandemic closed the doors around the world.”

An additional challenge they are facing when it comes to generating more revenue is the lack of going back to work downtown. Rosenfield said only about 40% of people have returned.

“The world is slowly recovering but not fast enough to make up for where we’re at,” Rosenfield said. “We're losing federal money that carried us through this amazing moment in time. Our revenue base is going to be very slow to bounce back.”

Citywide concerns being what they were, many of the meeting participants expressed that they wanted District 11 to get its fair share.

“I’ve seen the infrastructure and the streets in our neighborhoods have not been cared for and cared about,” one attendee said. “It’s gotten worse. I just want to know what will be done, what can be done because I don’t want any more excuses. I want to see the results and I want to be part of the work but we need to see the work.”

Community members also wanted more resources for libraries, homelessness and education.

Felisia Thibodeaux, executive director of the nonprofit Southwest Community Corporation, advocated for a community center among additional needs for support in the Lakeview/Ocean View-Merced Heights-Ingleside.

“We need a commitment of a community center that we can be proud of,” Thibodeaux said. “We’re one of the only communities, some communities have three or four, we do not have one community center especially on the other side of the freeway in the Lakeview/OMI.”

For Thibodeaux and others, having a community center will not only bring the community a set place for the resources they may need but also a place to keep people safe.

“We need a real investment yesterday,” Thibodeaux said. “We’re still fighting the system and still trying to build our programs.”

Delia Fitzpatrick, who leads the Ocean View-Merced Heights-Ingleside Community Collaborative, said they are still awaiting food distribution and reimbursement payments from the city.

“I want to remind everybody that the largest number of workers live in our district,” one attendee said. “You have to invest in the community that actually is serving the downtown. Janitors, hotel workers and the city employees live here.”

Although Safaí’s comments centered on issues of police overtime funding and money that has been frozen or rumored to be reallocated, he emphasized that he heard all of the concerns.

“One of the things that I think is super important that we learned from tonight is that even though we experienced trauma during Covid over the last few years, it really did bring this community together,” Safaí said. “I appreciate all the people who came out tonight. We have been taking notes.”