By Macy Meinhardt, Voice & Viewpoint Staff Writer
“Let’s make it clear we will not be pushed out. We demand a “People’s Budget,” attendees at the rally said.
Outside of San Diego City Hall amid a ten-plus hour budget hearing on May 1st, a crowd of community members gathered to express their deep frustrations over Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed budget cuts.
“Shame on: Todd! Shame on: Todd!”
“Who does Todd hate? Poor people!” the crowd chanted.
Community members argue that the proposed cuts within the City’s $5.6 billion fiscal spending plan will exacerbate existing inequities for marginalized communities. The cuts to equity programs equate to $36 million which includes the shuttering of initiatives such as gang violence prevention, cannabis equity, and immigrant affairs. Many residents, particularly those “South of the 8” have expressed outrage, summing up their sentiment to: “Todd hates poor people.”
Almost everyone in attendance was fitted with a picket sign ranging from sayings such as “Invest in our community,” “Poor people are constituents too,” or “Todd the Fraud.”
A series of community members including former mayoral candidate Genevieve Jones Wright spoke at the May 1st rally, expressing opposition and endless commitment in the fight for equity within the City of San Diego.
“The communities in San Diego that are South of the 8 are already disinvested in, we already suffer from being under-resourced,” said Wright.
Right now the tone of Southeastern community members is hostile between their city leaders. Thousands of people are still displaced from the January flooding, and many believe the city’s historical disinvestment within District 4 is at fault for the devastation that occurred. Now to have programs –specifically designed and championed by their community– subject to defunding further twists the knife.
“Our newest residents deserve justice. After the catastrophic floods we saw this year the mayor should be putting more resources into infrastructure that addresses climate change and the impacts it has on low-income and BIPOC communities, not cutting,” said Keara O’ Laughlin, with Center for Policy Initiatives.
According to the office of the Independent Budget Analyst the exact breakdown of proposed cuts to equity related programs are as follows:
- Climate equity fund: $8.5 million
- Office of Immigrant Affairs: $562,000
- Cannabis Social Equity Program: $417,000 (will also require the City to return $883,000 in grant funds to the state)
- SD Access 4 All: $57,000
- Community Equity Fund: $3.1 million
- No Shots Fired Program: $250,000
- Eviction Prevention Program: $3.2 million
Based on the IBA’s analysis, “it was known that the City would be facing difficult budget decisions, as we have been dealing with a structural deficit for some time,” said Charles Modica, who oversees the IBA department. The structural deficit— which is when a government spends more than it receives in taxes— amounts to $197.8 million for San Diego.
The City had been relying on a one time infusion of $299.7 million in federal American Rescue Plan ACT dollars to support operations over the last three years. “That ARPA money has now been exhausted, and the City is left with fewer resources to provide its services,” Modica writes in a statement.
Many of these equity centralized programs were new to the City, established to address the long ignored disparities, a lot of which stemmed from within District 4.
For example, the No Shots Fired Program, launched by former District 4 Councilmember in 2021, was a collaborative effort between the City’s Gang Commission that focused on gun violence in communities of concern.
“After years of disinvestment and the corresponding impacts of community violence, the No Shots Fired Program is a step in the right direction to provide a policy solution that quells violence, promotes economic justice, and improves community policing relationships,” said mayor Todd Gloria, in his 2021 announcement of the program.
However, now on the verge of cuts, “I just want to ask Todd Gloria to not let this opportunity that combines positive intent from us all to slip through the cracks,” said D’Andre Brooks, Chair of the City’s Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention.
Other commitments facing potential backtracks are within the climate action, and community equity funds.
The Climate Equity Fund, also established in 2021, was dedicated to address climate disparities in communities on the front lines of climate change.
Direct examples of this are the flood. “This is a result of systematic disinvestment in our communities where we are ignored, or we are neglected, and that was the result of what we saw on January 22.” said Frances Yasmeen, a board member of Activist San Diego.
“His actions still don’t make sense because he’s cutting funding to our neighborhoods,” said Yasmeen, in regards to the elimination of the $8.5 million climate equity fund.
The $3.1 million community equity fund is also proposed to be drained and reabsorbed into the general fund budget.
Established in 2021, the Community Equity Fund was initially anticipated to fund 8-10 organizations to create equity focused outcomes in various areas such as employment, childcare, and education, the IBA’s report explains.
In short, the money was never spent on equity efforts within the community, and now, the proposed budget calls for the unused $3.1 million plus interest earned to be swept back into the General Fund.
In a statement on the “Protecting out Progress” budget, Mayor Gloria explains:
“These reductions are difficult, but necessary to preserve core services and are anticipated to be one-time adjustments,” said Gloria. “With revenue down and costs rising, we had to make difficult choices in order to sustain funding for key priorities: addressing homelessness and building more housing; fixing roads and other critical infrastructure; and keeping you safe.”
Other reductions discussed at the press conference were the closure of teen drop in centers in low income commutes, elimination of the tenant protection program, cannabis equity and the BIPOC criminalization of marijuana, and Office of Immigrant affairs.
Overall, the string of tension is tightening with almost every move the City makes when it comes to quality and quantity of equity. The sentiment of Todd Gloria disfavoring people south of the 8 was made clear by community activist Lanell Brown, President of Giving Hands.
“When are you going to help us Todd? When are you going to show some love for people on this side? We want to live, we want our kids to grow up and be happy just like those kids. We’re not asking for anything that you’re not already doing somebody else, we want it just like they got it–give it to us!”
To read the full outline of the IBA’s analysis on the proposed FY 2025 budget click: HERE
