This week at City Hall sees the Board of Supervisors tackle significant behavioral health policy and budget-related problems, as they look to approve recovery-based supportive housing, a possible bailout for the troubled San Francisco Zoo, and increasing labor tensions at the airport. Oh, and Monday is Star Wars Day.
On Monday, the Supervisors’ Rules Committee is scheduled to again take up appointments to the Behavioral Health Commission, where now 26 applicants are vying for the 10-seat, state-mandated panel. On April 20, the committee voted to continue the item due to, according to chair Shamann Walton, “conversations needing to be had with some of the candidates.”
As noted in our April 19 report, the commission has had some friction between members, with one member being removed from the body for “conduct that was seriously disruptive to the functioning of the commission” and another resigning, apparently in protest. At that week’s committee meeting there were 28 applicants for the seats, including former co-chair Liza Murawaski; her name does not appear on the list of applicants this week.
Nevertheless, worker tensions at SFO were also a significant undercurrent of the protest.
Tuesday’s full board meeting features a number of top-billing items including a first vote on District 6 member Matt Dorsey’s bill to expand drug-free supportive housing, which is sponsored by a majority of board members but has significant opposition from progressives and supporters of current harm-reduction policy. The bill was cleared with recommendation by the board’s Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee on April 23rd after about an hour of public comment and member discussion.
Also on tap Tuesday: resolutions in support of preserving the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program in San Francisco public schools, and declaring today as Star Wars Day in San Francisco.
Wednesday features a vote by the Budget and Finance Committee to authorize an $8.5 million loan to the San Francisco Zoo to support its “long-term financial sustainability.”
The zoo has been embroiled in controversy for years over its governance, which resulted in the resignation of CEO Tanya Petersen last year, and on Friday, the city’s Budget and Legislative Analyst released a performance audit documenting multiple continued governance problems, including $12 million in unauthorized spending. Lobbying against the bailout are advocacy groups including In Defense of Animals, who claim that the zoo’s governance issues exemplify an obsolete model, oppose plans for a $27.5 million Giant Panda enclosure, and urge transition of the facility to an animal rescue and education-based one with restored habitats.
Also on Wednesday, the Budget and Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on the city’s current debt capacity.
On Thursday the Government Audit and Oversight Committee will hold a hearing called by Board President Rafael Mandelman on ongoing labor contract negotiations at San Francisco International Airport.
Worker relations at SFO have been under scrutiny from Supervisors for the past few years. In 2020, the board passed the Healthy Airport Ordinance, which mandates health insurance coverage for certain employers at the facility. The following year, LSG Sky Chefs, a food service provider, attempted to skirt requirements by moving up to 300 catering employees to San Jose International Airport. Further requirements of the ordinance were passed by Supervisors late last year, though Mayor Daniel Lurie refused to sign the bill. Last February, a federal court ruled that Airlines for America, a trade group suing the city over provisions of the ordinance, could seek refund of certain fees and penalties under the ordinance.
In mid-March, workers for SFO’s AirTrain briefly went on strike, alleging their employer was failing to bargain in good faith over wages and vacation time.
This past weekend featured a May Day demonstration by airport workers, union members and local elected officials, including members of the Board of Supervisors (even District 9 member Jackie Fielder, who is supposed to be on medical leave), that highlighted alleged abuses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel. Nevertheless, worker tensions at SFO were also a significant undercurrent of the protest.
