THIS WEEK AT THE VOICE FOR THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2025
To view in browser, get past issues, or subscribe, CLICK HERE
It’s only money
by Mike Ege
Editor in Chief, The Voice of San Francisco
The after-action reports on the city’s final budget negotiations are out, and the narrative of fighting for the final scraps in an atmosphere of forced austerity is starting to look like a great big bowl of kayfabe.
Mayor Daniel Lurie said he wanted to cut over $180 million in cuts, including for grants and contracts to services for nonprofits, which, from another perspective, is a good start, given that we don’t seem to be getting any results from all that spending. He also wanted to eliminate around 150 active positions from the city’s famously large workforce and, notably, redirect approximately $90 million from Boondoggle Big C funds to fund shelter expansion.
In the end, Lurie gained the ability to reallocate $19 million in Proposition C funds with the approval of a simple majority of the supervisors (achievable) and another $15 million or so with supermajority approval (a tall order). The number of active layoffs was reduced to a little over 40, and $26 million in nonprofit contracts were spared.
Does that seem like a good deal?
It certainly does for Adrian Tirtanadi, executive director of Open Door Legal, who announced that he would go on a hunger strike to protest cuts to his legal services contract, and who our intrepid correspondent, Erica Sandberg, interviewed back on June 12.
It was definitely an experience,” says Tirtanadi, who told Sandberg he lost 17 pounds in 15 days when she caught up with him earlier this week. “I don’t want to repeat it but it was effective in getting the word out, helping to raise awareness.”
Erica says Tirtanadi is experiencing “a mix of emotions” about his ordeal. “I’ve talked to some people in the mayor’s office,” he told her. “Hopefully, we can come to some sort of resolution so we don’t have this fight again next year.”
I dunno — I’d be pretty elated if I were a San Francisco lawyer and generated that kind of impact with a hunger strike. It’s not like he’s Cesar Chavez or Myra Sadd Brown. Pray for no Ozempic jokes.
Meanwhile, Mayor Lurie has announced the award of over $10 million in grant funding to 145 various artists, arts nonprofits, and cultural organizations via the city Arts Commission, to help drive the city’s economic recovery. A little bird pointed out to us that $30,000 of that money is going to Toshio Meronek, whose social media accounts and podcast, “Sad Francisco,” focus on slamming housing and public safety advocates, and gleefully covering the mob of hecklers unleashed on Mayor Lurie at the Trans March late last month. Meronek got the grant to use his platforms to profile former Weather Underground member and “prison abolitionist” Linda Evans.
Again, given the money is supposed to be aimed at boosting the arts to help the city recover, does this seem like a good deal?
Check out links to our latest content below, or just bookmark our homepage to see the latest.
Top News
EDUCATION
Ethnic studies classes pose latest challenge for S.F. school officials
Parents call on school board to weigh in on Superintendent Su’s plan.
by John Trasviña
On Monday, San Francisco Superintendent of Schools Maria Su unveiled plans for a pilot ethnic studies curriculum for all ninth graders starting next month. The announcement comes barely one month after Superintendent Su proposed a Grading for Equity initiative, which was withdrawn within 24 hours after widespread opposition from Mayor Daniel Lurie, parents, and stakeholders from across the left, center, and right of the political spectrum. Su’s latest action has prompted questions about what will be taught, whether an unapproved curriculum will remain, and when the public and the school board will have a say.
TRANSPORTATION
Chinatown Muni ambassadors honored as program ends amid budget cuts
City leaders recognized the Chinatown station ambassadors before the program ended this week.
by Jerold Chinn
CITY HALL
To renovate San Francisco, you need a blueprint
A new political group discusses San Francisco’s political landscape and hints at upcoming plans.
by Mike Ege
Quote of the week
“It’s ideology, not history. Instead of a rich, historically grounded look at the lives and contributions of Black, Latino, AAPI, and Indigenous communities in California, this curriculum collapses entire cultures into an oppressor-oppressed binary.”
— Parent Allene Jue describes issues with SFUSD’s Ethnic Studies curricula and its persistent digressions into ideological delusion
Nomi toon
In Case You Missed It
BUSINESS
Gary Rulli sets record straight about his Union Square cafes
City ignores pleas for assistance during crises, but later tenants get breaks.
by Susan Dyer Reynolds
POLITICS
U.S. Supreme Court decision weakens presidential accountability
Injunction ruling puts bigger burden on City Attorney David Chiu.
by John Trasviña
VOICE BOX
Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas: a taxpayer-funded radicalization engine at SFSU
Bonta asked to investigate.
by Susan George
Like what you see? Support us | Subscribe to this newsletter
EVENTS
Out and about July 3–9, 2025
What to do this weekend and beyond.
By Lynette Majer
Managing Editor, The Voice of San Francisco
It’s a loaded weekend of events and celebrations, including lots of music from jazz and blues to classical, and more, museum adventures, and of course, fireworks. Read on for my (mostly free) picks. Enjoy your week.
Thursday, July 3
Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers will perform an all-ages concert at Yerba Buena Gardens of their signature jump blues and swing. This is one of the only times this year the group will perform with their 10-piece (six-horn) “little big band,” which they use for their albums, and for which they have a separate repertoire of tunes, many commissioned by the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. Free.
Friday, July 4
San Francisco’s annual fireworks display along the northern waterfront is typically set off from two barges off Pier 39 and the Municipal Pier at Aquatic Park at 9:30 p.m., but go early and enjoy some waterfront restaurants, and check the special Muni schedule to get there. Fog is expected, but glowy colorful clouds are still pretty cool — and they buffet the booms. Free.
Watch that waterfront fireworks show in a prime viewing location: aboard the historic Liberty ship, SS Jeremiah O’Brien from World War II. Tickets from $30.
Start your celebration early (11 a.m.) with a neighborhood parade and party at the beach, Ocean, that is, at the new Sunset Dunes park for the typical parade lineup and post-parade activities like music, food, drinks, and kiddo fun. Free.
And then there’s the Golden Gate Park Band and their Independence Day Celebration of all things American like apple pie, ribs, and tacos. (Will they play Chicago’s Saturday in the Park?) Not sure what kind of music you can expect here, some sources say “Blues for Independence,” some say “pops,” but whatever it is, it’s sure to be a great way to spend the afternoon. (And I just had to include this image of Bubba, because if a basset hound doesn’t make you smile, especially one keeping warm under a blanket, nothing will.) Free.
Minted SF is downtown’s new Friday night happy hour experience celebrating music, food, and community for all ages in, maybe you guessed it, Mint Plaza. Free, RSVP here.
A San Francisco favorite chanteuse, Paula West, will perform an eclectic selection of songs from the Great American Songbook to Bowie in four shows at the Keyes Jazz Bistro in a program titled “Resist, Reclaim, Recover, Rejoice.” Through Saturday. Tickets $40
Listen to our podcasts
- Sharks and Alcatraz? The insanity continues.
- Transit costs keep going up and that is a problem.
- Ethnic Studies, the SFUSD, and a breach of trust.
- “Why I walked out of my daughter’s college graduation,” author Erin Gordon with John Rothmann
- Plus more (and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible or everywhere else you get your favorite podcasts)
Support our newsroom
With the support of readers like you, we provide thoughtful articles and media for a better San Francisco. This is your chance to support credible, community-based, public-service journalism. Please join us!
