San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s office approved $75 million in budget cuts, which did not eliminate jobs but instead cut unstaffed positions and programs. This includes an office that KTVU reported would have been responsible for creating reparations for Black San Franciscans.
The funds that would have gone towards the Office of Reparations were diverted to programs that already exist, such as the city’s Dream Keeper initiative. Breed sent out a letter to her department heads on Dec. 1, outlining her conservation of funds for her top priorities.
Breed wrote, in part, “The reductions leave intact basic city services and priorities so we can continue making progress on hiring police officers, expanding shelter beds, advancing behavioral health initiatives, and cleaning up our streets.”
As The San Francisco Examiner reported, the office was founded after years of research that ended with the adoption of a reparations plan
earlier this year. Supervisor Shannon Walton told The Examiner, “I understand the importance of cuts to existing programs, but the Black community will continue to pursue justice and equity through reparations here in San Francisco.”Walton continued, “My hope is that the city’s deficit is eliminated quickly so that we can fund the Office of Reparations and fulfill the commitment made to address the historical injustices and inequities that have persisted for generations for Black San Franciscans.”
The Office of Reparations was seen as an important step in the reparations plan, drafted by the city’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee and accepted by the Board of Supervisors. The $2 million set aside for the program was to be used to hire staff and build out programs that the plan created. The plan also proposed to pay $5 million directly to eligible Black residents, while also allowing for reparations that did not involve cash payments. Breed
has never signaled any real support for the reparations plan, the San Francisco mayor has repeatedly said that reparations is an issue to be tackled by the State of California, and not at the local level. As the Examiner reported, the city’s budget deficit is expected to reach $1 billion by 2027, which spurred Breed’s budget cuts that she says are a “down payment” to help cushion the impact down the road.According to an email sent to SFGate from Parisa Safarzadehn, Breed’s spokesperson, “The Mayor does not believe we need a new bureaucracy to implement programs to benefit the African American community,” Safarzadehn wrote, “Opening a separate office is not an efficient use of funds. We should be focusing our efforts on programs that impact the community.”
Safarzadehn also said that the city’s Dream Keeper Initiative, which wants to invest $60 million in San Francisco’s Black community, is already doing that work.
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