Adrian Tirtanadi, the co-founder of Open Door Legal, a nonprofit that provides free legal services to San Francisco residents, kicked off a potential two-week hunger strike with a rally outside City Hall on Wednesday. Tirtanadi says he won’t eat until Mayor Daniel Lurie reverses planned cuts for the city’s legal services.
Lurie, Tirtanadi said, is “out of touch with the majority of supervisors,” gesturing to the seven city supervisors who stood on the steps alongside him. About 50 supporters, including several who have received aid from Open Door Legal, stood below, holding signs reading “Legal aid saves lives” and “Still in debt, many more unhoused.”
Lurie’s budget proposal, which the Board of Supervisors must ratify by the month’s end, eliminates funding for “general civil legal services:” All legal aid that isn’t designated for immigration, domestic violence, or eviction defense. That covers cases like wage theft, foreclosure or informal eviction, such as a landlord creating inhabitable living conditions, or turning off the electricity…