After the Coalition on Homelessness held a rally and silent march for the end of democracy, the Board of Supes finally passed a budget that raises fees on people who aren’t rich, attacks the unhoused population, and allows the billionaires to escape any sacrifice at all.
The vote on the budget, as with last week, was 10-1, with only Sup. Jackie Fielder in dissent. The vote to allow the mayor to redirect affordable housing money to shelter was 8-3, with only Sups. Shamann Walton, Cheyanne Chen and Fielder in dissent. The vote to force people living in RVs out onto the streets was 9-2, with only Fielder and Walton in dissent.
This is, of course, no surprise: The first vote last week set the scene. But it cements the position that Mayor Lurie has taken, and this board, by a typical 9-2 or 8-3 majority, has accepted:
A city with more than 50 billionaires, that is among the richest cities that have ever existed in human history, has to radically cut services, raise money from fees on working people, and force the victims of all that wealth to live in even greater misery…