Concern grows for proposed cuts to San Diego city equity programs’ budgets

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — As negotiations over the city’s upcoming budget continue, a coalition of San Diego’s elected officials and community groups gathered at the Civic Center on Friday to push for changes to proposed cuts that would gut — or completely eliminate — a slew of equity programs.

The coalition behind the event, called the Community Budget Alliance, argued the proposed cuts to close a $171 million deficit — up $34 million from the initial projection — would come at the expense of vulnerable San Diegans’ needs, increasing racial and economic inequities in the city.

They added that the budget, as it was drafted by Mayor Todd Gloria, fails to adequately fund efforts to address the root causes of homelessness or take needed action to mitigate the local impacts of climate change.

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The city’s Office of the Independent Budget Analyst similarly noted in a recent analysis of the current proposal for the next fiscal year’s budget that it could have “unintended consequences … that create disproportionate inequity for Communities of Concern.”

About $40 million of the city’s proposed $100 million in cuts would target these programs, according to the IBA.

Among the programs set to see their budgets slashed are Youth Care and Development Program, homelessness prevention programs overseen by the San Diego Housing Commission, and youth programming through the Parks and Recreation Department.

The Office of Immigrant Affairs is also currently slated to see significant cuts to its budget, and the city will contribute less money than needed to its community and climate equity funds.

Some of these programs that have been in the works for years, like the community equity fund and cannabis equity program, would be effectively eliminated before they could get up and running.

“Mayor Todd Gloria’s choice not to find better solutions and confront the issues San Diego residents face favors wealthy people, businesses, and corporations,” said Keara O’Laughlin, a policy analyst with the Center on Policy Initiatives. The center is one of the groups with the Community Budget Alliance.

“We need a city that works for all residents, which is why we are calling on the City Council and the Mayor’s office to stand in solidarity with us and reverse the cuts to all equity-focused programs,” O’Laughlin continued.

During recent meetings on the budget, several San Diego City Councilmembers echoed this concern about proposed cuts to equity programs.

City Council President Sean Elo Rivera was among those critical of the budget’s changes, saying he understood why cuts were necessary in a Tuesday meeting but that “it’s hard to digest that theses are the things that needed to go” given the years of work put into getting them off the ground.

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Elo Rivera joined City Councilmembers Vivian Moreno and Henry L. Foster III at Friday’s event.

Dozens of community members have also gone to public meetings over the last week to voice opposition to the cuts to programs designed for underserved communities. Nearly 100 people signed up for public comment in a meeting on Wednesday to protest these changes.

“We deserve investment, not divestment,” one commenter, Dr. Lashae Sharp Collins, said during the meeting. “We deserve opportunities, not obstacles. We deserve programs and not regression.”

Gloria’s office is scheduled to provide a revised budget proposal to the city council by May 15. The city council then has until mid-June to pass a finalized version.

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