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Many of the programs former city councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe championed as a member of the San Diego City Council are on the chopping block in the mayor’s proposed budget — and she has something to say about it.
“I cannot remain silent in the face of a budget proposal that fails to adequately reflect a commitment to equity and fairness for all residents,” Montgomery Steppe, now a county supervisor, wrote in a letter to Mayor Todd Gloria on Monday.
She identified four programs and two other funds she wants the mayor to preserve. The programs include: No Shots Fired, a gun violence prevention effort she championed; SD Access for All, an internet access initiative the city expanded during the pandemic and Gloria once described as important because “access to the Internet is more comparable to water and electricity services …”; and drop-in centers for teens.
She is asking the mayor to preserve the Cannabis Equity Program he wants to eliminate. The city will return a $880,000 grant to the state if it ends the program before October, as our editor Andrea Lopez-Villafaña reported last week.
The supervisor wants Gloria to allocate resources to the city’s Housing Commission. As we reported, the mayor wants $15 million from the housing agency to help fund homeless services. And she wants him to fund the city’s climate equity fund.
“Equity should not be sacrificed at the altar of fiscal responsibility, particularly after the recent disastrous floods and their impacts on the people we serve.” Montgomery Steppe wrote.
Mayor Gloria presented his proposed budget to the San Diego City Council yesterday and City News Service reports that newly seated City Councilmember Henry Foster III, who now represents Montgomery Steppe’s southeastern San Diego district, was among the council members who are uneasy about it.
“This proposal pains me,” Foster said. “Inequity does come with a price tag.”
Next steps: City Council budget hearings will begin next week. The City Council has until June 30 to approve the budget.
Useless woman