San Francisco Mayor London Breed. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)
San Francisco To Reallocate $3.75 Million From SFPD Budget to Black-Owned Businesses in City
‘We don’t need to experiment with giving the police less funding, not with murders and robberies and rapes on the rise’
By Evan Symon, May 7, 2021 2:36 am
San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced on Wednesday that $3.75 million of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) budget would be redirected to black-owned businesses in the city.
The reinvestment by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC) is part of the Dream Keeper Initiative, a program launched last year by Mayor Breed in the wake of the George Floyd incident to redirect $120 million from the law enforcement budget into the African-American community in the city.
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The $3.75 million will not be a direct investment into black-owned businesses, but rather will be awarded to 17 black-serving community organizations by the OEWD “to provide services and achieve improved economic development outcomes for African American businesses, entrepreneurs, and the African American and Black communities in San Francisco more broadly,” and “investments focus on helping African American small businesses and entrepreneurs in San Francisco start, stabilize, or grow their businesses.”
Mayor Breed said in a statement on Wednesday that the money was reinvested to help undo decades of racial economic inequalities in the city.
“Across this country, and in our City, we’ve seen how the Black community’s economic growth and prosperity has historically been disrupted and marginalized,” Mayor Breed said Wednesday. “This funding is part our efforts to undo the harm of generations of disinvestment and economic inequities. As we work to recover and make San Francisco a better place to live, work, and do business, we have to invest our resources in a way that lifts up and supports African American small businesses owners, entrepreneurs, and the entire community.”
Many beneficiaries and fund divesters, as well as many in the San Francisco African American community, praised the plan to re-rout police funding, noting that not only will it help bridge opportunity gaps in the city, but will also help many small businesses come back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This funding represents an investment in the community and addressing the wealth and opportunity gaps created by years of biased policies and approaches,” noted Executive Director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission Sheryl Davis on Wednesday. “There is tremendous talent and potential that has been stifled by our biased policies and strategies, through this process we will see the implementation of creative and innovative programs that have the potential to support and benefit all of San Francisco and not just the Black community.”
Growing concerns over redirection of SFPD funds
However, others noted that the removal of $120 million from the SFPD budget over the next two years, including the nearly $4 million being reallocated on Wednesday, is coming at the worst possible time for the city.
“Crime rates are skyrocketing,” Dennis Chin, a San Francisco neighborhood watch leader, told the Globe. “Last year, because of the coronavirus, crime went down everywhere. But not here. Robberies were down everywhere else. But here? They rose 50%. Murder? Also went up. Assault? Up. Car theft? You might as well make car alarms the new anthem for the city they go off so much from break ins.”
“Speaking as a small business owner and the father of another small business owner, I’m all for helping small businesses. Our black neighbors here are struggling after the coronavirus, like everyone, and helping them get past the coronavirus loss hurdle helps us all. Helping businesses isn’t the problem.”
“The problem is that it’s taking away money from the police, which we need now more than ever. We don’t need to experiment with giving the police less funding, not with murders and robberies and rapes on the rise.”
In San Francisco, high crime rates have been part of the reason behind the recent push to recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Tourism, a key sector for the economic recovery of the city, is also starting to be affected by the high crime rates.
Experts added that the SFPD may be asking for funds back soon if these problems persist.
“It’s happening in LA right now,” police officer William Yount said to the Globe on Thursday. “They cut funding last year after George Floyd, and now they are begging for it back as more problems come back up. If it happened to LA, which saw $150 million be cut, it will happen to San Fran, which is cutting $120 million.”
The Dream Keeper funding is expected to be divested down to community groups and businesses soon.
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The leadership in San Francisco never ceases to amaze me! But this is what you get SF citizens when you elect London Breed, Chesa Boudin, and other leftist scum.
London Breed breeds destruction for the city of San Francisco. She’s ruined the economy, destroyed small businesses, spread health-destroying injections to both young and old, closed schools, and allowed BLMers to destroy public and private property. She was never big on hiring enough cops to manage such a large city, forcing cops to prioritize a murder over a theft for lack of manpower, and now she’s just privileging a certain racial group over other racial groups doing small business even though she’s responsible for destroying all small busineiss. This woman has the mental maturity of a 14-year-old. Never above thinking in gang terms — her brother is a criminal and in prison — she is showing all her hate-whitey Black Marxist cards proudly at the expense of liberty and justice for all.
“Across this country, and in our City, we’ve seen how the Black community’s economic growth and prosperity has historically been disrupted and marginalized,” Mayor Breed said Wednesday. “This funding is part our efforts to undo the harm of generations of disinvestment and economic inequities. As we work to recover and make San Francisco a better place to live, work, and do business, we have to invest our resources in a way that lifts up and supports African American small businesses owners, entrepreneurs, and the entire community.”
Breed is well trained in the use of idealistic tropisms. Everyone who truly cares about the future of SF and is willing to work toward exorcising these people should order “American Marxism” on Amazon. And THEN, get involved with like-minded people to take back your community, block, district and city. Sitting on your butts and complaining accomplishes NOTHING.
These people are IN-SANE….
San Franfreakshow is a lunatic asylum…
None of this funding redirecting will do anything for black businesses. This might be payola to black activists. I actually didn’t know there that many black businesses in SF. Surprising.
I just can’t believe I am witnessing this.
You know you are living a third world life when government openly picks winners and losers.
In other words, Black owned businesses have to pay the city’s gross receipts business tax into the general fund which will then be handed to Nonprofits who will give out corrupt pay-to-play contracts for insiders who will then use the funds to directly compete with Black-owned businesses.
“You Pay to Play here. We’re the BEST at this game. We’re better than New York, but we do it differently than the New Yorkers, We do it more SOPHISTICATED. We do it without the Mafia” – San Francisco Human Rights Commission staffer Zula Jones on awarding preferential minority owned business contracts, as caught on an FBI wiretap
All part of the steal from whitey Democrat program as always