Campaigning for Care
Newsom turns out supporters to rally for his homeless plan and mayoral ambitions

By Savannah Blackwell

Sup. Gavin Newsom was a near no-show at a June 16 San Francisco Board of Supervisors hearing focused on his proposal to replace cash assistance to homeless welfare recipients with promises of better services. The explanations for his three-hour absence offered by his staff were vague, and city hall insiders told the Bay Guardian Newsom just didn't have his troops organized yet and wasn't really ready to move forward.

But a week later things were different. More than 100 speakers came before Sups. Tony Hall, Matt Gonzalez, and Bevan Dufty at the board's Rules Committee meeting June 23. And nearly half of them urged the supes to implement Newsom's Care Not Cash proposal, which passed with 59 percent of the vote as Proposition N last November but was partially struck down by a judge last month.

The marriage of Care Not Cash and Newsom's campaign for mayor is clear. The "Time for Care" stickers worn by supporters of the legislation featured the same maroon and gray colors as Newsom's campaign signs and literature. And tiny letters at the bottom of the badges indicated that the Newsom for Mayor campaign had paid for them. John Shanley and other Newsom campaign workers staffed the hallways organizing speakers who supported their candidate's plan.

As for the scene, Room 263 at City Hall became a microcosm of the broader war between San Francisco's well-heeled inhabitants who chafe at the sight of poverty and those who've suffered the most from the city's economic recession and their advocates.

"Whenever I walk to work, I'm under siege by people who refuse to abide by society's minimum standards of behavior," one Care Not Cash supporter said. "The homeless machine has had years to solve this problem. Their track record is abominable."

Comments like that contrasted sharply with observations offered by those who actually use city shelters or sleep on the streets.

"You don't know what it's like to worry about living day to day," one man who identified himself as homeless told the supervisors. "You should come down and stay at one of these shelters."

After hearing four hours of testimony, the supervisors decided to send Newsom's proposal to the full board for consideration the following day at 10 a.m., after the Bay Guardian's press time.

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