Some cuts restored After a public outcry over plans to slash programs for the indigent and the sick, Mayor Gavin Newsom worked with Sup. Jake McGoldrick to restore some public health funding, although several major health care cuts remained in place at press time.

The worst cuts remain in the San Francisco Department of Public Health's AIDS/HIV programs and in the public health at-home nursing service (see "The Last House Call," 11/24/04). The nurses will still lose $1 million if the plan to restore $900,000 kicks in; AIDS/HIV services will still lose $2.4 million after $1.5 million is restored.

In better news, Newsom has agreed to restore funding for the Tom Waddell Health Center's primary and urgent care clinics. Critics had been particularly bitter about plans to cut funding for the center since it mainly treats the homeless (see "Cutting Care," 12/1/04).

The mayor also restored funding for a homeless drop-in center in the Tenderloin. It's still not clear whether the center will be run out of the health department and managed by the Central City Hospitality House, or whether the Department of Human Services will control the funds.

The Board of Supervisors voted Dec. 14 to give the money to the health department in an effort to retain the current program model. DHS wants the program model changed to synchronize with Care Not Cash – a move that would likely put it under the management of the Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center.

The cuts, which take effect Jan. 15, are the fallout from the defeat of the two tax measures on the November ballot that Newsom had counted on to balance the budget. Newsom and the board found $6 million to return to these programs through several moves, including increasing restaurant fees, restricting water purchases for city workers, and cutting city contributions to the Convention and Visitors Bureau by 5 percent.

Even with those revisions, Newsom's budget cuts prompted a Dec. 20 rally on the steps of City Hall by activists with the San Francisco People's Organization, Senior Action Network, the Gray Panthers, and others who sang modified Christmas carols and equated Newsom with the Grinch. (Rachel Brahinsky)

Lick deal OK'd The City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the lease of a publicly financed athletic facility to Lick-Wilmerding High School Dec. 16. The resolution, which had been strongly opposed by trustee Julio Ramos (who was absent from the meeting) and criticized by trustee Milton Marks III, will generate $14 million over 25 years for the community college district, but the money will be controlled by the nonprofit City College Foundation (see "Field of Schemes?," 9/22/04).

San Francisco City College chancellor Dr. Philip Day stated before the vote that the savings gained by the Lick-Wilmerding lease could be directed to other needs throughout the entire district. Trustee Rodel Rodis, whose views reflected that of the majority of the board, said private partnerships had to be pursued in light of the district's financial difficulties. That's where Marks disagreed, even though he ultimately voted for the deal.

"I think we're establishing an unfortunate precedent relying on private money like this. I think it's a tragic message that the state and government are not doing their part for public education," Marks said to applause from the assembled public.

The City College Foundation is expected to approve the final draft of the resolution in March. (Joe Donohoe)

Deportation déjà vu Renowned Bay Area activist Kate Bender-Raphael was arrested again by Israeli authorities Dec. 14 while videotaping border police attacking nonviolent protesters, beating a Palestinian teenager, and arresting two international observers at what had been a peaceful demonstration against the construction of the "security wall" through Bi'lin village, near Ramallah. Bender-Raphael, a Jewish American, is now facing deportation from Israel for the second time.

"I'm filing an appeal of the deportation order based on the grounds that the wall is illegal, the occupation is illegal, apartheid is illegal, and that I feel I was acting as a responsible international citizen to try to prevent illegal acts and therefore Israel doesn't have the right to deport me," Bender-Raphael told the Bay Guardian by phone from the Tsochar immigration detention facility near Gaza.

On June 30, the Israeli High Court ordered the government to reroute a 19-mile section of the wall being constructed through a town northwest of Jerusalem, opening the way for further challenges. One week later, the International Court of Justice ruled the wall being constructed by Israel around the West Bank is illegal.

As for her legal argument, "I'm pretty positive it hasn't been tried," said Bender-Raphael, who intends to represent herself in court.

The Israeli government first sought to deport Bender-Raphael one year ago, after she was apprehended filming Israeli military violence against peaceful protesters opposed to the wall in Budrus, another Palestinian village not far from Bi'lin (see "Caged Dove," 1/7/04, and Follow That Story, 1/14/04).

She eventually agreed to leave Israel last January after spending eight days behind bars. Bender-Raphael – who recently added Bender to her last name – returned to San Francisco, got a new passport, and reentered Israel May 7.

Israeli authorities arrested a total of four Israelis and three internationals in Bi'lin Dec. 14 but released all but Bender-Raphael and Kelly Minio-Paluetto, a 23-year-old from Madison, Wis., who also has a history of activism in solidarity with Palestine. The Israeli government is seeking to deport Bender-Raphael, a prominent member of Women in Black, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, and the International Women's Peace Service, based on charges that she was trespassing in a closed military zone. Bender-Raphael told us she had been interrogated by the Shabbak, Israel's version of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and denied bail.

"Apparently," she said, "the others arrested next to me were not in a military zone." (Camille T. Taiara)