Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth Director NTanya Lee
led a rally on the steps of City Hall yesterday to protest $11 million
in budget cuts to the Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF).
Photos by Luke Thomas
By Luke Thomas
February 6, 2009
As many as 50 advocates for children and families held a rally Thursday on the steps of City Hall to protest $11 million in budget cuts to the Department of Children, Youth and their Families, and to lambaste Mayor Gavin Newsom’s ousting of former DCYF Director Margaret Brodkin.
“We want Mayor Newsom to show up. We want him to get serious about running this City instead of running for Governor,” said Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth Director NTanya Lee. “The entire City is in crisis and where is he?”
Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom fled to Paris and Davos, Switzerland while the City grappled with an unprecedented $576 million budget crisis.
Lee said Newsom’s firing of Brodkin has set the stage “for a complete raid on the children’s fund,” which will result in a “catastrophe for our families.”
According to sources, Newsom fired Brodkin because of her “independence” and “fierce advocacy for children.”
“She would not toe Newsom’s line,” a source said on condition of anonymity, adding that three months of negotiation between Newsom Chief of Staff Steve Kawa and Brodkin resulted in Brodkin accepting seven months severance pay in exchange for her silence.
The Newsom administration refuses to discuss the motivations leading to Brodkin’s ousting.
Mayor Gavin Newsom and Margaret Brodkin, file photo.
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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February 7, 2009 at 11:14 am
recall? Recall. RECALL!
February 6, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Newsom is amazing. He goes to Europe at the worlds worst time to ride a bullet train and inspect a bike share plan. Assemblywoman Fiona Ma has checked out the trains. I’m sure the she could fill Newsom in with a 10 or 15 minute conversation. Since the city has a car share program, why go to Europe for a bike share program? How difficult can it be for the car share people to add bikes?
He should come home immediately, lock all stake holders in a room, bang some heads together and get a deal so all interests can have a united front. That’s what a real leader would do.
February 6, 2009 at 5:51 am
I couldn’t agree more that Newsom is shirking his responsibilities in this time of crisis by leaving the City and running for governor. He should immediately suspend his campaign for governor which is hopeless at this point anyway. His extravagant spending on mayoral staff and absolutely ridiculous ideas on revenue steps alone make him unfit for governor. He is no more fit to deal with state budget issues than the current governor. He should come back and immediately declare an economic state of emergency as a first step.
February 6, 2009 at 2:49 am
Newsom has a contract on San Francisco like the Republicans have a contract on America and California. What makes it so damning is a parallel pattern.