By Kamala Kelkar
March 28, 2008
The Coalition on Homelessness mimicked a 24-hour drop-in center for homeless people today outside of San Francisco’s City Hall to protest its impending closure due to the mayor’s budget cuts.
The center, Buster’s Place, located at 211 13th St., will close Monday at 5 p.m. It serves about 150 people daily with showers and bathrooms.
Most of the time, about 90 people stay overnight, sitting in chairs because beds aren’t available, according the coalition’s spokeswoman Jennifer Friedenbach. Protesters acted out the overnight scene.
Friedenbach said the center was supposed to be funded through June, when the city would possibly start up a new center, but San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s cuts to the city’s health department called for an immediate closure.
“It’s a place where people end up when they first become homeless,” Friedenbach said. “Sometimes there are really severely disabled seniors that come by just to use the chairs overnight.”
Buster’s Place was originally a temporary replacement for another drop-in center that turned into a medical respite facility, but Friedenbach said the closure was too abrupt.
Both the mayor’s office and the San Francisco Department of Public Health were unavailable for comment.
The Hunger Site
March 29, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Monday will be a very shameful day for San Francisco.
A $300MM deficit contributed to by ridiculous mayoral programs that go nowhere, such as Wi-Fi on buses. How about the mayor fighting for a $1MM ramp for one supervisor !!?? Priorities are upside down.
Then this revealing article in the Chronicle:
City of San Francisco’s Over-$100,000 Earners
http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/sfpay/?Search+Again
I can not believe that city employees make this kind of money, yet Busters Place is be shut down.
Shame on Gavin Newsom.