The C.L.A.E.R. Project Responds to the Homicide Rate and Budget Cuts

The C.L.A.E.R. Project
1099 Sunnydale Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94134
www.theclaerproject.blogspot.com
Twitter: TheCLAERProject

Media Advisory 6/10/09

*Sharen Hewitt, 415-724-4797
*Laurel Moeslein, 707-696-7951


This week the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office proudly proclaimed that the homicide rate in San Francisco has dropped dramatically in 2009. Last year at the end of May there had been 45 lives lost in San Francisco. At the close of May this year there was a total of 20 homicides in the city, and while this is a vast improvement from last year, even one death in our city as a result of gun violence is unacceptable.

On Monday the San Francisco Examiner reported that while crime has decreased all over the city, tensions remain high in Sunnydale as gang activity escalates. And in Sunnydale, while the homicide rate has decreased, the number of non-fatal shootings hold steady. Additionally, the rate of robberies, property crimes, and automotive thefts are all up from last year.

We can’t let these promising numbers convince us that the fight against violence is over. Five months does not a year make, and with summer and the depths of a recession right around the corner, San Francisco will undoubtedly see an escalation in street violence.

This escalation in violence needs to be mirrored by an escalation in funds for community based organizations. C.L.A.E.R. knows that the city’s pocketbook is bled dry. However, an increase in funds to high crime neighborhoods translates to a decrease in violence, a decrease in the drain on public services, and increased workforce development and economic stimulation through jobs and job training programs.

C.L.A.E.R. calls upon the Board of Supervisors, and specifically the Budget and Finance Committee, to take a serious look at the positive impact of non-profits that focus on geographically isolated areas like Visitacion Valley. These non-profits pick up the city’s slack, and are increasingly important in times of economic recession.

A non-supportive vote on the budget as it stands is vote for equality, fairness, and the end of a permanent underclass. We must use this budget process to hold up a basic and common value respective to all human beings that the preservation of human life must be the most preeminent issue of the day!