S.F. Health Department to cut managers, clinics, contracts

Good afternoon!

The S.F. Department of Public Health announced that it will slash $40 million from its budget, with 121 layoffs, mostly of managers and “redundant administrative layers,” to preserve safety net clinical services. Abigail Vân Neely looks at where the impacts will be felt.

Is S.F.’s drop in crime all about the new get-tough policies of the “photogenic and upwardly mobile” DA Brooke Jenkins? Uh, no, writes Joe Eskenazi: Crime has dropped precipitously across the nation, including in cities with very progressive prosecutors and fewer arrests. Read what the experts say.

Want the back story? See Joe’s 2022 story about the de facto “wildcat strike” the SFPD waged against former DA Chesa Boudin, a progressive who at one point had to rent his own U-Haul to handle an undercover sting because the police said they were “too busy.”

Are you voting in the June 2 primary for San Francisco’s next representative in Congress? Mission Local wants to hear from you! Help shape our election coverage: Take our confidential survey and let us know what issues matter most to you, and who you want to see (or can’t bear to think of) in the House.

More soon,

Sara

Hey, Joe Eskenazi will interview D7 Superintendent Myrna Melgar at Manny’s on Wednesday, in the next round of Scoop with a Supe. Tickets here.

Four young people stand in front of bookshelves in a library, facing the camera and posing together.

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Is your teen a curious soul? Check out the Teen Vision Project: a free, two-week immersive art, creativity, and story program (July 13–24). Students will go on transformational journeys with peers, create art, tour a museum, and work with local artists—supplies included. Apply here before the May 1st deadline.