Before I get into specifics about these agenda items (CC Item#1) I want to say, that when IMPORTANT items as these come up, they shouldn’t be hidden in the consent, they should be talked about and debated on their own fruition. Hopefully, councilor Staggers will pull them out.
I have ‘mixed’ feelings about each item;
While I am all for funding community art programs, I would like to see a programming plan from the SF Arts Council. I would also like to know why the Sioux Empire Arts Council was disbanded, the Horse Barn mothballed and the newly formed Arts Council split from the Pavilion. Before we hand another check to the organization, I would like to have explanations to these questions.
As for the market analysis of Downtown, while I do see some obligation by the city to review this, I am wondering why out of the over 1,000 city employees, and several citizen committees, that the city can’t pull a team together internally to do this analysis? The dirty little secret about the city is that while they have highly paid professionals working for them* they spend millions each year on consultants. It’s silly and certainly not a PRUDENT way to spend taxpayer money.
With the recent controversy about the Salvation Army’s discrimination allegations, I think the city should review a better contractor for a warming site.
*Three of the highest paid city employees are dentists that work at the public health clinic. Two of them are #2 & #3 on the list. While I am all for the public health clinic, I find it a bit ironic the city spends almost $500,000 a year on dentist salaries but can’t justify trimming trees in the boulevard because they don’t have the ‘funds’ or ‘staff’. I guess pulling teeth is more important then the arbor health of the city.