Think San Francisco’s streets are nasty now? Thanks to budget woes, they may get even nastier.
With the city facing an $876 million deficit and potential layoffs, the department in charge of scrubbing excrement off sidewalks and sweeping litter out of gutters could reduce its services, according to an initial budget proposal from the Department of Public Works.
If the trims occur, it would be a gut punch in a city battling a national perception of dirty, chaotic streets. It would also make Mayor Daniel Lurie’s job much more challenging: In addition to tackling homelessness and the fentanyl crisis, he has promised to make San Francisco sparkling clean.
“We don’t want to see cuts in street cleaning,” Public Works spokesperson Rachel Gordon told The Standard. “But it is a possibility in San Francisco.” Gordon clarified that the budget is in the early draft stages and won’t be finalized until the summer.
The proposed austerity measures come as city departments are tasked with slashing budgets by 15%, per a directive from Lurie. The mayor has also instituted a hiring slowdown.
Public safety and health positions are exempt from the partial freeze, and departments must submit a request to the mayor’s office if they want to make a hire.
In a budget memo obtained last month by The Standard, Lurie also asked departments to pause new contracts and programs in his bid to “eliminate $1 billion in overspending.”
A slice of that will come from Public Works. The department is seeking to decrease its budget by $13.8 million; of that, $2 million will come from the reduction of sidewalk cleaning services, and $1.2 million from cuts to sidewalk steaming and sweeping.
But that is only the start of possible downsizing for cleaning operations.
The department will also see an end to extra funding it received over the last two years amounting to $16.7 million, devoted to tidying roads. And another $4.7 million is on the chopping block for part of the city’s Pit Stop program, which provides public toilets, used needle receptacles, and dog waste stations.
Departments are submitting their budget proposals to the mayor’s office. Lurie has until June to submit his version, which will be voted on by the Board of Supervisors.
Christin Evans, owner of The Booksmith on Haight Street and an executive board member of the Council of District Merchants Associations, said dirty streets may slow the city’s economy at a precarious time, especially for small businesses.
“Part of the recovery in the post-pandemic era includes a basic level of sidewalk maintenance. I don’t think it’s a controversial thing,” Evans said. “If there’s garbage tumbling down the street like a tumbleweed, it gives the sense that it’s neglected.”
Street cleaning also faced cuts during the last economic downturn, she recalled, leading to a buildup of feces on streets, with merchants circulating pictures of the piles.
In his budget memo to department heads, Lurie said, “Please do not submit proposals designed to be politically untenable.” Given that neighborhoods and merchants clamor for clean streets, it’s unclear if the mayor would make even minor cuts to those efforts.
In a statement, mayor spokesperson Charles Lutvak said, “Closing the largest budget deficit in the city’s history will require doing things differently, making tough decisions, and delivering better services. That’s what San Franciscans elected Mayor Lurie to do, so we can get back to investing in our city. As we do that, Mayor Lurie won’t rest until our streets are safe and clean, as San Franciscans deserve. We will review each department’s budget proposal.”
Officials with the Public Works Department on Thursday warned that the financial forecast for the city could portend even deeper cuts in coming years. A city estimate pegs the deficit by 2030 at nearly $1.5 billion.
“As the numbers balloon, I think there’s going to have to be some really difficult choices made in terms of overall city governmental reorganizations,” Bruce Robertson, Public Works’ deputy finance director, said at a recent public meeting. “The real hard choices are in fiscal year [2029-30], when it’s $1.5 billion.”