Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

San Francisco

Politics Reporter at The San Francisco Standard

#SF raised. SF Standard politics journo. Reporting the hell out of my dear, foggy City. [email protected] / DM for Signal info

Articles

San Francisco could cut immigrant services as ICE arrests surge

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez |Josh Koehn

Mayor Daniel Lurie has vowed to keep all San Franciscans safe as federal immigration arrests surge in the city, but his proposed budget puts services for some of the most threatened communities on the chopping block.
City layoffs? Start with management, SF supervisor says

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

Supervisor Connie Chan is on a mission to reverse all of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s proposed layoffs of city employees. Chan, the Board of Supervisors budget chair, is scouring the city for alternatives, she told The Standard. She’s got two leads so far: eliminating vacant positions for city managers and, potentially, laying off managers. “We have been short-staffed of line workers and critical workers, essential workers, for the last few years,” Chan said.
Nonprofits brace for blood bath as Lurie slashes grant funding

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez |Noah Baustin

When she first came to San Francisco roughly a decade ago, Ermei Wu landed a job in a Chinatown restaurant to support her three kids. Like many monolingual immigrants, she didn’t have anyone explaining wage laws to her in the language she speaks, Cantonese. She never knew to challenge her boss for what she later discovered was wage theft, until she joined the Chinese Progressive Association’s education program, the Workers Rights Community Collaborative.
Daniel Lurie campaigned on ethics. Now he's gutting top watchdog

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez |Gabe Greschler

On the campaign trail, Daniel Lurie vowed to vanquish City Hall corruption, promising to fully fund the city’s governance watchdog, the Ethics Commission. Now, as mayor, Lurie just blew a gaping hole in the department’s budget, sparking an outcry from its leader. “We need to spend money on the front end, before they become big problems,” said Patrick Ford, executive director of the Ethics Commission. “In that sense, an investment in ethics is a cost saver in the long run. Our department is tiny.
Mayor Lurie’s $15.9B budget just landed. Here’s what to know

4 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez |Gabe Greschler

Mayor Daniel Lurie released his nearly $16-billion budget proposal on Friday, showcasing his master plan to close San Francisco’s colossal $782-million budget deficit. Many services will keep their funding: the San Francisco Police Department, the Public Defender’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, street cleaning crews, and homelessness services will maintain current funding levels. Everything else will be razed.
Why San Francisco's budget is so screwed

4 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

Cratered. Decimated. Tanked. Whatever word you use, the reality is the same. San Francisco’s budget is screwed. The deficit is an eye-watering $782 million out of a budget of $15.9 billion. Now, Mayor Daniel Lurie has the unenviable task of digging San Francisco out of that hole by slashing spending. Lurie plans to balance critical priorities like public safety while gutting the budgets of other city departments. Residents could see service cuts, and 1,000 city positions might be eliminated.
SF streets will get more cleaning crews in Lurie’s budget

4 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

San Francisco’s budget is a mess, but at least its streets won’t be. And, in news of interest to anyone who’s ever stepped in something awful on a sidewalk, rather than axing eight street cleaning staffers, Lurie will boost the street cleaning teams by 18 personnel, sources with knowledge said. Lurie is set to reveal his proposed budget Friday or Monday to coincide with a June 1 deadline.
Mayor Daniel Lurie's budget axes 1,000 city jobs, sources say

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Josh Koehn |Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

For the first time in more than a decade, San Francisco government workers may be laid off to shore up a massive city budget deficit, The Standard has learned. In order to close the $782 million gap, sources told The Standard that Lurie intends to permanently eliminate around 1,000 jobs. Most of those positions are currently vacant or, to a lesser extent, filled by employees currently slated for retirement.
Daniel Lurie drops cuts to district attorney and public defender

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

Despite Mayor Daniel Lurie’s warnings that he would have to slash San Francisco’s budget amid a massive deficit, two city departments vital to public safety avoided cuts to their agencies. The district attorney’s and public defender’s offices will both maintain their previous funding levels in Lurie’s final budget proposal, according to sources familiar with the mayor’s fiscal plan.
Lurie moves to gut law requiring homeless shelters in every district

1 month ago | sfstandard.com | Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

If some members of the Board of Supervisors get their way, it’ll be city law that every San Francisco district must approve its own new homeless shelter. It’s been dubbed the “geographic equity” law. The aim is to ease the burden on the Tenderloin, Bayview, and South of Market by requiring leaders in the Sunset, Richmond, and the rest of the city’s 11 supervisoral districts to put temporary roofs over the heads of homeless denizens.