Ammiano on Target in Rejecting 25% Police Pay HikeRandy Shawbyline‚ Jun. 21‚ 2007While the San Francisco Chronicle frames Board-Mayor disputes as personal battles between Daly and Newsom (a theme amplified in the paper's hysterical headline story today on a nonexistent City Hall "uproar" over Daly's comments about the Mayor at Tuesday's Board meeting), sound policy dictated the Board’s 7-4 rejection of 25% salary hikes for police officers. As Supervisor Tom Ammiano put it, “police are definitely part of the equation, but there are other parts of the equation" in addressing crime. These “other parts of the equation” include the many city-funded case managers, psychiatric outreach workers, homeless shelter staff, youth service providers, mental health counselors and the many other positions whose work reduces crime and violence in San Francisco. The Mayor’s budget allocates 2.4% wage hikes to these vital nonprofit workers, while giving police more than three times this amount in actual dollars. Attempting to secure quality social services on the cheap is not a smart anti-crime strategy. |