What does the state government have in common with city government in San Francisco?
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by An illin and Chillin editorial By Leroy Moore/PNN Both are robbing Paul to pay Peter? From San Francisco to Sacramento people with disabilities will and are bleeding from proposed budget cuts and local propositions. In San Francisco Proposition N, Care not Cash is racing to the implementation deadline of July. First it was the Dot Com Boom that kicked us out of our own community now under Gavin Newson’s Pro N San Francisco’s homeless shelters will be evicting people who are not on CAAP including people with disabilities to make room for recipients of CAAP. That means people like me who are disabled and on SSI will need to be transfer to state funded nursing homes but these nursing homes are full and goes against full inclusions that is the theme of federal, state and local disability laws. On April 17th the Coalition on Homelessness had a rally at Next Door, a San Francisco Homeless Shelter, and many elders and people with disabilities are trying to answer the question that Gavin Newson and some voters didn’t think of! With a lack of low-income accessible housing and proposed budget cuts in the Bay Area and at the capital, where will housing and independent living services come from? On a state level Governor Gray Davis is proposing the most sweeping cuts to the developmental disability system ever, calling for suspension of the 1977, Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act. On April 7th The Community Advocacy Network headed by Trry Boisot and Marty Omoto who is the legislative director of United Cerebral Palsy Association called over 2,500 advocates, family members and service providers to the State Capital. We attend two budget hearings, in the Assembly and Senate pertaining to services, laws, and other programs that people with developmental disabilities rely on. While Prop N talks about services, Governor Davis is proposing to scale back services for people with developmental disabilities. For example, eliminating18 optional Media-Cal Benefits i.e. physical therapy, medical equipment dental services etc., making parents pay for Regional Center’s service under the Parental Co-Payment proposal and tighten the state’s definition of disability which is used to determine weather individuals are eligible for services. Another common factor of San Francisco’s Prop N and Governor’s proposed cuts in developmental disability system is the hijack of the funds in both systems to the general fund to balance the budget. For more information on the advocacy activities of the Community Advocacy Network around the state budget and people with developmental disabilities call: |