By Tim Redmond
Aaron Peskin, who has generally been a good Board of Supervisors president, gave the city a nice going-away present at his last meeting, moving to call a special election in June to look for ways to raise new revenue.
It’s got the mayor’s panties all in a wad:
Mayoral press secretary Nathan Ballard said Newsom is in the middle of sensitive negotiations with labor and business leaders that could result in broad support for any cost-cutting or revenue-raising measures, but that Peskin’s legislation “threw a money-wrench into the plan.”
In other words, Gavin Newsom wants to squeeze labor for every penny he can get, and cut as much as possible out of the city budget — and the prospect that all that blood on the floor might not be necessary, that there’s actually a chance of bringing in new revenue, screws up all of his plans.
Too bad. There’s no way to cut $500 million out of the city budget without losing very essential services. Peskin did the right thing; at the very least, new revenue ought to be part of the budget discussions.