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Small business and neighborhood workforce groups press supervisors to preserve Neighborhood Marketplace and Small Business Assistance Center funding
Summary
Office of Economic and Workforce Development staff said OEWD had achieved roughly $1.96 million in midyear reductions and is preparing further FY09–10 targets; small business owners and neighborhood representatives urged supervisors not to cut the Small Business Assistance Center or Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative grants, arguing those programs support local jobs and recovery.
Jennifer Mats, Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, told the committee that OEWD had achieved approximately $1,960,000 in midyear cuts (including mayoral consolidations) and faced further FY09–10 targets of about $2,300,000. Mats said the department had eliminated or consolidated 12 positions and that additional cuts would be phased into the '09–'10 budget instructions; she asked for time to propose alternative cuts and preserve neighborhood marketplace and small business assistance functions where possible.
Supervisors and dozens of public speakers representing neighborhood marketplace initiatives, Chinatown Neighborhood Workforce Center, Visitation Valley economic groups and the Small Business Assistance Center warned that cuts to OEWD and NMI grants would imperil new and fragile businesses, reduce commercial corridor revitalization, and remove a critical access point for limited‑English speakers. Several speakers presented petitions and data on recent openings and economic outcomes supported by NMI coordinators.
Supervisor Peskin said he was prepared to look for alternative cuts within OEWD to back out NMI reductions, but he emphasized the legal and timing constraints for midmeeting amendments; the committee adopted a technical motion to roll OEWD subobjects into a single line so the department could reprogram up to a capped dollar amount subject to controller certification and noticing rules. The matter was continued to the special meeting next Tuesday for further detail and possible restoration if OEWD could identify offsetting savings.
