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Supervisors advance ordinance to create Gun Violence Prevention Task Force after BLA report; amendments accepted
Summary
The Rules Committee accepted amendments to an ordinance creating a Gun Violence Prevention Task Force after hearing the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s audit and a presentation by the Mayor’s Office of Violence Prevention; the committee directed the task force to set performance metrics and required department reporting on violence-prevention spending.
Supervisor Cohen introduced an ordinance on Jan. 15 to amend the Administrative Code and establish a Gun Violence Prevention Task Force to advise city departments and policymakers. She framed the proposal around a Budget and Legislative Analyst (BLA) audit that, she said, found San Francisco spends tens of millions annually on violence-prevention programs with little coordinated planning or consistent performance metrics: "we are spending nearly $50,000,000 on violence prevention services," Cohen said, and described a 23 percent funding increase in recent years from about $38,000,000 to $47,500,000.
Diana Oliva Oroche, Director of Violence Prevention Services in the Mayor’s Office, described the IPO initiative (Interrupt, Predict, Organize), launched July 2012 under Mayor Ed Lee, and outlined three strategies: enforcement-focused interruption, predictive data-driven analysis, and organized community partnership. Oroche said the IPO initiative oversees targeted efforts including an employment program for high-risk individuals and a street-violence response team; she reported outcomes attributed to IPO, including a 36 percent reduction in homicides since the initiative launched and targeted investments (for example, about $3.5 million in services to Visitation Valley).
Supervisor David Campos and others supported the ordinance's goals but pressed for clarity on whether the task force would duplicate existing bodies and how it would be elevated to mayoral and budget-office attention. Campos urged engagement with the business community and recommended including the mayor’s budget office on or closely connected to the task force because recommendations may have budget implications.
A lengthy public-comment period featured Bayview residents, clergy and community providers who asked for immediate, community-led interventions, claimed current programs are duplicative and urged stronger accountability and resources. Barbara Acker (Bayview Opera House) and Magda Scott (front-line healing agent) described recent shootings affecting their neighborhoods and asked for concrete and urgent action.
Supervisor Cohen proposed and read amendments to the ordinance specifying membership categories (community residents, clinicians, parents affected by gun violence, a person who has engaged in gun violence, senior-level departmental appointees for public-safety agencies, and community seats) and adding reporting and metric duties: the task force would define performance metrics, require departments receiving general fund dollars for violence prevention to report annually on program performance, and recommend ways to leverage funding.
The committee accepted the amendments with no objection and voted to send the ordinance forward with a positive recommendation to the full Board of Supervisors.
No final ordinance was adopted at this hearing; the committee forwarded the item with a recommendation and requested continued emphasis on coordination, measurable goals and community representation.
