Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Bay Area Reporter - Thursday, May 20, 1999
Cynthia Laird
The planning council will meet this Monday, May 24 and is expected to take up the issue the mayor's refusal to reappoint two members last month. Loras Ojeda, who had chaired the membership committee, no longer serves on the council; Co-chair Tom Calvanese was told he could serve only "until a replacement is found," and remains one of the council's leaders.
The planning council prioritizes and allocates federal Ryan White CARE Act funds distributed in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties. Last year both Calvanese and Ojeda voted against increasing mental health services, despite Brown's active lobbying in support. The measure ultimately passed as the mayor wished.
About 40 people attended Monday's meeting, including several representatives from the Department of Public Health (DPH), AIDS service organizations, and planning council members. Among those attending was Co-chair Nilda Rodriguez, who surprised the mayor's HIV/AIDS policy adviser Bill Barnes with her comments. "It really pisses the shit out of me," she said Brown's recent efforts to tinker with the council. "I didn't come here to work for the mayor."
Rodriguez added that last year when her reappointment came up, former HIV/AIDS policy adviser Dick Pabich personally contacted her about her vote on the mental health issue. "I was very angry," she said. "I don't have time for this crap."
Dr. Michael Siever, who co-chairs the city's Treatment on Demand Planning Council, encouraged people to contact Brown to express their support for the community planning process. "The mayor and DPH are highly ambivalent about community planning," Siever said. "We need to continue to put pressure on the mayor, supervisors, and DPH that we need community planning."
Calvanese said that neither he nor Ojeda have been given a satisfactory answer about why they were not reappointed.
The May 24 meeting starts at 4:30 p.m. in room 201 at City Hall. The mayor's HIV/AIDS policy adviser can be reached at (415) 554-5101.
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