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 - July 30, 1999
That gave us pause, but only for an instant. Because it's not the B.A.R.'s editorial department that needs to change, it's SFAF. The fundamental difference of opinion between this newspaper and the AIDS foundation has resulted in many an editorial over the years about many things that need fixing at the foundation. We report on SFAF salary hikes year after year after year and nothing changes. We report on the high overhead costs of the California AIDS Ride year after year and nothing changes. We report on program cuts, labor troubles, red tape, and other signs of a bloated bureaucracy and nothing changes.
For there to be any change at the B.A.R. in terms of editorial positions regarding SFAF, the foundation needs to admit -- to whatever degree it can -- that things need to start changing.
And then it needs to do it.
We'd like to take this opportunity to tell the foundation that in the future, we hope there will be some positive changes at SFAF that we can report on. In an effort to be helpful, we'd like to offer the following suggestions for immediate action.
1. Salary caps. Not for the line staff, but for management, from the executive director on down. The double-digit percentage salary increases every year must stop. That money is desperately needed for other things, like actually serving unduplicated clients in substantial ways.
2. Restore Vida y Movimiento, the foundation's program for Latinos living with HIV/AIDS. Statistics from the San Francisco Department of Public Health's quarterly AIDS surveillance reports for this year show that AIDS cases are increasing among Latinos, unlike every other minority group. There have been 35 reported cases so far this year among Latinos, compared with 34 reported cases for African Americans, 10 for Asian Pacific Islanders, and two for Native Americans.
3. Beef up the housing program. Housing is the most serious problem for many living with HIV/AIDS, both accessing subsidies and actually finding a place that will accept them, as well as other housing programs. SFAF should take a much more active role in fighting for affordable housing in San Francisco. Housing is the biggest unmet need for so many reasons, increased owner move-in evictions and the tight rental market are just two. Why isn't SFAF meeting with the mayor, and members of the Board of Supervisors regularly to force some action on this issue. (If they are, we haven't heard about it.) They should demand that single resident occupancy (SRO) hotels be routinely inspected and violations repaired in a timely manner in an effort to make the housing we have safer for clients so that they'll stay housed and be able to adhere to difficult treatment regimens.
SFAF can do these things. Financial reserves at the foundation are in the millions of dollars. Some of that money can and should be spent now for programs and clients. Then of course, there's the savings that will be realized when executive salaries are stabilized.
As an aside, the B.A.R. has had a standing invitation for SFAF's executive director to write a guest opinion piece for the paper. That offer was originally made in June 1997 -- over two years ago -- and to date, the executive director has not taken us up on it. We'd like to see that change too.
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