SF supervisors push back on funding for pandas at zoo
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The plan to bring two giant pandas from China to the San Francisco Zoo is still on track, but government bureaucracy is slowing things down a bit. Step 1 is to allow the mayor and a number of city departments to begin raising funds for the panda project. But on Thursday, that resolution failed to make it out of a supervisor’s subcommittee.
It’s by the summer of 2025 that San Francisco hopes to take delivery of two giant pandas from China. To help make that happen the mayor’s office asked the government audit and oversight committee on Thursday to authorize a waiver, allowing the mayor as well as five city departments to start raising $25 million dollars in donations.
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“We want to make sure that not a single dollar of general fund go into this proposal,” said Mayoral Chief of Staff Sean Elsbernd. “And that’s why we come to you to ensure that only philanthropy will go to support the panda exhibit and all the costs associated with it at the zoo.”
But with San Francisco’s Department of Children Youth and Their Families (DCYF) facing a $25 million dollar budget cut, supervisor and mayoral candidate Asha Safai questioned whether this should be at the top of the mayor’s to-do list.
“This is about prioritizing our future,” Safai said. “This is about prioritizing our children over pandas. And if we can rally to fund a home for pandas, we certainly can rally to raise money for essential programs that impact every single corner of this city.”
Safai suggested the mayor should instead be getting a waiver to raise funds for DCYF. The mayor’s office said they would support waivers for both endeavors. District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani agreed insisting pitting one project against another is not productive.
“I don’t think it’s impossible to seek private philanthropic dollars for pandas as well as programs supported by DCYF and our children,” Stefani said. “I just think that if we’re going to get into these mutually exclusive wars about we can’t we can only do this and not do this. I just don’t believe that we should limit ourselves like that.”
Stefani and the mayor’s office favored moving the resolution on to the full board of supervisors for a vote at its June 4 meeting.
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But fellow committee members, Supervisors Dean Preston and Connie Chan, voted instead to bring the resolution back to their committee with changes. Among other things they want is a list of potential donors and interested parties, they want to consider narrowing the number of city departments that can raise funds, and they want to explore whether the money raised can also go towards deferred maintenance at the zoo.
While some might see this as an unnecessary bamboo barrier, others see it as the committee doing their due diligence. However you see it, it means panda fundraising efforts won’t begin at least until mid-June — if not later.
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