cawacko
Well-known member
Like most other cities S.F. is facing budget deficits, cutbacks etc. Here's a non-profit that basically has no revenue getting propped up by the tax payers. Yet when any legislation is being discussed to help small business hire for example the politicians get labeled as selling out to downtown interests. Life as usual on the left coast.
LGBT Center looks to San Francsico for bailout
Eight years after opening with great fanfare, San Francisco's city-subsidized, $12.3 million Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center is on the verge of foreclosure - and is asking the cash-strapped city for a $1 million line of credit to help bail it out.
And from the looks of things, the center will probably get it.
The thinking: The city has already spent about $5.7 million on the building at Market and Octavia streets and needs to "make sure it doesn't go under," said Supervisor David Campos, who along with fellow gay Supervisor Bevan Dufty is seeking approval of a $1 million "mortgage relief" fund.
Even that, however, might not be enough to save the center.
According to a new report by the Board of Supervisors budget analyst, the center could need even more public funds to cover the nearly $3 million that it still owes on its mortgage.
"Clearly, it's unprecedented," Campos said of the bailout proposal. "But I do believe there is something unique about the role the LGBT Center plays - not only in the life of the community, but the entire city."
Located at the gateway to the Castro district, the LGBT Center and its staff of 24 offers everything from counseling and job training to HIV prevention and arts programs. Of its $1.8 million budget, $777,000 consists of city contracts.
But the center has never made the money it expected from renting out rooms to community groups, and with the recession there has been a drop-off in contracts and in contributions from foundations and individuals.
One casualty of the pinch was the mortgage, which is two months in arrears.
LGBT Center Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe says the nonprofit has furloughed workers, reduced benefits and cut programs, but it hasn't stopped the bleeding.
Hence, the "mortgage payment reserve fund" - starting with a $157,500 loan from the city's general fund. It would be "replenished" as needed with another $866,250.
If approved by the Board of Supervisors and the mayor, the bailout would be the first time the city has used its general fund to guarantee mortgage payments on behalf of a nonprofit, according to the budget analyst's report.
Dufty says the center's mortgage holder, First Republic Bank, insisted that the city put up some money before it would redo the center's loan.
"Yes, it's a bad time" for the city to have to come up with funding, Dufty said. "But for the dollar amount, I think we're getting a tremendous benefit."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/10/BA9O1CD86C.DTL&tsp=1
LGBT Center looks to San Francsico for bailout
Eight years after opening with great fanfare, San Francisco's city-subsidized, $12.3 million Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center is on the verge of foreclosure - and is asking the cash-strapped city for a $1 million line of credit to help bail it out.
And from the looks of things, the center will probably get it.
The thinking: The city has already spent about $5.7 million on the building at Market and Octavia streets and needs to "make sure it doesn't go under," said Supervisor David Campos, who along with fellow gay Supervisor Bevan Dufty is seeking approval of a $1 million "mortgage relief" fund.
Even that, however, might not be enough to save the center.
According to a new report by the Board of Supervisors budget analyst, the center could need even more public funds to cover the nearly $3 million that it still owes on its mortgage.
"Clearly, it's unprecedented," Campos said of the bailout proposal. "But I do believe there is something unique about the role the LGBT Center plays - not only in the life of the community, but the entire city."
Located at the gateway to the Castro district, the LGBT Center and its staff of 24 offers everything from counseling and job training to HIV prevention and arts programs. Of its $1.8 million budget, $777,000 consists of city contracts.
But the center has never made the money it expected from renting out rooms to community groups, and with the recession there has been a drop-off in contracts and in contributions from foundations and individuals.
One casualty of the pinch was the mortgage, which is two months in arrears.
LGBT Center Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe says the nonprofit has furloughed workers, reduced benefits and cut programs, but it hasn't stopped the bleeding.
Hence, the "mortgage payment reserve fund" - starting with a $157,500 loan from the city's general fund. It would be "replenished" as needed with another $866,250.
If approved by the Board of Supervisors and the mayor, the bailout would be the first time the city has used its general fund to guarantee mortgage payments on behalf of a nonprofit, according to the budget analyst's report.
Dufty says the center's mortgage holder, First Republic Bank, insisted that the city put up some money before it would redo the center's loan.
"Yes, it's a bad time" for the city to have to come up with funding, Dufty said. "But for the dollar amount, I think we're getting a tremendous benefit."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/10/BA9O1CD86C.DTL&tsp=1
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