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LGBT seniors settle in at 55 Laguna
Meals on Wheels braces for cuts by Cynthia Laird
M
eals on Wheels of San Francisco is bracing for possible cuts now that President Donald Trump has released his proposed budget, but the chief executive officer stressed that cli- Courtesy Meals on Wheels SF ents should not panic. Ashley McCumber, Ashley McCumber a gay man who heads Meals on Wheels of San Francisco and is the board chair of Meals on Wheels America, told the Bay Area Reporter that they were not surprised by Trump’s budget plan, which the president announced last week. In it, Trump called for massive cuts to non-defense discretionary spending, including the Community Development Block Grant program. The block grants are provided to states and municipalities, which then use the money to help fund a variety of services operated by nonprofits such as after-school programs and some senior food programs. Millions of people in every state would be affected if the block grants are cut. Congress ultimately approves the federal budget, and the president provided his budget “blueprint” as he seeks to increase military funding and cut domestic expenditures. “We were not overwhelmingly surprised,” McCumber said of Trump’s budget plan. “Right now, we don’t know much.” McCumber also said that the bulk of Meals on Wheels of San Francisco funding comes not from the block grants, but from the Older Americans Act, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. If Congress cuts that funding, it would be “devastating,” he said. “If an 18 percent cut to the Older Americans Act takes place that would be devastating to senior meal programs everywhere,” he said. Meals on Wheels of San Francisco has an annual budget of just over $13 million, McCumber said. No block grant money is used, but the agency receives about half its funding from the government, and about half from fundraising. About 35 percent of the budget comes from OAA funds, he explained. In a statement, Meals on Wheels America said that some local programs rely on the block grant funds. “Details on our network’s primary source of funding, the Older Americans Act, which has supported senior nutrition programs for 45 years, have not yet been released,” said a statement issued by Meals on Wheels America March 16. The agency said it feared “millions of seniors who rely on us every day for a nutritious meal, safety check, and visit from a volunteer will be left behind” if there are cuts to OAA. “The best thing to take solace in is that OAA See page 12 >>
Vol. 47 • No. 12 • March 23-29, 2017
Openhouse Executive Director Karyn Skultety, left, sits on the rooftop patio at 55 Laguna as residents Ron Cordova and Robin Rheault talk with Amy Goodwin, the resident services manager.
by Matthew S. Bajko
H
aving lived for eight years in the Ambassador, a converted single-roomoccupancy hotel in the Tenderloin at the corner of Mason and Eddy streets, Ron Cordova had become inured to the constant whir of sirens outside his building. But since moving two days prior to
Christmas into 55 Laguna, the city’s first affordable housing development designed specifically for LGBT seniors, Cordova has had to adjust to the quietness of his new apartment in the former college building known as Richardson Hall on the edge of the city’s gay Castro district. “It is dead quiet,” said Cordova, 58, a gay man who is disabled and living with HIV.
“Since I have been here, I have heard one siren. Where I had been living, I heard sirens daily.” Last summer, Cordova entered the lottery to select residents for 31 units in the renovated building, a $16 million joint venture between Openhouse, the LGBT senior services agency See page 11 >>
Ting plans education campaign on gender-neutral bathroom signs
Kelly Sullivan
by Matthew S. Bajko
Ting has been working with Equality California, the statewide arlier this month Jordan LGBT advocacy organization that Davis was traveling with co-sponsored the state law, on a friends to Sacramento public education campaign about when they pulled off the highhaving proper bathroom signs. way in the city of Davis to make His office expects it will launch a pit stop. They found a Chevron sometime in April. gas station where they could use “If people aren’t doing it, it is the bathroom. because they are not knowing The service station had two about it,” said Ting. “Getting the single-occupancy restrooms. But legislation passed was the easy they still had signage marking one part, now we have to make the as male and the other female, in change a reality.” violation of a state law that went The law is meant to benefit not into effect March 1 that requires only transgender individuals, who businesses and government-run often face harassment or worse Kelly Sullivan buildings to mark all single-stall when using the bathroom that Signage at a single-stall bathroom at the Anza library branch in the toilets as for use by anyone. corresponds with their gender Richmond has not yet been changed to gender neutral. When she returned home, identity, but also disabled people Davis, a transgender rights activand parents who need to assist In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, ist, searched online for how to report the busitheir young children in using the restroom. Davis said the response she received illustrates ness as being in noncompliance with the state “Obviously, bathrooms are a critical part of how “it is going to be kind of hard, really, to law to Davis city officials. Her March 7 email everybody’s lives,” said Ting. “We all need to figure this out at the state level.” prompted a response from Michele Sharitz, use them. We also want to use bathrooms safely Asked about Davis’ experience, Assemblyman a police service specialist supervisor with the without harassment.” Phil Ting, (D-San Francisco), who last year auDavis Police Department. In crafting his bill with LGBT advocates and thored Assembly Bill 1732 requiring the genderSharitz replied that, “The City of Davis does not business interests last year, Ting specifically did neutral bathroom signage, told the B.A.R. that it currently have a municipal code on this matter to will take time for local officials to learn about the See page 6 >> enforce,” apparently unaware of the new state law. law and that they are required to enforce it.
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