SF Chronicle: Sen. Padilla says Trump is doing ‘opposite of what our seniors need’ in S.F. stop with Mayor Lurie
By J.D. Morris
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla slammed the Trump administration’s slashing of federal programs during a visit to a San Francisco senior center Wednesday while Mayor Daniel Lurie struck a more cautious tone when talking about the city’s efforts to provide crucial services despite immense financial challenges.
Padilla and Lurie toured the Dr. George W. Davis complex in the Bayview district, a facility that contains about 120 homes for seniors and a community center. After walking through the building and speaking to people who live, work or use services there, Padilla said it was “a timely visit” because seniors stood to be particularly harmed by rising costs due to Trump’s tariffs and the president’s broader assault on the federal bureaucracy.
“It’s the opposite of what our seniors need and deserve,” Padilla said, noting that residents he met inside the Davis center had told him they were fearful for how their Social Security benefits would fare in the years ahead, with Republicans controlling the White House and Congress.
The Bayview visit provided a contrast in how two California Democrats are reacting to the relentless campaign by Trump and his allies to cut federal spending — a push that could compound San Francisco’s already-tough budget problems. Padilla used the moment to starkly highlight the potential local fallout of Trump’s actions while Lurie, who has been reluctant to invoke Trump since becoming mayor in January, kept his focus on what he can control in San Francisco.
Padilla stressed that Trump’s administration is contemplating the closure of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s San Francisco regional field office, according to Bloomberg. HUD funding helped build the senior center, and Cathy Davis, executive director of the nonprofit that operates the facility, said she welcomed Padilla and Lurie because “we really do receive a lot of support from the federal government and from the city.”
Potential delays in distributing government benefits caused by Trump’s cutbacks could be severely harmful to seniors if it means they struggle to get crucial housing assistance in time, Padilla said.
“That could mean the difference between getting to next month or ending up on the streets — temporarily, long term or otherwise,” he said.
Lurie, for his part, refrained from criticizing Trump or congressional Republicans while standing at Padilla’s side, saying he would work with the senator and state officials and would “be prepared for whatever comes our way.” The city faces an $818 million two-year deficit, and its financial woes could worsen if Trump cuts federal funding or the country enters a recession. The mayor’s budget director recently told department heads that $1 billion in funding is at risk because of Trump’s push to cut federal programs and target liberal programs, all of which is “compounded by growing uncertainty around the national economy.”
Lurie said he would do everything he could to “protect core services here in San Francisco” and keep the streets clean and safe for everyone.
“Every few minutes, things change … what doesn’t change is what’s in front of us,” Lurie said, adding that his budget plan due by June 1 would try to protect the city’s fiscal health and its ability to deliver essential programs for years to come.
Before speaking to reporters outside the senior housing complex, Davis guided Padilla and Lurie on a walk through the facility, including its kitchen where they met workers who had just prepared peach cobbler. In the dining room, a few dozen seniors gave the senator and mayor an eager welcome as the politicians shook their hands and introduced themselves.
Evelyn Allen, 62, said she was excited to meet Lurie, who she described as “very friendly.”
Allen doesn’t live at the facility but said she comes there regularly for aerobics and nutrition classes, as well as to use the computer.
“I love being here,” she said. “I don’t feel like a stranger. They make me feel warm and it makes me feel like I have a family here.”
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