After the 4.7 acre sale was announced last month, the council's lefty trio figured it actually had a shot at getting funding for low-income housing, because it takes a three-fourths vote--a supermajority--to earmark new, unbudgeted city income. [Five to Four, Josh Feit, May 24.] So, to spend any of the $20.8 million, the council had to woo the three lefties. However, Drago found a way to circumvent the housing-friendly contingent and introduced a resolution on June 4 outlining how the money would be spent--90 percent of it on transportation improvements. Drago's resolution will be voted on in the budget committee this week.
To the chagrin of housing advocates, only a simple majority of council members (five) has to agree on passing a resolution. So Drago's plan jeopardizes the chances that Licata, Nicastro, or Steinbrueck can extract any meaningful amount of money for low-income housing.
However, Drago may get beaten at her own game. Steinbrueck passed a resolution of his own during last year's budget process, mandating that the city spend the first $2 million of any excess general fund revenues on affordable housing. "I'm invoking [this resolution]," Steinbrueck says, because "we now have $20.8 million in unanticipated revenue, and I just want my share of it."