What does $300,000 mean to the city of San Diego? Compared to a $6.4 billion budget, it’s a rounding error. For the San Diego Natural History Museum, it could mean the difference between survival and crisis. This is what’s at stake if the mayor’s proposed FY27 budget is approved.
We’re already reeling. If it continues unchanged, the city’s paid parking policy will cost us more than $800,000 a year in lost admissions revenue as families, students and seniors who used to come freely now don’t. Cutting competitive grants for arts funding would result in The Nat’s budget losing another $300,000, bringing our total loss due to city actions to $1.1 million — nearly 10% of our annual budget.
The city is, in effect, shifting its financial burden onto the nonprofits it claims to value. The line item for arts and culture is minuscule in the face of the total city budget. Eliminating it won’t balance the budget. It will only silence the institutions that give San Diego its soul.
Children will lose hands-on nature education. Community programs that serve our most vulnerable residents will vanish. Our region’s environmental literacy — so critical considering today’s climate issues — will suffer.
We urge city leaders to reverse these cuts, and we urge San Diegans to demand they do.
This text was originally published on the San Diego Union-Tribune. Read the full article here.
Posted by Judy Gradwohl, President and CEO.
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