The head of a nonprofit that provides free legal service to low-income people in San Francisco has pledged to go on a hunger strike over Mayor Daniel’s Lurie’s proposed cuts to the city’s legal aid budget.
Adrian Tirtanadi, executive director of Open Door Legal, said he will begin his hunger strike Wednesday. He said in a statement he won’t eat again until the funding is restored.
“This is not a choice I make lightly, but I cannot sit by as a decision this destructive to our city and its people is made under the false pretense of fiscal responsibility,” Tirtanadi said. “These cuts will force legal aid organizations to turn away scores of families, hundreds of whom will be pushed into homelessness and impoverished because of an inability to access legal assistance.
“Given Mayor Lurie’s promise to make data-driven budget decisions rather than ideological ones, the choice to defund civil legal aid is baffling. The data is clear: legal aid is often the cheapest and most effective way to prevent homelessness.”
Lurie’s office didn’t return a message Monday requesting comment.
“Without legal support, people lose their homes, abuse victims have nowhere to turn, and immigrants are separated from their children and families,” Tirtanadi said. “All of this when a simple letter from a lawyer could’ve changed the outcome of a life.
“Legal aid is not a luxury. Ensuring justice for the poor is the most basic mandate of the government and upstream of so many of our social problems.”
Labor and community leaders turned out at a large protest last week at City Hall, demonstrating against the cuts.