San Francisco's City Clinic will now be included in a proposed bond issue, city officials said.
The clinic has served residents for more than 100 years with an array of women's health and sexual health services, and would have lost out on funding for critical improvements if left off the bond.
City Clinic has been housed for decades in a former fire house in the South of Market district. But as the facility ages, the clinic's ability to help everyone who needs it has been eroding.
The facility needs money to renovate and was banking on being included in the November bond, but were initially told it had been cut from it.
On Thursday, the Mayor's Office announced a new evaluation from the city controller has put the clinic back onto the bond.
"City Clinic is in, which means it will be part of the bond the voters will consider in November, as well as improvements to Laguna Honda, to General Hospital, to Chinatown Health Clinic," San Francisco Mayor's Office spokesman Jeff Cretan said.
City funding for the existing clinic and its operations are not at risk -- just the funds needed to improve it.
The site serves about 80 patients a day for a variety of sexual health issues, including testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy counseling, and some medications at no cost to the patient.
"If you have insurance through Medical, we send a bill to Medical," San Francisco City Clinic Dr. Franco Chevalier said. "But otherwise, the services are provided at no charge to you."
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Concerns over funding for the clinic began brewing earlier this week when the capitol outlay projects were first detailed.
"This project was slated to be on the November 2024 bond, but the mayor in the 11th hour decided to pull it out and put in her own pet projects," said Jeffrey Kwong, president of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club. "We think it's her political move since she's running for re-election."
The Department of Public Health has been considering whether to move the aging clinic to 333 Valencia Street, according to city documents. A women's health clinic is currently housed at the Valencia Street location.
If voters approve the bond issues, it will move the clinic to a city owned building, or a site will be purchased to suit the clinic's needs.
The Mayor's Office said the city only issues new capitol outlay bonds once old ones have been paid off. That means if voters approve the November bond issue, taxes in the city will not increase to satisfy the newly issued bonds.
