Mayor London Breed is one step closer to beginning her $25 million fundraising drive to bring pandas from China to San Francisco. This move would require waiving city ethics rules on private donations, raising eyebrows at a time when potential budget cuts could lead to fewer services for children and families.
Government officers are usually barred by ethics law from soliciting private entities with business before the city to donate to charitable purposes or outside groups such as nonprofits. The Board of Supervisors must grant a waiver of the so-called behested payments ordinance for Breed to fundraise for the proposed San Francisco Zoo panda enclosure from entities that could seek to influence her.
On Thursday, the Board of Supervisors’ Government Audit & Oversight Committee voted unanimously to approve the limited waiver and advance it to the full board, which is expected to consider it at a meeting on Tuesday.
Breed is leveraging private funds for the pandas to avoid tapping city coffers as San Francisco contends with balancing a projected $789 million two-year budget deficit.
She secured the agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association to bring the pandas in 2025, which she has argued would be a boon to the San Francisco Zoo. In 1984, two pandas visited the zoo for three months and drew more than 260,000 visitors, roughly four times the average attendance at that time, according to the mayor’s legislation.