The backlash to Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed spending cuts to close a $118 million budget deficit is here.“Year after year, our community members have been pitted against one another to fight for small budget portions that are set aside for us,” said Liliana Soriano Garista, director of Policy at Youth Will, during at a press conference to save the Office of Youth Services’ $350,000 budget in the city’s $6.4 billion annual spending plan.
It was the first in a series of furious press conferences held in Civic Center Plaza Monday ahead of the City Council’s first discussing of the proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Hundreds gathered to decry cuts to youth services, parks, libraries and arts.
A young person speaks as part of a crowd turning out to oppose city budget cuts affecting the Office of Youth Services. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)Another speaker said it more succinctly: “Hunger Games.”
Melissa Hernandez, executive director of PHAT CAMP, referenced the dystopian novels where youth from different areas, some poor, some rich, fought to the death for resources sent back to their districts.
“I’m not going to your Miramars. I’m not going to your Mira Mesas, and I’m definitely not going to your La Jollas. But you cannot continue to take away from our communities in the underserved Southeast San Diego, downtown, City Heights,” Hernandez said. “‘Hunger Games.’ Bring it. I’m ready.”
Sean Elo-Rivera speaks to a crowd outside a council meeting. A crowd of San Diegans turned out on April 20, 2026 to oppose city budget cuts affecting the arts and youth services. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)Even Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera echoed her comments in his own address at the portable mic in the city square.
“Youth should not be competing with arts and culture for funding, and I think that speaks to maybe this point about the ‘Hunger Games’ situation that we’re in,” Elo-Rivera said.
His speech was nearly overpowered by a pick-up orchestra across the plaza, practicing ahead of its own press conference to restore $11.8 million in arts and culture grants.
An orchestra shows up to play amid a crowd of San Diegans who turned out on April 20, 2026 to oppose city budget cuts affecting the arts. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)At that press conference, arts leaders expressed shock over the cuts. San Diego’s arts funding survived both the 2008 financial crisis and Covid, but are under fire as the city looks to correct its structural budget deficit.Last year, city leaders looked to new fees to combat the deficit, inspiring months of public backlash that defined city politics. Now, it’s a series of cuts generating fierce opposition.
“This decision came as a complete surprise,” said Alessandra Moctezuma, chair of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. ” It felt like a kick in the gut. The timing could not have been worse,”
When the budget proposal went public, she was actively reviewing this year’s rounds of grant applicants, the very program being cut. The commission expected that grant funding to stay flat amid the shortfall. Still, Moctezuma looked forward to handing out grants to the most awardees ever, 229.
“These organizations, large and small, exist in every district in the city,” she said. “Nearly half of the programs they provide are free and community facing,” she said. “Beyond the cultural value, the arts are a powerful economic driver. This is the message that maybe the politicians should hear because maybe that’s the one thing that they care about.”
People holding signs that say “Mingei International Museum: $197,326 eliminated” amid a crowd of San Diegans who turned out on April 20, 2026 to oppose city budget cuts affecting the arts. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)For her and others in the arts community, they decried years of broken promises.
This round of cuts to the arts was particularly unexpected. The City Council pledged to protect arts funding last November, noting arts are often the cash-strapped city’s first target.
In 2012, the city passed a “penny for the arts” initiative, pledging one penny of every dollar collected in hotel taxes to go to the arts. The city has never fulfilled that commitment.
Former Republican Councilmember Lorie Zapf, who started that pledge, spoke at the press conference, pointing to city spending on bike lanes and homelessness services as recipients instead of the arts funding her initiative promised.
“You can only raise so much money in a city where people are struggling to survive,” Zapf said. “That gap could be the difference between moving forward or not.”
A musician plays his trumpet as a raucous crowd turns out to oppose city budget cuts. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)Arts leaders took turns sharing the impact of arts cuts on their organizations in unofficial speeches.
“There are much smaller cities with bigger budgets, and here we are in this most beautiful city, fighting for a puny $12 million,” said Katy Ruiz, an artist who led the community-made Pompom Project which hung yarn pompoms for months in the tree in Civic Center Plaza she spoke in front of. “It is a slap in the face.”
A “Todd the Hog” sign showing Mayor Todd Gloria with a pig nose as part of a raucous crowd turning out to oppose city budget cuts affecting the arts and youth services. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)Speakers particularly argued against his proposed increase to police department funding and contracts for surveillance technology.
“We understand the fiscal pressures facing the city, and we’re willing to share in difficult decisions, but it’s not a shared sacrifice,” said Bob Lehman, executive director of San Diego ART Matters. “This is complete elimination of the city’s investment in arts and culture.”
Todd Gloria presents his proposed budget with a crowd holding thumbs down behind him. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)An hour later, Gloria went before the city council to defend his budget, and the survey of resident priorities on which he based his proposed cuts.
Hundreds who had rallied in the plaza attended the meeting too, displaying thumbs down en masse as he spoke.
A raucous crowd turns out to oppose city budget cuts. (Photo by Thomas Murphy/Times of San Diego)Hence then, the article about hunger games community groups say proposed budget cuts are pitting them against each other was published today ( ) and is available on Times of San Diego ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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