Reparations meeting delayed after supervisor gets stuck in Colombia after partying at a Hooters

A meeting of a controversial reparations committee in San Francisco had to be postponed because one of the members of the city's board of supervisors was stuck in Colombia following a vacation which included a stop at a Hooters.

San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton was due back in the city for the meeting on Tuesday. Due to his absence, the meeting will be delayed until March. The committee is planning to dispense $5 million per qualifying person in the Bay Area. 

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Walton's chief of staff Natalie Gee said that he was in South America for a friend's birthday party. On Monday, his flight on COPA Airlines was delayed which meant that he missed a connecting flight. As a result, the meeting was canceled. 

Gee added: 'This is not a delay for reparations. The final report is due in June. Most certainly, Supervisor Walton has no control over the airlines and flight delays.'

The supervisor's chief of staff went on to explain that the reason for the long delay before the meeting can be rescheduled is due to the amount of schedules that have to be taken into account. 

Supervisor Shamann Walton previously served as president of the city's board of supervisors between 2021 and 2023

In May 2021, city officials approved a task force that will study financial compensation, community programs and other ways to make reparations to the descendants of slaves, becoming the largest city to take such a step.

Walton, 47, posted a photo on his Instagram page from a party being held for a friend at a Hooters restaurant in Medellin. The photo was later republished by the San Francisco Standard, which was the first outlet to report on Walton's absence from the meeting. 

The supervisor later reposted the photo on his Instagram profile. Walton wrote in the caption that he was in Colombia to celebrate the birthdays of two life long friends. 

The picture in question shows a man wearing a t-shirt reading, Jueputa, which roughly translates as 'Son of a b***h.' In the caption, Walton makes it clear that he's not the person in the photo.

Walton added: 'It’s bad enough I’m stuck in another country and can’t get home to community, family, and work. No excuses, but this is funny and ignorant at the same time. What will it be next?'

Walton's office said that Walton had been on vacation since Wednesday. 

This image from the Hooters in Colombia was posted on Walton's Instagram page, the supervisor is not picture but rather is taking the photo 

Walton posted this caption in reaction to the San Francisco Standard article about his absence 

Walton pictured with fellow Democrat and San Francisco resident, Rep. Nancy Pelosi

Another member of the reparations board, Rev. Amos Brown, told the Standard: 'I’m stunned.  Well, still, there need to be reparations for the people’s sake. The Black population in this county is on life support.' 

The Standard also reports that other members of the supervisors board attempted to have the meeting held before the end of February but that it was Walton's office that resisted, offering March 14th as the earliest date. 

Between January 2021 and January 2023, Walton served as the president of the board of supervisors. He was previously a president of the San Francisco Board of Education. 

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to appoint the 15-member African American Reparations Advisory Committee in May 2021, which includes black people who have been displaced from San Francisco, have been incarcerated or have experienced homelessness, among other criteria.

'The appointments of this reparations advisory committee is an historical event, as I am unaware of any other legislated body in place to prioritize injustices and create a true reparations plan in a package for black people,' said Walton, who introduced the proposal in October 2020, said at the time. 

Under the proposal, San Francisco will give $5 million to each eligible black person who lives in the city. Recipients have to prove that they were born in the city between 1940 and 1996 and lived their for at least 13 years. 

They will also to prove that they or a descendant was displaced as a result of urban renewal which occurred in San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s, purging many citizens from the thriving Fillmore District, known for its jazz scene. 

The San Francisco meeting is separate from California's reparations task force which has a a July 1 deadline to complete its final report for the Legislature listing recommendations for how the state can atone for and address its legacy of discriminatory policies against black Californians.

Residents have taken to arming themselves with baseball bats amid the spiraling crime

Meanwhile, the exodus of residents from crime-ridden cities such as San Francisco has been well documents. In 2022, San Francisco had a move-in rate of less than 50 percent.   

Among big cities, Houston had the highest move-in rate, according to the National Association of Realtors, with 55.7 percent of moves happening within or into the city.

In recent months, San Francisco's Department of Public Health has had to issue urgent warnings in the past after the city experienced a series of fatal overdoses after people were inadvertently exposed to fentanyl while taking cocaine. 

Tech executive Michelle Tandler, 37, recently revealed her experience seeing 'hundreds' of people on the streets 'folded over' after smoking the fatal drug.

Tandler said: 'Last night I went to a bar in downtown San Francisco. It looked like a dystopia. I saw hundreds of people folded over (likely high on Fentanyl), or sitting on the sidewalks smoking.'

Despite the city's efforts, 2022 saw 620 people die from overdoses in San Francisco - 72 percent of which were linked acutely to fentanyl. In 2021, that figure was 640.

London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, is hoping to revitalize the downtown with a series of initiatives, which are yet to bear fruit as homelessness and crime rule

Mayor London Breed said at the beginning of the year: 'Fentanyl continues to disrupt and destroy lives in our city and while the overdose numbers have gone down, they still remain far too high.'

San Francisco is trying to curb the drug issues - and this year has vowed to open 70 residential step-down beds to offer recovery-settings for people leaving residential substance use disorder treatment.

In 2022, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which collaborates with SFDPH in its distribution of the medication, distributed more than 40,000 doses of naloxone alone and reported 5,127 reversals.

The city has also geared up more than 2,000 people in the last year - teaching them how to recognize and respond to an overdose, while more than 40,000 doses of naloxone were given out.

And looking forward, San Francisco promises to open a new crisis stabilization unit to provide short-term, urgent care for substance users in 2024.

However across California, existing law only punishes fentanyl possession for purposes of sale with two to four years in county jail, and trafficking suspects can receive up to a nine-year sentence.

About 8,000 homeless people were reported in the city in February  

Rows of homeless tents are seen near the City Hall of San Francisco outside residential properties and small business premises earlier this year

Major crimes in San Francisco were up 7.4 percent in 2022, with assault up 11.1 percent and robbery up 5.2 percent. 

In September, some San Francisco commuters revealed they are arming themselves with baseball bats and stun guns after a newly-opened drug sobering facility drew violent addicts to a previously peaceful neighborhood.

Residents of the SoMa neighborhood in northeast San Francisco are voicing outrage, saying ever since the SoMa RISE drug sobering center opened in June, 'troublemakers' have plagued the neighborhood.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom in January proposed a $297 billion budget, prioritizing money to address homelessness and education while cutting some climate spending amid a projected $22.5 billion budget deficit.

The proposed budget, which would take effect July 1, is about $9 billion less than the current fiscal year, when Newsom had a massive surplus.

One of the reasons why California isn’t bringing in as much revenue as expected is because wealthy taxpayers are making less money because of a weakened economy and stumbling stock market.

Newsom’s proposed budget will change as tax revenues come in later this year and won’t take effect until July 1.