again, i plead that we consider these cuts and not make them on the backs of the homeless. thank you. >> good evening. my name is connie ford, and i happen to live in district 5, but many of the members that are represented by union works in soma. i am also vice-president of the labor council, and i just wanted to let you know if you do not already that many of the workers who provide the services that are continually on the chopping block here are represented by union and our working poor, trying to make ends meet. many of these workers come from the communities in which they serve, whether it is homeless, mentally ill, drug addiction,

all these things. these workers have done the really hard work to get up there every morning and do the work that is required of them to carry out the mission of the services that we all care for. these are living wage workers with health benefits. as you have heard, there have been cuts and cuts and cuts. these contractors have not had an increase in money since 2007. so when you are thinking about making additional cuts, when you say 10% and 10% more, it does not sound like much, but when these contracts for most of these cbo's , about that have not been raised since 2007 and are doing the hard work that everybody up here has been talking about, an additional cut is called starvation. i am urging you to look for other places to take the cuts. the people in this community are the most vulnerable. the workers in this community are ready to, you know, keep

continuing the work. we are not asking for a raise this year, although of course, that is what our members would like. we are asking you to maintain these services and the work being provided as a whole unit. i wanted to give you a brief lead with -- leaflet. i'm done, thanks. >> thank you. we have time for a couple more over here, and then we are going to call two more names. >> about three years ago, i moved here because they were cutting a lot of hiv services and taxes. i figured i would be able to get better. it is really frustrating because we do not have enough economic opportunities.

disabled people in general cannot work the eight hours a day that a lot of people are able to. there's just not the economic opportunity, and we have all these cuts that we're talking about here, and one thing about revenue, and i think that for each of these cuts, we need to have something producing revenue, whether it be organizations employing hiv- positive people or disabled people that work within the facilities -- we need to come up with some kind of innovative thinking like we are doing with the cuts for revenue because it is not going to fly just cutting things. we are going to continue to see people flooding in throughout the country to san francisco because they are still making cuts out there, what little they have, and we kind of ignore that fact, but people are going to still come here, and there is nothing -- this is the only place that gay people have to come to live and be free. i spent years and years in texas

trying to be employed, and it does not work, so i come here, and there's no economic opportunity for us, so we need to think about that. thanks. [applause] >> hello. i am here representing the treasure island community. i'm here -- mayor, thank you for being here this evening. just to support the catholic charities and development center. we really need funding for that. and to reestablish the muni link that helps our families to the grocery store. there are no grocery stores on the island. population consists of a transitional community. we used to have about 180 kids to provide academic success, job

readiness, healthy lifestyles, and we're taking from the children that are the future of our generation. so please reconsider budget cuts, and i just want to say hello to maria and thank you for all the work you do. please do not cut our children funds. thank you. [applause] >> i am just a parent on treasure island. my kids go to treasure island boys and girls club. they need that clubhouse, just like i need my kids to do their homework. [applause] one more question for the mayor and supervisor -- i just want to know what are you guys doing with the money from the number one cash crop in california, which is cannabis? i know you guys are charging cannabis club a large tax. i want to know where that tax

money is going and why we are having a budget crisis when you're getting that much money from each club in san francisco. [applause] >> hello. in the coordinator of the friends of but never part. the reason i'm speaking today is particularly for our rec and park department and our clubhouses. the park is in the tenderloin at the corner of jones and eddie. it is only open three hours a day five days a week, and it is the only park in the north of market tender one that is open to all ages. seniors, kids, and adults. the other parks are for young people. so it is very urgent for us to have our park open more often. also, i do not know if you are aware that all the clubhouses in san francisco are not staff now. it is really urgent that we have

more staffing at our club houses in san francisco. they mainly have to be rented out to private organizations to provide the programming. even though that might be necessary, i feel and i think many others feel that we should have our own city staff at the club houses providing programming. it is a funding issue, of course, but i think it is really urgent to be able to have our own staff for representative and park department in our clubhouses and recreation centers, particularly for our own part in our own district 6 in the tenderloin. we need more staffing. thank you very much. fosdic-- >> hello.

my name is susan bryant. i live in district 6 in the heart of the tenderloin. i want to say to the elected officials, the decision makers of san francisco -- do not give away the store with tax cuts. do you remember the dot-com situation? we could not do enough for those guys. we were building lofts and not charging any taxes for schools. we were so happy that they were here and they were going to generate all that money for us. you know what happened -- those guys went back to live in their parents' basement. [laughter] san francisco -- everything starts here. where is our pride? they should be happy to be here and not have us give them tax cuts all the time. we gave the fisher family $30

billion a while back. where did that go? what good does that do us? anyway, our muni, our bart brings these employees to the doors of where they have to work. we service them. that money has to come from somewhere, and it should not come from us. they should pay the freight. i mean, because, where is our pride? we have all the good ideas. anybody moves away, what is going to happen is they are going to die on the vine. thank you. [applause] >> [inaudible] you know, we want you all you allsro -- let sro people know what is going on.

we did not feel we get a fair representation. we want to have a better city. an earthquake should not have to come before we all come together. it is time that everyone in this city that brings money to the city and loves this city is a fear it will want to know what is going on at city hall. we need to let people know what is going on. people do not know what is going on. we want people to know that is not free shelter. thank you. >> thank you, everyone, for coming out. i want to thank all the speakers. i want to thank everybody who is here. i am a district 6 residents. i am a parent in this neighborhood. i am a service provider, and it is beautiful to me to see our

community here. district 6 is a lot of times the overlooked community in this city. people forget that families live here, people live here, so it is beautiful to see you all he appeared on april 16, the department of public works is doing a community clean-up in the south of market, so look into that. come out and support, and remember, this is just the beginning of the process. this is just the beginning of the budget process. if you were not able to speak, write down your comments and put them on the wall back there. i'm sure you can contact supervisor kim's office. there are many ways you can continue to be engaged in this because that is what we need, for the community to come out and be at the table. thank you very much. we are going to pass it on to close, but thank you all for being here tonight. [applause]

>> let me add my thanks to everyone here tonight for your time, for your patience, listening to each other. it is very important that we get this information, and i also want to just thank our staff at the office of civic engagement. i see they are working very hard to make sure everyone understands what is going on. the budget is very serious. one of the most important things we do in the city, and i want to make sure everybody is included throughout the city. if it is as smooth as tonight, i do not mind going to seven more of these things. thank you very much for being patient with us and sharing your ideas and passion about how you love to be in this city and to be part of it. thank you very much. [applause] >> again, just want to reiterate, thank you so much for being here.

i want to thank our department heads, our budget director for being here. we asked him to come and just listen. you often get to hear us, and we do not always get the same opportunity to hear you, so they all came knowing that they would not get an opportunity to speak or respond, but they came to get feedback from you as they develop their budget, so we thank you for giving of that tonight. also, this would not have been possible if not for the many community residents and organizers that brought people out, that organized folks and educated people about the budget and budget process, so i really want to thank all the organizers and the volunteers. also, the greeters, the people that provide child care. all the folks out there, raise their hands. paul, chris, tiffany, johnny, diana, chilly -- thank you so much for helping me tonight. and i want to thank everyone because this is a tough and painful and emotional process, and everyone really came ready

and also very respectful. it did not have to go like this, and i just really wanted to appreciate that, and this is just the beginning of a dialogue and process for our office. we will continue to hold budget stakeholders meetings, so please, come up to our staff and signed up so you can find out when our meetings are and continue to engage. i wanted and community members for being irresponsible about what we can contribute to these cuts. we will come out and do more clean up and held out if you can help us bring lights to the victoria park. those other types of solutions. we can all can cheviot to that process as well. we really heard a lot of things that were said tonight. district 6 is home to one of the most diverse constituencies here in the city. we have the poorest residents of san francisco. we have lgbt, immigrants, people of color, youth, and a high

proportion of seniors as well. we heard that people want to see more jobs, want to see access to more jobs for our residents. we want to see more preventative compared to just reactive, so we want to see after-school programs versus the police picking up our youth because they are out on the streets. we want to see more preventative health versus going to the emergency room. those were all things that were said tonight, and we have to come together and support revenue in the city. that is where you can come together to help us put that together. thank you again. also want to recognize security here from tenderloin station. he hosts regular community meetings, so please, though. he has really been a community partner for us. are there any other announcements? >> please return your translation headsets. [laughter] them all right. thank you again so much. i hold office hours were you did

not have to make an appointment with me every first friday and first saturday of the month, said czech our website. and get on our e-mail list. thank you.

>> good evening, and welcome to the 31st annual mfac awards. [applause] hello, everyone. i am your mc tonight for the good government awards, and i'm so excited tonight. we have such great winners, exciting guests. first, i want to quickly acknowledge some of our fabulous

officials in the house. we have supervisors chu, elsbernd, wiener, mar, mirkarimi, chiu, former supervisor alioto-pier, our treasurer, the mayor's chief of staff, and our controller. let's give them a round of applause. [applause] the mfac awards have become sort of like the oscars of city hall, and you're going to have a great show tonight. before we get to that, i want to think -- take a quick moment to thank the folks that really make it possible. we go to a lot of events and see a lot of folks who sponsor these, and i can tell you it is amazing who is always the first folks to step up when it is time to support something really

valuable. i want to take a few minutes to thank all the folks who made tonight possible, who are providing an excellent open bar in the back and all the great food you are eating tonight. first, i want to thank jack, dick blum with blum capital, pg&e, the johnson company, and we have an anonymous donor, and i know pam brewster know something about that, so give her a big round of applause. those are our donors tonight. give them a round of applause. i also want to thank the academy of art university, bank of the west, clear channel, outdoor, who has put up all the winners. he might have seen your pictures on all the bus stops around city hall. i want to thank comcast, the fisher family, kpmg, pb, the

business times, the san francisco forty-niners, recology, the san francisco international airport. once again, a big round of applause to all our supporters. now, i would like to thank the person who makes all this possible, the executive director from spur. [applause] >> it is great to see all of you here, and that is really sweet of you to calm down for a minute on the talking. when the winners get up, seriously, everybody, try not to talk. it is intimidating to get in front of a crowd of people, and

this room is so gorgeous, but you know, it is the acoustics. scott wiener, i'm talking to you. [laughter] he is so tall, i can pick him out in a crowd. for those of you who do not know, spur is a member-supported non-profit organization. any of you who are not yet members, i hope you will join. we helped start mfac in the late 1970's. we took over management a few years ago, and this is a core part of our work to promote good government. we could not do it without all of you make this possible. any of you who are not members, please join, and you can help us provide the support to have an effective government. thank you for being here. we are working right now on a whole bunch of projects from what to do about sea level rise, getting muni the support it

needs, what to do it redevelopment goes away, or maybe it went away today -- i did not know. there is a lot of things happening in the city. thank you for your support of the good government aw call up e stage the chair of the 2011 good government awards, michael walker. [applause] >> good evening. i'm michael walker, president of u.s. bank of northern california, and it is my pleasure to serve as chair of the 31st annual mfac good government awards. u.s. bank is honored to support these terrific city leaders because they are doing work that makes san francisco a wonderful place to work. those of you devote your careers to public service developed -- deserve the gratitude from those

who benefit from the work you do but often times do not get the credit you so richly deserve. government works because people make it work. in this city alone, tens of thousands of dedicated public servants work every day to make sure we have functioning roads for commerce, great parts for our families, and strong safety nets for when we get sick or become unemployed. and they make sure that we do this using the taxpayers' money wisely. the individual and teams that we are honoring this evening are the backbone of our local government. our businesses, our families, and yes, our fund could not operate without the strong, healthy, and responsive government that these leaders provide. that is why we are here tonight to celebrate, and that is why u.s. bank is so proud to be associated with this event.

now, it is my pleasure to introduce a person who personifies these awards and demonstrates what good government is all about. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the mayor of san francisco, mr. edwin lee. [applause] mayor lee: good evening. as you know, i usually do not read speeches, so i'm just going to talk of the top of my head, but also, really, from my heart. for 21 years, working in san francisco government, i have seen a lot of departments, worked in a few myself, and when these awards came, oftentimes, i kind of said to my cell that it would be need to get one of those awards. somebody will recognize the work

that gets done here. as i went through years before of these awards, i often thought maybe during these first few years that -- is it about a new program? are we recognizing new programs? is it all about maybe people getting out of the way so that the new program can get recognized? maybe that is what it is all about. over the years, it has been more difficult to get news programs started and more about how we reshape government and make it better from within. that is what i have been trying to do for some years. and i know that the awardees tonight are not so much about new programs. they are about retooling and about making government more efficient and better, so that it

was not any longer about making people move out and get away so that you could shine as a department head or a division manager or program leader. it is more about how you got other people involved in what you are doing, about how an idea and how a better idea can get more people to rally around it and move on their roles in implementing a better government. that is why i have been increasing this program for so many years and -- embracing this program for so many years and really thanks for for the effort you have put into it. -- really thank spur for the efforts you have put into it. i want to thank michael for introducing me but also for agreeing -- for being a great sponsor. and for chris, for sponsoring this event of being a big sponsor of this effort for many years. i also want to thank all the

departments i have had a chance to work with because it is from all of your efforts and encouragement and particularly the department heads and managers -- you know, tonight, you do not have someone that is elected. you have someone from the inside. i want to thank all of you because you have been supportive of it, embraced these great ideas, and allow your managers to shine and support them when they have new ideas. whether it is an idea that has to corral a lot of people and get them to prioritize what they're capital planning is all about -- what their capital planning is all about, it is really hard to do to focus on what the priorities are for the managers of the city. on -- or whether it is teaching

a new immigrant or a new people water the diseases we have and how we can prevent them and how we can speak in a multitude of languages so that our city can have a better approach to preventing diseases. it will be about how some of the greatest assets in our open spaces can be used by everybody through a reservation system or kermit's. it will be about how you find new revenue and manage those assets at our airport, or how you can look people in the eye and say, open " i can help you develop a job skill and get jobs for you now." every one of these projects tonight -- they are not so new as it is about the leadership that these individuals and teams have created. not move people out of the way for their recognition, but brought a lot of people back in

and moved them in a better direction, moved them to be more efficient. that is why i embrace these awards tonight, and it is with support of departments, with support of all of the elected officials here tonight, as well as others, and it is the partnership we have with spur that we had the opportunity to recognize this effort, so please, tonight, join me in recognizing all the honorees, recognizing what they do for us tonight, but also to remember they are not doing so much as something brand new -- they are fulfilling promises that we have made for many years. that we improved as time goes on. that we make things better for everybody's lives. in each one of these areas, we have made lives better, improve the life for all of our citizens. i thank you all for being here tonight. thank you. [applause] >> please