[speaking spanish] everybody, in our own homes, we have to budget. on one side, how much do we learned? -- how much do we earn? on the other, what are the expenses we have to meet? [speaking spanish] working families in san francisco know it is hard to live here. who can find an apartment for less than $1,500 a month? one bedroom.

[speaking spanihs] -- [speaking spanish]

when we look at the city's budget, it is not that much different from how we budget in our own homes. on one side, we have the income that the city has. we have the state and federal dollars that come into the city. in terms of the expenses, they are broken down by the non- general fund, which is what we have to spend, and the general fund. we are here to talk about the general fund where there is some flexibility. the non-general fund comes with specific targets on how the money has to be spent. about 40% of our money goes into public protection. 20% goes to human welfare. about 20% goes into health.

4% goes and recreation. those decisions are part of what we want to hear you weigh in on. [speaking spanish] next slide please. [speaking spanish] the problem we are trying to

solve tonight is looking at ways to balance the budget. we are looking at the city's expenses next year, and they are much greater than the income we have. by law, we have to balance the budget. [speaking spanish] 30 years ago, city government was responsible for the majority of services that we are now

receiving. 30 years ago, nonprofits started serving with the goal of having -- instead of reducing costs, provide services to the community. so we have city working in partnership with nonprofit agencies to provide the services you are all provided -- child care, public housing, legal services, support for the elderly, things like that. [speaking spanish]

some of the things that are at stake right now is the proposed cuts are to homeless shelter closures. i am speaking in terms of the specific numbers we will be able to pass out later. also, proposed cuts to legal services to elders. there are proposed cuts from 20% to 100% for some after-school programs that do health promotion and also homework help. there are proposed cuts of 15%

to women who suffer domestic violence. the list goes on and on. next slide please. all right, so -- [speaking spanish] so, what are our roles? we believe community has to speak up to be able to inform the board of supervisors, the government, and work hand in hand with cbo's to create

opportunities to solve some of these problems. small businesses can also be a partner in solving problems. in terms of community priorities -- [speaking spanish] [applause] in terms of our community's priorities, and this comes out of the work of many years of many organizations, many leaders in the city -- we believe city government must prioritize the

well-being of the residence and that we need to start looking at progress of revenue- generating measures -- progressive, revenue-generating measures. if we look at the budget over the last seven years, we see more and more service cuts are happening and less and less new revenue-generating measures. so we want to make sure the city government here is that. next slide. all right, so -- [speaking spanish] all right, so, your voice is matter. our voices matter. we believe if we start with your voices at the center, we can and former government and keep san francisco strong for everybody. do you believe in that? right on. [speaking spanish] [applause]

supervisor campos: thank you. thank you for that very excellent, very clear, concise presentation. mayor lee, i do not know if you want to add anything to what you said about the budget, but i do want to say something about the process, how the program tonight is going to work. there will be one hour of public comment tonight. we are trying to get to as many people as we can, and we are trying to get to a number of cards. i imagine all of you know that there are speaking cards that you can fill out and make a comment or ask a question. i have here the cards, and i'm going to pick them randomly. they will allow each of you who is selected to ask a question or make a comment on a number of topics.

each speaker will have two minutes to comment or ask a question, and after each speaker, depending on the question or the nature of the comment, i may ask someone here on the panel to maybe respond, also for two minutes, depending on the nature of the question or comment. because we want to hear from as many people as possible. it is really important that you stop when you see the sign that says "two minutes." i will call four names at a time. when your name is called, please come down and take the microphone or at least get in line to prepare to speak. if you are not chosen to speak, we ask that you write your comments on a post-it note. we will be reviewing every, and that is presented. we'd love to hear from everyone

here, but we do not have all the time it would take to make that happen, but there will be other opportunities. at the end of public comment, we will also hear from someone who will be able to tell you a little bit more about some of the ways in which you can continue to be involved in this process. before i turn itlet me add somes said. i appreciate the fact that the mayor made it clear his direction to city government in terms of his three priorities of the city being safe, solvent, and accessible. i think all of us agree with those objectives. the one thing i would add is that as a supervisor who has gone to the process -- gone through the process, it is important for us to understand that when we talk about the city being safe, safety means a lot of different things. safety is not just the typical sense of what we talk about

such republic safety -- public safety. the police and fire department play important roles. safety is not just about law- enforcement. safety involves a number of things that include protecting the safety net that makes sure every san francisco ian is takig care of. [applause] i know that nearly shares in that vision. he has made that clear. we in district 9 and the mission have been going through a tough time. there has been an increase in violence. it is something we are very mindful of. we have taken every step we can to ensure the safety of our neighborhood. we're working closely with the mayor and chief of police. we're working closely with the police department to make sure

that there is a police presence in the community. we recognize long term that is not sufficient. we have to work with the community itself and community- based organizations doing excellent prevention work. that funding and the services need to be protected. we need to ensure that something as important as our parks and recreational areas are protected. when it comes to public safety, it is not just our police department that keeps us say. it is having those programs so that young people have something to do. [applause] to the extent that you hear from all of us in district 9, i want to emphasize that we share your vision and objectives. in fulfilling that mission, we hope you understand our perspective of what it means to be safe and solvent.

we cannot be solvent if the needs of our seniors are not taking care of. we cannot be successful if the needs of our children are not taking care of. that is why today is so important for us to hear from you on these important issues. the last point that i will make is this. we have to be fiscally responsible. you can only spend so much money. you can only spend the money you have. i believe this city has been responsible. we have balanced budgets. you cannot simply cut your way out of the budget deficit of this size. we also have to think about ways of injecting revenue into the system. i hope that we collectively begin to talk about that. it is something we have said in the last tv viewers and yet it has not happened in a meaningful way. i trust that with this mayor, we

will approach the budget in a way that is responsible and equitable and makes the city work for all of us. thank you very much. [applause] let me make sure that i read that correctly. maria elena, roberta turmah, rosita rojada, dorian webb. those are the first four names.

[inaudible] >> i am melena herrerra. i am part of the bernal heights program. i am here to tell you about the after-school program and what it does for the youth. we go to school. what do we have to do after? we can go walk around. we have after-school programs with things we enjoy. they have activities. we are building our knowledge outside of school. it also ties in with violence. that is something we do not want

to have a lot of in the city. this is our community. after-school programs kind of cuts it down. think about it, if we do not have after-school programs, where are we going to go? we need things that make us happy. we go to school. we work hard. we want fun things to do after. how about if we need help after? it is a place we feel safe at. why would we get rid of something that helps and builds our community? thank you. [applause] >> that is an excellent question. one of the agencies that deals with a lot of the after-school programs is the department of children, youth, and families. there are many programs represented here. any thoughts on that point? >> i am from the department of

children and families. thank you for having us here. the director and i have worked in the non-profit sector for many years. that includes mental health, violence prevention, shelters. we know what it is like to face a budget impact. we have direct experiences working with clients when services are eliminated. when we do have service reduction, it is agonizing for us. we want to create some rhyme and reason when we come to the budget reductions and arias. in our funding process, we have a three-year cycle. it starts with our community needs assessment, funding allocation plan, and request for proposal. last year, we created our rp and had a lot of agencies respond. we are funding on a three-year

cycle. when we are doing funding production, we're doing our best to maintain the three-year commitment we have by making three-year contracts with our agencies. this time around, we will not reduce those agencies in the three-year cycle. the city has a limited budget resources. this time around and we do the reduction, we're looking at doing that without touching agencies funded on the three- year cycle. that includes work force services, early care education, and violence reduction and intervention. we do not have the best approach in terms of answering to budget response. we do have to meet our budget needs. we're doing our best to maintain the level of services. >> thank you.

next? >> good evening. i am the director of one of the services for direct -- domestic violence survivors. in san francisco, we have three shelters funded and many programs involved with domestic violence and violence against women. those budgets are funded through the department on the status of women. we have just gone through a proposal for the next three-year funding. what we do, domestic violence services in this city, have done several things. working with survivors, we spend

a lot less than what city services would have to pay to help survivors the second thing we do that is really important for you to realize is that in terms of the homicides that have occurred, we have reduced those down to numbers that are less than double digits. when we think about the effect of what we have done it and help with in the community, we have to consider those two things. the other thing you have to realize is the budget for the status of women is the smallest budget you will see in the city department. we have 22 different agencies that get funded through that. cutting this budget affects us deeply.

we have small, tiny budgets. most of it is allocated to the shelters. we have three shelters, 72 beds for all of san francisco. i am pleading, asking, hoping that the city would not cut the budget for the department on the status of women. [applause] supervisor campos: the issue of domestic violence has been a very serious one in san francisco. let's hear from the budget director. >> i am greg wagner, the budget director. i agree with the comment. a i think we all understand the

importance of the services. over the last several budgets despite proposals for reductions in domestic violence programs, we have been able to protect those programs and have not made reductions to those programs. we're trying to work with the department on the status of women to see if there are other options that we can look at. there may be revenues we can bring in through fees or other sources we can use to create savings without having to make reductions. we are very concerned about this issue. we are working closely with the department and the mayor's office. we very much understand the comment and concerned about the importance of those services in the community and city. supervisor campos: thank you, greg. let's hear from our next

questioner. sfgov.o[inaudible] >> [speaking spanish]

[applause] >> get negative evening. i am translating for her. -- good evening. she came here to testify. she wants to thank carlos, the senior law coordinator. she had a case with the office. they did not want to give her disability. she has been fighting the case since 2009. she won the case. she won the case this month. this past week, she received a check from the social security office. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you.

>> my name is dorian webb women's initiative. we are here in the mission on valencia. for every dollar donated to the organization, we generate $30 to help low income women start their own businesses. within two years of women going through the course, their assets and income tripled. i think this is a wonderful organization. if small business growth is not a priority, if helping women within the community is not a priority, is seeing low income

women rise up the ladder of success is not a priority, i would like to know what is. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you. we honored the women's initiative at the board of supervisors. they do an incredible job of empowering women, many of them low income, some victims of domestic violence. many are immigrant women. we see success story after success story. i do knownot know if anyone woud want to say something about our commitment to that kind of entrepreneurship on the part of women or groups who have traditionally not have the opportunity to have that kind of success. we're seeing that replicated throughout the mission in business after fish breeding business. the mayor himself wants to say

something about that. [applause] mayor lee: i used to be the head of the human rights commission. one of my responsibilities was to make sure that we identified and grew women-owned businesses in the city and make sure that those and others shared with the way that we do contracts in the city. that is a commitment i will continue to make. the agencies that train women to become entrepreneurial and provide skills, i recognize how important that is. and recognize the need for independence and for us to support those growing businesses. with our local hire that strengthens the ability of women to get into the workforce, we will continue to provide support to the human rights commission so we have a strong, local so we have a strong, local business ordnance that supports