tv [untitled] June 6, 2011 4:00pm-4:30pm PDT
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services unless you plan for them in the long run. what are you going to do next year when the state cuts you? what are you going to do if the federal government cut you? what is your private funds dry up? we have to ask these questions now. plan with us for five years ahead so we know where the strength of the organizations will be working with us. that is how you start planning. that is the best way to do it. do not do your to your review your to your planning any more. it is not good enough. -- do not do year-to-year planning. it is not good enough. i will ask every department and agency to start planning five years in advance. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you, mr. mayor. one thought on that. i see some of the planning is difficult because of the way the
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budget process works. many of these organizations are on the chopping block every year. in a given year, they do not know if they will be around. it is important that we look at the long term. it is important to create continuity. we recognize a lot of these organizations are doing a lot with very little. they are doing things with that dollar that other agencies probably could not do. it is a balance. we look forward to continuing that discussion. next question? >> [speaking spanish] [applause] >> good evening, everybody. i work in the collective for women. >> [speaking spanish]
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[applause] supervisor campos: thank you. does anyone want to add anything to that? yes? the last part was not translated. >> she mentioned there are a lot of community members here. she wanted to recognize that women's collective in the back that are here for the same reason everyone else is here. they care about the families. they care about the kids. they are worried about the cuts. a lot of the women's are victims of domestic violence. a lot of the women work day in and day out. they want to work with the city and the supervisors.
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they want to recognize the work the supervisors have been doing to work with the community. she wants to make sure and emphasize that we have to work together to make sure we are tackling these very important budget issues. supervisor campos: thank you. gracias. the general question to department heads who have not had a chance to speak. how do you decide how to cut? how you approach where to begin? what are your priorities? how does the process work, if you are a number of the public trying to understand how the process works? >> of the juvenile probation department, we start off by developing our guiding principles to develop our budget. we have to look along -- at the
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law, the welfare and institution could that guides the operations on our basic, primary responsibilities related to the processing, guidance, and direction of youth and families that find their way to the juvenile probation department. we focus on our basic principles and services that we must provide to comply with the law weslest we find ourselves ia position where the city would be subject to a lawsuit if we did not provide those services. we believe strongly in the development of competencies' within youth and families that enable youth to grow and become productive members of society. that is what we believe is the real fabric with in the juvenile probation department. supervisor campos: thank you, chief.
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i want to hear from the head of dpw. >> what we and a lot of city departments do is work to preserve core services. the people out there in the white trucks with the orange vests cleaning streets, wiping out graffiti -- we try to prioritize the way we look at the department. we try to cut from the back office, administration. i have been here for three years. we have eliminated a number of management positions and support positions. we have eliminated things like unnecessary vehicles. we have reduced cell phone. a lot of this stuff behind the scenes are not necessary to directly support direct services. we look for efficiencies in the
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way we deliver services. if we can do something with three people instead of four, we look at how we can deliver the same amount of services with a smaller budget. we focus on workplace safety. when we do not work safely, we have people out of work being paid. we pay a lot of comp costs. general health inflation has been going up at 5%. our comp costs have been going down. that translates to more people on the streets for less dollars. we're trying to be efficient to manage the department to preserve the front line services that all of you depend on. supervisor campos: 80. does anyone else want to add anything? -- thank you. does anyone else want to add anything? phil? >> we do have a series of budget
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balancing principles. we work with the community to keep the parks clean and safe. we prioritize children and seniors and picture everybody has access to our programs. the one thing that was not said is that we try to prioritize revenue over cuts. we're looking for creative ways to earn more money within the department so we do not have to cut. we can keep our programs going. unfortunately, that is government in the 21st century where we do not have enough resources. we need your help. we look for partners. we look to partner with community-based organizations to provide services. at the end of the day, we want our programs and services. we're slightly less focused on how we do it. where we can find partners, we do. we really love volunteers. come out and worked in our parks and rec centers.
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>> one of the issues tonight was revenue. one thing we have done in the past is try to increase our medical revenue. there was the example of violence prevention. we were able to create some me dical revenue from that. we were able to save the general fund dollars and match it by 50 cents from the federal government. that is one of initiative we talked about tonight. in 2014, we will have an additional 36,000 people who have metical -- medical. we see that is future revenue to expand for those who do not currently have the benefit. supervisor campos: thank you. we have pablo from the boys and
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girls club. thank you for your patience. you are in very well-behaved crowd. -- you are a very well-paved crowd. >> thank you for allowing me to be here. i am here primarily to represent boys and girls of san francisco. i am also representing the other non-profit organizations in the mission district. the boys and girls club of san francisco served over 16,000 young people last year in nine different areas of the city. in the mission district, we have over 2000 young people signed up as members of our club. we're seeing over 400 kids on a daily basis combined. we are serving -- about 30% of our membership is african- american.
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80% is latino. there are other groups we serve in the asian and other communities. we provide after-school and homework help. research over 200 kids a day assisting with homework. -- we assist over 200 kids a date with homework. we also have a case management and counseling. the biggest challenge with all of the conflicts and budget issues is that it keeps happening the the burden is being put on the non-profits and community-based organizations to figure out how to circumvent the budget cuts. what is the city going to be doing to be creative and take some of the burden off of us? i work with others in the
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mission district. we're constantly talking about how to support each other. we want to make sure every single one of our kids are getting some type of services. we know that will be meaningful down the road and into -- improve their lives. you can only go to us so many times. we need to know what you are going to do on your end to lessen the burden on us. we need to hear how you will be created to take the burden off of us. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you. let's call a couple of other speakers. jose ramirez, come on up. here they come. thank you. >> [speaking spanish]
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>> good afternoon to the distinguished people on the stage. thank you for allowing us this time. >> [speaking spanish] >> i am here representing about 150 day laborers who get together for the program here in san francisco. >> [speaking spanish] >> it is a safe place we go to daily. we can kind of take a break from all of the things going on around us every day, all of the struggles every day.
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it is a refuge from the. >> [speaking spanish] >> it is really important for us that we are able to feel good in this place and that this place is a safe place. >> [speaking spanish] >> i come here today not only representing the 150 workers in the program, but also representing all day laborers that stand out on caesar
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chavez looking for work. >> [speaking spanish] gracias. [applause] >> i come here to petition you today. we're talking about kids and education and children and youth activities. also think about the parents of those youth to make sure they also have services provided for them. thank you very much. supervisor campos: thank you. >> i am bob weisblat. i represent myself. i have a question about process. i have been listening to all of these people with a need for lots of services for the social safety net. this city is spending $50
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million on bicycle paths. there is $30 million for changing cesar chavez. i am wondering if the money comes from a place where we can move that to a later date and spend the money so that older people can get meals. kids can stay off the streets. maybe when things get better economically, we can change the way cesar chavez works. [applause] supervisor campos: i do not know if anyone wants to respond to that. >> the project the speaker was referring to is the streetscape renovation project for cesar chavez. this project came out of the neighborhood planning process. it was many years of planning. this is something that came from the community as a priority to
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make cesar travis -- chavez safer and more attractive. there are a lot of people that use it. it was built more for cars. it acts like a freeway. it is not very inviting or safe. this is the result of a community effort that has gone for many years. the funding source for the st. improvement comes from a program of the federal government. it is transportation dollars available specifically for this kind of purpose. they are not dollars that we could take and move to social services. it is a project that i think will have a great impact on knitting back together the city that is cleaved by the freeway. it will be safer for the schoolchildren. it will help the economic development of the area by
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making it in more viable and attractive place. we have seen that on valencia. it seems difficult to invest as much in infrastructure as we have these other needs. these dollars cannot be used for those other needs. they do have a benefit and merit on their own. i think it will be a good project. it is a result of great community planning efforts. [applause] supervisor campos: we have one more. robert lopez. >> thank you, mayor and everyone on the panel. i represent mission hiring hall. it has been in the mission district since 1971. we're known as the place to be in the mission. people come to our offices
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looking for jobs. we get them jobs. we have organizations in spanish and english. of the last two years, our budget has been cut by 50%. we're working with less manpower to do the same job. we're always thinking outside of the box about how to do that. we are asking you to think about that and have consideration for that. we talk about safety. i believe that jobs keep people off the street. [applause] my father always said that. with that being said, we have to continue to provide that avenue for people to come through our doors. today alone, i placed three people myself and got them off the street. we have a great program through city college with the construction admin training
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program that is very vibrant right now. the last thing i want you to consider is the limited english that come through our doors. a lot of services are geared more for the americanized, american-born people. there are people who come through our doors that do not come from that. we're trying to get them jobs, too. it is a difficult task with less manpower and money to do it. we aske you to consider our plae and what we do on a daily basis. thank you. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you very much. i do have one question. on the way here, i ran into someone who pleaded with me to ask this question. we have a very diverse community in the mission and throughout
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the city. the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transistor -- transgender committee has specific services. some of those will be cut. i am wondering if there is some thought to that. what is the message to the lgbt community about the protection of those services? it may be hiv prevention or other related services. >> the executive director's have come together as a group. i will be meeting with them shortly about that as to how we will maintain services for this community. i think it is an important process.
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we're also working with the trans injured -- transgendered community for a program that will be happening next year. it is important to start working with executives. i know we have some people here to save services at the martin clinic for march and the next few years. it is an important process. we're working with the executive directors. it goes back to community-based organizations and how we will support them and have them manage their programs. supervisor campos: thank you very much. i will speak as an openly gay, latino man. lion martin is very important. there are a lot of other organizations.
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>> we have behaved very well. we have not made much noise. the mission is known to make a lot of noise. that is why we did little noise together. we want to remind you that as you are making the tough choices, it is about the kids that were on stage. it is about the mothers and the hearts of the people you saw here today. it is not just about cutting services. it is looking at how we generate new revenues to support our city. we cannot follow the trend of the country looking at cutting social services in favor of the wealthy. we have to look at how we can all put together for these services and city that we want to have. thank you so much for being here. [speaking spanish]
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what is next is that there are a number of meetings. we're hopeful that the new mayor has opened the doors to the community. he has been having a lot of meetings up and down the city. three more are coming up on april 13, 14, and 21. those will be district 10, 8, and 11. someone will be passing out the form with all of the different dates and times that you can come and tell people in those districts to come out. [speaking spanish]
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the last thing i want to say is that april 6 at 1:00, the board of supervisors will hold a hearing about the budget for dcyf. that is a really important one for people to show up if you are concerned about after-school programs and family support issues. the mayor's office has been quite open to hearing feedback. supervisor campos: i wanted to give mayor lee an opportunity to say something. thank you again for being here in district 9. [applause] mayor lee: thank you for coming here tonight. this will not be our last meeting.
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i have listened carefully to the translated commons and what people mean to say here. i do think that we will have to spend quality time defining the word "progressive" when we start thinking of ways to raise revenue. i suggest we all start forming the partnerships that we need to form to get the best ideas possible. thank you very much. you have been a wonderful crowd. [applause] supervisor campos: mr. mayor, i want to say on behalf of district 9 and the mission, and thank you for being here. thank you to all of the department heads. you have a commitment from this community that we want to see a city that works for all of us. we want to see a city that will be viable in every way.
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this community once their safety net protected. they want basic services protected. we want to work with you. they want to thank you for all the progress made already. we are committed to working with you and been there every step of the way. i would ask you to make sure that when it comes to the budget, your involvement does not in here tonight. you have to continue to come out. we need you to come out to the committee meetings and city hall to make sure that your voices are heard. it is not just for you. it is for your neighbor and everyone who lives in our district. we need to make sure that city government hears. the fact that we're here as the board of supervisors and the mayor is telling you the importance of hearing you out. keep at it. thank you for your time. thank you to everyone who made this possible. [applae]
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