in visitation valley, you will have noticed probably by now that these locks and is not there. that is a redevelopment project area. we will be working this year to put together the agreements that will revitalize the area. the plan there is for 1200 units of housing, along with improvements to the streets date on leland avenue, and on bayshore. in bayview hunters point project area, our main focus is on third street. we have dedicated this year about $1 million for a revolving loan program for small businesses that are operating on third street, in addition to that, a significant amount of money, about 3/-- about $750,000 for improvements on third street. in addition to those things, our priorities are to wrap up and

complete and in some cases initiate affordable housing developments. our two major priorities with regard to housing in bayview hunters point in the upcoming year are to get the revitalization of double lock off the ground and to basically commit all of the funding that will get us through the revitalization of hunters view. there are two phases of the shipyard. the first is under way. we hope in the next year with our development partner to initiate the first vertical development on phase one, and on phase two, our hope is to complete the entitlement process there and commence the work associated with phase two, which, as everybody probably knows, has 10,000 units of housing associated with it. the biggest park investment in the city since the golden gate park as well as 2 million square

feet of commercial real estate space there. the last thing we are prioritizing is making sure that san francisco folks work on all those physical investments that i mentioned and that san francisco contractors get as much of the work as possible. on the work force development side, we have a major investment in what we call the job readiness initiative where we are funded community-based organizations in order to prepare people for the construction jobs that will be created as a result of our work. we also are investing heavily to make sure the san francisco businesses have the opportunity to work on the physical projects that i have talked about. the last thing that i would mention, just from a housing one of you, just because kathy is in the room, and she will kick me if i do not mention this, is to

develop senior housing and to complete the project as well. so that is our story. [applause] >> good evening. i am the chief of the san francisco police department. i was told by your aid to hurry up, so i am glad you took some of my time. the sentence is the police department has a little over 2000 sworn officers. our budget is a little over $400 million with an increase this next fiscal year of about $31 million. over $400 million, about 87% of that entire budget is salaries, which leaves very little for equipment and expenses. we averaged between six and 8 officers a month that retire. we need to have about three 50- person academy class is a year to maintain the number of

offices -- officers in the field. were as to give that $11 million back, that will cause some layoffs as far as officers are concerned. what my plan is in order to get back the $11 million is to go through the entire department, which i'm doing now, looking at the command structure, to see how we can sit salaries, look at every officer in an administrative position and said the hall of justice, and put a "work smarter, not harder" attitude to get as many officers back in the field, and i have ordered all my department heads to put at least 20% of everybody that is in that building, including my office, back in the field. so we are able to accomplish that. it would be easy for me to sit here and tell you the sky is falling and without these officers crime is going to go up, but my pledge to you, as it has been to the mayor, is i will to everything i can to reevaluate how the resources are

deployed, work smarter, and make sure the core service is keeping this community state will continue to be safe. i could ask for more officers because without the officer's i cannot do that, but in order for me to be successful, all the other social programs have to be successful. after-school programs have to be successful here domestic violence programs have to be successful. they are not successful, i cannot be successful here my obligation is i will give the 10% that. we will be able to continue to provide police services to this community as effectively as we always do. [applause] >> good evening, everybody. i'm from the mta. i will be even shorter. different from most of our colleagues in the city, we actually had a two-year budget, required by the voters, so we actually had a second-year budget that does need to be open and balance, but let me talk about a couple of priorities in

our second year. of course, first, is to improve muni services. we had to cut services last year because we lost a lot of funding, so we are focusing on improving muni. we are able to add back 50% of services we cut back. i am interested to hear that there were groups focused on personal habits and exercise. we have a lot of our funding focused on adding bikes and peds into the transportation infrastructure. so people can take those and address their personal habits and exercise. also, we are one of the few agencies this year that really built a lot of big projects. we are doing central subway. we have large capital projects where we can help in terms of employment, local employment, so we are working very hard to improve our local hiring in large projects. the last thing i want to mention

is that we have implemented a discount youth pass this past year, and we are working to have a $10 pass for low-income youth. this is the second year we are implementing that. those are the major programs that i think -- that i want to share with you, but we do have a balanced budget, so we are not participating in the drastic cuts that some of the other departments are for this 2012. >> i'm glad the police department and mta went so quickly because that gives me more time. i cannot talk while i'm sitting down, so i am going to stand. i am the general manager of your recreation and park apartment. our budget challenges have been well publicized. over the last seven years, our department has been asked to

either cut or raise $43 million of general fund subsidies. overall, we have about $115 million operating budget. the steward for thousand acres of open space. 220 neighborhood parks and a lot of recreational facilities that you all hold very dear in this district. -- we stored -- we steward 4000 acres of open space. los angeles lost 400 or 500 of its recreation staff. we are all scrambling. i think one important message for me is that we need to were all more funding and investment in parks. it is some of the solution to health issues and public safety issues, having clean, state parks and places for our kids to play. so how are we managing this? we are doing as best as we can. like the department of human services, we have some budget-

balancing principles we have used to guide us over the last two years. i am going to give you a couple of them here one is we prioritize revenue over cuts. we are short staffed as we feel like we need we can be to continue to provide to our communities. prioritize revenue, and i want to thank the mayor and supervisor cohen for helping us make some really tough decisions that helps us for a ride -- prioritize revenue over cuts. we do not want to cut our staff. we are focused on protecting our ability to provide clean, safe, and well maintained parks. our kids, families, seniors -- we deserve it. we want to protect our mission to provide healthy recreational choices for all of our citizens regardless of ability to pay. i am very proud of what we have been able to do on the recreation side of late. with significantly fewer resources, we have been able to add 20,000 hours of programming

this year by reorganizing how we deliver recreation. we will have 87 summer camps this year. we will have the largest scholarship fund we have ever had. we have tripled l the tripled learn to swim and a quiet classes, and drowning is the number two cause of death among city youth. we are focused on making sure that our own houses in order. this year, we have cut the cost of new worker consultation plans by $250,000 and significantly reduced over -- overtime. we had a very cohesive internal department. we are working very well together as a staff. this year, we have been asked -- our 10% cut amounts to approximately $10.4 million, and the good news, because of some of the tough choices we are making and some of the new revenue we have been able to bring in through programming and other creative ideas -- we think we are going to be able to

fundamentally solve that 10% challenge this year, primarily on revenue. last year was horrible for us, one of the worst years in the department is history. but i am optimistic that we will be able to get through our budget without laying off any partners and without laying off any more rec directors. i am confident you will not see any service reductions this coming year. your rec/park department is working its tail off to continue to deliver services, even in difficult budget times. [applause] supervisor cohen: all right, thank you. come on, we do not have time for applause. ok, now, it is time for the highlight of the evening. we will start with questions. first one comes from annie chung. where is she? from self help for the

elderly. >> thank you very much. tonight, we brought out about 1% of the seniors that we serve in district 10. many of them came from visitation valley and bayview- hunters point, and a couple of them just got here because they got lost. thank you for providing the translation so our seniors feel they could participate in these very difficult budget hearings. how can our city make a pledge that you will never abandon and always protect the most vulnerable? because the seniors in district 10 -- these are very frail seniors. low-income, immigrant seniors who need a lot of services. we have over 20 years built up the safety net services so they could have activities and nutritious meals. homebound seniors get home- delivered meals.

we also serve citizenship class is and case management. if the department of aging cuts the 10% contingency cut, it would mean a total of almost $250,000 loss for our services in district 10 and other districts. i hope that you know that the old population in san francisco has a plan, but there is no money to fund it, so i hope that we will not give senior population just lip service, but actually back it up with money that we will provide services for the very frail and very believable. thank you. supervisor cohen: no applause. remember. strict time limit. thank you. i just also want to remind people when they get to the microphone to ask questions. they can e-mail their statement and supporting documentation to the department heads, but this

is an opportunity for people to ask questions. is there any member of the panel that would like to address the question, specificallyspecificao to protect the vulnerable seniors of district 10? >> one of the things we're trying to do is to increase the access of seniors to food stamps. it is typically a population that does not take advantage of that program, and we met with cbo's to establish an outreach. we calculate there are 4000 seniors eligible for food stamps not taking advantage of it. we have a process whereby people can apply for food stamps on the web.

so, that is one thing we are trying to do. supervisor cohen: real quick -- the next question comes from greg. this is specifically directed to the general fund. >> yes. my question is -- i do not have the numbers here, but there was discussion around this yesterday, and what was brought to my attention was in district 10, they contributed most of the money in the fund, and yet we get less than 10%. how can we improve what this young lady was talking about, the fairness of distribution? >> [unintelligible] [laughter]

>> it is a great question from the perspective of the big picture. i would be interested in looking at the data you are working with. we have programs of the departments, and i think it would useful to hear from some of the department's about what their strategies are. they are specifically directed to the neighborhoods in district 10. i know there has been effort to focus on this area. citywide, i cannot answer that question, but that would be helpful. supervisor cohen: we actually wrote -- prioritize funding to district 10, because we partnership with the school district and human services agency and the department of

public health. i do not have the numbers in front of me, but i do believe this to attend as of the highest funding level of all of our -- district 10 is at the highest funding level of all of our districts. we definitely know that is the highest allocation. >> one of the issues we have been working on in the health department is working on american health. when you look at our program, although the population of older americans may be 5%, in our program, we have 50% african americans in our program. how do we become better at the services we provide by ensuring we are focused on african- american needs within those programs? some of the programs are not in district 10, but we have many people in district 10 coming

into a residential programs, our outpatient programs. one is to do a better job of that. the other is that right now we're looking at deficiency, also. one issue is with the health center and redevelopment's agency, working with us, working to integrate children's services in the southeast health center. we will be building a new building for the children's services. we believe that bringing both and integrating both services within the southeast corridor will be able to improve the services. another area we have been working on just recently is looking and managing more space for nonprofits that come into those programs. one of the areas for district 10

is we have small organizations, and i believe because of the issues of cost, health insurance, etc., it is very difficult for nonprofits in the southeast area. one area we are looking at is can we provide a way to provide these human resources management and financial management in a more centralized area that is non-profit so we can support their services so that mission and passion can continue? that is one of the great concerns form may come up some of the closures of the nonprofits in the district. that is another area we are working on. i do not have the amounts of money, but one thing we have to think about is having a stronger government presence in the southeast, trying to support this this year. supervisor cohen: ok.

i want to acknowledge our city attorney is here with us also. [laughter] >> no clapping. [laughter] supervisor cohen: next up we have marlene tran. >> good evening. considering the fact that district 10 has the highest population of asians here, how come there are so little services for the group? last year, there were 300 cdo's that asked for money, and where did these services go? who are they? this is our real question that we need all the departments to respond to.

>> we have asian-pacific and islander groups where we're looking at the needs. this is one of the means that unless,. we do need to look at larger organizations -- the demographics of communities has to change. you just stated that. moving the cdo's to the direction of the need as well. from the direction of our asian pacific and islander group, we are looking how to ensure northeast medical services opened up the facility in the area. i think we will have to work harder to make some changes, where we are providing those services. it could be a hub for some of those services as well. because part of it is really

finding the real estate for the individuals. from those recommendations, we will be looking at it. i think that is a very good comments and something we are aware of. we do want to bring more services to this area. >> actually, quite a few of these organizations ask for money on our behalf. we do not know who they are. when -- we want to see more transparency and accountability. this has to be done. we pay a lot of taxes. we're never included in the process is because of language, all these other issues, and i am happy that you are all here to listen to us. even though we are a small group here today, but we are the largest in the town. thank you. greg thank you. ok -- supervisor cohen: ok, the

next set of questions will be on the topic of health. bradley whitmeyer. would you mind walking over to the microphone? sorry we do not have one over here. >> i am of home care worker from united home, uaw -- uhw, and we are facing deep cuts in our benefits, which right now are not very much. it is a huge percentage of our benefits. given the potential state that's coming down, which will be 12% in july. that could be 20%. there is not a lot of money for our home care workers to pay the additional health and dental costs, plus many of our members are falling under the minimum

amount. i have great concern about that. health care is one of the most efficient uses of our dollars, because every time we use its, we have five times the cost going as people go from home into institutions and people are first to use general hospital, so, of all the savings we are seeing going on, just on my own, i would like to say i am in league perhaps with the president in considering there are revenues. perhaps there is more of a political vacuum where we can only consider cuts that some areas of our economy are prospering, that there should be revenues available in those areas that we need to perhaps spend together as a city, to join up with other cities and have some sort of solution and. supervisor cohen: do you have a

question, bradley? >> yes. my question is, how can the city stop the health and dental costs better going to hit the home care workers in san francisco and county? >> let me just respond to the issue, the fact of helping san francisco for those individuals a live audience and mrs. doe, people are eligible for access to health care. that is one way of managing the cuts. so -- i am not sure about the state cuts. it sounds like the health care workers are working in the homes. >> just shoveled a light on its -- shed a little light on it.

the dental has no support, for instance. >> just to respond, i think that issue is an important one, not just for the home workers, but a bigger issue facing a lot of workers in the city. it is a very difficult discussion and a very difficult situation. one of the things that is causing it though is we are facing these deficits and we are seeing high demands for services and one of the things creating a lot of pressure on the city for all costs is the cost of benefits. so, nobody is excited about having that conversation, because we are looking at a growing need for services, even with the state's cuts to a lot of our social safety net programs. there is a growing costs

associated with those programs, and we are having to try to look at some difficult proposals about how we can keep those programs going, even though it presents some difficult challenges for city employees and employees of other organizations. so, i know there are difficult conversations, but that is the reason we are continuing to face these issues as we are seeing a lot of cost growth, particularly for health care costs, which is impacting almost every piece of my city budget -- of our city budget. supervisor cohen: thank you very much. dr. mcghee. you are next. peggy lang, you are on deck. >> we are happy to see you.

we welcome you. my question has to do with hall, as a health service provider and have been doing so for more than 11 years, how do we protect the funds we still have in place? how can we looked at providing even more services right now for individuals with pediatric of smug, adults with asthma, and as you know -- pediatric asthma, adults with asthma, and as you know, the funds we had for our breast cancer program is now gone. we do not have funds to add. what is it that we are supposed to do? one other question and as, --

one other question is, are we obligated to a year to -- ahere to the contract as being laid out to the department of public health money comes to an individual's time being vested in support services verussus administration? if we have a small budget, we cannot help but replace staff working in administration and support services categories. so, why is it that we cannot jump around in our budget -- if in fact we know we need to spend more time in administration -- what are we being told, no. "you go out on the