this is an incredible place where we can turn young people into lifelong unique writers. i know you are debating whether you should reduce the cost versus free muni for youth. even if you reduce it, and i know you are considering that, low-income parents will have to pay the price. supervisor campos mentioned we have identified different funding sources to make muni free for youth. i know it will be a challenge. hopefully we can show this will work for san francisco. a debate within the youth commission came up about whether it should be free for low-income youth or all youth. i know a lot of private and parochial school students would become lifelong muni writers as well. this allows us to draw children

from middle-class and wealthy background as well, so there is lowered stigma. thank you for a knowledge in the grass roots campaign before us. i would like to introduce my colleague, supervisor olague, as well. chairperson nolan: the newest supervisor. congratulations, and thank you. supervisor olague: i worked for years at a senior organization. hopefully one day we will be able to look for ways limited income people and disabled people who are seniors can also have that considered for them. i write muni every day. i am on the five fulton every morning, sometimes the 24 division thereof. -- divisadero. every year, we seem to see more

and more educational cuts, whether that means larger classrooms or more burden placed on parents around purchase and school supplies. now, of course, yellow buses no longer exist. that is a thing of the past. someday we will have a yellow bus in a museum, no doubt. i think it is critical, since the burden is placed on parents and families, that the city needs to provide this. school is mandatory. it is not a choice to children. they have to go to school. so i think we have to make sure that we facilitate this for them. at some point, i think the issue of -- it probably has come up before at other hearings -- the issue of safe travel is important to consider. there are some children i wait with in the morning. they seem to have a different parent or caretaker accompanying them on their way to school.

it is something to consider as well, as well as the excess travelers on those buses during those times when people are going to school. i noticed that sometimes the buses are really hard to get on during certain hours, because that is when children are trying to get to school. >> theresa mendoza, followed by sanjolie, marcy rain, george oy ama. >> [speaking spanish] >> good afternoon. my name is theresa mendoza. i am a member of an organization.

i am here to ask for you to approve the free fast-passes for youth. >> [speaking spanish] >> so that we do not have to suffer so much trying to divide up our money between buying clothes or buying a fast pass. because sometimes we do not even have money for that. >> [speaking spanish] >> and i do not have much more to say, but i see you're kind hearts and you're kind faces, and i think we can make this happen. that is all i needed to say. thank you. chairperson nolan: thank you. >> next speaker is sandra lee

hubbard, followed by mercy rain and georgia iowa. -- george ayama. >> i am here to lend support to the idea of free muni for all youth in san francisco. as many previous speakers have mentioned, we are phasing out our general education yellow school buses. the governor has proposed to eliminate all funding for reimbursement for trips protection costs. you can imagine the havoc it is causing in our school district. we get calls on a daily basis. how will we get children to school? we have a system of free choice in our schools. that means parents can choose schools that are far from their own neighborhoods, if there is performing the would like for their own children. access to free muni would give their children a chance to participate in language immersion programs and art

programs that are not in certain districts, but in other areas of the city. we have, and i think you have heard, but we have an increasing amount of homeless families we are serving. two years ago, we were spending $11,000 a month for youth passes for homeless families. we are spending in excess of that now. it has used up all of our funds to serve our homeless families. still, there is great need every month. it might be hard to imagine how a muni fast pass might affect your family budget, but for many of our families, this means food on the table. i wanted to add one more thing in. we see san francisco as a wonderful place to raise children. we think it is a wonderful place to have their children attend school. we fully believe that the school district of san francisco is the classroom for our children. i want to talk about field

trips i notices a side issue. but we have seen a decrease in the amount of schoolchildren schools simply cannot afford it. this would allow them the opportunity. the board of education last year unanimously supported a resolution to provide free muni for all youth. >> good afternoon. i work with urban habitat, which is one of the organizations in support of free money for youth. as an organization, we work for environmental, social, and economic justice. i think you have heard the content, but in so many words, when we are talking about needs for all youth, we are talking about a fundamental civil rights issue. it is about equal access for

everyone. that is, i understand, what a civil right is. when you think about the history of the civil rights organization, this is another step in the evolution of that. when we say all, i want to hit one other point. these are really hard times. san francisco is a really expensive city. we are concerned that nobody falls through the cracks. this includes students who may be from undocumented families, or whose families may have trouble coming up with paperwork. it also may affect students who might look moderate income, but it is a really hard time when somebody loses a job or has a health emergency. all kinds of families can be affected by this. when we say for all, we do not want to see anybody fall through the cracks. i want also to echo the words of our very youngest speaker, who,

when you think about it, had more future at stake than anyone else, reminding us that this is about the planet. this is about the responsibility to do our transportation differently as a society. the point many people made about building a new generation -- i am so struck by what the young man said, thinking ahead the way he did. thank you. chairperson nolan: next speaker? >> george koyama, laura zapato, esella roasalez. >> [speaking spanish]

>> i am here to support this campaign. i am here to support the youth, because i understand the experience the korean people are facing right now, young people attending different schools and public schools. a lot of low-income youth who are living in a time of economic crisis need this. >> [speaking spanish]

>> i disagree that you should have to pay to ride. sometimes it is very difficult for them to come up with the 75 cents. it seems really unfair to those who do not have the experience or the opportunity to work, and who depend on adults, guardians

supervising them, to come up with this money, when they do not have it. >> [speaking spanish] >> and i have also seen that they need to figure out ways to come up with the money, whether from a parent or guardian. i have seen them literally pushed off of buses. >> [speaking spanish]

>> it is very difficult for me to see this as a latino. i consider them the future. so it is difficult for me to see this happening, and i want to support them. thank you, and we hope you can be on our side. >> laura zapato, estella rosares -- chairperson nolan: how many speakers? >> 20 more. >> good afternoon, director,

commissioners. i and the community organizer for the jamestown community center. some of you have met with some of our kids. they wanted to be here, but unfortunately, because the time was not changed -- one of my students this year, but the majority could not be here to talk to you today. we were lucky because it was early release today in the school district, so we have some elementary and middle schoolers who were able to join us. that was happenstance. but it would have been great if you could of passed this to 4:00. we need this to happen. we have been working with you guys for about 18 months, trying to make this happen. we really need to have this happen. we are wasting money and time. our families and our kids need this. it was all some of you guys to put the $1.8 million last year for free passes over the summer.

we are at a position where we are figuring out what to do about that. we're getting toward the end of the school year, and this program has not started. we need this to be for everyone, for all kids. the idea is that it will create an incentive to push kids who would normally drive or be in cars on to munich. it gives them a reason to use muni instead of buying cars, or kids who normally would get cars when they turn 16 -- there would be more incentive for them to ride the bus. this is a program we want for all kids, lower class and upper class, because we really think it will push our kids to become lifelong uni writers. we think that is really important. it is an important part of what we are trying to work on. i am working with the school district and other cbo's about how to create lifelong muni

writers -- riders. >> i am here to strongly encourage you to support this. a lot of our students to have been working on this for the past year were not able to make it. i am here to show my full support. with all of the services that are being cut, access to school is becoming really difficult for a lot of families, and not just low income families. i hope this can become available to all san francisco youth. >> and stella -- estella rosales, mario ebida. >> [speaking spanish]

>> good afternoon. i am from power. i am here again to ask that you support the free bus passes for youth in san francisco. i am here representing the single mothers of the city. this is a beautiful city, but it is also expensive. we need these fast passes.

as parents, we have a responsibility to provide for our youth, and the youth have a responsibility to receive an education. >> next speaker, and judy kwang. >> good afternoon. i am actually here to speak. i ran off the bus to talk to you. i and the youth local coordinator for the occupancies leadership department program. thank you so much for kiki in, listening to all of the speakers. thank you. >> my name is alicia garza.

as you can see, power has been doing an incredible job, in coordination with other organizations, drumming up community support for free fast passes for young people. we are going to be organizing low-income riders. transit riders want to see a budget that improves muni reliability and access without cutting service or raising fares higher than the cpi index increases. our organizational vision is to put the burden on corporate employers who benefit from the service of muni, but do not pay their fair share. we support progressive solutions that tax the rich and corporations. we have collective disagreements. while we understand efforts to reduce congestion, many low

income families and seniors still need to drive. as transit advertisers, we will not shy away, and we look forward to coming up with creative solutions to the budget crisis. we have also begun to discuss the budget crisis and the importance of solutions that prioritize taking transit over driving in order to reduce our impact on climate and the environment. we have just begun the process of evaluating some specific proposals with our members. we are much more supportive of an effort to tax downtown parking garages instead of implementing parking meters in areas such as bayview hunters point. we appreciate the awareness about the burden of transit fares on low-income riders. we would like to work together with you to find budget solutions and get voter

approval. we do not have the big bucks that some of the other stakeholders have, but we do have people power. we are part of san francisco rising. it is a grass-roots coalition of nine base building organizations working to build electric power in poor and working-class communities of color. >> my commissioners are on the bus, coming. there are five of them. a lot of them go to private school. i want to speak three bullet points as to why a universally free pass is what this campaign is about, regardless of income. it does not stipulate you have to be low income to receive it. there was debate at the commission back in september, before we adopted this resolution, about income

stratification. ultimately, there were three policy reasons why the commission wants a free pass. the first is stigma. reduced or free lunch, general assistance -- there is a stigma that comes with being low-income and getting a service for it. when you are pre pubescent, that is super messed up. that is not the kind of public good the youth commission supports. the second point is the administrative difficulties. the half price fast pass for low-income youth was never implemented because of the administrative burden. in a final point that i think is important to point out, 40% of kids who could don't.

we have a high proportion of private school students, but all those kids are not rich. a youth commissioner was here. some people off just want a good education. thanks for your time. free for all. >> thank you so much, mr. nolan. if you're muni drivers do not need to eat, everything is free. police -- we cannot make any more for the public in this community. we have to teach the children what is duty. transportation is a duty. if you want to live in a big city, you have to pay for it.

you cannot get free pizza at a pizza shop. you have to pay for it. yes, we need to take care of the low income. yes, we can make it more affordable, a pass for the children. but that is all we can do. we cannot say you get it free because you live in san francisco. we cannot send this message to the public anymore. we are sending a strong message to the community and the children, the next generation. san francisco has reliable public transportation already. in his been on the street for 22 years already. the bus may be late a little bit or early a little bit. at least we can depend on public

occasion. this is why we have to pay a bit of money to get on the buses. it is not because of five supervisors. we are a community, blah blah blah. but they do not know how much money you pay to run the system -- the railroads, driver benefits. they are members of the public as well. if i should live here, i should get free? that is not right. do not send the wrong message. >> thank you for hearing us. my name is fernand go. i work with the central american resource center, and an after-school program right behind me. coming over here, we had to

split our group up because we had left over bart tickets, but could not all right muni. it would be helpful for parents who have their students come out to our programs, and for field trips. it comes up in all sorts of areas. 75 cents does not seem like a lot. that was a world of difference for me. i remember when you could scrape up 75 cents, you need to come back in the hour and a half block. i definitely was one of those people who knew which corners i could hit up so i could get on the back of the bus and right knee that way. chairperson nolan: the board will have a 10 minute break. ribble be back at 20 till. -- we will be back at 20 till.