list. but that is all i wanted to say. that is something that once you take a life, you cannot bring it back. accountability needs to be on your part, too, on the district attorney's part, so if he knew a man was innocent and still prosecuted him, that a straight up murder -- that is straight up murder. that is not malfeasance. [applause] >> i want to thank the public defender's office for putting this panel together. i understand there was a good panel this morning. these are issues that are conflicts, and they require continuing dialogue. the law is not perfect. the law is always evolving. it was an honor also to be with the other panelists here.

i think that the issue of the death penalty is one that obviously is right -- ripe for us to bring this back to the voters. i think there is a great deal of evidence today that speaks to the problems of wrongful convictions. i think we all understand what the factors are. we know there is a problem with wrongful convictions -- convictions. there is certainly a problem with prisoner treatment, and there is a problem with closure to the victims as well as the financial costs. it is up to all of us collectively to talk about how we deal with this and create a more profitable policy around dealing with very serious crimes, and i welcome the opportunity for having been here today. thank you very much. [applause] >> jeff adacci has a few closing

remarks. >> i am a public defender. >> good afternoon. i am with the d a's office. >> in closing today's program, we want to first of all thank all of you for being here and being part of this discussion. no doubt, we achieved a great deal. this was not just another talking head conference where people were just here to give a speech. you really heard engaged discussion from this morning all the way up until now. we thank our panelists because they came here with an open heart and an open mind. we are going to talk in a minute about how we are going to move things forward. i want to thank the staff of the public defender's office and the

many volunteers who made this possible. we thank the library staff as well as sfgovtv for their good work here. john came here because we invited him and because he knew that he is making a difference and will continue to make a difference. after serving 14 years on death row and spending 18 years of his life fighting the case, he continued to fight for justice, and he brought his case to the united states supreme court. he received a $40 million jury verdict, and in april, the united states supreme court overturned that, even though in this case, there were three prosecutors who have -- who were found to have intentionally withheld evidence that would

have exonerated him. plus, and this is a great lesson for all of us, it was a prosecutor who was the hero. he stood up and came forward and told everybody what the other two prosecutors did. when he did that, his efforts were rebuked by the district attorney. as a result, he left his job. it tells you that there are heroes everywhere. people are standing up for justice everywhere. we have to reach everyone everywhere every place in order to solve this problem. we do have a plaque to presented -- present to j.t > as a result of everything he has been through, but more importantly, to help him in the future -- present to j.t. as a

result of everything he has been through, but more importantly, for everything he will do in the future. you can support the work he does with a reentry program for persons coming back from prison. so if we could present this to you. [applause] moving forward, our work cannot stop here. i would like to have christine talk about what we are going to be doing moving forward. we have had meetings with district attorney george gascono about doing things differently.

within the police chief, a new district attorney, we have that opportunity -- with a new police chief, a new district attorney, we have that opportunity. i would also like to acknowledge supervisor ross mirkarimi to come up here just for a moment and say hello, and let me have christine close the program. >> good afternoon, everybody. it was a pleasure to listen to the last panel this afternoon. i am the chief of staff for mr. gascon, and i joined him when he moved over to the d.a.'s office. joining the office on his request, because i think we really have a unique perspective, having worked on the defense side and on policy issues, and i can attest that he is undertaking a wholehearted effort to really bring some reform to the criminal justice system on many fronts, this being one of them that we are evaluating.

i hope that you as city and county residents will see in our work that we really take some efforts that will reform. anybody that has participated in the criminal justice system for any length of time knows that it does not work from whatever and will you are looking at it, so the question is how do we make it better? we hope to engage all of you in that. we are starting neighborhood courts, and a lot of efforts that we hope to engage the city and county in supporting us and looking at ways to move away from the over incarceration of people and look at ways to reform their behavior. the efforts we have undertaken when george was appointed to the position -- jeff asked him to come to the public defender's office to have a question and answer session, which he did, and i attended with him. we are told that was the first time that had ever happened, and we reciprocated by asking jeff to meet with the district attorneys in our office. we have begun a dialogue that

both sides think is very healthy. we have identified a number of issues that we think require further exploration, so we are creating working group's staff by the people from the d.a.'s office and the public defender's office to look at improving things like discovery, which is an important issue, making sure that we have reciprocal discovery and that it is transparent and complete. looking at workers from collaborative courts, looking at solutions besides incarceration, dealing with mental health and behavioral health issues, rather than using the jails as a solution to that, and we are also working around juvenile issues to make sure we are doing all we can for those under the age of 18 in our community. those are the efforts we are undertaking. jeff and matt have been a fantastic partners in this. as far as we know, it is a new day in these efforts and really trying to work collaboratively

and we hope to have all your support in doing that. [applause] >> of course, that is not to say that we are not going to fight it out in court because, of course, that is what we do. i would like to briefly introduce ross mirkarimi, who is a supervisor here in the city, and he has been a champion of many criminal justice issues, including prisoner reentry. i also want to thank and acknowledge debra atherton. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: it is nice to see everybody. jeff is generous. i was not expecting to be up here. i know you have had a productive day. i think that the public defender's summit is something not to be missed and a template for the rest of california and

probably the nation to follow. i am proud of our public defender. i am proud of our criminal justice partners because over the last four years, we have seen a great amount of innovation. jeff and i started the city's first reentry council, and it might be bewildering to you, but before we started it, believe it or not, those stakeholders in the criminal-justice system really very irregularly rarely would come together and talk about ways that we might mitigate, reduce our recidivism rate. great progress has been made, but san francisco still needs to step up its game. i was delighted to hear the conversation that took place here, but no the statistic that for every four people that sanford's is the police department arrests and the da prosecutes, nearly three are repeat offenders -- for every four people that san francisco police department arrests and

the da prosecutes -- the d.a. prosecutes. there is evidence to show that doing everything we can to try to divert some of his life from repeating their offense, but we will have to really vigorously enhance our approach. one way to do that obviously is the collaboration being fostered and demonstrated here today, but it is more than just today. it will have to be every single day, or else california will continue to be building more prisons, and san francisco may not be far behind. thanks. [applause] >> once again, thanks for the flag. [laughter] have a good time. have a good evening. thank you very much. [applause]

knows >> the executive director for saint anthony foundation, honored to welcome all of you to this hope-filled and ossetia's differ the foundation. for those of you may have been down in the dining room, today is a special day for all of us, especially our guests. in october of 1950, father alfred bodeker, a pastor just up the street, open the doors of saint and the 's dining room. he saw it as a growing need on the sidewalks outside the church. everyday folks were lining up, searching for food. he felt that handing out a sandwich at the back door was not a dignified way to assess people, and it did not help to address some of the core problems that those folks were facing. so he was able to acquire at the corner of golden gate and jones, an old on a body repair shop,

and he converted it into a dining room. from the start, he wanted it called a dining room. and everyone that came to the doors for a meal was to be called a guest. all of the volunteers, all of our staff throughout the last 61 years and knows that we greet everybody who comes through the doors like we would greet somebody coming into our home, with that same hospitality, that unconditional welcoming. so that not only are they getting a fine meal, but they're being reminded that their dignity is in tact. and that we're there to stand with them through whatever hardships they are facing to start a new day. on that first day, father alfred thought he would serve about 150 meals. but 400 showed up to eat. they managed to have enough food for everyone. the dining room also became known as the miracle on jones street, because somehow there were always able to feed everybody who came. here we are today, everyone,

2012, 61 years later, 38 million meals later, and we are, today, serving our last meal in our original dining room. we are relocating for two years the tiberi dining room. on the same spot where st. anthony's was started, a new dining room is going to rise up. we're very excited about that. we're excited today to be launching both the start of that new building, lodging the public face of our capital campaign, and together, as a community, bringing it all together so that st. anthony's is demonstrating its commitment for the next 60 plus years to serve the people of san francisco. one of the things we have always valued as partnerships. this is no different. not only are we building a larger dining room, about 43% larger, in fact, we are also bringing two of our other programs under the second floor

of our building. our clothing program and our social work center, both on the second floor. it means that our guests have this integrated services right there, immediately where they need them. another partnership i am very proud of his partnership with mercy housing but they're going to be building 90 units of affordable senior housing on the upper floors. this corner of golden gate and jones is going to be transformed. there will be a 10-story building on the corner. it will bring food, counseling, clothing, and housing. and i think that i can say that the mayor has always emphasized the need for partnerships. we can address the challenges we are facing as a city when we all pull together and we bring our best to cells and our best expertise to address the challenges we face. and caring and sharing is a theme i know the mayor has promoted throughout his efforts and continues to bring to his leadership in san francisco.

certainly that is what st. anthony's exemplifies and what we do each day. it is my honor to introduce the leader of our fine city, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you for your leadership. father, thank you very much. you represent really the best of what we do in san francisco. i am so glad to join supervisor scott wiener here today. our fire chief is here. members of our police chief and the district captain is here. jane kim is here as well. a wonderful collaboration of people that have come together because of st. anthony's. not only are the meals important, but it really is the spirit and connections that people get when they come to a center like this. it is warm, friendly, people open themselves up for dialogue. and quality of life and then

becomes something that is mutually talked about. i am thrilled to join here. i do not see it as anything negative today, just because it is colorado maybe the last meal served here for now, but it is won that excites me for the new chapter of st. anthony's. the new head of mercy housing is doug schumacher, who came as the head of our mayor's office of housing. i know he will be heading up a building this wonderful housing complex, along with the ground floor meal center that you have here, while you take care temporarily of the serving of meals to people who really need them and want them and good, wholesome food that has always been at the heart of the expression of love and support at st. anthony has. i am also proud to share the stage was someone like larry baird. i have to say this, when you say the word of the name giants, there is only one giant in this

city that we welcome. that is the san francisco giants. you know what i am talking about. [laughter] i will say this, i am really happy to associate st. anthony's and what the giants have done in partnership with them, because it is something i have always wanted to see, our businesses, our sports team to be able to make that strong connection as they have historically done. not only to the management come down, like larry himself, but the owners and the players have been here serving meals. again, showing the love that this city has, the connections that we all have, because it is about connecting people in life, no matter what stage they are, what economic level they are at. i am -- i have always about the city for the 100%. everybody lives here, and what we do and what sherry does and went sherry announces a need and

the father praise for people to come, people should listen. and they should, and they have to. and that is why we chose our director of hope, housing opportunities, partnerships, innovation, embracing and engaging our communities. bevon is here today to help serve these meals. he is supposed to be on vacation, gearing up for the very hard work he is going to do. but i know his passion has already been shown for so long. so it is natural that he comes aboard and helps. these are the kinds of people that i want to surround myself with. the supervisors, with good administrators, people in the community, the business community, that all coverage on the important part of improving people's lives, opening up communication, giving the heart of san francisco out in the open

and making sure that we take care of their buddies needs. with that, i am happy to be here. i am happy to be part of service to this. and sherry, congratulations on this stage of bringing forth for st. anthony's. i am excited to see a brand-new building, but also the same hearts to go into that have always been here. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you so much. speaking of hearts, many of you are today volunteering with us. and every year, roughly 10,000 volunteers come and give of their time and served meals, help out in our clothing program, our clinic, and our various programs. but at the core of what we do each day in the dining room are our regular volunteers. men and women who, for years to come in every day of the week --

some have a monday, some have a wednesday. they come in every week on that day, and they surf. they greet our guests. there's some of the most constant sources of hope and inspiration for our guests. many of our regular volunteers have been with us for 15 years and over, and we're so grateful for them. i know that as we embark on this new adventure, saying goodbye to the original dining room is also a sad tug on their hearts. but we're bringing for the spirit of generosity and care that our regular volunteers bring each and every day. i am honored to invite two of those stallworth volunteers to join me and say a few words. kathy and bill. [applause] >> good afternoon. i can attest to the energy that is going on in the dining room this morning, having been there for a couple of hours this

morning. there is sadness because we're leaving, and there's also a joy because of the new stage we're going to get up as sherry said, my name is kathy, 15 years ago i noticed an ad in the church bulletin. so i thought i would give it a try. i would come down here and began volunteering. when i first walked down that driveway of what used to be a garage, i noticed that i was on sacred ground, holy ground, if you will. there is an era of compassion and love and service and dignity and respect that i do not find any place else, and that is why i keep coming. 15 years, and i hope i can do even more. i wanted to share a very short story with you that sort of speaks to my experience here on a weekly basis. just before christmas, the wednesday before christmas, one of the guests motioned to me and

said, i want to tell you about this new show that i have seen. and he was very excited to tell me about an old show from the 1930's and how it was now being seen on his computer or laptop at home. after a few minutes, i took up his enthusiasm and energy and i sat down with him, and he continued to tell me the story and how excited he was. although it was not something that i know about particularly, i found that we were just two people sitting in a dining room and sharing some time together. and there was no longer the server and the guest. it was just us. and i left that day feeling as though i had been touched in a very special moment. it is those moments that make the dining room some magical for me. thank you. [applause] >> thank you.

my name is bill. i have been with st. anthony's for three years. i think it is a great privilege to be able to serve. st. anthony's is very special. last friday, i attended one of the great old san francisco at restaurants that reopened in in north beach, original joe's. i was there, chatting with the owner, and i told him was a very impressed by the new restaurant. i said, what is the capacity? he said, well, we served 502 for lunch today. i said, well, that is nice. we served 2200 for lunch. [laughter] [applause]

so i think one of the greatest of the virtues is a charity. st. anthony's practices with that. it is with great love and compassion that they've served their guests. and i am just lucky and proud to be part of it. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, kathy and bill, very much. you know, every meal we serve, as well as all the services we're privileged to provide the men and women and families who come to us, are possible because of the generosity of the people of the bay area. since the day we opened, we have been able to do what we do because of contributions from individuals, families, and businesses. we do not accept government support for our work. it truly is san francisco's charity. the good people of san francisco who make it possible for us to get to do this work every day. st. anthony's it new dining room is a time when we're launching a

special project, our capital campaign. just $5 million left to go on a 15 million-dollar campaign. i am feeling really good that we're going to get there. we're on a good track, because we have got some incredible people supporting us and guiding us. i think you will agree with me that our next speaker is someone who certainly knows how to put together a winning team. st. anthony's is truly honored to have the support of the san francisco giant's president, as well as the giants' pitcher who is getting ready for the season and cannot be with us today. let's welcome larry here. [applause] >> and thanks so much. good afternoon, everyone. thank you, sherry. father john, sherry, mayor lee, fire chief, supervisors, and

bevon -- congratulations on your new role, wherever you are but it is a wonderful being here. sometimes people say to me, wow, third and king is the most important intersection in the city of san francisco. i had [laughter] got to say, as important as that is, this is the most important intersection in the city of san francisco at golden gate. [applause] hearing from bill and kathy, the volunteers, and being able to serve meals periodically and interacting with the guests -- in fact, i blew it today because blast, was here serving a meal, i wore my world series ring. as we were serving meals, you can imagine -- basically, i do

not have the ring on at all while i was serving the meal. it was being passed from guest to guest. it was a lot of fun. and just very much related to what kathy said. because what happens is you interact on a very real and very human level with the folks that are here at st. anthony's, and it is beautiful thing to see. i think back to a lot of parallels between st. anthony's and of the giants. we are both over 100 years old if you look at the meal program and you looked at the origins in 1906 after the earthquake and meals being served to displace san franciscans, and the giants are 130 years old. st. anthony's has been in this location now for 61 years. we have been 54 years in san francisco. twoca