raising fares, i lived in chinatown in the late 1940's. i had to catch the bus. i walked down the hill in order to catch the bus to go to school. coming from school, i would get off at fifth street and catch the cable car. the city has made chinatown a tourist area. the people that live there do not feel like it is a tourist town. we have people with a lot of children. i am the mother of six children, ok? what the young man was speaking about, how much the bus fare cost, it is ridiculous. we cannot afford it. people cannot afford it. $5 to catch the cable car, can anyone imagine how many people is not counting the cable car that live in the area?

a lot of people do not know anything about san francisco. that is all they do, they come and vote. they do not know the condition of the people live in different neighborhoods. i have lived all around san francisco. i want to be a part of that cac to keep you guys on the right track. [applause] >> [reading names] chairman brinkman: are those people here? >> we are with the families united collaborative. we are speaking as a group. we are a citywide collaborative of families who live in single room occupancies. i am a staff and one of the

organizations. they will be speaking cantonese and i will translate. >> [speaking cantonese] >> my name is nancy and i am a. organizer at the collaborative. -- i am a peer organizer at the collaborative. my daughter goes to school. she is a junior and every day, she took four muni trains at the minimum. she is turning 18 very soon.

after she turns 18, she will have to buy a $62 passes every month. that would be $744 per year. that makes us in eligible for a lot of the tax credits. that is a lot of burden for my low income family. >> [speaking cantonese] >> my husband and i work really hard so my kids have could convert -- education. a free bus passed lets them know that society treasures them.

it is an affirmation and an encouragement for education and for them to participate in the community. >> [speaking cantonese] >> all of our kids need a free pass. i am here to ask the board to give the future of our country and our city a fair chance. thank you. chairman brinkman: thank you. >> hello. >> hi, everyone. i have two kids. >> [speaking cantonese]

>> if my kids have a free muni pass, they can participate in community activities and go to the library whenever they want. they do not have to stay at home because we want to save money for bus passes. >> [speaking cantonese] >> because of budget cuts, the kids are not going to school as much as they used to. i do not want my kids to stay at home and play video games all day. >> [speaking cantonese] >> the bus passes are $21 per month.

with the two children, i have to pay $42. dad is a big line item in my budget for -- that is a big line item in my budget for my family. >> [speaking cantonese] >> the city of san francisco is a progressive city. we hope that all young people had a free mini past to go to wherever they want. -- have a free muni past to go wherever they want. chairman brinkman: i feel like we need to give the board of directors a break. if we could take 10 minutes. we will take a 10 minute break and we will pay back here at -- we will be back here at 4:46. we will make it 4:50 to give them extra time.

>> to the extent that there are any people remaining in room 408, i believe because of the number of shares -- chair, could we please get started? we can call the next speakers. ok. if there are any remaining people in room 408 or 416 who wish to participate. we have space in the main hearing room, we will ask them to come into this room so that you can proceed. [reading names] >> good afternoon.

i am with the market community action network. i am here to support to provide free muni for youth. we know that san francisco, there are a lot of families living san francisco, especially middle-income families because they do not feel the city loves them. they do not feel the love in the city anymore. it is a huge problem in san francisco. we have the lowest number of children than any other major city in the u.s.. by providing free transit, we can take a necessary step to support youth who are struggling to get by in this challenging time. that is why we are asking you to consider the free muni for youth. we want to see the city invest in our young people, invest in our families. we want them to feel valued and

important. we ask you to provide free muni for all. thank you. chairman brinkman: thank you. >> hello, commissioners. thank you so much for the opportunity to come and address you. i am a commissioner with the san francisco board of education. last year, the san francisco board of education unanimously passed a resolution in favor of free muni for all youth. the governor is proposing not to reimburse us for any transportation whatsoever. free muni ensure that every student would have the means to get to school. add san francisco unified, we like to say the city is our classroom. in recent years, we have less of our children going on field trips to our museums, parks,

historical sites because of the cost of muni to take all of the kids. i would be remiss to not bring to your attention that we have hundreds of students in our system who have turned 18 before they have graduated from high school. they depend on muni every day to get to school. they are full-time students. the majority of them do not work any job at all. we are getting them to graduate. san francisco unified is the top district in the state of california press school districts concerning test scores. i would ask for you to consider our 18-year-olds who are still in high school, full-time students, when you are considering free muni for youth. i am a san francisco fourth generation -- i rode muni all

over this city. it would not just be access to the schools, it would be access to the whole of san francisco. i urge you to pass free muni for all youth. thank you very much. [applause] >> hello. >> good afternoon. i currently attends school of the arts high school. i am also this didn't delegate to the board of education and we represent the student -- to the student delegate to the board of education. we passed a resolution with the board of education with the support of implementing free a fast passes for all youth and san francisco. 56% of the school district school buses have been cut.

the cuts will continue to increase over the next two years. in our society, we have the responsibility to make sure that youth have access to a free and public education. that should not exclude accessible transportation to and from school. we are urging you to vote for free muni for youth in san francisco. thank you so much. chairman brinkman: thank you. [applause] >> [reading names] >> hello, everyone. i am chair of the san francisco youth commission. i have spoken in front of you before. there are three things. we do not want to stigmatize muni as being only for low income.

i am appreciative that the proposal includes -- it has proven that they do their free lunch status data, but it does not reach everyone. people do not consider themselves low end, and they do not want to apply. that is one of the things i fear happening. administration of the program, i read the proposal that you have here. on page 5, it is sam's that administering would cost less than administering it for all low-income -- let's backtrack. administering the past for low- income students would cost less than administering it for all students. i find that the really interesting. i want to make sure the board took notice of that.

another point is family flight. not only are low income families leaving the city, all families are leaving san francisco. i really want to make sure we get them to stay. this gives families a reason to stay. it addresses the administration challenges. a couple of other things i want to include, we have been working with the supervisor's office in coming up with the finding. we have identified those funds and they are available to us. free muni for all allows us to leverage climate funds, going to drivers of all income levels to get out of their cars. we do not -- it helps the city reached being a transit to first city.

[applause] >> [reading names] >> good afternoon. i am here today -- i am an appointee on the youth commission. i come here today to support a free pass for all youth. the budget is tough, but we have to think about what it could mean for investment in our future. congesting, drunk driving, these are problems in our city. they are not because of cars. they are because people are not comprehending how great public transportation can be. or adult generation has been exposed to a life style in which cars are the only option. this is going to continue until we make a change right now. transportation is cool. i