>> good evening, everyone. [speaking spanish] my name is david campos, and i have the honor of representing district 9. [speaking spanish] for those of you who need translation [speaking spanish] welcome to our second annual budget town hall. i think that many of us were here last year when we have the

first annual budget town hall. i want to begin by welcoming all of you to district 9 and i want to thank the school and the school district for making this auditorium available to us. if you could give the school a big round of applause. thank you for hosting us tonight. i also want to thank each and every one of you. we have a joint town hall tonight that includes the district eight and district 9. we will be hearing very shortly from our major. mr. mayor, welcome to district 9. thank you for being here. shortly, i will turn you over to our district eight supervisor, supervisor wiener. the budget is the most important policy document that the city crafts. the budget is ultimately the

policy document that decides what our priorities are. because of that, it is so important that we have as transparent a process when it comes to finalizing our budget as we possibly can. on behalf of the strychnine, i want to thank mr. mayor for the fact that since he became mayor, we've had an inclusive, open, and transparent budget process. i want to thank you for that, mr. mayor. [applause] you'll be hearing from mr. mayor and supervisor wiener and also members of the community from the strychnine and district eight. the thing about drafting a budget is the budget cannot be drafted and be a budget that totally reflects the values that we have as a city unless we have the opportunity to hear directly from the citizens about what your priorities are.

that's why this meeting is so important and it's so important that we are having the meeting not in city hall, even though it's important, but that we come out to the neighborhoods and we hear directly from people what is important to them and what their priorities are. from what i can tell you, even though there are many wonderful things happening throughout the city and many wonderful things happening here in district 9, it is also important to recognize there are specific people, specific groups throughout the city that have certain needs that need to be addressed. we want to make sure the budget is a budget that takes care of everyone. that's why this discussion tonight is so important. with that, i'm honored to introduce to you supervisor wiener, who represents district 8. supervisor wiener and i have known each other many years. we went to law school together. it's my honor to introduce to you my colleague the, supervisor wiener.

supervisor wiener: thank you,, supervisor campos. we're in district 9, but we are a half a block from district 8. it's an amazing district. i'm honored to be representing it. this budget process is the most important thing i'm honored to do. i'm honored to be sitting on the budget committee this year. having gone through the budget process last year, i can say, i can't corroborate what -- i can corroborate what supervisor campos said, to include those

board of supervisors early on, to make sure we are trying to iron out possible differences of opinion to address budget issues early, so when the budget is submitted to the board, we have worked out as many issues ahead of time and so then we can falfs on the final items. the budget process last year was not nearly as chaotic at the end as it has been in recent years past. i really appreciated that process. i'm glad we are doing it again. i wanted to touch on a couple of areas. there are so many important areas in our budget. three things that i am focused on and a lot of people are focused on. one is, approximately, at least $7 million cut from the government that we are receiving for hiv services in san

francisco. this is potentially devastating to our ability to have the social safety net for those living with the disease and those at risk for the disease that we have created in the 1980's. one thing i've said repeatedly and i will say again, in san francisco, when the epidemic struck, we did not have help from the state or federal government. we had to do it ourselves as a community. we created a wonderful network of community-based nonprofits to take care of our community. we are now losing a lot of our significant chunk of our federal aid. we have lost state resources. once again, we are having to retrench and start to take care of our own in the way that we know how to do in san francisco. in addition, and this is true in a lot of parts of the city, but especially in district 8, we have a lot havelgbt youth in our

city who come here seeking refuge from all over the country, from all over the world. it's important to us to embrace those youth. we have a wonderful network of both within city hall and also within the community to make sure that happens. finally, we, i believe, are refocusing on our infrastructure in san francisco. the voters passed prop b. thank you for doing that. we have a responsibility to make sure we are actually carrying out the will of the voters and maintaining our infrastructure and stopping the deterioration. i was pleased to see in the mta budget a renewed focus on maintenance to make sure the system keeps running and stops degrading. i know we're all committed to fixing our roads, not just for cars, but for pedestrians and

bikes, as well. thank you for being here. i really look forward to the conversation tonight. [applause] now, it is my honor to introduce our mayor, who is a district 8 resident. the last one was, as well. we have a little bit of a trend here. as i mentioned, mr. mayor has brought a positive attitude towards his work at city hall. we all have our disagreements in city hall. there are times when the mayor and i agree on things and disagree. i know that is true with all of my colleagues. he always brings an incredibly positive and collaborative approach. even if you disagree, you can sit down and talk about it and try to work it out. his attitude toward the budget is not unique to the budget. the mayor brings that attitude

toward every single thing that he does at city hall. it makes all of our lives a lot easier in terms of trying to get things done for the community. mayor lee. [applause] mayor lee: thank you, scott. thank you, david. from the tallest to the smallest. i am so happy to be here in the mission. i've got my copy. i'm ready to go tonight. i want to acknowledge my sincere thanks to supervisor wiener and supervisor campos. they are really the greatest examples of why we all vote in district elections. they're doing a good job. they are going through some disagreements. you have a city hall who is listening. we are dialoguing seriously about the things you care about. i want to keep the focus on our city. that's why so many of our departments today came -- they sensed mission is important.

we've got to listen to everybody as we go forth, involving a budget that will be balanced. we have not made any decisions on the budget yet, except for one. that decision is that we have to balance our budget. i've got to go in the direction that everybody educate themselves about all the needs of the city. that's why we started very early in the budget season. we have combined two districts tonight. i am so glad to see all of you here. tonight is for us to listen and listen carefully of how you articulate the needs of your community and how we must take that into consideration as we make the decisions that affect our departments, our personnel, and our budgets. before i begin, i want to give a thanks to the immigrant affairs and civic division here. they have been so helpful, along

with all the others, to make sure you knew we were coming out here tonight to be part of this community here. thank you very much. [applause] my spanish is not as good as david campos. if i went to law school with both of them, i would have had a lot more fun than what i experienced. it i want to make sure you know that tonight we are listening. we do have a situation that's improving every six months. we get some reports. i've been working really hard with the supervisors to create an investment-friendly city, a city that welcomes job creation. jobs for everybody, not just for downtown folks. i'm not here in the neighborhoods, also, and making sure that our board and i care about the neighborhood corridors. we're out here on events like sunday street's premier out here for all kinds of different reasons, because we care about

every single neighborhood in the city. we want all of you to feel the richness of the city. it is not just for downtown. it never has been. i want you to know that and what you to know we listened very carefully. we are getting better. guess what? we still got a deficit. we have a two-year budget process. we are challenging ourselves a little bit more. about $170 million deficit for 2013. having said that, the $170 million is better than what it was six months ago. as our economy has benefited from some good sales revenues,

and some of the buildings are occupied, we have a better revenue stream all the time. we knocked it off almost $129 million than what it was a few years ago. it is improving. please do not use the word "surplus." it does not exist in my district yet. hopefully while i'm mayor, i hope to use that term in the near future with the supervisors. that would signal to you we've done everything we can to bring back economic prosperity for everybody. tonight, we still have to wrestle ourselves with deficits, with how we deal with government, how we deliver services, which services are most important, and i need that engagement with you. i also want to recognize a supervisor carmen chu, head of the budget committee for the

board. she will be making virtually all these meetings with us as we go to all the neighborhoods enjoy all our various department heads to help make those decisions. she will guide us through, with supervisor campos, supervisor wiener, and all the other supervisors, as well. i want you to remember this year -- last year, i repeated over and over again. i wanted to make sure we had a safe, solvent, and successful city. this year, i would like to guide you in terms of making sure our city is involving you, that we are innovative in our approaches, and that we end our decisionmaking with a full appreciation of how we invest in our city. involving you, being innovative and creative, and investment in our city. whether your investment is just yourself, your family, your

investment in the small business, or somebody else's business. if we are in investment friendly city, then you are going to want to stay here and grow. that's how i see it. that city that we love of san francisco can only be that way if we all work together, all listen carefully, that we reflect the traditions of a great city that listens to every neighborhood and bounces and makes those hard decisions the best way we can -- balances and makes those hard decisions the best way we can. guess what? we are not going to have state. jerry brown is not coming in offering more money. he is doing the opposite thing. he has to. washington, d.c., guess what? they are not going to give us a whole pot of money. we have to innovate our way to solutions in our city. i cannot think of a better way. if someone tells me they do not have enough money to do

something and that i've got a period of time to do it, i'm going to look around for the best minds and the best friends and people who love the city most and say, let's work together to find solutions. how do we pay for those cuts for the aids programs scott has referred to, or supervisor campos has talked to me about community-based services that need to be here in the community, not in some centralized place where you cannot get it. how do we do all of that and still maintain the balance? that is up to us to find that way. you have a mayor that is seriously focused on your problems, because there are problems. it's not my budget. it's our budget. i will spend every day and hour i can to find the best solutions that i can. i have some really keen brains here. they are very smart people. they are very dedicated people. they are going to work really hard with me as to how to bring

the best, highest level of services, culturally competent services, services to every neighborhood, and still try to balance the budget with all the things you been reading about and hearing about the enough speeches. tonight is about listening to you. thank you very much. let's get the road show started. [applause] supervisor campos: thank you, mr. mayor. we assume that by your presence here, if there's any surplus, district 8 and district 9 will be the priorities, i imagine. [laughter] let me introduce the department heads that are here. before we do that, i want to acknowledge supervisor carmen chu, chair of the budget committee. i want to thank her for her presence and for also having a truly transparent budget process. thank you, supervisor chu. [applause] so, these are the department

heads that are here. if i missed anyone, please let me know. we have our city librarian, child support services, karen roy, san francisco housing authority henry alvarez, capital planning committee, brian strong, our fire chief, human agency, department of children, youth, and families. from the department of public health, barbara garcia and the cfo is here. department of public works. recreation and parks, phil ginsburg. our police chief is at the

police commission meeting. we have the deputy chief and also are station capt. here. from the mayor's office of housing, we have olson lee. we have our newly appointed city administrator. we also have the mayor's education policy adviser, who is also a member of the board of education. i do not think i missed anyone. i am. sorry. that is later. it's my honor to introduce rachel, the executive director of the vernal heights neighborhood center. she is an amazing community leader. we are grateful she's here. to introduce our budget director. we'll tell you more about the process tonight. thank you. >> [speaking spanish] thank you, supervisor campos.

good evening, everyone. [speaking spanish] it's a pleasure to be here, not only because my organization serves more than just district 9, which is where we are, but we also serve district 8, 9, 10, 11. it is important that we see collaborative processes like this happen. my role tonight is to let you know what you can expect for this evening. the agenda of roughly will be -- you will hear the budget overview from our city's budget director. then you will hear some statements from a constituent representatives from district 8 and district 9. then the most important part of the evening, when you come in. this is about all of you being involved. being invested, having the time and energy to come here on an evening, a weeknight, to be

here, is already in investment on your part. the last thing is innovative. during the open mikc section, that's when all of the people appear to make decisions for the city who want to hear what your thoughts are in terms of priorities, revenues, cost- saving measures. lastly, after the open mic, we can expect to hear the thoughts and ideas from our guests on what they heard from all of you. without further ado, i will go ahead and introduce our budget director for the city, kate howard. [applause] >> thank you. i thought i would just do a very brief overview of how our cities budget works. we talked a lot about it being a policy document, about where our

priorities are. that's right. it's also like your family's checkbook. as families, we make a budget. we have income that comes in from our pay checks. we have expenses that go out every month to pay for rent, to pay for our kids' education, to pay for clothing, all of those kinds of things. our city's budget is large. it's about $6.8 billion per year. it's about 50% what we call enterprise funds. about 50% is what we call the general fund. i like to think of the enterprise funds as the city's small businesses. if you were a person and you had a personal budget, you would not combine your small business budget with your home budget. we do not do that either. in our enterprises, just like the airport, the puc, the mta. we spend most of our time talking about the general fund.

what do we spend our money on? we spend our money on our priorities. those are things like -- that are represented by all the departments that are here. things like community, public health, recreation and parks services, fire, ems, and police services. programs for children, families in the city. we also spend money on things like our infrastructure and r streetour streets. that's where our expenditures are. the other part, where do we get our money from? our income is really our tax revenue. we get money from property taxes that homeowners pay and private property owners. we get money from the hotel tax, when tourists visit san francisco. we get revenue that people pay. we also the money from the state and federal government.

all of those things are fluctuating with the economy and fluctuating with the state and federal government's ability to pay. we spend a lot of time talking about the budget shortfall. what is the budget shortfall? basically, the gap between how much money we get in revenue and how much money it cost to keep doing exactly what we're doing now. one way to think about it is, if you get your paycheck every month and next month the rent goes up and next month the utility bill goes up, your expenditures are growing faster than the income that you have. that's the same situation that we have. the difference is $170 million and next year will be $312 million. the task is to figure out how we

balance that. how do we create a situation where expenditures match revenue over the next two years while at the same time investing in the priorities that we all care about and doing the things that the mayor and the supervisors and others have spoken about. that is the basics of the budget. i think the best way to think about it, not much different than the choices you have to make at home. you have to think that we are buying different things than you are buying. we're looking forward to hearing from you. i will turn it back over to rachel. >> thank you. it might seem like a simple process. in some ways, it is. we want to make sure we get everyone's input, thoughts, and ideas through our open mic sections. i want to make sure to bring to

your attention a few things. in order to participate in the open mic session, you want to fill out one of these things here. these speaker cards are available up front. there are two bowls. one is for district 8 and one is for district 9. we will be just like a city hall. we will pick names. i will be explaining or announcing who will be coming up. up and you will be using this microphone in the middle here. it looks like there are some areas of concern that you would want to select, as well as a summary of your question or concerns. because we are not going to be able to get to everyone tonight, it's really important that your input is included. if you please fill this out, even if we do not call you, the idea is that the supervisors will compile this information and included in the way that the budget process is being handled. this is just the beginning of

the budget process. it is april. this next section -- i am pleased to introduce some constituents speakers. we're first going with district 9 speakers. i'm introducing to you from good samaritan, mario potts. >> thank you. thank you, mayor, and supervisor campos and supervisor wiener for this opportunity. this organization has been around for a long time, more than 100 years. we have been serving district 9. we have certainly seen the changes over the years. i was also born and raised in district 9. i went to both public and private schools. i launched my career here.

this is the community that has been in my heart for a very long time. i'm very honored to be able to continue to serve it. i often get asked what the mission district is like now. many of my friends, we grew up here together. i like to describe it as sort of a tale of two cities. depending on who you ask, if you the best of times or the worst of times. if you are a family with young children, i think it's the worst of times. struggling to find affordable housing, increasing rent, and trying to find affordable child care, and making sure that the streets are safe for your children and so forth. it's not the best of times for them. it's not the best of times for the long-term small businesses in the community that have been the heart and soul of this district and these are family owned businesses. people who have been connected to the community for a long time. they are struggling with right.

they are struggling with increased business costs. they're also having a hard time. it's probably not the best of times for community-based organizations like a good samaritan and many others that serve district 9 and the surrounding neighborhoods. cuts to services affect the quality of life for all families and residents in this community. there's another important point to make. small businesses and nonprofit in this community also create jobs. they are also critical to economic engine of this trend buneighborhood and the city in general. we employ community people. mayor, you know very well. you started your career as a community-based organization. you are now the mayor of the city. we're very happy that you are going to create jobs. i think we really need that.