a policymaker and i brought again the example of seqa and i think we talk a lot about the minority of folks that abuse existing systems and we try to create policies that addresses all minorities but then we penalize people that are not abusing the policy. as of today i don't support this policy change. i real ly hope we can re-examine this. i think hearing from what we did today -- i also agree with supervisor campos that we should get some clarification are the city attorney on our current

sanctuary policy and how this new policy would interface with that. the last statement that i'll make is no one deserves to be homeless. i think everyone in this room agrees with that. i think i can say i don't think we should be making things harder for this group. this is the group we need to flush out for the precious few affordable housing units that we have available. i appreciate the passion that hsa has to get into emergency housing units. we need to dedicate more resources to get more units, more rental subsidies to get our families housed. that's

the answer to this problem and it's not this new policy. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. i'd like to begin by thanking director ro r and his staff and i do appreciate the impetus behind these changes and we see an agency that's trying to maximize the use of its limited resources. i appreciate the the fact -- may be missing out on. i appreciate all of that. i do have concerns and one of the concerns i have is about the process. i want to thank all of the community members,

advocates that have come to share their thoughts and stories. it's not an easy thing to come into this intimidating building to talk about those things. i do worry about the process because i do think that these kind of changes are significant enough that you want to get feedback from the people that are going to be impacted directly before you move to make those changes. i am concerned that there wasn't as much involve /-pl by the shelter monitoring committee and the local coordinating board and the commission of this /aeu/seu itself so i worry about that. i know there's a proposal to begin implementation of this august 1. i believe that we still have a long ways to go in terms of understanding all of the data and the information

that is relevant to this position and i would hope that before there is implementation that there will be an effort, a process to get more information so we really understand what it is -- what the problem is that we're trying to address. i think it would be important to make sure the folks who are on the ground working with these families -- that they have some say over what these changes look like, if any changes should be made. we heard from a lot of people who are working with homeless families. we've heard from beverly that be there maybe con consequences and i think this is too

important to move forward on without knowing what those consequences would be. you have to understand the context in which this is happening. we as a city, are facing, i think a real question about who gets to live in this city. there are many people who are doing extremely well in san francisco and there is economic development throughout the city and we're grateful for that, but there's a lot of displacement. there are a lot of people being pushed out of san francisco, especially families and it is disturbing that we have the lowest number of kids living in this city than in any other urban district in this country, lower, by the way, than new york city. so when we do look at the context in which this is

happening, i also think that as well intention that these policies are that we should be making it easier for people to find housing, we should be making it easier for people to stay in san francisco and we should be make it easier for people who have no connection to san francisco or want to come to san francisco because they're gay or whatever else, they should be able to do that. we live in the city of saint francis who gave his life to helping the poor and i think that's the city we need to remain. i hope that there is a process going forward this this item is revisited before the item is implemented, the new

rules are implemented august 1. i would ask my colleagues that we can't to item to the call of the chair so that if there is a decision to move forward as currently proposed that we have the ability to come back. i'll be hun honest, i think that if this moves forward as it is, and even though i respect why it's being done, i certainly would be interested considering a legislative solution to this problem. i would hate to inject legislation on this issue but if we need to we must be prepared to do that. so before we take any action on this item i wanted to just give the /tk-p -- department -- if

they wan to say anything else, give the opportunity to say anything else. thank you for multitasking today. >> i want to say i appreciate supervisors for calling the hearing and having more dialogue in this and good input from you all as well as from the community. we'll continue to work with our partners and providers on this. it's not the intent of the department to create barriers to housing and shelter for families. it's simply an attempt to try to responsibly deal with a limited resource for the most needy and for those are here and want to live here, so with that goal in mind we'll continue to work with our par /tphers on this.

>> i find you to be very responsive and i appreciate that. so in terms of going forward, the pro pose proposal is to begin august 1. is that still the plan? >> next step is to work on the issues that arose today and last week and see if they can be addressed and write solved in a responsible way by august 1. if not, it's not etched in stone, just a date we're working towards. thank >> thank you very much if we can have a motion to continue to the call of the chair. so moved without objection i want to thank everyone for coming out for their comments and mr. clerk, is there any business

before the committee. >> that concludes today's agenda. >> thank you, meeting adjourned.

>> thank you, for that wonderful introduction, this is exciting for me as david indicated both my daughters are graduate of lowell high school. [ applause ] so i know how your parents feel. i am excited today the last time i was at a high school commencement was for my daughters. i want to say that this is exciting for me because as i was listening to darle and the other speakers that had a moment to reflect on my high school years and i will talk

for a few moments about that. those exciting days. but i did want to say that i was walking over here with my director of employment and workforce opportunities and i took a deep breath and said todd you have to find 613 more jobs. and that is what we do in san francisco. we look for jobs for you and we make sure. this city is successful so that when you come back to your studies you are ready to go. >> the principal, and thank you so much for inviting me, and the faculty, and the staff, and the administrators, school board members, and of course, the students, families and friends. >> i would like to begin my remarks by sending my sincerist condolences to the family of (inaudible) chan was happened

was a terrible waste and calls us to action to do better and we will do better. we will make that street safe for everybody. >> and i know that (inaudible) was a beloved member of your community and was in our thoughts today even as we celebrate your achievements. and i would also like to take the opportunity to recognize five phenomenal lowell high school staff members who are retiring today. they have helped shape your high school careers. dr. ray hill, lowell science teacher for 17 years, congratulations dr. hill. tony, mona, math teacher for 41

years. >> wow. >> i have to say tony that i love my math teacher. vanessa guest, an english teacher for 13 years. cynthia mitchell, secretary for 39 years. thank you. >> and finally someone who has kept you safe on the campus, ron hodges, security, 41 years. thank you all for your dedication and your commitment to the youth at lowell high school and to our great city and now, good evening, for lowell high school graduates class of 2013, go red and white. [ applause ] [ cheers ] >> i got my red on today. and with 613 students

graduating today, i would like to say congratulations to all of you, you truly represent the incredible promise that our great city of san francisco is. thank you david, for your very kind introduction, as one of lowell's student leaders you must be very proud to be standing here in front of your class who will be graduating with you, thank you for being a great example to your fellow classmates and to our city's youth and i hope that kayla your senior class president and david your student body president as well as the entire lowell graduating class of 2013 become the great community and civic leaders of san francisco future. because of being your mayor, i think that the people of the city every day for the opportunity to serve san francisco. it is a privilege to wake up each morning and to work for

you, a people the our city and to do everything that i can to help all of us be successful. and as your graduation day is a day when you set off on a path to success you will use what you learned at lowell to tackle the great challenges next in your life, to make the differences in your world and the impact in the lives of your peers, family, your friends, and your community. looking back at my graduation day in high school, i remember feeling excited, scared, nervous, and inspired to make a difference in the world and just like you my journey started on this very important day, graduation day. and you know, each of our lives brings different challenges and each of you will have your own individual challenges. for me, i lost my father, when

i was a sophomore in high school, so i knew that my days ahead were not going to be very easy. in fact, i made up my mind as a graduate of public high school, that i was pretty much going to go it alone even though my dad was a cook and my mom was a seamstress and she had five other kids to take care of and i did not want to be a burden. so, i was going to do what i think all of you are trained to do at lowell high school i was going to work my rear off to make sure that i could prove myself. and if i did it on my own, more pride to be taken. as a graduating senior, i had a vision to make this world better, a better place for my family as well as my community. after graduate froming public high school in seattle i went

to a small liberal arts college in the state of maine, i went from seattle to maine. i had to sees the opportunity even if it meant moving away from friends and family and moving away from what i was familiar with to take on new challenges looking back at those years i made the right move because the learned the east coast, i learned now where my daughters are at so i could tell them what they were about to face, and i know that this country is tied much more than just land. going from east coast you get a lot of experiences, after four and a half years i had enough of the east coast and i moved back to the west coast here to get a law degree at uc berkeley and i knew that san francisco would be become my new home.

as some of you may know my background is as a civil rights lawyer working right here in san francisco. back then, a generation set out to make sure that we all recognized our greatest asset as a nation, our diversity. and together, in those years, we locked arms and stood in a doorway of the international hotel. to prevent the wrongful eviction of senior chinese and filipino immigrants who had no money and no place to go. [ applause ] and today san francisco has some of the best tenant protections. we sued the san francisco fire department, to get women and people of color a chance to be a firefighter, to serve, the public of san francisco. and to dedicate their lives to

public safety, today we have a city's first female fire chief and our public safety agencies are more diverse than ever, and just as proud and good as any other generation that this city has ever seen. i joined with others there that were just as dedicated and committed as i was to make a difference for the residents of san francisco. together, we helped to make san francisco a different place, one that embraces and celebrates diversity. and today, san francisco is one of the most diverse cities and one of the most diverse regions. in fact, in the world's most diverse democracy. i never thought that i would ever in my lifetime see an african american as president of the united states and i never imagined that san

francisco would have an asian american mayor. [ applause ] so as mayor, one of my many goals during my term in office is to empower all of the residents and make our city even more responsive, efficient and accountable to the voice of all the diverse communities. i gather the importance of the ties in the need of our community and every day i am trying to make san francisco a place where everyone succeeds, a city for the 100 percent. i am honored to be working for the community, and fighting for the community, and trying to help the community and our city be a better place for everyone to live, work, visit, and do business. today, san francisco's economy is recovering. our unemployment rate has dropped from 9.6 percent when i

first came into office in 2011, to an astonishing 5.4 percent today. [ applause ] we put san franciscans back to work and gave them back the dignity of a paycheck so that they could support their families. but it is still not good enough. and i will remain focused on making sure that no one is left behind. that is why we created programs like tech sf to insure that our long term unploid and youth have access to education, training, and job placement assistance. we have already trained and packed scores of people in technology jobs and the first graduation is this june. last summer, i proudly joined mayor pelosi to take up president obama's challenge of taking up summer jobs for activities for at risk youth

and we surpassed our own goal, we got 5,201 summer jobs for kids last summer. the summer jobs plus program and now thanks to another great partnership with the united way this summer. we are working even harder to make sure that we find the paid job opportunities for 6,000 youth in our city. yes, we want to insure that all of you have opportunities and skills needed to compete in the 21st century economy and workforce. that is why with the shared goals with the superintendents of our school and boards and we continue to make it the expectation >> and with the kindergarten to college program we are able to establish a college savings account for every kindergarten student, can you believe that? as a city? yes.

>> and we are working to insure that every student especially students of our middle schools have the resources and opportunities to graduate ready for college. and since day one i have been committed to our cities' family and our children and our youth and i will remain committed because i see education and training not as an expense, but as an investment. my wife, anita and i have been parents to both of our daughters so i know first hand what it is like to be a parent here in san francisco. and i want to thank you all parents to being here. because they could not have done it without you. i know that. and what sacrifices your parents made, i know that. because they are investing in you as part of our future and helping you pursue your dreams. we all want you to succeed. because as all of you embark on the next leg of your journey, i want you to remember to come

back to san francisco. i want you to come back, i want you to work here, the innovation, capitol of the world. i want you to come back and i want you to raise your families here and i want you to buy a house and maybe a couple send your own kids to public school right here in san francisco. i want you to come back and be the next generation of leaders like the great that have help to build san francisco like the houses and the fishers and so many more that fight for the community and build the strong neighborhoods and yes these names you know because they were in your shoes, they were also graduates of lowell high school. [ applause ] >> san francisco is the greatest city in the world, i know it. i know it. and wherever you go, we will get to brag about that because we are and we know this.

and they love the city, and we love the city. so when you succeed whether you become the next fortune ceo or a noble prize winner or a supreme court justice, remember to make your community and your city a better place for all. i leave you with this advice as you begin your new journey, my vision began when i was graduating high school senior. and now, it is your turn to make your vision a reality. make an impact on the future, and make your community and this world a better place. be bold, and to quote one of my favorite movies, boldly go where no one has gone before. congratulations class of 2013, go out there and change the world. thank you. [ applause ]