forward, and that our budget that comes out will reflect the priorities of all people who live here in san francisco. i commit that to you and i look forward to a long process and coming in july having a budget that, again, reflects all of our priorities together. so, thank you for being here today. (applause) >> there are actually a number of other people that i think had signed cards, but i'll make sure that any of the questions and comments that people wrote on the cards are given to kate howard and leo and the budget office so that they're integrated into the budget process. i also want to thank everyone for the very thoughtful comments. also, if anyone has any questions or comments for the budget process, please fill that out in the cards and we'll make sure it gets integrated. for my role on the budget committee as well, i think supervisor farrell has been doing a great job as a budget chair and we're looking forward to taking as much input in, not

only for districts 1 and 4, but for the whole city. i also wanted to say that before i let mayor lee wrap us up today, i wanted to thank all the richmond district folks for coming out and speaking. i also see disability organizations like the fdr club and jonathan lions back there. i see merchants associations david heller and [speaker not understood], and others that are here representing our small businesses as well. and ray holland and nick baloney from the planning association for the richmond. and i see the director of the richmond area multi-services, which really provides significant and culturally sensitive and multi-cultural mental health services not just for the richmond but throughout the city. also i really appreciate all the senior and youth and family service agencies and child care and organizations that have spoken today. lastly, i wanted to thank the city department heads and reps from all of our departments for spending their beautiful saturday morning in this dark

but great auditorium of the washington eagles. and i wanted to say that i hope you have a great weekend and a beautiful saturday and sunday and earth day as well on monday. and thanks so much to victor lim, [speaker not understood] and peter from my staff and supervisor tang's staff as well. but also our mayor's office of neighborhood service staff and our office of civic engaged immigrant and civic engagement and the mayor's budget office for making this first of our series of budget hearings a great one. so, now i'll let mayor ed lee wrap us up. (applause) >> thank you, supervisors. again, and department heads. this is the first of many town halls. i've given up pretty much my saturday rounds of golf to make sure that we listen, even though my doctor says i need more exercise. but anyway, i'm glad to do it. so, some of you who may have

just participated here but didn't really know what question you wanted to ask but you got an issue, you're definitely invited to the other town halls. we have a full schedule. just because we hold it in other districts doesn't mean anyone from anyplace else can join as well. so, please, again, feel comfortable in talking with your elected representatives, your city wide officials as well as your department heads. this is all for you to get us the feedback in a direction for what we prioritize in the budget. i've heard a lot of things today. we're definitely taking them to heart. i want to note that one of our summer youth job seekers who was very successful in real estate. i'm going to assign him to work with your senior centers rent reduction issue so we have that instantaneous service right there. (applause) >> but i also want to say that

with the question that was directed at me for the undocumented youth, first of all, what came to my mind immediately is we have a municipal id card to make sure that those who are undocumented get an official card from city hall. so, please make sure you're aware of that because something that i had worked on with a number of supervisors throughout so many years as our city administrator, and i want to make sure that works for everybody. having said that, we also fund a lot of community-based nonprofits to help us with the employers in the city. and this is why we have focused our effort with united way of the bay area because we do have nonprofits who can bridge the child's undocumented status to their ability to get a job. and we specifically fund groups to do that. so, please, if you have those issues, make sure that they talk with our family youth and

children services centers as well as united way. as eric said, and i'm going to be very excited about this, because this year we're focused on 6,000 jobs for our youth, focused on the most disadvantaged kids of all different backgrounds, want to get everybody employed. as supervisor farrell says, it's moving even faster down to 6%. so, maybe we'll get down to that 5% pretty soon with the help of united way. and it's going to be a shared responsibility of departments, but we're going to push really hard on private sector because they're the ones that are experiencing the most success in our city right now. so, we're going to ask them to help pick up this great opportunity to work with our kids. i can't think of anything better than to have our youth experience the summer jobs because it pays for year after year after year if you get an individual to be focused on

their careers. and that's going to help all of us focus on a better city. there's a lot of issues that we have documented here. we'll make sure they're incorporated into the priorities that we have. we've heard from seniors, we've heard from ihh -- from your work force, from the experience that you've had. we heard from youth. we've heard from people that need our help and all the gaps that we have and we'll definitely pay attention to that. so, again, thank you for giving up your saturday to join us. i look forward to seeing some of you in the other hearings. and, again, we appreciate your input and your guidance for our priorities. we have some questions? mr. hal? mr. mayor, i wanted to thank you for being here. [speaker not understood].

[speaker not understood]. [speaker not understood]. >> okay. i'm sorry if we missed some cards. we meant to get to every single card that was submitted. so, our apologies if that happened. but i will say, david, if there's any question about our commitment to small businesses, you hear from me directly that we are investing in neighborhoods in a very large amount. my budget from last year and this year reflect a very strong consideration for neighborhood

small businesses in our city. and i know of not only your leadership, but mr. carnilowitz's leadership. this is why we have an abundance invested in the leadership program. maybe if you have particular issues off line, we can do that after this, or if you want to have one more question, that's fine. [speaker not understood]. >> okay. [speaker not understood]. >> all right.

if everybody didn't hear, the question is some businesses that want to operate mobile and that's coming from the mayor's office what the rumor is. i can correct that's not true, but i do believe that people are submitting their ideas for whether or not mobile businesses can be successful here. i think it's a big challenge, to be quite candid with you, because we have a lot of people investing in the brick and mortar along our neighborhoods. we certainly feel that our investment right now, our priority has been to help them and to help them deal with those vacancies. in fact, i think we have an idea about making sure we, if anything, policy wise, we push ideas into the vacancies. that would be even better than try to operate on that basis. but anyway, we'll pay attention to that as well. again, i'm sorry if there are cards that were submitted that

didn't get attention. we meant to get everybody covered. all right. thank you very much, everybody, appreciate it. (applause) >> everyone deserves a bank account. in san francisco, anyone can have a bank account, things to an innovative program, bank on s.f. >> everyone is welcome, even if you are not a citizen or have bad credit to qualify for a bank

account is simple. just live or work in san francisco and have a form of id. >> we started bank on s.f. six years ago to reach out to folks in the city who do not have a bank account. we wanted to make sure they know they have options which should be more low-cost, more successful to them and using chat catchers. >> check cashing stores can be found all over the city, but they're convenient locations come with a hidden price. >> these are big. >> i remember coming in to collect -- charged a fee to collect a monogram. >> people who use check catchers, particularly those who use them to cash their paychecks all year long, they can pay hundreds, even a thousand dollars a year just in fees to get access to their pay. >> i do not have that kind of

money. >> i would not have to pay it if i had a bank account. >> bank accounts are essential. they keep your money saved and that helps save for the future. most banks require information that may limit its pool of qualified applicants. encouraging to turn to costly and unsafe check captures. >> i do not feel safe carrying the money order that i get home. >> without a bank account, you are more vulnerable to loss, robbery, or theft. thankfully, the program was designed to meet the needs of every kind, so qualifying for a bank account is no longer a problem. even if you have had problems with an account in the past, have never had an account, or are not a u.s. citizen, bank on s.f. makes it easy for you to have an account.

>> many people do not have a bank account because they might be in the check system, which means they had an account in the past but had problems managing it and it was closed. that gives them no option but to go to a cash -- check catcher for up to seven years. you want to give these people second chance. >> to find account best for you, follow these three easy steps. first, find a participating bank or credit union. call 211 or call one of our partner banks or credit unions and ask about the bank on s.f. account. both -- most bridges will have a sign in their window. second, ask about opening an account through bank on s.f.. a financial partner will guide you through this process and connect you with the account that is best for you. third, bring some form of identification. the california id, for an id, or your passport is fine. >> now you have open your account.

simple? that is exactly why it was designed. you can access your account online, set up direct deposit, and make transfers. it is a real bank account. >> it is very exciting. we see people opening up second accounts. a lot of these people never had account before. people who have problems with bank accounts, people without two ids, no minimum deposit. we are excited to have these people. >> it has been a great partnership with bank on s.f. because we are able to offer checking, savings, minimarkets, certificates, and loans to people who might not be about to get accounts anywhere else. even if you have had a previous account at another financial institutions, we can still open an account for you, so you do not need to go to a check cashing place, which may turn to two percent of your monthly

income. >> you can enroll in free educational services online. just as it -- visit sfsmartmoney.org. with services like financial education classes and one-on-one meetings with advisers, asset smart money network makes it easy for you to learn all you need to know about managing, saving, investing, and protecting your money. the network offers access to hundreds of financial aid programs. to help their eruptions, fill out the quick questionnaire, and you will be steered to the program you are looking for. >> who want to make sure everyone has the chance to manage their money successfully, keep their money safe, and avoid getting ripped off. >> it sounds very good. i think people should try that one. >> to find out more, visit sfsmartmoney.org or call 211 and

ask about the bank on s.f. program. >> now you can have a bank account. open one today. everybody, welcome. we have a packed agenda tonight. first we want to thank the southeast community facility commission for opening their doors tonight and their executive director, moses. thank you for opening the doors tonight. we have a very, very tight agenda. the goal here is for the community to be heard. this is not a question and answer time, but the goal is for the community to be heard. when we get to public comment, and you make your statements. remember we want you to be as

concise as possible, because the department heads and the mayor are here to hear you. without further ado, i want to introduce mayor lee and he will open us up. thank you. good evening everybody. as stated eloquent ly, this is time for all of you in the community particularly focused residents of 10 and 11, to tell us in government what you feel passionate about. i want to thank supervisor avalos and supervisor cohen that it will be here in a minute. your budget chair is supervisor farrell, i want to thank him as he will have a lot of meetings. and i want to thank the different departments represented here. you can see them, we will have a chance to identify them in a minute.

again we will give priority of time to the residents, to the nonprofits, to people who work here in the community in district 10/11, to express what you think our budget should reflect. this is an important part. this is the second of at least five or six we are doing throughout the city. to give people the opportunity to tell us what their priorities are. and then we will work those into how we make decisions about our budget in the city. i wanted to begin by saying we are better and better each year. doesn't mean we don't have a deficit. we still have a deficit in the budget. this year coming $123 million, and the second year in the budget covering 2014/15 has $256 million deficit.

we are not out of woods. but these numbers are better than $500 million and $700 million budget deficits that we used to have a few years ago. our city is doing better. we are concerned about how to fulfill that deficit. but we are also concerned about what is happening to seniors, what is happening to youth. what is happening to families. our open space. our small businesses. our environment. we are all concerned about that as well. of course i must say about our housing authority as well. so we are taking on a lot of responsibility and because we are and because we are very busy doing the work we are. sometimes we need your input to steer us in the right direction for what things you think are important. so we are open to that. and we want to hear from you

tonight. enough speeches. let's get on with it. may i have a couple words from supervisor avalos and farrell. >> thank you. thank you mayor lee, and yes, i get to make a speech too. i am supervisor john avalos, i represent district 11, just over the hill. i want to thank the mayor and the department staff for being here. and i want to thank supervisor farrell, the chair of the budget committee to be here. he's got a very difficult task. but one that he will have help with colleagues on the budget committee and we will be joined by supervisor cohen as well. i have talked incessantly of needing a budget based on equity, on neighborhoods and their needs. in district 10 and 11, we have the most unique neighborhoods.

we have a large senior population and youth population. and we have to look at our budget to support seniors and young people as best we can. we have growing disparities in san francisco and as the economy is growing and we lift all through the economy. and ways to have programs that reach into the community that provide opportunity for young people. and to have appropriate housing, that's something i am committed to. i want to hear your ideas of how to do that and strengthen the efforts. last year in district 11 we were able to fund projects for the parks and safety and to beautify the environment. and we had projects for young people as well. i want to grow in the commitments we made last year.

we know the best way to support our young people with opportunity is to provide jobs for them. i am looking forward to see how to accomplish that with the mayor and my colleagues from the board of supervisors, thank you. >> thank you, supervisor avalos. i am mark farrell, i am the supervisor from district 2 and i am the chair of the budget committee. and it's an honor to be here with the mayor and supervisors. my priorities is to have an open and transparent budget process, that's why we are here. we are doing six of these town halls and we want to hear from each of you. and secondly to manage our budget in a fiscal and responsible manner. and lastly having a budget that

reflects the priorities of all san franciscans, there are so many things needed in our neighborhoods and communities. and we want to address that in the budget. thank you for being here, and i want to be this night is about hearing you. i will turn it over to supervisor cohen. >> good evening, everyone, it's good to see you. the number one thing we need to keep in mind here, that the budget is one of the most single pieces of legislation that the board of supervisors pass. our budget is $7.4 million -- excuse me, billion -- that's what i said, billion, people. clean out your ears. i would never short change san francisco and say million [laughter] so you know what, i want to thank you for having such a healthy turn-out.

this audience looks look and we have a good moderator. thank you for leading this discussion. last year we made significant investments in public safety back-filling investments that were previously made by the redevelopment agency, economic development and support for small business. this year i would like our city to make changes in education, and transportation and lighting and other quality of life issues that have a significant impact in district 10. i am looking forward to hear from each of you, those unable to get an opportunity to speak to the mic. you are more than welcome to call our office or e-mail the office with your suggestions for the budget priorities. thank you. >> mayor lee, and supervisor avalos and supervisor farrell. before we continue on, i want to

remind everyone if you wish to speak, get comment cards from the outside. they will come around to collect the comment cards. i will briefly run through the agenda, and everyone be mindful this is a district 10 and district 11 budget town hall meeti meeting. we would work hard to give equitab equitable priority to each, district 10 and 11. we will have a brief budget overview by kate howard, the mayor's budget director and we will have community organizations and then public comment. we will keep our comments to two minutes. and the cards will be collected. we will start with speaker 15, and if possible, we will try to give more people a chance to speak. but we will definitely allow for

15 speakers. and then hear from supervisor farrell, who is the chair of the board of supervisors budget committee and then closing remarks by district 10 and 11, supervisor cohen and supervisor avalos. a smooth process. first kate howard will give a presentation, mayor's budget director. >> good evening, everybody. how are you? nice to see you here tonight. i am kate howard, i am the mayor's budget director. i thought i would give you a brief overview of our city's budget. as supervisor cohen pointed out, the budget is one of the most important laws that san francisco passes. it's a law of our source and how

we spend it. and it's a plan that sets our priority. so it's important for us to hear from you what those priorities ought to be. i have here on my right, your left, a series of charts that show you a little bit more about san francisco's budget. overall the city's budget is about $7.4 billion annually. that includes all the funds we have to spend. all the city functions and the county functions and the airport and our police department and fire department and human services agency and our health department. you can see the next chart shows you where we get most of our money. so we spend a lot of time in san francisco talking about how to balance the budget. and we tend to focus that balancing conversation on what we call the general fund. those are the funds that the

city has discretion over. in terms of making policy choices on what to spend money on and what to cut. where do we get our money? the biggest resource for san francisco and property taxes, it's over $1 billion a year. and we receive significant revenues from the business taxes and sales tax and hotel tax as well as other local sources. also important to know that about one out of every five dollars that san francisco spends comes from the state and federal government. when the federal government does things like implement a federal sequester. that has an impact here on san franciscans. if the state budget changes, that has an effect here on us. it's important to know that we have control over some of our revenue but not all of them. the mayor shared with you our five-year budget outlook.

and mentioned the first two years. this is the fourth chart over with the red and black. the red bars show you how much our expenditures are projected to grow in the next five years and the black bars. we project over the five years we will have 13% more revenue, it's a strong economy. and at the same time our expenditures are expected to grow by 25%. so the gap between the growth in expenditures and revenue is what creates our budget short falls. a significant part of that pressure is related to pressure related to labor costs. including the cost of our health benefits, and retiree benefits. finally i wanted to share, we will hear from you about your

experiences, your priorities and information that you think is important for these policy makers to hear. one of the ways we have to hear information directly from the community is through 3-1-1. we pulled together a chart that shows the most prominent calls from 3-1-1 from districts 10 and 11. we hear significant calls related to street and sidewalk cleaning. followed by graffiti and requests related to the housing authority. for district 10 the calls related to the housing authority were more significant. and for district 11 the calls related to abandoned vehicles were more significant. and it would be helpful to hear from you if those are consistent with your experience. and i want to let you know who else is up here today. we have -- i will name the