announcer: so, what's the biggest issue in america today? i don't think we're probably ever doing enough for our environment. the war in iraq religious yahoos freedom of speech i get angry about it, but it's like... ya' know, in my own apartment. i probably believe in all those causes, but i'm...i'm not really doin' anything. >> good morning, and welcome to

the rules committee. to my right is eric mar. supervisor alioto-pier is in route. the clerk is linda wong. covering the meeting for sfgtv are jennifer lowe and don gardner. with respect to item #1, the title of this charter amendment was changed and not noticed in comlpiance with the sunshine ordinance, so by law there will not be a discussion on this matter today and it has been

rescheduled for a special meeting on july 20. just to make sure we are in full compliance with the sunshine ordnance, my understanding is we cannot take part. >> if it is not properly noted, it would actually be a by relation to how the committee considering something. supervisor campos: thank you very much. with that in mind, if you could call item two. >> motion confirmed the mayor's nomination of and appointing carol kinsley -- kingsley to the san francisco police commission for the unexpired portion of a four year term ending april 30, 2014. supervisor campos: carol

kingsley is here this morning and i would ask her to please come up. thank you for being here. welcome to the rules committee. 5 committee. >> good morning. it is a pleasure to be here. i would like to tell you a bit more about myself and address my service to san francisco by working on the police

commission and enter questions you might have. i am a longtime resident of san francisco. i moved to california in 1978 to attend school in the city. for the past years, my friends and i have lived in forest hills. i grew up in both the financial district and civic center areas of the city. you often hear about the shootings at 101 california street in 1993. \ it i here that i gave birth and raise our son, a who is here today. in short, i have done a lot of

living in san francisco. i want to be part of keeping our city communities say -- safe. in the last seven years i have been handling disputes that need mediators, cases with business, real estate, construction, and estate planning. i have been involved in a number of professional organizations. among the regional members of the lawyers alliance, using our

legal skills to advance issues related to women and children in san francisco. one of the accomplishments is the children's waiting room and hall of justice. these are safe places offering child-care, domestic courtroom. i presently serve on the san francisco bar organization as mediator and arbitrator, and these are just a few professional activities i have been involved in. i bring skill and experience

from almost 30 years working as a lawyer and mediator. addion to being a mother and helping client with all legal problems, the most constant passion in my life over the last 17 years has been working to reduce gun violence and make streets and homes safer. i will pause a moment. good morning, supervisor alioto- pier. thank you for being here. supervisor campos: he may continue. >> continue? ok. 17 years ago i had the honor to serve on the board of the most effective organization in the country in getting local and

state gun-control measures passed, the legal community against violence, founded in the wake of the 101 california street shootings, now a national organization. there is so much i thought about, as well as these remarkable accomplishment that stood out. it is a hard-working staff dedicated to funders who worked clobber to play -- collaboratively, including the adoption of hunderds of firearms ordinances, pleasing california at the forefront of gun policy reform. also i helped establish and it

shared the advocacy fund, a project named after the jewish congress, and one is the youth training program, alternative skills to violence, resolving disputes peacefully through skillful dialogue. the other is a boat with the savings and art -- a book with the savings and art that have come through the program. the things i have learned working with these activities will enhance my work with the commission. my most notably contribution has

been on the ethics commission. i was appointed by the city attorney, and ethics committee events, i believe in the importance of the work of the ethics commission, working full- time and serving on several boards at the time, and regardless i would give top priority to the work of the commission. i am honored and pleased that mayor newsom has asked me to serve on the police commission.

as an oversight body, i believe the police commission should work with the police chief to set policies that foster respect for police officers individually and also as the department as a whole. i believe the commission should support the most effective possible and believe it is important for the poolice commission to continue to work aggressively to reduce the backlog of complaints involving officers and updating technology used by officers and the department.

i expect to have to grapple with complex issues, and in doing so i will take input from populations in our community involved in the hearing from mayor newsom, each of you, and other individual supervisors. so i stand before you with a substantial commitment of time and energy, but my son is going to college in a month, and i am happy to make the city a beneficiary and look forward to serving san francisco with all of you, and thank you for your consideration.

>> thank you for your leadership over the years. how would you use your unique mediation skills? the second question is, a lot of things have to do with racial and ethnic conflict in communities. how would you be sensitive in gathering that information from those communities and their voices? >> with regard to my experience and skills as a mediator, i think learning what parties have to say and bring out and confirm their understanding is important, and i think that does not always happen in everyday

life, businesses, or even in government. so in working on the police commission, i would use my listening skills and also my skills in trying to make sure that everybody is hearing correctly as well as watching out for the impact on the matter before us. members of the community, for example, perhaps researching what is happening in other cities around the matter, the mayor, indivudal supervisors who are close and work collaboratively with police commission, the police department, the community, and other branches of government.

so in terms of mediation skills, that is my perspective on that. in terms of the racial issues you raised and how to deal with the multicultural community that we live in, i have noticed just living here and talking with folks that we have a number of policies already in place formally and informally to encourage and facilitate the understanding of people that speak where their first languages is other than english, and roughly a third of our city is comprised of folks whose first language is other than english, pointing to our

importance to help us unerstand what they are saying and also for us to be able to communicate in terms of going forward and strengthening that communication and instituting additional policies or procedures. it is crucial to bring the voice of those folks to us to make sure we are doing that effectively. >> thank you. supervisor campos: any questions? for me, first of all, let me say that one of the things that i have been passionate about and the way i started working in

city government is the issue of guns, having too many guns on our street, and i started working with the city attorney's office, and that was my first exposure to city government. it was important and added to it the personal, tragic experi ence in that area, so i am happy someone with that background will sit on the commission, because that is an ongoing issue for not just the city but the state and country. you bring useful skills that will be very beneficial for you and the condition. one question that i have is in a

way connected to what supervisor mar was asking and that is the importance of making sure that as a member of the commission, you have a sense of what is going on in the diverse communities of san francisco. there is sometimes a disconnect, specific to what is happening in the communities. i wonder if you could say a little bit about how you intend to approach this issue, your willingness to reachotut t-- reach out to the diverse communities we have. >> thank you for stating ugun

violence work. it is that involvement that endears the city, and i did not have the opportunity to thank you for doing that work while you were with the city attorney. in terms of gaining a better understanding myself, which is an educational lifetime understanding, the folks around you -- with the great diversity we have in the city, i think it is most important that we attempt to do that. as police commissioner, it behooves me more to make sure my understanding and education continue in that manner, and

something we spoke about a couple of days ago and a suggestion we had in terms of, you know, when i pick and choose the activities i want to do to make sure i am being cognizant of opportunities throughout the city and use them for a ricehr under -- richer understanding, it is truly reaching out for leaders in the communities, reaching out to them, listening to them and taking advantage to the gifts they are giving us when they try to work with us and make their voice be heard.

>> thank you, and i am appreciative of your willingness and openness as commissioner. i think that makes you more effective as commissioner and i also think you will be someone who will try to understand the officer's perspective, as well, a sense of the challenges they face. we talked about the importance of ride-alongs. all of that is important. you and i had a conversation prior to this meeting that deals with an ongoing issue, and it is an issue where the chief has played an important leadership role, not just in san francisco,

but in arizona, where he was before, and that is making sure the focus of local law enforcement remains public safety and to the extent possible by law, it is not in the business of enforcing immigration law. one thing i keep saying is something that leadership has said repeatedly, which is that the reason why local law enforcement should not be in the business of immigrantion law is because you want the trus of every community, and the immigrant community are not going to come forward if there is a fear that coming forward means they will be reported to

immigration. there was a homicide solved in l.a. that went unsolved for a while and took an undocumented immigrant man to come forward and say "this is what i saw." so i am wondering if you could say a little about your thoughts in terms of perpective on that and the perspective we share here. >> i treasure the fact that san francisco is a sanctuary city in terms of education and health care. it is a wonderful thing from that perspective. but directly in front of us for law enforcement and the safety of our community, being a

sanctuary city is extremely important. the floor is shifting in this area, and i know we are all grappling with what to do, with what is being placed upon us in terms of responsibility for reporting, and it is very difficult, and i am not sure that my response is direct enough or satisfactory enough on this, but i believe it is something we need to give great attention to, great consideration about because of our position of a sanctuary city, but also being cognizant

of the fact we belong to a larger community. so there are a lot of factors to consider here, and in working with the police commission, i commit to grappling with those issues and talking to the police chief about them, and i know he doesn't want to be in the position of having to perform the responsibilities of federal government. i understand that. it is a tough issue. supervisor alioto-pier: just one other question -- supervisor mar: just one other question -- can you talk about the other commissions you have worked on over the years? >> because the jack lemmon

center was funded through the jewish congress, when local pacific northwest funding fell apart, we sadly had to close that office, and with it went the funding. therefore, the advocacy center is no longer in existence. but to address your question, when it was up and operating, the executive director worked with community leaders and put together protocols and a program where they went into east palo alto, i believe richmond, and bayview-hunter's point was another communtiity they reached out to with who is most

receptive first, and we eventually had to terminate it. the idea is work together to put it together and train them and educate them regarding gun violence and violent responses to conflict, and how to change that behavior and give them tools on how to respond when they are confronted with issues that they feel -- especially as teenagers who can be offended and reactive, to help them control feelings and redirect in a nonviolent way. that was part of it, and part of

the education and program in general involves art. drawing, hands-on art, poetry, writing. so they put it together, the book, "50 ways to reduce gun violence." supervisor mar: i think you would be valuable helping to implement community measures. >> thank you for considering my

appointment. i appreciate it. supervisor campos: thank you very much. why don't we call the following individuals to speak on this item? [reading speaker list] >> i am going to read a letter by rabbi martin weiner. it is an honor to recommend carol kingsley to the police commission. carol and zack have been members of our congregation nearly two