many of the children were raised in families where english is a second language. other than me, our staff is made up of families that have arrived in the country in the last generation. they support one another. we support them and for further education. i am proud that so many of our past teachers have supported this program. one of the teachers vast their citizenship test today. >> thank you.

idaho >> good afternoon. i am a san francisco resident and i am a share currently of the family studies program at of the city college. i don't want to be split in the situation knows pitting one service against the other. san francisco needs more preschool programs and we should be serving all families to have young children with valuable programming. i am here to speak about the process of the rental. our program which is the child conservation program, has been housed at the clubhouse for almost 40 years. one of the reasons why this is not an appropriate facility for young children is that we have a

monday through friday program there for almost four decades. ofour of my faculty strutted their 10 year at city college as infants in that program and now they are teaching for me. the process for granting this clubhouse has something to be desired. i found out about the process through an e-mail. i found out that there was a neat for the process going on with the clubhouse. i have been in contact with three members of park and wreck -- rec.

i was not aware of the process until i have the e-mail with me and until 2009 and unfortunately, the city college is experiencing a budget deficit that is unprecedented. we were not able to respond with the fee for service for the clubhouse we have been occupying. for many years, we did pay rent and as someone who has actually facility it -- facilitated process, they are here today. we have not assessed rant. i cannot explain what has happened. this has been a process and a lack of communication.

we are closed because of our budget situation. we are free by a the state mandates that we operate, that we offer free courses to the community. each adult brings one or more children. we are a full and final program and it is tragic to me that we are talking about a preschool program verses a child observation family. i know some of my students are sitting behind me. this puts me at great conflict. >> i think that there will be

questions and i will get you back to answer. >> i live about five doors down from the park. i think that you do a great job. i think of the time that you spent in your apartment. i know there are budget cuts. this park is a lovely park. this is a park that we go to every day. i understand the city college position. we tried to involve ourselves in the program. i don't have enough time to

address this but this is not a situation that i feel has left the park and a good place for a good situation. the club house did not feel like a lively place in such a lovely city. you want to fix this and address this. i understand that you will have concerns. as a neighbor, as going to the neighborhood meetings, they are very reasonable people. they want this to work out. this is a city where the first language of many people is spanish. my child can understand spanish now, that is good for me. this helps to bridge cultural

gaps. these are meetings and they are a little bit sterile. this is something that i wish i could share with you. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. since the program was established, i used to teach mandarin in china for 18 years.

i could no longer teach mandarin. -- gave me the opportunity to teach mandarin. the action helped me to go to city college in san francisco. i encourage you to teach mandarin in the nine states. today, i became an american citizen. thank you, thank you so much. my students also enjoyed this program.

the children have made great progress in all of the programs. thank you. >> how do you do. i got involved about three weeks ago when i heard about this. i have been involved in this processes. if the department of parks and recreations came and said if you want to keep your program here, you will have to find it. you will not be where you are today. we will talk to 10 of the current members. mr. ginsberg told me if we could

make contributions, that would make him very happy. you don't come to the community and particularly an association that we never heard. you come to us first and say you're thinking about doing this. we will set up a philanthropic fund to pay both the security deposit of our current money and arranges to give you the least amount of money that you want to do your program. we want to continue the program that has been so successful since we have lived here.

>> of reach has been very poor. the community kids, and i, were not aware to lease out this clouclubhouse. many of the people who lived in the area are not native english speakers. we request to disapprove the

lease in consideration. that appears that this plan was a fait accompli. the genuine effort to work with the community sends the message that we don't count. apparently there was a web survey that determined almost all the responses. i think in the infinite wisdom of this commission, you do not allow this to happen to the playground. on the topic of leasing, the city charter co says nothing might be sold or leased for non

recreational purposes. there is the conservation of energy costs. >> congratulations on one-year. i am john rothman, president of the laurel heights improvement association. whoever gets the lease, we will work with, welcome, and in the race. the observation -- has been at laurel hill for two decades. the thing that is most

destructive to me -- distressing to me is that no notification was given. i have been the president of our association for two decades. i received notification of the fact that there was any problem. we want the child of sufficient program to continue. they will able to come in, they were able to come in on a walk- in basis. our hope today is not that you reject anything, rather to act for a continuance. we are prepared to work to raise that money from the participants. we have negotiated in rental agreements for least 15 years.

whatever happens, we will welcome everyone, we want to work with everyone. there are two great programs. >> thank you. question afternoon. when the director for language and action. i have been with this program for three years. i entered the early childhood education field because i love working with children and i wanted able to impart my love of learning. i am able to share my culture

through song, dance, arts, music, stories, food, games. as a director, i realized that this is not as about the children. our teachers come from diverse backgrounds and they have prepared themselves in order to work with children. due to the language barrier, most were unable to acquire employment in the desired field of education. they were faced with the reality of having to work and retail, caretaking, the food industry. language, the very reason most will not able to get preferred implement are the very reason that they were employed at our center. language and action provided them with an open door and opportunity to be able to utilize their skills to teach and care for children in a classroom setting. not onlyhave they been given a

chance but they have been able to work and a caring environment that the least in supporting their continuous work as a teacher. they need to to be believed and then have the chance to have a job they can believe and. -- believe thein. not only are they impacting the students' lives in a constructive way, they have been able to illustrate to their children the value of an education. this jump continues to be rewarding at many levels. i was very proud of our teachers, they do great work.

>> i was born and raised in spain and i have had one of the best weeks of my life. i'm a parent and i'm committed to san francisco for the long term. i am an american citizen. i speak spanish quite well. the bottom line is that you know the city has an issue with education. you know that the most important issue that one can think of is the approach to children. i think the kind of top quality truly diverse multi lingual education that this institution provides is pretty much unmatched in the city and in the country in some areas. for a person like me, we speak three languages at home.

we are committed to this type of education. i think that there's basically no other choice. education is not only about what people teaching but also the setting. this helps couples like us where we both work. there is a variety of other practical matters that are being handled by these issues. my wife will have a second child in october.

>> i'm a trustee of the city college. we are the largest provider in the state of california. every year, tens of thousands of students pass through our hallway. this is a program which for 40 years has been providing recreation true to the mission of this department. we have the support of the neighbors and we have been providing a free program and the

city and county of san francisco. we have not been appreciated nd city college. we were ejected. replacing a free recreation program with a private entity is not in the spirit of the city and county of san francisco. the city charter says that you will not use city land for non recreational purposes. cultural immersion is a wonderful thing. there are some people there, i have been told, that we would

like a continuance until august 19th. there are proposals to pay for the city college program to raise money that the department rightfully needs. thank you. >> thank you. >> i actually have the benefit of being a homeowner. i have a 10-week-old. on i am a homeowner in parnassus' heights and there is actually a playground that we go to probably every single day

that has this recreational purpose. this is a private preschool. we have been coexisting with them. my to-rule has been going to that park every single day and interacting with those children even though a portion of that program is dedicated for them. they coexist with them. there are students and we are able to play together. we have been using the playground down at the hollow for years. i will not speak to the program, and i will just speak to what it is like as a parent. i don't think we have talked about the fact that our program can coexist.

the being in this place and having the kids use the program, this is having them able to use the same space. this is about playing. the reason why this is free because the parents have to stay with their children. what this provides is a place for working parents and stay at home parents for the rush -- to have a place for their children. >> every once in awhile, a husband has to stand up for his wife and finish the sentence. i am perplexed on this notification issue. we are not experts in real estate we have heard about this

city in 2009. i have been used by people who are on site who were representing the committee or involve the. they don't know about this. although an rfp was issued in 2009, no one expressed an interest in taking responsibility. i urge the commission to recognize the important distinctions. i want to make the point that we enjoy the support of the neighbors had and families in the neighborhoods and that we teach. i would like to ask them to stand up and be recognized if you can to support as a parent

or a teacher. please let yourself be seen. thank you very much. we have submitted letters of support urging approval for leases. country to the assertion we have heard today, there have been several postponements to this process. this has been on the agenda for the past three meetings. we respected the request at these meetings. the committee had shown trust and patience. the teachers share the weight around the decision. further delay will damage the business, inconvenienced the community unnecessarily, and we would be grateful of your understanding of this fact. we have been a good neighbor, the employer, positive contributor to the community. we hope that you will approve this list today. thank you. >> thank you.

>> i would like to know if anyone has reviewed any of these clubhouse leases. the city will continue to pay for gardening, utilities, and structural repair. the whole clubhouse initiative is supposed to be raising all this money for the department. i would like to know if it is: to raise any money. has there been any financial analysis of what the city will get after they make their contribution. >> thank you.

>> there is the whole concept of privatizing prayer for property. and i include the park and the best example would be outside. i do not think he would have this. every time you have that kind of arrangement, we hear about it in our neighborhood association.

you can buy exclusive use of a property. these are both good programs. they are needed by our children. the other is the financing of their program and this is extraordinarily complicated and this is getting more complicated because of the enormous reductions they have going on right now. eyeless% involved in the negotiations of those arrangements. you should be talking to the department of human services. all of which put money in.