the board and president for giving me an opportunity to speak. i have appeared before the board numerous times, and i only usually speak about three issues -- veterans, homelessness, and medical marijuana. i am here to speak about both issues now. i have been a member of axis of love for a number of years. axis of love allows veterans to begin the socialization process to return back to society after being left on the street a number of years. this is a thankless process. unfortunately, you had to cut the budget so there is absolutely nothing left except for [inaudible] this is the director of axis of love. she is the one that when there

are no federal dollars, no state dollars, no city and county dollars, this lady -- ms. kathy smith is her sponsor -- these are the two ladies that help homeless san francisco veterans with meals, with the ability to pay rent. how about you did not hear an iraqi veteran came here -- a decorated era veteran, got his car towed, and he was going to lose everything because he did not have the fee. who stepped up? when you shut these people down, you are shutting the last resourced veterans have. i have been associated for a number of years. i have never seen a cash register, a price boards. i have seen nothing but love.

[applause] supervisor chiu: thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon. my name is catherine smith, and chiron hopenet, -- and i run hopenet. i'm not sure what is going on with axis of love and the planning department. about two and a half years ago, larry kessler said he had to do something, so we came up and we gave letters to the health department, stating that axis of love was funded by hopenet and 1944 ocean. that would make them a charitable organization because

they do not make any money themselves. iphone their bill. more of foots the bill. i really do not understand what this letter from the planning department is, and i do not understand who would attack such an organization as axis of love. you have heard from these people. sometimes she does not even have a house herself to live in. to say that they make money, that they should register as an mcd is absolutely ridiculous. i beg you to help us help the rest of these people. we are taking a huge financial burden of the city. we are helping house people, feed people, help them just cope

with life. it is an atrocity to even think that this would be a medical dispensary. like you have heard, they have no cash register. they have no way of making money. supervisor chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, board of supervisors. thank you for this opportunity to speak. i am a member and volunteer staff member axis of love, and i have seen firsthand how much it is helping low-income people. kathy smith and 1944 ocean have

been sponsoring us for years. we are not a dispensary. we do not exchange in -- any money. we do not have cash registers. we do not sell cannabis or anything else for that matter. i think that we are a nonprofit, not a not-for-profit, and i think there is a distinction, even though i'm not an attorney myself. i think there is some clarification. thank you very much. supervisor chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. this is about a different kind of love. as we grow older, many of us become more and more of loan, losing our friends and loved ones to the relentless passing of time -- many of us become more and more alone. i dedicate this to the many

senior citizens that have lost their loved ones and friends. a tear drop falls for a lost love, lost to the relentless drive of passing time, never to return. you will never know how we met when we reflect on the images of your living spirit as it once was, but you live in memory. you have never been closer to me now than you are now. somehow i know you know more than ever how much we love you so. thank you. supervisor chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisor. i am a member and i'm also hiv-

positive. if it were not for axis of love, i would be sitting in my house, dwelling in my head. i also used to be a drug user. axis of love held a women's group, and it is the only group in san francisco, and if you take away their love, that is the only thing -- i'm nervous. [inaudible] thank you. >> i would like to say greetings to the board of supervisors. i have been a member of the collective axis of love since 2008 ever since our women circle

group began. that are well known among the community of patients for always being more than generous with compassion, care, and sharing. i have become an avid participant in several groups from a chess club beginner, learning about the women circle " where i learned how to meditate, channel my energy into healing, in joining great food adding to the club it drives, where to shop and find great bargains, safe housing options, the policies of federal and state politics, ways to maintain setbacks for those in need of those purposes, sound banking to improve my self- confidence and social skills, and lots of compassionate biddies for all attendees. i would like to believe that the members of the collective axis of love our patients who have very low resources, who need

want and need to succeed in giving back our energy to assist others to better the san francisco medical community for services for all, so thank you. >> good afternoon, board of supervisors. my name is lisa, and i am in low-income medical marijuana patient as well as member of axis of love since may of this year. i have received supportive services such as women's groups, reduction moves come a group pantry and they know as well as medical marijuana for my illnesses. since i have been a member, there has not been at any time -- been asked by anybody for payment of services ordinations, which in the medical cannabis jargon that we speak, sometimes they use the word "to nation close " as a means of payment, and that has not even been

brought out, so i want to at least stand out as a member and state for the record back axis of love is a nonprofit charity- based organization and not in medical dispensary. thank you. >> i'm an advisory board member of patient advocacy network. today i speak on behalf of axis of love in the hope that you will advocate for us. so rarely do we get to return the favor. the primary purposes are to provide social services, support groups, educate the public, and provide food and shelter the homeless, disabled, and impoverished nation community at no cost. this year's unambiguously falls into category 217d as a social

service or philanthropic facility and is permitted by right. even if by some wild stretch of the imagination, the registered members of the permanent hope net and 1944 ocean distance race -- dispensaries, the law says it shall be permitted as an accessory use. my question to you is if you install a cheetos been the machine in an institution like a church, is it reclassified as a restaurant? furthermore, will the public perception help the institution fulfil its philanthropic and educational mission? please do not let city agencies waste your time, my time, and our tax dollars with bureaucratic nonsense about real

people back into a state of social, spiritual, and physiological destitution for no good reason. >> hello. this past thursday, my friends and i organized about 15 people to have an anti-violence vigil, and we are hoping to do it again. 15 or 20 courageous people showed up. in january, i became a member of axis of love. i was homeless and had nowhere to go when it was raining and foreign. i did not know that i had a voice in anything of until the moment that i joined axis of love. coming from texas, you do not get to be involved with government for campaigns or anything like that, and if it were not for axis of love, i do

not know if i would have recognized the ability to do that. since then, i have been active in many different things. it is not necessarily wise for people to be playing political games. this organization enables people. helps them, gives them a sense of community, a sense of pride, sense of belonging, gives them food, which is a really big thing for people that have no money. when people are playing little games and saying it is a dispensary, it is not. we need to be enabling organizations that are not taking any kind of funding from the public sector and help them, not hinder them. thank you. >> i also want to speak in defense of axis of love. if anyone has ever been there, ever been to a dispensary, you can tell there is a great difference between an organization that just stands

up food and social services compared to an organization where you go in and purchase madison feared most people that go in cannot afford to go into a dispensary, so that makes as far from a dispensary as you can get, and if this requires rewriting the mcd laws and redefining what a medical dispensary is to help these organizations that to provide compassion and medicine for those of us that cannot afford it, then we need to look into that. i also wanted to bring up that san francisco is the gay capital of the country, and a lot of queers -- we have to immigrate here for our rights, and he closed down eight new lgbt counseling center, and it was one of the last lgbt-focused counseling centers, and in the height of the media and the focus on lgbt youth, i want to

note that san francisco is doing their part to close down the resources we have. supervisor chiu: before we continue with the rest of public comment, we had two commendations that was a postal worker at 3:30. if you want to stand there, i want to make sure we keep the order in line, and if i could ask my colleagues to present their commendations, we will go right back to public comment. it will probably take about five minutes. supervisor mar has our first commendation. supervisor mar: thank you. i am also going to share this with supervisor mirkarimi, who knows deanthony jones as well. now the sacramento state student, he is receiving a tremendous honor in a few hours at the theater across the street with the announcement of the brown or use award, the

incredible national awards of a young, bold, and courageous environmental leaders and environmental justice leaders, and he will be honored later tonight at those awards of 5:30 and i believe at 7:30 is when the evening program is, so i wanted to recognize his accomplishments and the accomplishments of the organization he worked closely with, the environmental service initiative, which is a great partnership between san francisco unified school district, a global exchange, and our city's department of children, youth, and families. the new leaders' initiative established the brower youth awards, which recognizes six people from 13 to 22 years old living in north america annually for their outstanding organizing advocacy and

achievements in the field of environmental justice. in 2010, the awards are based -- actually every year -- on how their efforts benefit the environment but also raise of the community in terms of measurable results as well as movement building and raising awareness. awardees this year include folks from alaska, wisconsin, iowa, new york, and for the rico, but i'm very proud that deanthony is our san francisco honoree, only the second san franciscan in many years and one of the few californians that have won this award as well. he has been involved with the environmental service initiative since its inception two years ago, and the environmental service initiative is that collaboration between the school district and environmental justice ", and their efforts are

to bring critical environmental education and service learning throughout the city of san francisco. besides mission high, which he comes from, there are six other high schools spread throughout the city, so it is an example of putting into practice social justice and equity, which is at the heart of our school district as a strategic plan, but i think it is also an example of creating community service learning in a meaningful way and meeting the important goal of joyful learning within our school district pose a strategic plan as well. while in the environmental service running program, he planned at least 10 events to educate young people about environmental service. he is a mentor to others as well. the plant the largest land youth-led environmental justice event in san francisco history. he organized the dance for the

earth, and he also organized eco-week, which is a week of students learning about the climate and social justice. he helped organize the green from, the only one in san francisco, held in presidio national park, powered by electric bikes. people in their from dresses to turns peddling the bikes. only disposable plates -- only composed of zero plates were used he also -- supervisor mirkarimi appointed him to the youth commission, and i believe you served as chair as well and were headed the black student union at times. you also have worked closely with vanessa carter and others to really develop the curriculum and to reach deeply into their communities, so i wanted to just hang him and also the

environmental service initiative, and i think pandora is here. i was hoping that supervisor mirkarimi could give some crops and pandora could talk about his work and what you do before we hear from the man himself. supervisor mirkarimi. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. you said it beautifully. before deanthony jones was a young rock star, i have known him and his family for many years. in the the war, the western addition. big fan of his family. he is not alone in being a smart advocate who has made a name for himself. his family has as well on many levels, but i have to tell you, it really is incredibly heartening when we see young people from different communities in different cultures in particular who are

now leading the charge in calling attention to the questions of social equity and how those intersect with a new environmentalism, because of how that environmentalism and environmental justice in fact their community. deanthony jones has demonstrated, on his own with very little support from any of us in charting his own path and innovating ways on how to mobilize members of the community, members of his generation in order to pass the same questions and demand the kind of answers that make us all proud, so for that, i am doubly honored to hear that you are being recognized. small confession -- david brower was a mentor to me well over 25 years ago, so i knew david, and it broke my heart when he died,

so i think is extremely fitting that you are in line of that recognition. for that, i know that we are very proud of you. thank you. [applause] >> my name is ken nor thomas, and in the current director of the environment service learning initiative -- my name is pandora thomas, and i am the current director of the environmental service learning initiative. when he came back and was talking about reconnecting to his family's connecting to the earth and winning the skills and again that he did not realize were part of his legacy but after asking those questions, seeing that this is his role that his community have been an earth steward, it was an honor to see him taking this role so

other students could see that mean is not something new. it is something we are reconnecting to, and san francisco has always been a place where we are able to do that work. we are currently admission and lincoln high school because we have been impacted by what is happening with the economy, but we are excited because having young people like deanthony speak up is drawing more interest and support. thank you for recognizing our young people. we need to recognize the more when they do good things. i love you and i'm so proud of you. [applause] >> this is definitely humbling, and i'm glad that i could represent san francisco in this way. just growing up in this beautiful city, i'm glad to be one of the stewards of the environment, and i will continue

my work at sacramento state university where i am a freshman now. these past few years have been awesome, working with some of you in this room on the use commission -- the youth commission. it is not anything new. this movement has to be painted not in the socio-economic way, not in a nationality way, not ethnicity sort of way, but this is a human sort of movement, and we have to place it as that. i just want to do my role to make sure it is understandable to you and the youth all over the city. i did get on that bike. i would like to say i lost weight, but in light of my grandma's cooking, i think i might have gained a few, but it is an awesome experience.

tonight is definitely even more special because my giants have just one. [applause] last time i checked, brian wilson was on the mound, and as soon as he gets up there, you might as well call the game in the books. it is going to be definitely even more special tonight, and i just hope to continue this work. thank you guys so much. [applause] supervisor chiu: our next commendation will be presented by our colleague, supervisor maxwell. supervisor maxwell: i would like to take this time to recognize

826 valencia. they're doing tremendous work on behalf of san francisco's at risk and underserved you throughout the city. 826 was founded in 2002 and is dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their writing skills and to help students get excited. their work is based on the understanding that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success and that great leaps in learning can be made when skilled tutors work one-on- one with students. they provide a variety of free programs and services throughout the school year and summer months, including drop-in tutoring, field trips, specialized workshops, and will assistance, and extensive student publishing. they have over 1700 volunteers that are committed to providing one-on-one tutoring and

educational opportunities to the students. there is no question that being committed to education expands the mines and horizons of young students. thank you for your commitment and thank you for your commitment to our city and our students. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. this is really a great honor. i would like to identify myself as a volunteer. i have been a volunteer at 826 for seven years now. it has brought tremendous joy to my life. get back so much more than we are able to give to our students. supervisor maxwell said, we were founded in 2002 by the author dave eggers. we now have chapters in seven cities around the united states, and we continue to grow and provide services around the

country that we provide you. supervisor michael mentioned that we have about 1700 volunteers on our roster. we actually have about 1000 volunteers at him at any given time, and we are able to provide services in school, after-school tutoring to more than 6000 of san francisco's schoolchildren throughout the year. i just want to upset this on behalf of those students, on behalf of the teachers with and we work, on behalf of the staff. we only have a paid staff of 10. i want to give special tribute to our students. they are in school all day, they rushed to our tutoring center and spend three hours working with our tutors. i think is extraordinary that they are willing to do that, and i think it is a great testament to them and their parents dedication to their education. this is a great honor for us, and we cannot thank you enough.

[applause] supervisor chiu: congratulations. what we go back to public comment? >> i'm not a lawyer but i read the law. i have been a member for six months, and we have a women's group every monday. what i feel this serenity, love, peace, and happiness. they also help me with cannabis medicine when i cannot afford it.