supervisor campos: good morning, everyone and welcome to the october 21, 2010 meeting of the board of supervisors rules committee. i am the chair of the committee. to my right is committee member, supervisor mar. supervisor alioto-pier is in route. we want to thank sfgtv for their service in covering the meeting. do you have any announcements? >> yes, items recommended for on the agenda will go to the full board november 2 unless otherwise indicated. >> great. i know that there are some scheduling issues, and some folks may need to leave, so unless there is any objection, if we could please call item five out of order. >> item 5, motion concerning the reappointment of leroy king to

the san francisco redevelopment agency. supervisor campos: 90 very much. before we begin, if i may make a brief announcement, and related to this topic, today at 10:21 a.m., and i forgot to say this at the beginning of the meeting, but there will be an earthquake drill that the city is actually participating in, so an alarm, a siren will go off. for those of you sitting in this room, you do not need to evacuate or leave the room, but we want to make sure you know that is happening. the city is participating in the third annual great california shake out, and it is a reminder for all californians to make

sure they are ready in the event of an earthquake or any major incident, so, hopefully, you will think about that as that is happening. with that in mind, i want to thank you. another announcement -- i know that there are a number of people who are standing. room 250 is open for overflow. because of fire issues, we have to clear the aisles as much as possible. if you would like to have a seat, please go to room 250. with that, item five, we have the reappointment of leroy king to the san francisco redevelopment agency here commissioner, the morning. this is an opportunity to make a statement and some remarks to the committee. >> yes, i wanted to thank the supervisors, but i want to say i

have been on this commission 31 years. in 1980, dianne feinstein asked me to come on the commission because there was blood in the film more -- blight in the fil lmore and hunters point area. plus, in the hunters point area, they refused to come under redevelopment because of what happened in the western addition, and i've worked with the president of the naacp to ask the people of the hunters point area to come alec to the redevelopment. they finally agreed to come under the redevelopment, and right now, we have the last ship yard out there, and i thank the board of supervisors for passing that measure, and i would like to be around to see that be

done. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you, commissioner. colleagues, any questions? supervisor mar. supervisor mar: i wanted to thank you for your leadership not just within the labor movement and the international longshoremen and lieberman unit for over 64 years, but also, your effort to fight against displacement of low-income people throughout the city, and i wanted to say that i respect and appreciate that history, but also, i know you are a great father, grandfather and great- grandfather as well and an icon in our city, so thank you for your service. >> thank you. supervisor campos: i, too, want to thank you for your service and the fact that you continue to be interested in serving the city and county. i think that continuity is important, especially given the nature of some of the projects that are now moving forward, and

i am very appreciative of that, that you have been responsive to the concerns of various communities. just an example, from the mexican museum, i know that you heard loud and clear some of the concerns that the latino community had a run the fact that there was not a lot of movement on the project, so we want to thank you for that. i do not know that i have always agreed with every vote, but that is not the test of whether or not someone should be reappointed. i think that what you want is someone who is going to do as good a job as possible and call it as they see it, so because of that, i would be happy to support your reappointment today. why don't we open up now to public comment? i know there are a number of people here. typically, i try to give every member of the public 3 minutes, but we do have concerns about losing a quorum because there's so much on the agenda, so i'm

going to limit public comment to two minutes for individual. if there is any member of the public who would like to speak on item five, please come forward. >> supervisors, i'm here as -- wearing a number of different hats, but two in fatigue killer as general counsel for san francisco lawyers association as well as the immediate, past, president, -- past, present, and current trustee for the mexican museum. aside from all the wonderful qualifications of already been put on the table, leroy king has been a longtime civil rights advocate across the country and

is highly respected by members of the latino community, and a neutral good friend of ours is delores huerta, and we have what many picket lines as well as an advocate for people of color. i want to highlight two projects that commissioner came -- commissioner king has been very supportive of. from the inception of the idea of the mexican development, he has been a strong advocate, and we have moved the project forward. the other important component is the south of market yerba buena gardens redevelopment area, and he has been very supportive of the filipino community, and there is still some work to be done in the filipino community, which is the largest ethnic

minority in south of market, and he is there for that community, and we thank him very much for his hard work. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning. i am president of the san francisco redevelopment commission. lee roy king is a hero, a leader, and he has been one for decades -- the lawyer -- leroy king. without him on the redevelopment agency, we would lose an encyclopedia, and his leadership, and with him, every two weeks when we have our meetings, i look to him for that leadership and that encyclopedic knowledge, which really makes our job much easier and much more effective, so with that, i support mr. king's reappointment. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> rev. arnold townsend,

representing san francisco naacp today. let me be cautious because if i talk too much and too fast about mr. king, i will get emotional. there is an overwhelming amount of things that we could say, but let me just -- one story i remember him telling me -- i do not know if you all know it or not, but there was a time when people look like the three of us were not even welcome in the supervisors' chambers until mr. king and some other longshoreman kick in some doors, and i mean that literally. the supervisor chamber doors, because of those kinds of policies. he is a hero, a mentor, a father figure for so many of us. for thousands. he was walking home one night about 11:00, and i was with a

friend of mine, and he was walking down the street towards his home, and she asked about him walking down the street by himself, and i said that nobody would bother him. that would be suicide in this community. right now, we are running over to turk street because a project that mr. king spearheaded an may happen, where we took money that the jewish high school had paid the agency to buy some land, said it aside so that it could buy it down some three, four, five, six-bedroom homes and will be able to seldom to certificate holders for around $150,000 for a little bit more. that is the kind of work he has been doing. in one of the dangers we have in this town and many cities because we glorified the youth culture and youth culture, and a lot of times we have people

making decisions that do not have the information. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you, reverend. next speaker please. them to say that commissioner king is an experienced commissioner is an understatement. he is the icon of san francisco. i served with him for a good 12 years on the redevelopment commission some 12 years ago. he is an advocate for minorities and an advocate for the lotus market housing. at the same time, whenever there are problems in the western addition, he would be the man they called for. he would put out the fires. at the same time, lee roy king -- we were -- leroy king worked on the project of public funded radio. to continue his legacy, i strongly support his reappointment. supervisor campos: thank you.

next speaker. >> thank you. many years ago, union hall we did there was a sign -- a union hall, there was a sign that no dogs or chinese were allowed. there was and there is leroy king, and he showed me the way of round. he introduced me to many union laborers, especially johnson. i go around with him to picket lines, and he never stops. after 19 years, and he is still supporting all the union issues. recently, there was passage of the hunters point b development.

he is going to build 10,000 homes for san franciscans. we have lots of police officers, firemen, school teaches living outside of our city, and they can come back home. i urge your commission to reappoint him so that he can finish his job and continue the leadership he has been doing for the last 31 years. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you very much. next speaker please. >> [inaudible] supervisor campos: if you could speak into the microphone, please. >> terry collins. i'm here to say to you if it was not for leroy king, i would probably be dead or in jail. he is like a mentor. he is like an idol to me.

basically, if he was not on the commission, a lot of people tell me they would not even listen because he is like an idol, a person who had the most history. we find people from brazil, washington, d.c., and everybody listening to this commission board, so it is extremely important for him to be there because he basically is the foundation because he has been there so long, and he came there for a purpose. when he came back, he basically told us that he was going to fight. in a film or, as you know, he was struggling against [inaudible] supervisor campos: supervisor, did you have a question? supervisor mar: i was just going

to say that if it were not for kpoo radio and all of you, i probably would not be here as well, but i learned so much about city politics from your many decades of activism. it raises the level of awareness in my consciousness about what he has done for you and all of our community, so thank you for expressing that, mr. collins. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning. my name is john spencer. i am a small business owner and president of the african- american business club. i can think of only one elected person or appointed person who has consistently come to my business to ask how things are going, to work on the solutions to problems, and then follow up on those solutions. without a connection to mr. king, i would feel but city

hall - will be 1,000 miles away. i urge you to support his reappointment, and we should start a "mr. king for mayor" movement. >> i support leroy king. he is a community leader. he is supported by all communities, especially the asian-american community. he is a living legend. supervisor campos: next speaker please. >> keith jackson, for the record. i only can save the added time of need like this when you have a hard time finding someone who wants to serve the community and serve the city and county of san francisco, you have somebody like mr. keene and serve 30- something years and who continuously wants to serve and help the people here with great admiration to him and to others,

i think that reappointment for mr. kane is a great need to san francisco, and especially to the redevelopment commission, so thank you. supervisor campos: thank you, sir. next speaker. >> good morning. my name is john scott. i am a resident and business owner in san francisco. i have been working in san francisco since 1992, and one of the very first people i met was mr. king. through all these years, i have found him to be one of the most responsible people that i have ever met anywhere. he has truly been a help for me, someone to admire, and when we needed a leader, he has always stood up and then a leader. when we needed someone to bring clarity and focus and strength to a situation, i found him to be a man to be just -- to do just that -- bring clarity,

focus, and strength. when we needed someone to be the glue to hold something together, to bring diverging fox together so that we can actually move forward and make a difference, he has been that man has well, so with that, i think we cannot ask for anyone better to continue to be part of the san francisco redevelopment agency. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you very much. next speaker please. >> good morning, supervisor campos, a supervisor mar. i am a businessman on fillmore street. i had known mr. king in the last 10 years, and i'm here because i wanted to show my support for him. our community's lack of leadership, but where you find leadership is in the character and the essence of people like

mr. keane. you go on a saturday in farmer's market on fillmore, and you see him there. every issue and every thing that you have, he will listen in whenever he can, and that is what leadership is. what you have is a person with death and integrity and commitment, and he does things out of fairness -- what you have in mr. king is a person with depth and integrity and commitment. i'm here to ask your support for his reappointment. thank you. >> good morning, supervisors. i am a native sentences in, and i would not be here this morning without mr. king's leadership

and commitment -- i am a native san franciscan. i just want to say his commitment and voice has been very important. his institutional knowledge of the redevelopment agency as well as longstanding knowledge of the entire city continues to be a very important vehicle and guidance for all of us, so i want to urge you to confirm his appointments and to thank you for this opportunity and thank you for the opportunity to recognize his many achievements.

>> we wanted to come here and recommend mr. kane -- king's real woman. most of the development you see now is a real response to his work and his leadership and coming out there to do some stuff to help people get jobs, help people run a business, just help people, and get all the tools they needed to do to become part of san francisco. mr. king provided that leadership and all the things that needed to be in place. the economic development is such that the economic development driven things are in the bayview hunters point district, and most of that is responsible for the leadership of mr. keene and the people he gathered around him to

make this happen -- the leadership of mr. king. people who needed jobs and training, and we attribute everything and we have to his leadership and those he surrounded himself with. we beg you to please reappoint him. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning. i came here in 1940. i want to tell you the whole story, when it was segregated from black, chinese, everybody. i have known leroy for 60 years, as the movement of freedom and justice. by went to march with him and martin luther king when they came here, but i want to tell you one thing that is great about him. it does not matter if you are

black, chinese, mexican, right here in western addition, we organized, and then he wanted the chinese and japanese. they were too short to be on the police commission, so we organized an got dr. martin luther king to come to san francisco, and that is when it turned. he is a great man, a great fighter, and we have come a long way. we have got a long way to go, but our dream is still alive. i want everybody to look around. [inaudible] this is the dream. they did not believe that 40 years ago. they called us names. i do not want to use the words.

every time i fill out an application to be a policeman -- i am emotional. this is serious. i have lived it, and if he has lived it. that is why i came to recognize that he is a good man. there is no more like him, and we should all take into consideration and keep this man because he is a beautiful guy. supervisor campos: thank you very much, and thank you for the historical perspective as well. thank you very much. next speaker please. >> good morning, supervisors. nice to see you. i'm the director of mission housing development corp. i came here to support the godfather, and i mean that in a very good way, not the hollywood way. folks my age, and i'm not a youngster any more, can still call lee roy keen our mentor --

leroy king our mentor. many within city government, elected positions and so on were mentor by leroy kane -- by leroy king, and he is the one who gave us the strength to continue with the fight that started many years ago, and we appreciate him. we are so happy he is being reappointed, and i know the board of supervisors will confirm him. we need him there. he is a san francisco treasure. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. good morning. >> those are tough act to follow, but if i could say for myself, when i grow up, i want to be just like mr. king. he is one of those monarchs not

only in our community, and not only in san francisco, but just in history in this whole country. i am honored and humbled to just be able to be part of his circle that he has mentor, and now i am executive director ed [inaudible] community center, and i still call him for advising, and he still shoots it to me straight. i know it is a lost art in our community with the old hand school the young hand, so i am appreciative to be part of this history, to be part of his livelihood and be less with his presence, but at the end of the day, i want to say that to be put back on the commission, that is not even hear that question. we are just here for a formality, so i'm here to thank

him for my life and my son in our community at large. thank you guys for listening. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning, supervisors. i am born and raised here in san francisco. i am here in support of the reappointment of commissioner king. find a small business owner -- i'm a small business owner in sentences could. when we were having problems, we reached out to the commissioner to help us work through the city and get our theater back up and running. on behalf of all the artists in the filipino-american community, we highly urge the reappointment of mr. king. supervisor campos: thank you.

is there any other member of the public who would like to speak on this item? if so, please come up. that includes anyone now in the overflow room. please come forward. good morning. >> [inaudible] i'm here in an odd way, like many people were here on the 21st of september. a roomful of people speaking on behalf of a project, on behalf of an individual they considered a leader in their community, they trusted, whose resources they utilize, and i'm here to say that despite my appreciation for the work of commissioner king and the role he played in our community, must stand in opposition. i believe if you were to listen to the audio from the september 21 commission meeting, you will