would like to speak to that. >> absolutely. a couple of things. i know that the office of harvey rose had asked for an accounting and some apartments have responded. although i think it was a matter of timing, following up on the current status of expenditures. the main issue, as i recall, was that we had a significant amount of uncertainty at that part of the year and the bigger piece of that was related to the state budget. i think steps the discussion at that time was largely about if the state budget came in worse than anticipated and we had to make major cuts. with the response to that be that we would have to consider whether or not the ad that was on the table -- whether or not

you or your colleagues on the board, as you said, wanted to have some leverage to create a trade-off discussion in that event. based on where we are right now, state cuts came in at a lower level than budgeted. the budget is currently in balance. and we did do some made-year reductions in december. $19.8 million. notepad -- no adbacks were included, they were not candidates for the midyear reduction. i guess that my overall response would be that we are past the point in time where the uncertainty that we were concerned about has been resolved and the leverage that you mentioned, that is the case.

although i think the idea was that we would be early enough in the fiscal year at that time to be able to respond and make policy adjustments using that leverage with celery on reserve to make decisions for the remainder of the year. now that we are further along, we are at the point where the department's operations would need to be adjusted significantly because of the shorter amount of time remaining in the year if we had to withhold spending. >> we are not aware of any interruptions or cause of disbursement of funds through the restoration process? >> i am not aware of any cause for problems in spending. if you are aware of any issues or hear of anything, i would be happy to work with the

department. the direction to my office throughout the year has been clear. we have made a commitment that if the state budget came through and we did not have these large losses of revenues, it was our intent to fully expend those funds. any department that did not wish to, we wanted to talk with them. i fully believe that we have worked with our departments to the best of our ability to make sure that we followed through on it. supervisor chu: this item is now before us. are there any other questions? supervisor kim: quick follow-up question. this is my first time going through this process.

if the funds to survive the restoration, can we stay in a line item for the following year? or does it roll over into the general fund? >> there are two answers to that question. one is technical, the others policy. on the technical side, it depends on how they were budgeted. if they were budgeted for salaries and contracts under normal operating expenditures, the default would be for a savings to fall back to the general fund in the budget. but i think that the more useful answer, for your purposes, is that there is a policy option for the mayor's office and the board to consider. if those funds are not expanded,

it is whether to read- appropriate those funds or carry them forward. to continue spending on a program if they are not spent by the end of the fiscal year. taking the action from the board to extend that funding. supervisor chu: thank you. is there a motion to release? supervisor mirkarimi: motion to release. supervisor chu: can we do so without objection? without objection. thank you very much. item number five, please. >> item #5, hearing to consider release of reserved funds for the port commission, fy2009-2010 youth employment program in the amount of $75,000, to fund the sheriff's garden project and maritime immersion internship program. supervisor chu: thank you. we have elaine from the port.

>> i am here to request a release of reserve funds for the sheriff's apprentices -- apprenticeships program and maritime internship program. your budget analyst did a good job describing the beginning and evolution of the development program. we initiated the program in 2005 with the board of supervisors for $150,000. we went out for a selection process and selected the san francisco converts -- conservation corps. under a new contract with the conservation corps that brought the number from 50 to 20. last year, working with the

budget and finance committee, the port notably expanded on this program to include several other aspects. the california maritime academy internship program, also won reserved. the interns at the heron's had parked, apprenticeship program, and building enhancement training programs at pier 70. the collaboration between the committee and port staff resulted in the program expanding from 150,000 in 2005 to a budget proposal $700,000 serving low-income and young adults and disadvantaged residents. skill sets offered range from landscaping and recycling to ship repair. budget analysts recommended that we prepare an overview of youth

employment and workforce development programs, which we have done and handed out today. specifically to the reserve programs for the sheriff's garden project, this would be expanded for the earth stored program to hire two apprentices and one senior apprentice to provide enhanced park maintenance on the southern waterfront and do native plantings for parks. the requested funds funded four months of the program. next year the program is fully budgeted and will be before you in may. the maritime program collaborates with the california maritime academy with a preference for severance as the residence. designed to provide a university setting combined with real experience of portfolio attendance.

the immersion program will have to intern's. and next year, again, the program is fully budgeted for four intern's. we do concur with the budget analyst recommendation. the reserve is for $75,000. it will not be needed for these programs, so i recommend that the committee released the terms for the year-end balance. today i am joined by catherine's need, here to answer any questions about the garden project. should you have questions about how the work force programs

developed in 2005. supervisor chu: to clarify, the $75,000 on reserve, you are requesting funds for the earth steward and maritime program is because for the balance of the year, all the geneva is 39,000? >> correct. supervisor chu: the rest has been requested for capital improvements? >> correct. supervisor mirkarimi: supervisor chu: -- can we go to the -- supervisor chu: can we go to the budget analysts report? >> they are saying that this is all they need, so they have requested that to permit them to use the balance for needed repair and replacement projects, pointing out that because of the

america's cup there are going to be significant additional needs at the port. we do recommend that you use the entire $75,000. supervisor mirkarimi: my shameless enthusiasm for this program, i know of it extremely well. it means a lot to interphase a community that shares its geography with the port but not the intimate relationship that i think that it should. especially from disadvantaged communities or populations within the use, everything should be done that we can to marry those communities together. we are proud of the report and a proud of how it is evolving. to be able to lend support and

opportunity in terms of the future for our youth to get an insight as to something they would never have gone before is exactly the right step. supervisor chu: thank you. supervisor kim: i was glad to hear the enthusiasm and support for this. i was going to ask how young people were recruited into these programs, as i am not familiar. let's i will be asking katharine to respond. -- >> i will be asking katharine to respond. >> madam chair, supervisors, thank you for having us here. basically, i can tell you that first of all, some of our earth stewards came today to say thank you and that these young people

represent people from all over the city. some of them came from the mayor's office several years ago, working through the department of housing authority. the mayor wanted people from those different developments to have a chance to work for the summer. he sent a bunch of them to us. today they're going to be our mentors. another group came from this summer in the bayview district. the captain targeted young people that had not gotten in trouble, basically, wanting them to have an opportunity to prevent themselves from getting into trouble. i have worked for the sheriff's department for 30 years. over that time i have stood here while supervisors help us and continue to help these young people. i wanted to thank you all for giving us the opportunity to

work. i know that is what you teach people how to do. thank you. supervisor kim: approximately how many young people do you get in this program? >> 25 between the ages of 18 and 25, 25 between the ages of 13 and 17. and then we have i would say seven young people that have recently been released from our jails and prisons that are san francisco residents. they work at the san francisco form that i run where be go for it -- where we grow food. supervisor kim: all of them residents recruited by the housing authority and of these captains? >> through word of mouth and the community, people are sent to was regularly.

supervisor kim: i thought that was in vallejo. divide mystery that? >> it is targeted specifically for students of the california maritime academy with a preference for san francisco residence. the idea here is our variety of sports provide direct maritime experience and can enrich the students experience at the california maritime academy and get them ready for maritime and plan. so that we are collaborating with the university of vallejo on that program. i do not know the answer to that, but i can get back to you on that.

>> good afternoon. i work with the san francisco conservation corps. to answer your question, i do have a full-time staff recruiter as part of our program. word of mouth is is probably still the most successful. young people who enjoy and benefit from the programmer for their friends and we partner with the san francisco housing authority, school districts and a wide variety of non-profit agencies to refer young people to our program. it is a part of the youth employment training program. there is anywhere from between 10 to 30 young people who go to the program on a regular basis. for this particular contract, we are also subcontracting with walton street youth services. they provide five young people

ages 16-17 who are also part of the program as well. supervisor kim: out of curiosity, who do you work with at the school? >> quite a few different high- school. we can go out and make presentations to those schools to see if people want to go ahead and come to the conservation corps. we do citywide recruitment. supervisor kim: so it is citywide? do you work with the superintendent of high-school? supervisor chu: thank you. why don't we open this up to public comment. are there any members of the public would like to speak to item number five?

>> i would like to speak on behalf of the garden project and take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who played a part in keeping this program running. it makes a huge difference in my life and i know everyone who is here, their life, and want to take this opportunity to say thank you. thank you. supervisor chu: are there other members of the public who wish to speak on this item? >> i am obviously in support of this. i have known kathy for many years and i love the idea of having young people have the exposure to what this program has to offer. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. other members of the public who wish to speak on this item? >> i just want to also give my

thanks to everyone who has something to do with the garden project and keeping the program going and keeping us out of trouble. we have pride in what we do and we all appreciate it. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> i want to say thank you as well to everyone who gives us this opportunity. it helps me take care of my kids, it helps me stay out of trouble and i am learning a new trade that is very useful to my whole family and everybody around me. helps us eat better and live better and it is teaching us something different and i just want to say thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. any other members of the public to wish to speak on this item? >> i am speaking on behalf of the earth stewards.

the earth stored program is a great program for san francisco. it has taught lots of us, given us the opportunity to look at what careers we can have. it teaches us how to work hard, gives us a work ethic and they teach us how to manage our money. it is good to be able to get up and work hard and know you are contributing to the community and doing good for not only san francisco but for everyone by you helping the environment. births to words is a program that sam francis -- births e -- arth stewards brings us together and teaches as we have a lot of opportunities in san francisco that we can find if we look for and strive at something we can do good in this world. it is a program most definitely need in san francisco and our

boss is an incredible woman that you guys should be proud that she is the share of. thank you. [laughter] supervisor chu: thank you. any other members of the public want to speak on this item? seeing none, the item is closed. >we have a motion to release the reserves. i just want to say thank you to everyone has cannot today to speak out on this item. we can do that without objection. do we have any other items before us? >> that complete the agenda. thank yosupervisor chu: we are adjourned.