eliminate in-house services for individuals will bring a lot of people into nursing homes and possibly the hospital system's at laguna honda. one of the reasons i got up to speak was because i believe that despite the fact that there is a large group of people that are retiring, there are also huge amounts of money being spent in the city for pensions, i believe that there is opportunities for generating and come. and a necessity to look at what it's of parking areas to produce

funds for road repair. or the potential of, i believe i read in one of the amendments, the possibility of a san francisco store the market is san francisco -- that market ied san francisco. basically, i believe that there needs to be a really vigorous attention to opportunity hto pass this budget. [chime] supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker, pelase. -- please. >> we are a statewide

organization. and we are really concerned about the cuts to social services. they won't heal at all from providers. they follow the senate's proposal, 10% of the fall of the assembly's proposal -- if they fall of the assembly's proposal. -- if they follow the assembly's proposal. i think we really should, as a city, do something so we can somehow make up for some of the differences.

we know we can't totally make up for it, but incidentally, he is the chair of the senate budget committee. the proposal of the senate is less progressive than the assembly. we hope that supervisors would also do some advocacy with the senate. we hope that the budget is possible and the revenue solutions that are not idealistic, we hope they do public education around the issue of revenue proposals. otherwise, there will be deeper cuts. >> i have two minutes to speak, so i will speak faster.

i have sympathy and empathy for redevelopment agencies. i am a product of the western addition. this is what our community feels redevelopment has done to us. the only thing that they have really done is the negro removal. i am going to ask the mayor and the board of supervisors to do a two were -- tour. what redevelopment has done to the community, i am not here to stomp on a dead horse. what redevelopment has done to my black community, most of us a call it negro removal.

i ask you to come to the western addition and i invite some of you to come and tour what they did. they might have done some good parts. where they started in 1948, it has been despicable economically. i'm 56 years old, i can't eat in the fillmore, i can't stay there. i don't hear mention of san francisco. i'm inviting you and have the mayor come down and do a tour. you will see that redevelopment agency is something that when it comes to your head will be monitored by something better than what they have. [chime] supervisor chu: are there other

members of the public that wish to speak? public comment is closed. to close, we have comments from the city comptroller. >> as you wrap up your first hearing, the process that leads to the budget office working to close the budget, some general observations on some of the ground rules and can textual changes that might make his budget -- contextual changes that might make this budget. it has been marginal that is certainly good news. for the first time in three years, we see some stability in the local economic picture. there are signs for optimism in the future. these are positive features

heading into the fiscal year. there is a host of other challenges that might make this a very challenging budget season. as we have heard today, the state budget picture is as dire as it has been. it appears there is the political current to make productions in a way that might bring the state budget in balance. it means much more significant reductions facing local governments than we have actually ended up at the close of recent state budgets. we did not talk about it much here today. it is worse versus the last couple of years in terms of states and local governments. labor contracts that we will be discussing in coming months are

almost entirely closed for the coming fiscal year. it was a significant part of last year's budget solution. the savings will continue. additionally, we are working in a year where if a tax measure is part of the solution for the budget picture, those measures will be higher in the electorate. unless an emergency is declared by the city. this is the constitutional amendment that creates various new restrictions on the ability of the mayor and the board of supervisors to increase or adopt new fees. it should -- a solution.

lastly, this year, it is clear there is a need for ongoing changes and ongoing expenses and revenues. approximately, just north of 1/3 of the deficit is due to the loss of one-time solutions. the cash position continues to deteriorated. we continue to spend through reserves. this will make balancing more challenging and will require real discipline. this time next year, for the first time, the city will be shifting to a two-year budget process. we will be in the process of

preparing a two-year balanced budget. cahoon some general observations as -- so some general observations. supervisor chu: thank you for that gloomy picture. supervisor chiu? supervisor chiu: thank you. i appreciate the comments you have just made. i think you have made clear how many of the tools we have used in the past are not available to us this year. this is my first time on the budget committee. in prior years, i have been intimately involved with the former chairperson, i am hopeful

we ill hav -- will have a bit of a different budget process this year. i hope over the next couple of months is that rather than going through a typical kabuki style process, we don't have a good sense of the options and we will be able to have much more open and transparent conversations about that before the budget is presented on june 1. once we get to a budget, we will have a clear sense of what the hard choices are. i am hopeful that given what i think of as a bit of a difference in the relationship between the legislative branch and the executive-branch, we will be able to do that. one question about the presentation, on page 14, you talked about the one-time

solutions that will be in the same place next year. you referred to fees, federal stimulus funds. we know that we will not be able to rely on these next year. it is the intent that you are looking for multi-tiered solutions. -- multi-year solutions. >> excellent question. im not -- i'm not necessarily suggesting that it is the way we will have to handle this. it is essentially an observation of a fact that has confronted us for many years. we look at the joint projections, especially last

year's the joint report when we do a projection of budget deficits. you can see that the reality is that the gap grows. the goal of that statement, i think it will be a statement that i will be reemphasized in continually -- reemphasizing continually, we have a multi- year picture. it will be a discipline that we truly enforced starting next year when we go to the budget cycle where the one-time solutions will only help us for the first part of the budget process. it is something that i think we will all have to confront when we address in the five-year

financial plan over the next couple of months. it is essentially the same picture, when you look out into the future, assuming the economy recovers, there is no realistic scenario under which revenue can grow fast enough to keep pace with expenditures. we will face substantial deficits for the foreseeable future driven by growth. to the extent that we are going to want to and have to begin to plan for long term and deficits, we will keep reminding ourselves to the extent that we can balance the budget with ongoing solutions, it doesn't add a problem in the future.

i think it will be a very important one and a very important policy discussion that we will have to deal with fundamentally as part of the budget over the longer term. supervisor chiu: there was referenced two-to theyear -- to the two-year budget ting. are you participating to proposed new financial policies to consider as we move into this prop a world? i think having these controls in place a are important for long-term physical health. i was wondering what your thoughts are in that area. >> last year, the board of

supervisors adopted the city's reserve policy. the board unanimously adopted a reserve policy last year. proposition a creates a window that we will bring forward policies for your consideration. i am certain we will bring some forward. i will discuss this as we get deeper into the financial best practices. the city and the county doesn't have an official adopted a policy. supervisor chiu: i look forward to that conversation. supervisor chu: 80 to my colleagues for sitting through the first meeting. i appreciate the controller's

office comments. we are in a situation where many of the tools that the president talked about has been exhausted. we will likely see significant cuts. one of the things i am committed to help make sure that we fully understand the options before us is to bring information to this committee. some of the other components really help the driver costs. other things that really helped add to that picture, i am hoping those topics will be of interest so that we will have a full understanding. i do ask for the support of this committee to work together to talk about what your options are and what your best ideas are going forward. to the best extent that we want to evaluate options when the

budget comes, we need to engage in those conversations now. to my committee members, if you have things you think can be done better, let's start hearing them. with that, we have these items that are before us. i would ask the committee if we could file item number one and continue to the call of the chair item number two. can we do that without objection? are there any other items before us? >> no items left on the budget and finance committee. supervisor chu: we are adjourned.

aye been in san francisco 20 years. i'm homeless. i got a good cup of coffee. i got a number. today i'm 359. >> you try to do the right thing and make a point to do what you have to to be at one place. they have all the services at one building. i can spend 4 hours touching each table ask and getting the information i need to get back on my feet. they are providing the services under one roof. you don't have to go here or there or wait until next week. >> at the time we opened we

have folks waiting outside to come in. >> good morning. >> what we are doing is trying to find out what they want and need and getting them to their services as fast as possible. >> i came to the eye glasses program. making a couple of phone calls to my family at home. >> some housing, i'm here for employment. may be see about -- i've never been to one of these. i have not been homeless before. >> the scareiest are the people who are recently homeless who look like me. look like they could be my friend or family member. a few wrong choices and bad luck got them here. >> i was laid off 2-1/2 weeks ago and came to the project to -- >> i've been married to the

same man, my childhood sweetheart he started doing drugs. we went from a nice out in texas to nothing. the next step in the process is they get linked up with a volunteer. this is the heart and soul of the public connect. we greet clients. shake their hands. ask them to follow us and talk to them as we bring them to the hall and lead them to the first station. you find they are humbling on both sides. humbling for me. it's a great opportunity to give the folks the respect they deserve and don't get enough of. >> these are the people we step over on the way to our jobs. i was thankful to the mayor. our jobs are about helping

people. this is another way for us to give back to our community that treats us very well. i like the way they take you around to get you started. that's nice. they let you go and thoser the different things you need. >> are you with a program, now? >> i was a long time -- >> you want a job search? >> career planning [inaudible]. you are interested in getting into the trades? and that is where they will double check your trading skills you got and put you on a crew and you can do construction work or any kind of construction. >> okay. >> good. are you receiving food stamps? >> no. >> not medical or nothing. >> no. >> we got to get you hooked up.

>> this the department of human searchss this is the benefit's section much the beauty on coming here today is that we brought all of our requirements to this place, this station. the assessment. the orientation, we have the screening propose, the finger imaging this helps people who are unable to tolerate going to different appointments on several days. >> i want to talk to people from housing and shelter. there are several jobs i have been given it's a matter of following up. >> i'm going to get my eye glasses, try to. when i got here they said 60 people. not everybody will get a pair. 8 million people in san francisco who are homeless. >> i volunteered for the eye

screening. they are appreciative, they tell us that. and they have come back to say, thank you very much. we appreciate this. it's made a difference in my life. there was a guy today that couldn't see so near sighted he couldn't seebeyond 2 or 3 inches. everything is a blur. it's a miracle for him. >> they are not doing anymore screening for the day. i will go to health care, next. >> this is the medical section where they come and give us their names and we ask them to have a seat with the rn. there are 6 rn's that will find out what they need. it could be just to see a doctor. they will sit here, write an assessment and someone will escourt them to where the doctors are. we have 2 if not

more licensed dentests that look at people's mouth. they get a card to a drop-in clinic. the only thing that holds us back is we don't have enough dentists to treat the number of people. we would treat more people. >> this is not an area that people deal with. it can be a significant barrier. we see 185 to 200 clients. in the dmv area we see 300 to 350. >> it's overwhelming but helpful. there are a lot of people willing to help. >> at cafe connect we have volunteers that work as waiters.

everyone who come here experiences a surprise that it's such an easy thing to relate to this group of people. when you are out of the street you ignore them. when you are here you treat them like human beings. people are gratified. >> you give back to people. you give back to our community and it makes the world a little less cruel. >> i heard people in line talking about the donation when they walked out. it was nice to see people come and get the things they want and leave. it's rewarding for our employees to help out. >> the feedback i have gotten from the employees today has been positive. they are encouraged that the fact the city is doing something like this for the homeless. >> i got involved, my son adam who's a teacher in san francisco participated and invited me.

>> i got involved with a friend. i came a couple months ago and wanted to make it a priority to come again and invite my family and more friends. >> it's well organized. i'm impressed how organized it is. it feels wonderful to be a part of it. >> affords dignity to the people who affords the services. >> every service you can need or get you started is here under one roof. if you leave here you should have [inaudible]. the bottom line is you make >> welcome to "culture wire." on this episode, we explore what it means to the aged, in today's society -- what it means to be

chicana in today's society. chica chic features an array of artwork by five leading chicana artists that addresses a range of issues such as integration, sustainability, and integration. using a distinct visual approach, each of the artist's response to the shifting needs of their communities in ways that offer unique perspectives and multiple points of entry. >> the exhibition is to bring together the voices of a new generation chicana artists, all of whom reference the works of the civil-rights movement in their works, but they are also responding to a new cultural concerns and new cultural circumstances. >> the works in the show include a large canvas depicting a

woman washing the beach with her hair at the u.s./mexican border. the painting encourages the viewer to engage with the current debates over immigration and the politics of women and labor. influenced by the campaigns of the chicano civil rights movement, this oakland artist is a print maker whose work has helped and sustainability with the immigrant community as well as other current sociopolitical issues. this print-based work draws on appropriated agricultural worker manuals and high fashion labels to satirically address class issues, cultural identities, and consumerism. >> angelica -- her father was an agricultural worker, so she has drawn a lot from the materials the agricultural department sends to agricultural workers, referencing the depiction