recommendations for the block grant funds. the house of repetitive has suggested a cut in funding and this has not been resolved by the senate. that makes an extremely critical time for us to have that dialogue. it cut at a 30% level perhaps will not have a devastating effect. we have reconstituted this committee so it is comprised of the board of supervisors representatives for the first time. i appreciate your bringing in the grass-roots constituency. >> thank you very much. i let the court know that you would like to move this forward. we will try to get this through

next tuesday. >> hello, i am in the executive director of the nonprofit community based organization. i wanted to come to support you -- to support utuma belfrey who is a mother, an active supporter of the recently passed local hiring law. we believe that she will continue to address the needs and concerns of our communities by advising the city for work- force development and housing

policies. personally, i feel like she does a great job and working with apri. she has played an important rro. this allows local applicants to come in and find ways to get affordable sustainable employment here in san francisco. i also brought a list of 25 members and supporters and friends of our is a shared that also support her. i wanted to say the names instead of reading off the list. -- instead of handing the list. i have carolina williams, jerry brown, jerry kosh, henry had a leak,-- henrietta lee, george

brown, and dorothy james. thank you. >> -- and community based organization in the southeast sector. when we look at what psittacine community development is, someone who is actually concerned about any given community. this person here is part of the -- meeting in the bayview, part

of the jobs coalition. she is a community activist. i am a former labor committee union person, having been part of local 377, the iron workers. this person is about the community, it is obvious. for many years, she has given her life. she has given her dedication. and her interest about the government serving communities. these committees that have been marginalized, she is definitely a part of. she wants to see something happen. being a part of san francisco,

everyone here would like to have a say how something goes. i would highly recommend that she is considered and given the opportunity to be part of this committee. thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. we are a community-based organization out of a view. i cannot bring a list of everyone who supports miss belfry. a lot of people in the valley do. i have seen her at a lot of meetings that she comes to on her own. also, in front of the cac. i have been part of her life for a couple of years. she is the community. she represents work force

advocacy. she understands what we're trying to do, the hard issues, trying to put people to work from our neighborhood. she knows how to make it happen. she has a great understanding of what needs to be done. i highly recommend you put her on the committee. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am here to support the candidacy of nicole rivera. i found her to be a woman of great integrity, works really diligently with the communities and partnering with the city and working with speaker of the house nancy pelosi. very responsive to the needs of

san franciscans. she has a keen understanding of the worked necessary to do work force development and really mesging the need -- meshing the needs of disadvantaged communities as someone born in the mission. her capacity representing the mission and other communities throughout the city. thank you so much. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am a senior project manager at the neighborhood development organization. the executive director said you eaton email. i have personally known peter for over 10 years. they know him well from his

work across the city and the community as well. he has been at asian neighborhood design where we work with him on some community- based planning. peter is that the community housing organizations, which i attend the meetings of, that is a very broad based coalition council representing service providers, project managers, and others related to affordable housing. peter on the committee will represent a broad based network of people. he will have an avenue to channel perspective committees and information that way. additionally, he cited that he was on the committee for many

years. there could be no more profound honor than to have peter now step onto the committee. >> my name is robinson. i work at urban habitat, which is a regional environmental justice. i have had the pleasure of getting to know utuma belfrey over the past couple of months as she has engaged to becoming a better commissioner. she has really been finding out what it takes to be an effective commissioner and an effective advocate for the community that she cares about. i have been impressed by her dedication to the community that she is from. per dedication to lifting up the folks. her dedication to being better as a community advocate and dealing with it in a new way.

what is always so interesting about her as well you can see her obvious dedication to san francisco and bayview and hunters point, she also understands how san francisco is connected to the larger community development throughout the region. it is not just about community development here, but throughout the region. i think peter also brings back experience of understanding the specific locality. also, understanding affordable housing and the interconnectedness between housing, jobs, and transportation. i hope you would consider both of them. >> good afternoon. i am a member of the committee. i want to speak on behalf of the three candidates. i do believe that charlie has

served in an incredible capacity and should remain there. this would be to service previously untaxed nee untaxeduntapped n -- untapped needs in the community. utuma is incredible. she is so dynamic in what she brings to the table. i have learned so much from her in the past year about sustainability in communities. i have learned from her and everything that she does. she is such a unique candidate. that is why your soul -- hearing so many different things about the hat she wears. you are also hearing about peter

cohen. you are hearing that we lost a valuable vision when renae passed away. i have spoken to peter. i think that he has that touch. we are very much in need of having bat. it is an incredible sleep with those. the committee has been pro -- opposed by the republican congress to cut 100% of the funding that brian chiu is advocating to stop that. we could use these candidates as soon as possible. thanks. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is winston. i am part of a community-based organization in district 10. there are no words or adjectives

left to describe utuma belfrey. i feel like i should have gone up here first. she is a dynamic person. she is passionate and committed to the work. she has helped me out. she was a member of the church where i served as a pastor. utuma is very dedicated to helping people, not only bayview and hunters point. her skills and knowledge would it not only be an asset. per knowledge is unparalleled. she gave her time to one of the programs for go up to juvenile hall on tuesday and talk to the young men of the importance of making themselves work ready. i would advocate utuma belfrey

for this position. >> ♪ good luck, appointees, to you in the building world you knew what you were building like you always do rules committee, and here today where did it go? that community building glow when you were building and helping like you always do building rules committee here today now it seems rules, those dreams. do not believe fools, rules

pick a good candidate where did it go? but that building glow when we were building, caring, being there all the time make it yesterday ♪ >> public comments is now closed. i want to thank the four applicants here today. we have very strong applicants. they have very strong experience working in our neighborhoods and communities. i know charlie is applying for

his seat again. i would support him continuing on his service given his background working with many of our community groups. utuma belfrey i have never worked with before, but i have seen -- receive many letters from. i think you provide a unique perspective. the southeast, the bay view, and also labor, that is an important perspective to have. she is very important in our political community. lastly, we have mr. cohen, who is very active in a lot of the housing work that i am engaged in. big shoes to fill. last year was a huge shock to

many of us when we lost renae in july. my suggestion, i would like to support mr. sciammas, belfrey and mr. cohen. >> i would like to support utuma belfrey. i am ok with rivera. >> i would put forward utuma to seat 1. the benefit of having niclole there, for working with nancy pelosi and her knowledge of the federal government would be a great benefit to the community and the city. i would hate to see her on a non-public committee. that would be my motion.

>> i would move utuma to seat 1. it doesn't matter. commissioner kim: i think we can put that forward without objection. i respect the work of nicole, but i recognize that the board of supervisors elect but those that advanced those of the low- income neighborhoods. i am going to continue to support sciammas, not that i think she is not qualified. the mayor does get to a point where they get to perspective on dc. i am not sure there is another

position i could support you on on this committee or another one. i support nicole for seat 4. could we take a vote on that? commissioner elsbernd: aye. commissioner farrell: aye. commissioner kim: no. i ask that we move this forward with committee recommendation. a committee report, thank you. at this time, we will close this item. thank you, everyone, so much for being here. madam clerked, will you call item number 4? >> there are seven applicants.

commissioner kim: we have 5 seats for the urban forestry council and seven applicants. i will call the names as they are listed. first i have maria d'agostino and then andrew sullivan. >> good afternoon. my name is maria d'agostino. i am seeking reappointment to chair 2. i remain uniquely qualified to sit on the urban forestry council. i applied for seat 2 and

qualified to sit for any of the available seats today. i worked in the private sector for a while. i started as a volunteer. then was brought on board part- time and then full time. as many nonprofit employees do, i went on to work for the bureau of urban forestry. i have been in my position since we applied for the council appointment. i am just recently back from the municipal forestry institute. it was a week-long the leadership intensive held at the arbor day lodge and met with colleagues from across the u.s.

that work for nonprofit municipalities and state agencies. it was extremely invigorating and also relieve validating to touch on a couple of initiatives that i supported. since i have been elected chair by my peers in the last year, i have been extremely cognizant of our use of time, especially the department of the environment's precious staff time that they dedicate to our meetings. one of the initiatives we were looking at was to look at our schedule and reduce our actual formal meetings and support a lot of work and informal group work where we would review our

annual retreat and establish goals for the year and we are revitalize the way we present our annual support for supervisors taking away at the street tree list and make it more valuable for residents instead of just pushing it through. i would love to continue to support the council. i am a longtime resident of the city. although i totally enjoy my commute on the caltrain, i contact very intimately with the planning department and engineering department and our nonprofit theire, i love my absolutely, probably one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city.

it >> -- i will remain steadfastly and urban girl concerned about urban trees. >> next we have andrew sullivan and then dan flanagan. >> thank you for your time. i have a brief presentation of myself. a point of clarification before i start. i am listed as interested in seeking four, six, and 7. i believe the qualification for four is working for a non- profit. >> you are applying for seats six and seven then? >> also two. i am a member of the american society of landscape architects. commissioner kim: you are

certified by a professional tree management organizations? >> i was listed in seat 2. commissioner kim: we know you are an applicant for six and seven. >> i am a landscape architect and have been for it the last 16 years. i have been for 12 years in san francisco with various organizations. dealing locally, regionally, and across the country on designing construction projects. everything from small, private projects to large-scale public works. that straddle the line between private and public realms. my work as a landscape

architect, i am not only concerned about the aesthetics and sustaining the beauty, but also looking at the work i do as it relates to the community at large. a lot of the work that i have done dovetails with the work of the urban forestry council. their work not just to sustain the urban forest, but use that as an educational tool with the greater public and also the ecological goals that the urban forest can support. in my experience, the design and construction of the industry, they can use it. it gives me a unique perspective. also, the practical issues in measures related to the urban forest both private and public in both private and public

spaces. i have a strong sense of civic responsibility. serving on the council would be an opportunity for me to utilize some of my expertise. i thank you for the consideration. >> thank you for being here. are there any questions? we have no questions at this time. dann fled again and then -- it dan flanagan and then bonnie ora sherk. >> i have been there 2.5 years. you probably know that they have a very long and proud history of involvement in the san francisco and urban canopy. we have planted approximately 45,000 trees. after 2.5 years as executive

director, i thought it was necessary that i serve on this council. i think that the voice is necessary and important in this regard. in many ways, we are very closely aligned to what happens in the urban forest. we are partners with dbw. as a quick aside, we redid our phone system. now i get all of the phone calls. anytime there is a random phone call about the urban forest, i get it. we planted 11 hundred six trees last year. we hope to plant 1300 trees next year. we are committed to planting and caring about the trees of san francisco. i would be honored to serve on this council. >> next we have bonnie.

she is not here. rose hillson and then terry milne. we also have -- sorry. >> good afternoon. my name is rose hillson, and i am a member of district two. i applied for seat 6 because of the way it is written. i understand that seats seven is a community seat. i do not qualify for any of the other seats. i want you to know that i am a native born san franciscan. i went to high school in the city and graduating class valedictorian. i went on to university and graduated. my mom