these events were a way for me to allow myself to live my life in a healthy, positive way. but could not find anywhere else when i needed support in my life, places where i could openly express myself and actually be heard and be accepted. i know that i love to dance. she likes to dance as well. thank you very much. >> i support the electronic dance music scene and wish to see it protected. rarely do we ever interact with

one another. in electronic music events, we have a place to interact with each other in a positive and help the atmosphere focused on love, expressive music, art, and dance. people gain a feeling of community and respect for all types of personalities. we take this sense of community and respect back into our daily life, where we should be positive message of awareness, camaraderie, and kinship with others, ultimately making san francisco a more harmonious home and place to visit for all. san francisco thereby contributes to the international community by exhibiting a culture which projects understanding, of peace, acceptance, and consciousness of our responsibility to our earth and the brotherhood of mankind. it would be a major sacrifice to our community to lose these events. we need this culture to be

nourished and used to educate the public on the positive aspects that the global electronic dance music scene has to offer humanity. i also wanted to reiterate something someone said earlier. if we have more professionalism in the scene, we can have a better community. thank you. >> thank you, members of the entertainment and you commissions. my name is jack. i have lived in san francisco my entire life. when i was 7 years old, i got my first electronic cd from my mom. i listened to it nonstop. my mom was the only one for 14 years who actually enjoyed the electronic music i listened to. i was made fun of by the rest of

my family and all of my friends for loving electronic music. i could only express it on my own. it was not until the person invited the to a rave -- until a person invited me to a rave a few months ago that i found other people who loved electronic music. before that, i felt embarrassed to listen to this music. no one thought it was cool or anything. they just laughed whenever i talk about it or played it at a party. if it were not for raves, i would still be alone in my room and have very few friends to talk to about it. thank you.

>> i just want to thank you, members of the entertainment and give commission. i also want to thank everybody who came here to support raves. i am from santa barbara. i support electronic dance music. i also support the electronic arts. to me, it is more than just protecting electronic music festivals. it is also protecting other competitions like beat juggling and scratching. they use pre-recorded music and make new music. i also want to restate that

closing these town will only hurt the community, making more underground events. these events are not permitted. they do not have medical staff there to help. thank you very much. >> my name is tony. i am here today to talk to you about my experience going to these raves and how i think there are a positive thing for our community and our area. a good environment for people to meet each other. i personally like going to raves because i like being able to

walk around and listen to all this music that are playing. some of the music may be a little bit not my type of music to listen to. still, it has a beat and i enjoy going there. it is a lot of people having a good time and meeting each other. i support raves. thank you. [applause] >> i am 22 years old and a

resident of san francisco. i was a former youth commissioner. seven years ago, i was 15. we launched something called the recreation revolution. it is pretty fun to be back here for the same reason i was there seven years ago. that is to go over and defend the right for young people to come and assemble together. as a raver, i always have to question myself and ask what it is. we are not what the media portrays us to be. we are not druggies. we are not hippies. it is about young people coming together. to get back on.

, -- to get back on point, raving is a lifestyle. it has to be experienced. the bottom line is the people around you. it is not about the lights or how much money is spent. it is about the struggles we all share and accomplishments we come together for. i am pleading with you as a commission to be our voice, be our sword and spear, and fight against the tyranny of what this represents. i am giving you this morning now. either it is going to get past -- the party will go on. there are going to be parties. you can bank on the effect of young people assembling together. it spans the history of time. i do. please unite with us and come together so we can fight against this.

president newlin: at this time, i am going to close public comment. do any commissioners want to add their thoughts? >> i made notes. because of the hour, i am not going to do that. for those of you who talk about free events, it is not free. people have to get the permit. they have to get the sound system. everybody needs to pay the rent. everybody needs to eat. it costs somebody something along the line. so that is not logical, to say it should be a free event and some of the city or this commission is not allowing that. there is no such thing as a free event, unfortunately. no one can take it away from you

if you do not want it taken away from you. it is a state assembly bill. you need to take your good ideas and your eloquent speeches, put them together, and taken to sacramento and mature voices heard there. this commission has never -- i will also reiterate what the president said. this commission has never not granted a permit to any person that wanted to come here because of electronic dance music. we have maybe possibly never not granted a permit. we support street festivals. we support well-run the news. those venues have to have bathrooms. it is a lot in the city that water has to be provided. if you want to buy water, a bottle is good to cost you. -- is going to cost you.

i love your passion. take it to where you can be heard. it is secretly to barrier views. it is on television. people are going to see it. you have to take it to the next step. i like the guy who suggested the education psa. that was great. there is nothing these events can do if a guy with drugs in his car and walked to security, and goes inside, and drops dead. all of a sudden, the event is done because of that one person's action, and that venue is no longer available for electronic dance music because one person was stupid. talk to your friends. take care of each other. take this to the next step. that is my observation. president newlin: and the other commissioners?

ok. that concludes -- ok. commissioner lacroix: i would like to thank you all again for coming up today and speaking on this item. i am positive that not everyone got a chance to speak, and i know two minutes is not enough time for everyone to share their stories. but it is important to note that i came across this "two weakens ago at an event i went to, more of -- this quote two weekends ago at an event of went to, more of a retreat. you may not know everyone story, but you need to know everyone has a story. the bruin was not able to share their full story. -- everyone was not able to share their full story. everyone has a story. this is recorded on a tape. commissioner joseph said the

next step is taking us to sacramento. it is on tape. we can send the video up their. that would be the next step. i encourage you all to follow up and make sure these events are protected. thank you. [applause] commissioner zukerman: i would like to thank everyone for coming out here. it is always great to see so many young people at city hall. thank you. remember and say it is not fun. but as much given safe and accessible, and let's party. [applause] president newlin: think you for coming. this concludes the meeting of the entertainment commission and youth commission. thank you. commissioner lacroix: for youth

committee purposes, i will call this meeting adjourned at 10:00 my team. -- 10:19.

>> good morning, volunteers. good morning. can everyone hear me? yes, good, good. this is really exciting for me. this is my very first project connect, and i and the new director, so i look forward to getting to know each of you. just today, we want to thank you for your help. there's no way this project would exist without you guys. you are the lifeblood for this program, and that just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. we had a couple of speakers who are here to support the program today, so the first one i'm going to introduce -- i'm not the world's greatest public speaker, so bear with me. first of all, let me start by giving thanks to a few different organizations that have helped

out. one is trader joe's. they have given us bags throughout the years. next is san francisco food bank, one of the greatest assets that we have as well, so thanks to them. [applause] walden house and also a big thanks to our event sponsor, who i will be introducing in a second. not only did a financially sponsor the event, they bring many doctors and volunteers here today, which make the event happened. today, warren browner is the ceo of the largest hospital here in san francisco. he is part of better health. he has lived in san francisco since 1975, so he is still pretty young, right? he has two children who were born and raised here. he is trained in internal medicine. you can find him in his gym clothes moths that is around

1:00, buying produce at the farmers' markets in early rally, which is exactly where i am at the same time, just not-jim close, so welcome, dr. browner. [applause] >> thanks so much for that introduction, which was a little bit too revealing, perhaps. anyway, welcome, everybody. i am delighted that we have the chance to sponsor this event. again, we have been here almost from the inception, and i think we're going to have about 100 of our folks here. in fact, do the wave if you are from cpmc. great. thanks, everybody, for coming. this is a really important thing that everybody in the city has a chance to do. it is kind of a yucky day, so i'm sure that people waiting outside are in a hurry to get in here and get the services we are providing today. this is a meaningful opportunity to do things we do

not often get to do, but to go with those of us working in more administrative or non-clinical roles, so roll up your sleeves, and thanks so much for turning out. thank you. [applause] >> the next person i get to introduce has become one of my favorite people, having just moved to san francisco. she is a visionary who believes in what we are doing and really believes in making services client-based, and that is the director of the department of public health, barbara garcia. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. this is number 38. [applause] how many of you are first- timers? all right. i want to thank all of you. it is a great honor for me today to present to you our new mayor, ed lee. he is new to some of you, but he

has been very much involved since the beginning. mayor lee. [applause] >> good morning. look at all of you. it is wonderful. in 2004, when dad and newsom -- when gavin newsom became mayor, he had a heart to heart talk with all of us about homelessness, and he wanted to something different, something that would touch the lives of people on the street, and -- because there were so many of them, and they were all hopeless. he gathered a lot of us together and talked very seriously about what really can we do. there has been a lot of things in his life that he appreciated, as well as mine and others that worked with him, and that is, of course, the way we have been able to gather volunteers. volunteers -- for you today to

do what you are going to be doing all day today is something that i think is part of the history of this great city. we have always found a different way to do things. back in 2004 when we started project homeless, and now, this is the 38th time -- you are making and continuing a piece of history that over 220 other cities in this country are trying to copy. 220 other cities. we helped out over 31 dallas -- 31,000 homeless people. we had over 20,000 volunteers like yourself today, and i want you to take a moment and looked at each other, look at yourselves. this is the duty of san francisco and the bay area right here in this room. i love you all for doing this. a large part of my life has really been to work with volunteers. you get the greatest things done

when you do it from the heart. not doing it for money. not for fame or politics. today, what you are going to be doing is offering probably one of the few smiles that people on the streets get. a genuine look directly into the eye. an offer of assistance of how i can help you. what do you need? what can we do today to make their life a little easier? and then, hopefully, with all of this great service that we have today sponsored by cpmc, and i think all the volunteers here today, but i also want to note that there will be a moment today, hopefully, that you will be able to talk to somebody who is on the streets and maybe suggest that there is a way out in the long term. that is what these opportunities have suggested to us. there is always a way out. you do not have to be stopped, and you can get the services

here today, but you can also get them every day. a life can be changed. you are part of that great opportunity. you are going to be part of that direct opportunity to talk with someone, to give them resourced, f, hopefully, they will receive that with the amount of care and the amount of compassion that you have. so i want to just say to the bottom of my heart, thank you very much for volunteering to give. thank you for being part of this historic event, and i know that one of these days, our lieutenant governor is going to come back and see us, and he will be very proud of all of you. thank you very much for volunteering today. [applause] >> today, it is really exciting because together, we have created a solution. we are coming together to make one-stop event where people can come together for holistic services, and that is because of your work. again, thank you, and have a

wonderful day. [applause]