union and our working poor, trying to make ends meet. many of these workers come from the communities in which they serve, whether it is homeless, mentally ill, drug addiction, all these things. these workers have done the really hard work to get up there every morning and do the work that is required of them to carry out the mission of the services that we all care for. these are living wage workers with health benefits. as you have heard, there have been cuts and cuts and cuts. these contractors have not had an increase in money since 2007. so when you are thinking about making additional cuts, when you say 10% and 10% more, it does not sound like much, but when these contracts for most of these cbo's , about that have not been raised since 2007 and are doing the hard work that everybody up here has been talking about, an additional cut

is called starvation. i am urging you to look for other places to take the cuts. the people in this community are the most vulnerable. the workers in this community are ready to, you know, keep continuing the work. we are not asking for a raise this year, although of course, that is what our members would like. we are asking you to maintain these services and the work being provided as a whole unit. i wanted to give you a brief lead with -- leaflet. i'm done, thanks. >> thank you. we have time for a couple more over here, and then we are going to call two more names. >> about three years ago, i moved here because they were cutting a lot of hiv services and taxes.

i figured i would be able to get better. it is really frustrating because we do not have enough economic opportunities. disabled people in general cannot work the eight hours a day that a lot of people are able to. there's just not the economic opportunity, and we have all these cuts that we're talking about here, and one thing about revenue, and i think that for each of these cuts, we need to have something producing revenue, whether it be organizations employing hiv- positive people or disabled people that work within the facilities -- we need to come up with some kind of innovative thinking like we are doing with the cuts for revenue because it is not going to fly just cutting things. we are going to continue to see people flooding in throughout the country to san francisco because they are still making cuts out there, what little they have, and we kind of ignore that fact, but people are going to

still come here, and there is nothing -- this is the only place that gay people have to come to live and be free. i spent years and years in texas trying to be employed, and it does not work, so i come here, and there's no economic opportunity for us, so we need to think about that. thanks. [applause] >> hello. i am here representing the treasure island community. i'm here -- mayor, thank you for being here this evening. just to support the catholic charities and development center. we really need funding for that. and to reestablish the muni link that helps our families to the grocery store. there are no grocery stores on the island. population consists of a

transitional community. we used to have about 180 kids to provide academic success, job readiness, healthy lifestyles, and we're taking from the children that are the future of our generation. so please reconsider budget cuts, and i just want to say hello to maria and thank you for all the work you do. please do not cut our children funds. thank you. [applause] >> i am just a parent on treasure island. my kids go to treasure island boys and girls club. they need that clubhouse, just like i need my kids to do their homework. [applause] one more question for the mayor and supervisor -- i just want to know what are you guys doing with the money from the number

one cash crop in california, which is cannabis? i know you guys are charging cannabis club a large tax. i want to know where that tax money is going and why we are having a budget crisis when you're getting that much money from each club in san francisco. [applause] >> hello. in the coordinator of the friends of but never part. the reason i'm speaking today is particularly for our rec and park department and our clubhouses. the park is in the tenderloin at the corner of jones and eddie. it is only open three hours a day five days a week, and it is the only park in the north of market tender one that is open to all ages. seniors, kids, and adults. the other parks are for young people. so it is very urgent for us to

have our park open more often. also, i do not know if you are aware that all the clubhouses in san francisco are not staff now. it is really urgent that we have more staffing at our club houses in san francisco. they mainly have to be rented out to private organizations to provide the programming. even though that might be necessary, i feel and i think many others feel that we should have our own city staff at the club houses providing programming. it is a funding issue, of course, but i think it is really urgent to be able to have our own staff for representative and park department in our clubhouses and recreation centers, particularly for our own part in our own district 6 in the tenderloin. we need more staffing. thank you very much. fosdic-- >> hello.

my name is susan bryant. i live in district 6 in the heart of the tenderloin. i want to say to the elected officials, the decision makers of san francisco -- do not give away the store with tax cuts. do you remember the dot-com situation? we could not do enough for those guys. we were building lofts and not charging any taxes for schools. we were so happy that they were here and they were going to generate all that money for us. you know what happened -- those guys went back to live in their parents' basement. [laughter] san francisco -- everything

starts here. where is our pride? they should be happy to be here and not have us give them tax cuts all the time. we gave the fisher family $30 billion a while back. where did that go? what good does that do us? anyway, our muni, our bart brings these employees to the doors of where they have to work. we service them. that money has to come from somewhere, and it should not come from us. they should pay the freight. i mean, because, where is our pride? we have all the good ideas. anybody moves away, what is going to happen is they are going to die on the vine. thank you. [applause] >> [inaudible]

you know, we want you all you allsro -- let sro people know what is going on. we did not feel we get a fair representation. we want to have a better city. an earthquake should not have to come before we all come together. it is time that everyone in this city that brings money to the city and loves this city is a fear it will want to know what is going on at city hall. we need to let people know what is going on. people do not know what is going on. we want people to know that is not free shelter. thank you. >> thank you, everyone, for coming out.

i want to thank all the speakers. i want to thank everybody who is here. i am a district 6 residents. i am a parent in this neighborhood. i am a service provider, and it is beautiful to me to see our community here. district 6 is a lot of times the overlooked community in this city. people forget that families live here, people live here, so it is beautiful to see you all he appeared on april 16, the department of public works is doing a community clean-up in the south of market, so look into that. come out and support, and remember, this is just the beginning of the process. this is just the beginning of the budget process. if you were not able to speak, write down your comments and put them on the wall back there. i'm sure you can contact supervisor kim's office. there are many ways you can continue to be engaged in this because that is what we need, for the community to come out and be at the table. thank you very much. we are going to pass it on to

close, but thank you all for being here tonight. [applause] >> let me add my thanks to everyone here tonight for your time, for your patience, listening to each other. it is very important that we get this information, and i also want to just thank our staff at the office of civic engagement. i see they are working very hard to make sure everyone understands what is going on. the budget is very serious. one of the most important things we do in the city, and i want to make sure everybody is included throughout the city. if it is as smooth as tonight, i do not mind going to seven more of these things. thank you very much for being patient with us and sharing your ideas and passion about how you

love to be in this city and to be part of it. thank you very much. [applause] >> again, just want to reiterate, thank you so much for being here. i want to thank our department heads, our budget director for being here. we asked him to come and just listen. you often get to hear us, and we do not always get the same opportunity to hear you, so they all came knowing that they would not get an opportunity to speak or respond, but they came to get feedback from you as they develop their budget, so we thank you for giving of that tonight. also, this would not have been possible if not for the many community residents and organizers that brought people out, that organized folks and educated people about the budget and budget process, so i really want to thank all the organizers and the volunteers. also, the greeters, the people that provide child care. all the folks out there, raise their hands. paul, chris, tiffany, johnny,

diana, chilly -- thank you so much for helping me tonight. and i want to thank everyone because this is a tough and painful and emotional process, and everyone really came ready and also very respectful. it did not have to go like this, and i just really wanted to appreciate that, and this is just the beginning of a dialogue and process for our office. we will continue to hold budget stakeholders meetings, so please, come up to our staff and signed up so you can find out when our meetings are and continue to engage. i wanted and community members for being irresponsible about what we can contribute to these cuts. we will come out and do more clean up and held out if you can help us bring lights to the victoria park. those other types of solutions. we can all can cheviot to that process as well. we really heard a lot of things that were said tonight. district 6 is home to one of

the most diverse constituencies here in the city. we have the poorest residents of san francisco. we have lgbt, immigrants, people of color, youth, and a high proportion of seniors as well. we heard that people want to see more jobs, want to see access to more jobs for our residents. we want to see more preventative compared to just reactive, so we want to see after-school programs versus the police picking up our youth because they are out on the streets. we want to see more preventative health versus going to the emergency room. those were all things that were said tonight, and we have to come together and support revenue in the city. that is where you can come together to help us put that together. thank you again. also want to recognize security here from tenderloin station. he hosts regular community meetings, so please, though. he has really been a community

partner for us. are there any other announcements? >> please return your translation headsets. [laughter] them all right. thank you again so much. i hold office hours were you did not have to make an appointment with me every first friday and first saturday of the month, said czech our website. and get on our e-mail list. thank you.

>> welcome to culture wire. the city rolls of the red carpet to host the international film festival. the actors, directors, and others in among luminaries around the globe. we will get a sneak peek of this year's exciting program.

>> welcome to "culture wire." in april, the 50 forces and francisco international film festival will be taking place. joining me to talk about the programming is the director of programming for the san francisco film festival. rachel, welcome to "culture wire." i look forward to this every year. my first question is, what will be the opening night film? >> we have a terrific film for opening night. itis called a beginners and as an american independent film that stars ewan mcgregor and christopher plumber. >> what kind of music is that?

>> house music. >> it is a hard to describe story with a lot of humor and heart. >> what are the other highlights? >> there are so many great films. it is hard to pick out the favorites. we have over 200 films and the festival. we have some other wonderful american independent films like the centerpiece premier that stars john c. reilly. including the closing nine film that really shows the crossroads of internationalism that the festival. >> it is not just about the two weeks of the festival. you guys also run really fascinating programs for the bay

area. >> really don't stopped screening films. we have a series of festivals in the fall for the fall season. and we often do week-long runs at theaters around the bay area so that people who want to see the kind of films that we show at the festival can see them all year long. and we have a wonderful filmmaker services department. we can provide fiscal sponsorship and a lot of great advice. finally, we have a really robust education department. people that want to learn about filmmaking can take some of our fantastic glasses. >> one of the things that impresses me about the film festival is sort of the impact that it has. i know you guys are the longest

running film festival in the americas. >> it was always a great festival for the city of san francisco, so our constituents are the people of san francisco. we want to do what we can to reach out to as many kinds of populations as we can. one way we do that is by bringing in guests. that is one of the things that makes a festival exciting. not only do get to see films that you might not otherwise see, but you can meet a director or an actor and hear about their prospective making the film. the one thing that i always like to tell people who have never been to a film festival before is that it can sometimes seem daunting from the outside because he will pick up the program guide and it has 100 name movies and seems a bit hard to navigate in the beginning.

but it is really worth it as you know from coming. the atmosphere in december, the interaction with other guests, the films themselves make it a great couple of weeks. >> it is important to participate and take advantage of this treasure trove of films from how many countries? >> is usually between 40 and 50 countries. >> it is an impressive range of filmmakers and the national perspectives that gets represented in the film festival. thank you for bringing this festival to san francisco every year.

>> welcome to "culture wire." i'm here with james lee, and exhibiting artist, and we will have a chat today about the body of work you are presenting. after you left the military, what prompted you to go back to a place where the u.s. is engaged in military action? >> it is interesting. the population of afghanistan is around 29 million, and

there's probably no more than 80,000 u.s. soldiers serving in afghanistan right now, but if you look at the stories that come out, you think the numbers are completely reversed. all the stories are about americans, and you see almost no images of stories about the afghan people themselves, so if you look at the dominant representational paradigm uc today, it is all about foreign soldiers. my idea was to try incurred counted to that a popularized narrative and focus on images and stories that really reflect that lived experience of conflict through the eyes of the afghan people. >> you are exhibiting with three other photographers. it is true all three of them have really focused in the areas where a lot of u.s. and allied forces are seeing action, are actually involved in combat, so your story is different than

theirs. what does it mean to show your body of work along side of the stories that probably are more familiar? what kind of juxtaposition does that create for you as an artist? >> i think the strength of bringing the two different stories together is i think there is a real danger in focusing only on surface similarities between conflicts. when people look at a body of work and say that they see in this conflict photography, and it reminds them of somalia or iraq, i think that is dangerous because i think there are very unique elements to each conflict, and if you do not focus on the distinctions, you start to create a broader, watered-down topic, which is armed conflict, so i think it is important that when we focus on conflict, we make sure we do not just generalize, but we allow specific places and voices and people to be heard and we do not make these generalized assumptions about what conflict is like. >> the other photographers in the show, what is local, and the

others are from new york and new delhi. what do you like about some of their work? >> in a big fan of the fact that he approaches photography from a non-traditional point of view. he also cunner has a mixed view of cameras themselves. he calls them toys. >> he uses these cameras that one might assume our toys, but he also says all the toy cameras are cameras, so it does not really matter to him what he is using to take the images as long as he is getting the images he wants. and because they are taken with these film cameras, they have a very different feel than the other pictures in the show. one of the things i want to talk about is that lindsey's body of work is running down one side of the hall, and it is all about women in afghanistan and how they serve and their special

interactions with civilian women and communities, which is the special role that women soldiers play in afghanistan. across from eric copeland's work, which is extremely masculine and black and white and very aggressive -- what do you think about that juxtaposition between their two bodies of work? >> i like lindsey's contribution to the exhibit. she shoots in color, like i do, so it is great to see more color. she has a gift for capturing distinct moments that balance the conflict that these women are facing did today, but also very intimate, very feminine moments. she has one where a female soldier is shaving her legs at the beginning of her day, and it is kind of an odd thing to consider, but, obviously, it happens every day, but most people do not think about the challenges that face women in these types of environments where they continue to be feminine, continue to be women,

but they also serve a vital role in afghanistan. she allows viewers to come in and see those kinds of intimate moments you might not normally think about. >> to our viewers, and actually the curator of the show. one of the things i was interested in with your work and with the other bodies of work i selected was that you are presenting a real human perspective. each of you zeroes in on individuals, and the kind of sensitive, intimate, or private moments. >> if you look at most people's lives today and the way they spend their lives, it is probably not that different from what goes on on some of these larger for an operating basis. they have cafeterias. they have internet cafes. they have laundromats. they have their own spaces where they read, play video games. it is really like a small, microcosm of what they might find back in the united states. >> what do you hope that viewers take away from seeing your body of work or the exhibition as a

whole? >> i think it is important for people to question how much we do or do not know about afghanistan, but conflict in general. too often today, i think we see one or two images and we think we understand what is going on in a part of the world, and we should try to get away from that. we should question what we know about a conflict, where we got the information, and always look for new perspectives and new focus is on topics that we think we already understand. >> james, thank you for spending time with us, and congratulations on the exhibition and letting san francisco see this big body of work of yours. >> thanks.