like to have more. we have never read meetings and we often get complaints at our monthly meetings at city hall especially about the airport. the idea of having an ombudsman at the airport makes a great deal of sense, if we could help in that some way, it would be marvelous. people are harassed and kept longer and kept overnight sometimes while they're being questioned. i know the sfpd cannot be the police there. we have an ombudsman, a lot of problems could be solved on the spot. i'm glad to see you are working on solutions and that there are recommendations, and you are willing to help. >> good evening. thank you for putting this on.

i am the director of the fund that supports a 17 a-area memsa communities. there were earlier comments about the trust we should put in the u.s. attorney general. as a community member and someone who works with community members, i can tell you the actions the fbi have taken have eroded the trust. the men and women are supposed to protect us. instead, the community, community-base organizations as well as individuals, feel pro failed and -- profiled and surveillance. this will spread even more in terms of relations and perceptions of the sfpd. i encourage you to strongly consider the resolution options and burn our community's trust back. you can protect our civil rights and keep us safe.

if you ignore the resolution option, you will be sending the community a message that you don't take seriously our lives and concerns. i would also like to respond to comments about many members of the community's coming from countries that have different standards and laws. actually, some of these community members have shared that they have come to the u.s. in the hopes of seeking a different circumstance and in the hopes of seeking more protection, and an ability to speak up for themselves and their rights. however, are people say they're surprised, especially in san francisco that they continue to feel they are not able to speak openly and that they're being profiled and surveiled. thank you so much. [applause] >> good evening.

police chief, i want to congratulate you and welcome you to our community. commissioners, this topic looks kind of very deep. in looking at the law, i want to thank a good gentleman, jean, and i think you should consult with him. he's knowledgeable and it seems like there is a fight here, and administrative fight, outside the law itself, concerning our

communities. how the commission will deal with it, it seems very complicated, something that we, the subjects, we probably, we don't understand all of this, but i am sure the police chief, and you guys, you will get into some understanding. i am nobody, you know? i am just here, very interested. not doing well. but this issue of profiling and deeper to people has been

the same as immigration, federal immigration asks the police department to look to the immigrants. one police chief told me, i don't care where you come from. you do your job. also, you have to remember that in our community, it is a self- censorship. before anybody wants to do bad things for our safety, there are -- >> all right, sir. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> good evening. i am the executive director of the san francisco bay area office of the council on

american islamic relations. we're the largest american civil rights advocacy group. before i speak about our perspective, a pope of clarification. there have been questions about the fbi's present. it is my understanding, just so everyone knows, the fbi was invited to participate in today's hearing, and they declined. that goes to the question of trust and openness. if they are not willing to have these conversations in the open, the way they are in portland, the question comes to people's minds is, what are they hiding? why can't we have these discussions with them? that is that issue. in my line of work, i represent dozens of clients who have been visited by the fbi. what i usually share some examples of what we see. they highlight the reason for openness, accountability and

trust. there's a reason we need these things. some of the things we have seen with the fbi in the last year and a half is people being questioned on their views about osama bin laden. their question about the uprisings in the middle east, whether or not they know rebels in libya, tunisia, and egypt. african community members are questioned about the uprising in egypt and other parts of the middle east. we also find agents not willing to share their names, last names, affiliations, business cards, so all we get is mitch, george, and john saying they want to protect us. it does not work. i am urging this body to take up the recommendations that have been put forth to move us toward a resolution model so there is concrete, clear, and transparent accountability for the way law enforcement interact with this community. we need trust. we must move forward together.

thank you. [applause] >> good evening. i am with the advocate for human rights. we work with iranian immigrants, iranian asylees. i don't want to repeat anything anyone said. in our line of work, we have also seen our community organizations being harassed by the fbi. i want to underscore the importance of community organizations, security in knowing they are not being surveiled when they are providing services to the community. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you very much. any further public comment? >> good evening. i am going to be helping with translation.

>> i am a tunisian american. she will try to translate my story. >> i have lived in san francisco for 10 years. i work as a cabdriver. the fbi has come to my home and my work multiple times. i have been interrogated. in san francisco, the fbi has asked me about my religion, where i pray, my family's name, the names of my roommates, and how many times i pray, and very personal questions. in 2009, i was delivering to someone without pulled over by various sfpd cars and a van, including a red crown victoria. it stayed behind and there was a man that was walking. the officers told me to step out of my car. they handcuffed me and put me on the sidewalk while they searched my car. they went back and reported to

the man in the crown victoria, who then left while the officers spoke to themselves and seemed to be discussing what to give me a ticket on. i found out that i received a ticket for an unsafe right turn, which i did not do. i am saddened that this type of harassment happens to me. i'm not here today to speak about myself. i am here to speak about my family that i wish to reunite with. i have a daughter and a wife i want to bring here in the next few months. i don't want this to happen to my daughter when i bring her here and i don't want this to happen to my wife. help stop the abuses. [applause] president mazzucco: is there further public comment? public comment is now closed. item three? item three is adjournment. >> i want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their hard work.

i want to thank the audience. very compelling to hear your story. we as a commission, we are all individual commissioners with equal power and authority. i think it is fair to say that we the commission will not tolerate any form of discrimination, any form of profiling come in this city. that is not acceptable. i know that chief suhr will not tolerate or allow that. we will make great strides to clear up some of the perceptions this evening. i want to thank john crew from the aclu for presenting these issues and bring in the audience forward. the folks we heard from, especially those individuals who have been affected, it is important that we send a message that we are not born to tolerate this, and that we will protect civil rights. again, this is an unprecedented hearing. i want to thank the human rights

commission. we're sending a strong message to night. no one should feel threatened by anybody. commissioner dejesus: i want to thank everyone for their participation. i want to say that i think we should have some next steps. on the commission level, we should follow up on the resolution aspect of this and continue to meet and discuss that and see whether it is feasible and how to proceed. i want to thank everyone for bringing this to our attention. i look forward to continuing to work with you to move forward. thank you. >> on behalf of the human rights commission, i would also like to say thank you and thank president mazzucco and his commission for sharing their meeting with us. i am sure i speak on behalf of everyone involved in sang thank you to theresa spar santazoey polk, -- theresa sparks and zoey

polk, who have worked on this issue. i'm proud of the work the commission does in san francisco. i'm proud we will continue to be on the cutting edge of issues like this to make sure that matters are dealt with and human rights are protected, and there is full view of these issues in public in san francisco. want to thank everyone. i want to thank everyone for coming tonight and we look forward to seeing you at our future meetings. >> do we have a motion? >> i want to say thank you. i will make a motion. i also want to thank members of the human rights commission for your detailed and thoughtful questions. i could tell there was a lot of work that went into it on your end, and i appreciate that. i also want to recognize the

work of our president, president mazzucco, because i know that he has met with members of the committee. with that, i move to adjourn. >> second. president mazzucco: all in favor? this meeting is adjourned.

>> i'm your host of "culturewire," and today, here at electric works in san francisco. nice to see you today. thanks for inviting us in and showing us your amazing facility today. >> my pleasure. >> how long has electric works been around? >> electric works has been in san francisco since the beginning of 2007.

we moved here from brisbane from our old innovation. we do printmaking, gallery shows, and we have a fabulous retail store where there are lots of fun things to find. >> we will look at all of that as we walk around. it is incredible to me how many different things you do. how is it you identify that san francisco was in need of all these different services? >> it came from stepping out of graduate school in 1972. i wrote a little thing about how this is an idea, how our world should work. it should have printmaking, archiving, a gallery. it should have a retail store. in 1972, i wanted to have art sales, point-of-sale at the grocery store. >> so you go through the manifesto. with the bay area should have. you are making art incredibly

accessible in so many different ways, so that is a good segue. let's take a walk around the facilities. here we are in your gallery space. can you tell me about the current show? >> the current show is jeff chadsey. he is working on mylar velum, a smooth, beautiful drawing surface. i do not know anyone that draws as well as he does. it is perfect, following the contours and making the shape of the body. >> your gallery represents artists from all over, not just the bay area, an artist that work in a lot of different media. how to use some of what you look for in artists you represent? >> it is dependent on people are confident with their materials. that is a really important thing. there is enough stuff in the world already. >> you also have in his current

show an artist who makes sculpture out of some really interesting types of materials. let's go over and take a look at that. here we are in a smaller space. project gallery. >> artists used the parameters of this space to find relationships between the work that is not out in the big gallery. >> i noticed a lot of artists doing really site-specific work. >> this is a pile of balloons, something that is so familiar, like a child's balloon. in this proportion, suddenly, it becomes something out of a dream. >> or a nightmare. >> may be a nightmare. >> this one over here is even harder to figure out what the initial material is. >> this is made out of puffy paint. often, kids use it to decorate their clothes. she has made all these lines of paint. >> for the pieces we are looking

at, is there a core of foam or something in the middle of these pieces that she built on top of? >> i'm not telling. >> ah, a secret. >> this silver is aluminum foil, crumbled of aluminum foil. her aesthetic is very much that quiet, japanese spatial thing that i really admire. their attention to the materiality of the things of the world. >> this is a nice juxtaposition you have going on right now. you have a more established artists alongside and emerging artists. is that something important to you as well? >> very important in this space, to have artists who really have not shown much. now let's look at other aspects of electric works operation. let's go to the bookstore. >> ok.

>> in all seriousness, here we are in your store. this is the first space you encounter when you come in off the street. it has evolved since you open here into the most amazingly curious selection of things. >> this was the project for the berkeley art museum. it was -- this is from william wiley's retrospective, when he got up onstage to sing a song, 270 people put on the cat. >> it is not just a bookstore. it is a store. can you talk us through some of your favorites? >> these are made in china, but they are made out of cattails. >> these pieces of here, you have a whale head and various animals and their health over there, and they are jewelry. >> we do fund raisers for nonprofits, so we are doing a project for the magic theater,

so there are some pretty funny cartoons. they are probably not for prime time. >> you sort of have a kind of holistic relationship where you might do merchandise in the store that promotes their work and practice, and also, prince for them. maybe we should go back and look at the print operation now. >> let's go. >> before we go into the print shop, i noticed some incredible items you have talked back here. what are we standing in front of? >> this is william wiley, only one earth. this is a print edition. there are only eight total, and what we wanted to do was expand the idea of printmaking. this is really an art object.

there we go. >> besides the punball machine, what do you produce in limited edition? >> there is the slot machine. if you win the super jackpot, you have saved the world. >> what about work? >> the right design, it was three volumes with lithographs in each volume. the cab of count dracula with 20 lithographs inside and lined with beaver fur. really special. >> let's move on to the print shop. >> ok. the core of what we do is making things. this is an example. this is a print project that will be a fund-raiser for the contemporary music players. we decided to put it in the portfolio so you could either frame at or have it on your

bookshelf. >> so nonprofits can come to you, not just visual are nonprofits, but just nonprofits can come to you, and you will produce prints for them to sell, and the profits, they can keep. >> the return on investment is usually four times to 10 times the amount of investment. this is for the bio reserve in mexico, and this is one of the artists we represent. >> you also make prints for the artists that you represent. over here are some large prints by a phenomenal artist. >> he writes these beautiful things. anyone who has told you paradise is a book of rules is -- has only appeared through the windows. this is from all over coffee. we are contract printers for all kinds of organizations all across the country. >> thank you very much for showing us around today.

i really appreciate you taking the time to let me get better acquainted with the operation and also to share with our "culturewire" team.