community services. although there are agencies that are currently providing services to the filipino seniors, there exists a need in the filipino veterans community and their families. vec would like to continue offering its service to seniors and would like to request that you allow us to continue our work. help us to provide this about a bus service to our community. >> madam chair, members of the

budget committee, there are two principal questions i would like to put before you. eventually request an answer. the first is please tell us what the gdp statistics are for the financial year of 2011 -- 2010- 2011. and what's is the estimates -- what is the estimates so that we can examine the whole thing

carefully and come up with some sort of solution that we give you all the breaks through. because you have a lot of people today who are going to be suffering -- and i underline that word "suffering" -- as this is no more about race. it is about people. and this is america. one of the richest countries in the world. and what i have seen from time to time -- it has no right to be seen whatsoever.

so if you could tell us today what the gdp is like and what the estimates are, we would truly appreciate the answer to the question because -- [bell rings] supervisor chu: thank you. just so folks know, it is about 12:00 right now. i know many people have waited a very long time for public comment. we were originally going to take a break at this time but because we want to be respectful of your time, i think there is agreement among the committee just to keep going so we can hear you and be respectful of your time. so what we will do is probably one of us will rotate in and out of the room in order to grab our lunch and come back, but we will continue to hear public comment through the break we had originally intended to schedule, so continue 1. >> hello, supervisors.

i am infected with both hiv and hepatitis c. i was diagnosed with hiv in 1996 and in the late 1980's, my doctor told me i had non-a, non- b hepatitis. i watched many friends die of hiv and wondered whether i would, too. luckily, the medications can along in the mid-1990s that would save my life. i have used all types of support the san francisco offered for aids in the 1980's and 1990's. in 1999, my doctor sought changes and suggested i do a biopsy. for the second time in my life -- two weeks later, i had the terrible news that i had cirrhosis, stage four liver disease. for the second time in my life, i had to prepare myself for a gigantic health struggle and possibly death. in the last 10 years, i have been on an extremely difficult

treatment, which has many side effects including depression, fatigue, weight loss, insomnia, and it goes up additional symptoms. i had to do blood work almost every week. eventually, i had to inject myself with other medications which had a whole new group of side effects. i tell you this because i could not have gotten this -- gotten through this difficult time with the support. we have the shared experience of having gone through the death of friends and seen our own death many times in our lives. i strongly encourage you to find

the funding for the live program and groups that support the needs of sand from cisco -- san francisco -- [bell rings] thank you. >> i am also co-infected. best of my knowledge, i contracted hiv by sharing needles with somebody back in 1976. immediately afterwards, i got hepatitis b and a very bad case of siriasis, which look like german measles all over my body, which has caused me problems throughout my life. while i was still in college, i

developed a very high fever in december, after the hepatitis b. it went up to 105, and i was put in the school infirmary for the night, and the next day, i was fine. i remember on june 6, 1981, when i first read about the cluster of gay men who were getting strange cancer and pneumonia, that death for me was imminent. life in the 1980's in san francisco -- we were the maelstrom of the epidemic. it was horrible, more than you would believe.

but the life program kept me from isolating, which i had for so many years, and my main emphasis now is on living rather than focusing on dying. thank you for listening to me. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker please. >> i am a constituent of jane came -- jane kim. i have had aids for 25 years, and i have also had hepatitis c. i am here to speak in support continued funding supportshanti -- funding for shanti. it is an intense 16-week program for hiv-positive persons that teaches the factors that relate to good health, mind, body, and

spirit. having completed the course and getting in valuable information on living a long, healthy life, i returned twice as a volunteer /pierre facilitator for the session. i have personally witnessed major growth in individuals who before have had little knowledge about improving and maintaining their help. to have this course not available for hiv patients that need it would be a great loss and potential cost to the city in increased medical costs. there are precious few resources for persons co- infected with hiv and hepatitis c. the best and one of the only resources is the lack program goes a support group. i have been a member of this group for years, and i have received and given support to other persons.

that has helped me through the grueling treatment for hepatitis c and many other health issues complicated by having hiv. groups of this sort are sorely needed. the live program and its co- infection support group are indispensable in my life and the lives of other participants. please do not defund this program. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker please. >> good afternoon. i am and nursing graduate, and i will continue to become a nurse practitioner who specializes in a chevy. i am also a patient living with hiv. when i was diagnosed in 2004, i was devastated. i felt lost, along, did not know where to turn. the stigma of the disease is crashing, and it was programs

like the life program that helped teach me the tools and gave me the support to help me find the agency -- the ability of back-to-school and live a life of service. it is much more than a collection of physical symptoms appear especially now that can be managed for people. it has a tremendous psychosocial impact and psychological component, and people desperately need the support and tools to live successfully. i know san francisco has a legacy of being a leader in hiv care, and many of the successes that have come in hiv treatment and care come from san francisco and come from patients who have been able to advocate for themselves, but without this kind of support and tools offered by programs like the life program -- that will not exist, and we still have unfortunately the epidemic live on. so i ask that you not cut funding to the live program

because it actually cuts and affects people's lives. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is matt dorsey. as some of you know, i am the communications director for the city attorney down the hall, but i am not here on an official capacity. i wanted to use some personal time today to make it personal case for the enormous value of shanti's live program. i learned i was hiv-positive in 2003. at that time, on the advice of a friend, to one the live program. to this day, i consider it the single most valuable source of information and support i could have received at that time. the thing that has made the biggest difference in my health and well-being is this

extraordinary program. it taught me how to live a healthy life, and it did more than that. it also taught me how to be a better brother to others who have hiv and aids. it is an extraordinary program. it works. i hope you will do what you can to keep it working. >> i am the executive director at the shanti project. i have had a chance to meet with most of you about the program and what a drastic reduction would mean for san francisco's hiv-positive community. i know we have several clients today, so i will briefly reiterate a couple of major points. first, there is nothing like the life program in sanford's is to oppose a continuum of hiv care. it is the only evidence-based evidence-producing structured behavioral intervention that

teaches and guides hiv-positive individuals in the self management of their disease. and it is the city's largest, one of the oldest and only city- wide prevention with positive program, and it has been serving over 900 nida 900 clients each year. we have an outstanding relationship. there are several groups that would disappear if the community were not to be served, including the hiv aging population. and other extremely vulnerable groups include modeling will spanish speakers, individuals co-infected with hepatitis c, and others fear we have a record of performance monitoring reports, and ironically, just last week, we received our most recent monitoring report, which not only will again was rated at the highest levels for the

program, but we received every one of the 100 points possible again appeared in closing, the loss or drastic reduction of the program means fewer hiv-positive individuals engaged in treatment, an increase in san francisco's community viral load, and ultimately, an increase in preventable new infections, so please, help us prevent this from happening. thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker please. >> thank you for this opportunity to speak. i am a cancer survivor. i had aids. when my family found out, all but my mother disown me simply for the fact that i had aids. my family had known for years that i was gay, but aides was just too much for them. before shanti's l.i.f.e. program, i was desperate, overwhelmed, and suicidal. they taught me that i am never

alone. i am one of many -- far too many. i have a safe environment to handle and cope with this disease. they have given me back my life. they gave me tools with which i have turned my life around. tools that i still use every day in my life. tools that are not found or taught anywhere else. i got informed, i got inspired, and i got active. there is far more one needs than just taking pills every day, and this is the only program that provided what i needed most to live a quality life. shanti is more than a word. it is a face. it is my face. it is the face of all who are fighting serious illness and who need vital help. when you think of shanti and the shanti l.i.f.e. program, think of me and countless others like me who with the program cannot

only survive but thrive while living with aids. i thank you for listening. >> hello. i moved to san francisco in 1979. i live in ross mirkarimi's district. i was diagnosed with full-blown aids in 2005. having lost many friends early, i figured it was my time to go. i looked in the dar one day and saw the shanti l.i.f.e. program. i made that call. my life is completely turnaround since that time. i cannot stress enough love and support that these people gave

to me. because of their inspiration, now volunteer on a regular basis. i've seen many people in power to start taking responsibility for their lives. people are affected and are not. if you get the people on the ground vote are infected and still with the reason to live and care and take care of our tribe, you have more people working in infection rates will go down. thank you very much. the shanti l.i.f.e. program works. [applause] supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon be. i know you are hungry, so i will try to be as quick as possible. i know you got into public service because he wanted to help the large number of people that you could. the shanti l.i.f.e. program is helping you help those people. seven years ago, i had a needle full of math in my arm.

today, i'm raising money for the community and paying taxes back into the system. this program got me back on my feet, made me a contributing member of society, and made your jobs a lot easier, so i am asking you to consider programs like this that help you do more with the limited resources that you have to a lot to the community. so i appreciate your time. i appreciate the decisions you have to make. they are very difficult. there are a lot of amazing organizations out here and some really heartbreaking stories. no matter how heartbreaking my story was, it is a story of victory because today, again, i am contributing back. it is because of the life program, because of the skills that i learned, and as evidenced by that, i am habit that i am doing my own fund-raiser. i will be hiking the john neary -- john muir trail in a couple

of months. i could not have done that without the skills that i learned. consider it the circle of life. people are helping, paying back into the system and helping others -- many of our volunteers helping people. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. >> good afternoon. i represent the self-help for an early citizenship. i myself became a united states citizen in february of this year. i acquired information from the library to prepare myself. i speak fluent english, and even though i had knowledge, i had questions. then i found this great booklet,

and i found the address for the people who represent the citizenship class is. although i did not need any class is, i had a lot of questions. one was i need a creditor to sign the papers. like anything else, if you go to university and you get something to write, you have to study. the next time you go back, you have questions for the professor. the same applies to hear. elderly citizens need this help. particularly people who do not speak the language. if you do not have a creditor, you need an attorney, and people do not have the financial resources. the organization that i went to, i must say was extraordinarily

helpful and gave me a lot of support, and it works. so, please, keep it going. thank you very much. >> supervisors. thank you for hearing us today. i am here with a confession -- i'd died at a nert triage drill this year. i was triaging a victim and brushed against a wire, and our instructor killed me. embarrassing? yes, but i am so thankful that we have our professional fire department nert instructors to teach us these lessons that will save our lives. when you send volunteers out to

help our neighbors after a disaster, our lives are on the line. that damaged building we enter to search for an injured or missing neighbor in a heartbeat can become a death trap. it is. nert instructors that help us learn to be safe and effective. we do not ask for salaries. we do not ask for benefits. but what we do ask for are the best instructors the city can give us. and to me, those instructors are our san francisco fire department professional firefighters who live what they teach every day. if you must cut nert, please do it in a way that will not devastate our program. we need all our instructors to

keep us safe and effective for you and for our family and city. >> good afternoon. i am president of the merced extension triangle neighborhood association and proud member of nert volunteers. your story here to support the full funding for the nert program. the comment penny wise and pound foolish its the proposed cuts perfectly. you have a program that trains volunteers to act as a first line of defense in emergency situations. the more certified nert volunteers, the better the resources for the population, especially for the disabled, for instance, and for the elderly. at a time when the emergency resources continue to be cut and when resources will be stretched to the limit during a disaster, it is imperative that we have a nert force that provides

services needed during any disaster. full funding for the nert program is cost-effective. citizens of san francisco will be watching each of you vote on this important public safety budget item. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. next speaker please. >> i am with merced extension triangle neighborhood association. why are we even considering cutting funding at all, much less buy half, for nert? i took the training offered by the fire department, and one of the first things we learned in the class, which makes perfect sense to me, is that when the big one hits, which is a certainty, emergency personnel will not be able to even come close to responding to all the catastrophic occurrences that will happen. nert is an excellent way to empower the citizens to help themselves, to be a vital link

in containment of the damage, to band together as communities to do something about a harrowing experience that threatens their very existence. nert is a perfect partnership between government and citizens to provide direction to the citizens at a time of peril. guidelines on how to shut off power, help people in need, and so many other topics covered in the glasses will help people not only to deal with earthquakes but other emergency situations such as terrorist attacks, etc. at a time when the mantra seems to be the citizens cannot expect government to do what they can do for themselves, nert is a terrific way for government personnel -- the fire department -- to impart knowledge and tools to the citizens to help in the effort to restore and revitalize the city community by community. do not cut this program. thank you. >> good afternoon, members of

the budget and finance committee. i am here to speak in support of the neighborhood emergency response team members and the firefighters who teach them and assist them with drills. i value the professional firefighters from home i receive my basic and recurring nert training. it is not that i want nert instructors to be paid overtime, but i wanted to be so identified as instructors who have a passion for nert and the ability to teach it, and is that i did not want them either to be pulled from class to fight a fire or respond to a medical emergency or to be pulled from a fire station to teach a nert class. for over 30 years, i worked as a nurse in the operating room at ucsf. the number staff on duty shift of each day had to match the types of surgery is block schedule for each day. an operating room is like a fire station in that there's not always a patient who needs care at a particular moment. that does not mean there will not be won in a few minutes, and it is imperative to have staff

available are trained to care for the patient when he or she actually needs the care. before i retired, i spent my last three years working nights. even without patients needing care, there were operating rooms to stock and preparations to be made for procedures get up for the next day. there were emergency cards to check so that help would be available for patients. also the firefighters to do not have a firefight or patient to treat have things to do during the downtime. they maintain their bodies, their minds, their fire stations, their equipment, and their apparatus. more importantly, they are available to serve the residents and visitors of san francisco with fire suppression and advanced life support. the service should not be jeopardized by their assigned to teach nert while assigned to a station pure i urge you to provide qualified and passionate instructors. thank you for your consideration. supervisor chu: thank you. >> thank you, members of the

budget and finance committee. i am evident district 8 where i live with my wife and our 1- year-old son. so you to speak to you about the neighborhood emergency response team. our model is to be the most good for the most people, and i am certain that as a goal that we share with you. yours is not an easy task, and in the event of a catastrophe, the task of our professional responders in the city will not be easy. they will be overwhelmed. it is known. an earthquake will happen. that is known. what is not known as when it will happen. we need more neighbors, more people, more employees who come to the city every day to be able to take care of themselves, take care of their families, and take care of their neighbors. i urge you to maintain the funding of the nert program and allow us to continue to be prepared when the earthquake hits. hits. thank you.