>> good afternoon. i am a resident of potrero hill and the chairperson of the nert advisory board. since for neighborhood emergency response team training, and i want you to keep those words in mind as you consider the budget. each one of those words has a very particular value to the program and to what we can and will do. as you have heard so eloquently from our other speakers, and i'm sure you are seeing a lot of letters -- at least i hope you are -- that we will speak more eloquently, better, and more personally about what we can do. rather than repeat a lot of that, i want to say one thing about the focus for the budget analyst statement seems to be the issue of overtime for our instructors. if you do a cost analysis of it, for the 26 hours of training and

drill instruction that we received, that 260,000 multiplied by 1500 nert's at less than $7 an hour -- this is not a value you can get in any kind of education at all, and it is an education that as we have heard already teaches people to take care of themselves and their neighbors and our city. we know you are facing difficult decisions. we cannot ask you to do more than this -- please consider carefully the benefits, the cost, the need for nert. thank you. >> these pictures represent faces of our nert instructors which we would like you to have. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you very much.

next speaker please, and thank you to nert. >> i work at seventh as good general, and i am here to speak against the prop j contracting out of our community. i listened to some of the nurses who came before, a full disclosure, 3 our brand-new who have hardly been at san francisco general at all, so i think you need to take that into account when you listen to their testimony. the other thing is we need to keep the same kind of security. our patients deserve to be safe. even if there were five or six nurses up set in the emergency room, they do not have the right to take away security from the rest of us who are safe and do want to keep the ip's at the hospital. i know there is an issue with the sheriffs, but it is not about them. outside security guards who will not be experienced with our patients -- it will take years for them to build up to the same

level of the people we already have, and in the meantime, we all suffer and the patients suffer. it cannot always just be about money. it is about the safety of the people that come to san francisco general, and they deserve to have a safe environment. the other thing i wanted to speak about is when i was listening about the l.i.f.e. program, i would like to support that, too. i hope you do not cut that. 25 years ago, we had a young resident who came and got diagnosed with hiv positive. he was from a strict muslim background. his family turned on him. he did not know what to do, so he checked himself into a hotel room downtown and blew his brains out. i wish he would have had a program like that to go to and somebody to help him in his time of need, so i really hope you do not cut that, either. but please do not contract out our security in san francisco general. [applause] supervisor chu: thank you.

next speaker. >> i live in scott wiener's district, and i have worked with ross mirkarimi before. i did work at san francisco general, and you're so glad for the services that the institutional police provided. i would like to question the $4 million figure that the doctors said would be saved by privatization. countless studies have shown that those figures are not always correct, so i would like to really look at at cost savings. and as a member of the mission community and someone work there, there's institutional police are needed every day. they are needed every second of. with respect to the previous speakers, san francisco general sometimes is not a very idyllic place to work. it is, as you know, very large, institutional.

it is a hospital, and unfortunately, some of the visitors that come are not always very peaceful. so we need the institutional police. i would like, as a member of the community who lives very close to general hospital, and as a worker, i would ask you to reevaluate the privatization figure. i do not think it is correct. also, just for the safety of the visitors that come and the people who work there -- i was a clerk there. all the clerks, all the doctors, we need the institutional police. thank you for hearing me. i look forward to you keeping the institutional police. supervisor chu: thank you. if i could ask folks to hold the applause so we can get through

public comments. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am institutional police officer from general hospital. then the the last 11 years. i am speaking against contracting out security. unfortunately, we before me, i was watching in the room and there were doctors and nurses in your good did not know what they were talking about. in regards to contracting out, there is no highly trained confecting security force that is going to put their hands on a 5250 or 5150. contract security guards observe and report. they do not put their hands on people. the institutional police has a long history, and if you would research that, i believe some 30 years ago, the then chief of police told the department of public health that they need their own police force because they were getting too many calls that mission station could not handle. what does that tell you? san francisco general hospital is a city within a city. we get everything they're --

criminals, parolees. there is a methadone clinic, a big sigh board. several people come in day in, day out. i have been there 11 years. i have worked in the er. if you go to highland hospital, they have contract security, but there is an alameda county stations staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. there is no, one hospital in the state of california that does not have hospital police officers or sheriff's deputies. you can check at stanford. you can check uc davis. you can check highland hospital. we are now here. you can also check with los angeles county hospital. they have their own police. i urge you to take into consideration that you do not contract out. dph needs to either keep the sheriff's department or back to what we had before, institutional police, which i want to add that institutional

police officers provide the cheapest law enforcement services in san francisco. we are cheaper than sfpd. we are cheaper than the sheriff's deputies. i'm not sure, but i'm sure we make less than -- [bell rings] thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i have been a psychiatric technician at the hospital now for almost 10 years. when i heard about this, i really gave it some thought. just looking back over 10 years, i cannot tell you how many times i have been in the cross with some very violent people. every time without fail, the ip has been there. what they are talking about doing, getting a new contract with the securities company -- i

have seen that before in other hospitals. the level of training that i have seen, the turnover rate -- yes, the lack of people skills -- all these things that make such a difference when you get to working with psychiatric patients -- is incredible. i am here to support the ip. i think the world of them, and i think we are getting a bargain, because i think we might come up with more expenses if we get the other kind of police. thank you. >> i was here last week to speak about the same issue. i am on the lift team at general. i have been there for five years on the it team, six years at general. i have worked with the ip. there was a time when they could do restraints. that is a problem within the

shares apartment, and dph should be working with the shares a partner to restore and make them more effective because they are effective. they are a deterrent. they are a city agency in a city hospital and part of the fabric of what makes general the fabulous health care center, the world-respected health care center it is. i went through de-skilling three years ago as a budgetary compromise situation where they fired as all, rehired as for 20% less to still do all the same work although there are less of a superior source seeing more and more nurses because of less staffing and more outsourcing and even cna staffing -- used to seeing more nurses calling in sick with back problems and things like that, so the money we save will ultimately be paid back out in back repair costs and medical bills for them. think of when something goes weird with the private security. some bad incident happens in the city, and the city is sued and

is up $18 million in settlement on a case that private security was not able to deal with to theip could have dealt with more efficiently, and as a city agency, we would be more protected. we will lose more money by going to private security in the consequences of not having professionally trained -- much less turnover. i think you get what i ami saying ip makes sense. it is our city. they are part of our fabric. let's keep them at general. i like working with them. they do great work. thank you. supervisor chiu: -- supervisor chu: thank you. >> your site from san francisco general hospital and vinyl services. i feel experience is assurance and inexperience is a liability.

thank you. >> i am here to support the security at general hospital. i have a story -- are not working now, but i did work for social services. i was in the playroom with children, and as the parents came in to sign up for services, we would watch the children. as they came in, they had to sign their children in. whoever brought the child in had to sign them in. when they left, that same person had to come in and sign the child out. at the time, we had a couple of fathers come in who wanted to take the children, and we could not let them go because we did not know if that was their father or husband or whatever. and we had a lot of problems with that.

so we had a private security there. i page them. they never came. i page and page. people were going off. finally they came. they could not touch the person. they cannot touch them. to get them out. they had to call the police to come and get them out of the playroom. private security is not the way to go at all. the other -- it just would not work. it will not work. they actually only carry a guard card. they do not have any training. very little training. you can check that out. i know that for a fact. and most of them are older people. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker please. >> thank you. good afternoon. this is really awesome. thank you for this opportunity.

i have been living with hiv/aids for unfortunately 27 years or so. you're sorry -- i am 6 of aids -- i am sick of aids literally and figuratively. here i sit, and aids is still here. i get a phone call from shanti l.i.f.e. program saying there's a possibility of losing their funding. i just wanted to say a few words, and i just want to say that i participated in the program some seven years ago, and it is an amazing opportunity to sit in a room and hear stories from all sorts of different people. we all have our stories. all of us in this room have stories. i just want to stand here and

say to you that aids is still here. i am still here. there is an opportunity to say the program, the shanti l.i.f.e. program for people like myself and potentially many more people. please consider keeping us, keeping shanti going and servicing that project for san francisco. i thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to be here and share that with you. thank you. [applause] supervisor chu: thank you. >> hello, supervisors, and thank you. i am the executive director of the lavender youth recreation and informational center and facilitator for the community partnership for lgbtqt youth.

43% of middle school-age and 39% of middle school age transgendered you skip school due to a lack of safety, compared to 11% of their heterosexual counterparts. for high school, 18% of lgbtq youth and 15% of transgenic skit school due to lack of safety compared to 15% of their heterosexual counterparts peer over 1000 youth in san francisco so identified as lgbtq you. the services are on that -- and prepared to provide what they need to drive and in many cases, the institution itself is the barrier to safety and success. every day, i experience the resilience, creativity, and power of queer youth. we celebrated our graduates last

year, one going to study in london, when hired at gh. has been acknowledged by the mayor and key members of the board of supervisors that lgbtq youth along with undocumented must be made priority populations, given that no or little funding is available. the work that the community, the mayor, and staff on the board had done together in this work that the community, the mayor, and -- sorry -- should be applauded, but our work is not done. we are part of the community partnership for youth formed in 2005. we're working hard through this budget process, but some eliminations are still pending. we ask that the board of supervisors work to see if there is any available funding once the analyst's report is look at, to close this gap, and certainly to take a hard look at the -- [bell rings] to ensure that we can look at

this population. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon. i am executive director at larkin street youth services. we thank the board and mayor and everyone that has worked really hard on this process to date. and for the adjustments that have been made. we are requesting, however, the there are still -- we have three priority areas, housing, employment services, and restoration of violence prevention programs. there was a 10% cut to violence prevention programs. asked that there are funds available, that housing be restored, the work force development programs be restored. 18 to 24-year-old have the highest unemployment rate currently, more than they have ever had since we have been

tracking unemployment data, and the violence prevention programs that target 16 to 24-year-old, be fully funded. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> i am executive director at bayview-hunters point foundation and chair person. that is an african-american foundation. i also would like to say how much i have appreciated the budget process this year. it has been very different and very hopeful for those of us working in the community. i offer my comments, particularly on the san francisco department of health substance abuse service cuts in the mayor's budget that has been presented. as well as the violence prevention initiative cuts. i oppose these proposed cuts as inconsistent with priorities established at the mayor's meetings, particularly preserving programs that meet basic human need and the priority for the underserved, particularly in relationship to methadone treatment, as a key to

employment, housing, productive lives, and stable families. treatment works. it is very important, and it is essential for the 3.9% of african-americans living in this city that make up 40% to 60% of the patients in mental health substance abuse, and participants in foster care and the justice system. as you consider restoration, i ask that you please consider as a priority outpatient services for mental health, substance abuse, particularly methadone, and the violence prevention initiative, as it comes forward in the dcyf budget. thank you very much. supervisor chu: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors, members of the community. my name is jason robertson. i am a license clinical social worker. standard disclaimer -- what you saw about to say in no way affects the policies or opinions

of the the part of a public health -- what i am about to say. i am here to speak on two matters today. one is the proposed cut to the homeless outreach team, and the other is the proposed cut to the hospitality house. i am a past president of the board of the hospitality house and current board member. you're sort of more than 20 years working in the tenderloin with poor and homeless people, primarily people who are mentally ill. the services before you are emergency services. what is interesting to me coming here today about the testimony i have heard is that emergency services are over represented. we have the neighborhood emergency response teams in their extremely stylish hard hats. we have the institutional police. the homeless outreach team and hospitality team are both equally emergence services. specifically, we work with people on the street who have no other option. typically, we look for people

who have no other option, people locked out of the shelter system either because of high level metal health, substance abuse, or physical injury, or people who for whatever reason cannot it anywhere else. both of these agencies do the work of rescue, and if you cut the funds, no one will be able to pick up the slack. we do not have other support in the system. there is no other group during direct general street outreach in the community to help people get into shelter, and to care, into housing, and into case management beside the home -- homeless outreach team. same for hospitality house. it is the wide end of the bottle to get people into care. if we sustain the kind of cut that is contemplated, it means a reduction in force, and we will not be able to provide the services to the homeless folks who need them, and it will not be able to get that level of care anywhere else. thank you for your attention today. i appreciate your attention to this matter. supervisor chu: thank you for

your time. >> hello, supervisors. i am with wild equity institute. i want to thank you for your work with our community-based organizations. i am here today to ask you to restore the funding to our needed community services, which is the backbone for many of us. some of these services have already closed, and some are on the verge of closing due to the cumulative impact of annual cuts. these organizations can no longer sustain these cuts. seeking other areas of revenue is important and highly needed. there are many areas where the city is wasting money, and the money could be used as revenue for our community services in need. examples are using toxic astroturf in our parks or wasting millions in the underutilized golf course in pacifica. it is insane to invest millions in the sharp park golf course. the city study showed we are oversupplied with golf, and that it is not in our interest.

the studies also show that maintaining that a golf course is not economically viable. the city is also liable for millions of dollars for the killing of dangerous species to maintain this golf course. it is cheaper and makes sense for the city to partner with the ggnra, who will create a better public park that is accessible to everyone because right now, it is not. the money saved can be better spent on our san francisco community services and park service is to have suffered from a new cuts. even lincoln park. gilman's playground, chinese recreation center, mission neighborhood centers, and many more all could use the millions that the city plans to waste on this failing golf course. stop this injustice and bring the money back to our services

in need. closing the golf course is better for the environment. it is sustainable and irresponsible budget. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker. >> hello, supervisors. thank you for the work you have done for our city. i would also like to address sharp park golf course. it loses money annually and is expected to take $15 million to $17 million to maintain. this seems to be a bit of a wasteful spending. we have countless community organizations and people in need who services have already been cut to the bone. we need to bring this money back. we are running a business in pacifica that is failing, facing environmental challenges, and it does not bring that many people. we should bring that money back and partner with the ggnra to restore the park to its

ecological state. thank you very much for your time. supervisor chu: thank you. >> hello, supervisors. i am the program director at central city hospitality house. today, it is just such a discouraging crossings to be here for all of us, and i want to thank you for your efforts to prevent the add back process. that was terrific. we came a lot further this year, but nonetheless, here we are. but i always try to bring a positive message, so i am excited to introduce myself to you because i have lived and worked in district 6 for the last 14 years, but i just moved into your district, so now, i am your constituents. part of my vision for the city is a city where we take care of the most believable people. as we have heard today from so many people, we serve a lot of those folks at hospitality house and a lot of those services we talked about, and we are asking your support, to please restore the funding and keep up the good

work you are doing. revenue -- we need that. supportive housing, ways for people to transition into stability. i would like to ask you to join us in carrying out that vision for our city, and thanks for the vision you have, and let's make that happen. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> good afternoon. i am also with hospitality house. i work in the community arts program. throughout our facilities, if you come in on any given day, you will see every seat taken, people standing, waiting for an opportunity to sit and take a rest. as i said to you last week, though, it is a place -- each of our facilities -- there is more than access to bathrooms or a network of resources in san francisco, although that is important. that is not the only thing that brings people in to hospitality house. our facilities are also a place for support within one another's

communities. exploration of creativity and personal development. we have to continue to give people a place to develop skills if we want to affect our larger community in a positive way. limiting this access negatively affects not just the individuals, not just in the tenderloin, but our entire city of san francisco, so you're sort asking you to please keep our funding at hospitality house. please restore our funding so that we can do our jobs and positively affect our communities and one another. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> thank you for the gesture of giving up your lunch to hear the rest of us who have been waiting for hours and hours for two minutes. i am also here representing central city hospitality house. i just want to speak to a couple of things. a number of stakeholders came

together this year for a different conversation around budget policy. decisions and priorities, what needed to be cut, what needed to be saved, and what were going to be our guidelines for how we go about considering this. i would like to remind everyone in this room that one of the agreements made was that we would prioritize the most of all rural residents in the city in their care. cuts to central city hospitality house, cuts to chp and support of housing, cuts to outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment are not prioritizing our most vulnerable residents. what i also want to ask you and what i want to spend the next minute doing is just having a moment of silence for all of the vulnerable residents who were not able to wait in line with me for three hours today. we had a number of people waiting outside today who were not able to stand for the hours