>> hello. i am going to share a quick story. i am now successfully off parole because of programs like the one we have today. i live in the mission district. i am also a member of the jac community. people within the city that i grow by ian -- we want to show them there is another way. all we need still -- all we need to show them is that there is a chance. there is still hope for everybody. thank you for your time. supervisor chu: thank you.

thank you. >> hello, folks. i am a former institutional police officer of laguna honda. i would like to be able to say i can convince you to leave the institutional police as they are. up -- i have had several good people ahead of me. we provide a service that is unique for the hospitals of laguna honda. we're familiar with their game plan. we understand them. they understand us. we do not always get along. but we are necessary evils, so to speak. we keep the peace. unfortunately, i found out just

a few months back one of the psych techs at general hospital was murdered in the emergency room area. police officers were there to apprehend this individual. it would not have happened if there were not security there. there would still be standing around, wondering what to do. you definitely need to keep the institutional police entity at laguna and at general hospital. we are a necessity. you cannot get the same results from private security. we are police officers. and damn good ones, i would like to say, to. and we also get a standing invitation for any of you supervisors to come visit us,

talk to us, find out what the institutional police does. we have not seen anybody come by to find out. the invitation is still open to you, if you care to come. we are a little-known agency in the city of san francisco with police powers. [bell rings] thank you very much. supervisor chu: thank you. >> i have been 25 years with the san francisco institutional please. i am currently assigned to laguna honda hospital. i did 20 years with my initial experience at san francisco general. i was also employed a various mental health clinics. one of the recent things i wanted to discuss was barbara garcia and on the dph website, she says as she stated to the

staff that there would be a specialized security force to replace the i.p. she made the point that they were going to be unique and different. i do not know how they can be more unique or different than the institutional police. private security will not provide the same type of experience. the company had believe she is referring to, they work at highland hospital right now. the only specialty they have is they probably work at more hospitals, but that does not necessarily mean they have more experience. bair just -- they are just fortunate. in santa clara valley medical center, they recently contracted with the sheriff filled apartment because the one of law enforcement tool -- law- enforcement to augment security their. their understanding was come but they realize that they

constantly have security needs and one staff needs help, they have to call the sheriff's department or the police department anyway. also as san francisco general hospital, there is a methadone clinic, job protective services their. both units have a private security guards present. i have had numerous times when staffas had to call me because an incident was out of control. they called me. one final comment i do want to make. in my 20 years -- [bell rings] supervisor chu: thank you. >> alright. >> good afternoon. thank you for being available for public comment. i retired in 1982, and i was the president of the institutional

police for over six years. i hold a degree of accounting, law, and advanced post- certificate. what the department of public health needs is a police service into the -- entity. buying in to the mission is the critical part that makes the difference. private security is qualified or the department of public health has the patience and it be staff suffers the consequences. this is the bottom line, not the bottom line of the department of public health. i have seen the conflicts at the

mission over and over and over. the solution is to resurrect the 8204 class of officers as an independent agency. to do otherwise would be penny wise and pound foolish. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you for your time. >> hello. my name is carmen simon, and for three years i was a mental health worker in an agency that -- knock on wood -- has been spare the budget cut. thank you for that. i was also a student for fau local 1021. right now i am here as a mental health advocates and allied. just from a deeply experiential level, all of these interviews

are so deeply connected from the community services to the residential facilities, like the one i had worked at. we need all of this. for someone who was born here. i would like to think that the legacy of san francisco that makes it so different is that we do take care of the hon., and this place is the best fit for those who cannot provide for themselves, which is the community that is served by the department of mental health. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is and what gerald. -- emma gerald. i want to address some of the comments the dph management made yesterday, specifically when they talk about restraint, dealing with patients.

i think they use the example of restraining patients with dementia that are being difficult. i want to make clear that whether or not it is public security or private security, the city as a whole is responsible if someone violates the civil rights of patients. the idea that private security is upfolded to different laws is ridiculous and is frankly untrue. both general hospital and laguna honda -- they are both government agencies, and they will both be liable. there is actually a great example, which is shortly after alameda county to a private security in 2004 -- there was a doctor that was murdered. this is with the private security when they first got there.

the family sued, and they sued the city, and they won against the city. in 2007, the contract to begin to the private security company, which is supposedly the model they are using. in private security, the average turnover rate is between 100% and 300%. if there's a situation -- and this actually happens -- where you had a shooting in the bayview -- [bell rings]

can i finish? supervisor chu: wrap up quickly. >> if you have a shooting in the bayview, and the friends and family come to the hospital and there is in retaliation shooting in the still more, and the friends and family come there, and a fight ensued, you need someone who can deal with that situation, and private security will not be able to. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker please. >> i am and nurse at the behavioral health center. i am also a citizen of san francisco and also on the bargaining unit of seiu. i am talking about against contracting out for private security. as you heard, there has been a doctor on staff at another hospital, and there was another nurse that was killed, unfortunately.

we get clients from napa through our acute system and on to my floor. there is a client that was not from napa. he was sent through pes, through acute, through our facility. he later was discharged, ended up out of state in jail and killed his cell mate. we have violent clients that come through our system every day. we are faced with difficult clients, and by the grace of god, no one has been killed in our facilities. they can put hands on. they can take down a patient

that is really violent. they can put cuffs on him. they can do a police report. all of these things need to be done, and an assault is an assault, whether it occurs on the streets of san francisco, or whether it occurs in a hospital. it is an assault. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i listened to the comments yesterday from the budget and finance committee and wanted to address some of the misconceptions that were there. first off, private security does not have the same powers as police officers. that is really simple. but the real fact is for private security is are low-paid jobs that are highly transitory, so you do have good officers, but they generally quit to become

police officers because there's more money. another thing as private security does not have the same training as the institutional police or sheriff's deputy. subtly, regarding the comments made yesterday, the institutional police -- we made our own the rest. what was said yesterday about calling the police and stuff like that that was done in the past was not true. we actually booked our own prisoners, and we do today. that is another misconception. as i understand it, the public health department is a big issue is a patient care one, and that is restraining and/or helping with potentially violent patients that are not on hold because they did not commit a crime, or not any psychological issue. for the record, this is a liability issue. you are detaining someone without legal reasons, but they do have medical problems. it is important to keep in mind that private security will not be installed from any type of liability that results from that.

it does not mean when a person says he is going to sue everyone, he is not going to sue the private companies. lots of private companies will probably tell their personnel that it is the patient issue, and you not get involved, and that has been the case at john george where they stand behind a nurse as a psychiatric patient was going off, and that was told to me by a former union representative, who was working over there, too. the solution to that one issue is not contracting out union jobs. it is arguably a policy issue that can probably be resolved. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you very much. next speaker. >> good afternoon, honorable supervisors.

i just had to come to a -- i'm sure our executive director came -- chris jackson came -- from the visitation valley community center. i have been trying to reach you, ms. kim, but we have been missing each other through the night. i came to stand for truth today. what has been presented to you has been a falsehood. you need to know our side of it. you have three african-americans here representing the visitation valley community center, which predominantly consists of asians and immigrants. we come to be their voices. all of them could not come today. they are so traumatized. they heard about this before we

knew about it. about a year ago, we got news from other ceo's -- other cbo's that we were going to be defunded. this is when i came on the board. they had me resigned because of a conflict of interest. when my husband left work, then i got to be president. they found fault with me. i can tell you, we have complied with every area -- every area that they have asked us to do, we have complied with it. they have insulted us. they have held us hostage. they have not given us memos. they have not answered our calls. by being a member of the sunshine for almost 12 years and have been on the democratic central committee, have been a delegate for 13 times, have worked for carroll, kevin

shelley, and for senator lee, i know the legislative process. this is not fair. i came to tell you we speak for truth, and to ask you, supervisors and honorable people, too, before you let this non-re-funding go through, please, investigate. listen to our side. see what they have given me through the sunshine committee -- nothing. dcy has completely ignored my request. please have a total investigation, and thank you so much for your time. supervisor chu: thank you for your time. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i am speaking on behalf of the asian and pacific islander wellness center. we want to applaud the considerable work that the board and city have invested in

preserving treatment intervention funding. we thank you for your effort, but i wanted to bring an issue to your attention and ask for your support as you track the evolution of the hiv epidemic in san francisco. the provincial plan signals a sea change in a chevy policy that resulted in the elimination of provincial resources for the asian and pacific islander committee. plan seeks to reduce san francisco's hiv epidemic for all ethnicities by 4% efforts on a caucasian, african- american, and latino men who have sex with men and transgendered women. today, asian-pacific islanders represent over 1/3 of san francisco's population, and yet, we only receive about 10% of all hiv tests administered by the city. despite the small number of tests, documented cases among asians and pacific islanders in san francisco have grown from 6% in 2006 to 10.3% in 2010.

during the same time, the presentation decrease by 7% for whites and 0.5% for african- americans. we fear that the asian-pacific islander communities will not see the indirect benefits anticipated for the new hiv prevention plan. we are developing a five-year plan with a local monitoring tool to track the epidemic in san francisco's asian-pacific islander community. we need you, the stewards of our city, to work with us in developing this plan. together, we must keep the city accountable to the needs of the asian-pacific islander community and make adjustments as needed. thank you for your time. supervisor chu: thank you for your time. >> hello. i am a social worker at the institution on aging's linkages program. we are a small program within the institute that works with people who have become disabled

as adults. usually through diseases like multiple sclerosis or a stroke or other kinds of trauma. our job basically is to go in and help people figure out what kind of services they need in order to stay at home and avoid nursing-home placement. as i said, we are a small program. the cuts proposed would be to eliminate one of those positions, which would mean that there would be 40 people -- adults, disabled -- without anybody to arrange services for them and keep them safe in their own homes. so i am just asking that the board of supervisors reconsider the proposed cuts. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> supervisors, an episcopal community services. first, let me appreciate the collaborative work that has been done to date. to forge a fair budget in difficult circumstances.

we at episcopal community services are particularly grateful for the rollback in planned reductions to health and human services. at the same time, we remain deeply concerned about reduction still before you that would have a very negative impact on homeless individuals and families in san francisco, and i do not particularly -- planned cuts to the tenderloin and sixth street self-help centers, the homeless outreach team, through the support of housing and employment collaborative to vocational services in seven of our own support of housing sites, and especially to hsa's $900,000 cut to families and single adults supported housing. san francisco has been a leader in development of supportive housing. what we do not believe is that you can strip away the services of housing for homeless people and continue to achieve the successes that have marked the

work. high housing retention, low use of emergency services, high movement of residents off of general assistance, significant movement of residents into employment, and into higher levels of public benefits, and food health outcomes, and a development of community that breaks the isolation that so often marks homelessness. placing 100 formerly homeless people in a hotel with one social worker is a recipe for taking apart the successes that we have achieved as a caring and responsible community, and i urge you to reject the plan to strip down supportive housing. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> good afternoon. i am here to act -- ask you to restore all of the cuts that have been proposed that are directly affecting the homeless

folks that lived across this wonderful city. i am particularly here to talk about the sort of forgotten system of housing, which is education, employment, and training. currently, there are proposals to cut all the services that are supplied thru eight agencies that work together that form the supportive housing inclement collaborative. currently, we work with -- the services are available to 2000 people in san francisco throughout the whole city, and the program supplied services to about 300 people every year. remarkably, 80% of the enrollees in our training graduate. 75% move on to employment, and 75% also keep that employment. the effect of these cuts would be we would have to completely restructure and work out how we can deliver these services. we will lose the services that all of our sites for employment.

we really believe and have said for many years that one of the answers to homelessness is a home -- not just a house, but a home. for those that need it, the skills and resources to keep it, and we think we are willing away at the skills and resources the spirit with the tides is the new revenue that comes into the city and the relief that happens when somebody gets a job, not just for the individual, but from all the services and individuals that have been supporting them up to that point. so i am hoping you can look to the work we have been doing for the past 20 years and restore these bonds. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. >> can i leave this off? is that ok? good afternoon, board of supervisors. i am here on behalf of parent

voices, an organization fighting to make quality child care affordable and accessible to all families. we are grateful that the mayor worked with community-based organizations to reinstate some of the cuts. thank you for working with the mayor. as a single parent working full time, quality child care has kept me working so that i can provide for my children and so i would not have to worry about them being in the streets or in harm's way. now, i am attending school full time to further my education. without quality child care, this would be impossible. child care keeps parents learning and children learning. please keep the child care structure intact. there are currently 4000 children on the waiting list. please find a fund for this outfit. thank you.

supervisor chiu: bank -- supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker please. >> i came here today to ask you to restore the funding for the melisma services. i do not have any words to describe how fantastic the service is that our agency has done for our community for more than 45 years. i do believe they can tell you the story, the real pictures we have here let me put it this way -- due to the cuts to the naturalization programs, there will be more than 150 seniors who lost their opportunity to study the citizenship material. it may delay their time to

become a u.s. citizen, or they do not have the time to become a united states citizen. we are all living in a democratic society. to vote is the key. and how to get the key to become a united states citizen -- look at them. their base can tell how eager they are to become a real part of us. to the case management, due to the cuts, there will be more than 86 lost opportunities every year. we have a lot of sad stories every day, and enough is enough. we do not want to see this anymore. so, please, do consider the weakest group in our society and restore those funding to the service. thank you for the time, and thank you for the opportunity and for listening to our voice. supervisor chu: thank you.

thank you for your time. >> good afternoon. i am with the manila town heritage foundation. the foundation was born out of the international hotel's anti- eviction struggle, which culminated in the eviction back in 1977. some of you may remember that. so we have a legacy of advocating for affordable housing, for low-income seniors. i am here today to ask you to restore the funding for our affordable housing program through the mayor's office and housing. today, we have our housing coordinator with a few of our coordinator with a few of our clients today to give your