event occurred, but members of this department are bound by the department general orders, and there is absolutely no excuse for not following those department general orders, and we have a mechanism for complaints that assesses and overseas that we are in compliance. >> thank you for your hard work and your problem-solving skills. it is a big animal to tackle, and where there is quite a bit of room for improvement, we are the leader on this. we are the model for other police departments, so i think we can continue. any further questions or comments from the commissioners? thank you. president mazzucco: any public comment regarding language access? >> commissioners, good evening once again.

very briefly, as a resident of the city and county of san francisco, i think you are going backwards here. i do not expect the sfpd to know the 160 different languages on the planet let alone that some of them do not even know their own language. according to something four years ago. they do not even know their own language properly. for a certain dialect of spanish, you have to translate it into english. that is not the job of the sfpd. and then you create problems when you try to translate some of its report into english and then take a report out of it to possibly be used in a court of law. throwing out 1200 cases related

to tainted dna and other items. you're just creating amount of paperwork here that is going nowhere. i think part of citizenship and part of a citizens obligation is that if they want to fill out a police report, go to a translator, fill out a report, and then take it to the sfpd in both versions would be a better way to go. there are translating departments in every community of this city, as far as i know. but to have a policeman waiting to translate whatever language that you happen to speak, that is not english, that is not part of the policeman's profile or the city and county profile, and if you looked at the break down in cost for languages in this city, there are only several that have transparency is in terms of translations. almost 90% are used one to four times a year. that is the remaining 100 or so. so i think you should look at

this in terms of a cost basis as well and set some of the citizens or non-citizens straight that they have on their own volition to make the best attempted to do a police report, to get it filed in english. it is not a policeman's job to take a translation or a translation of someone's translation and reiterate it and write in english, and as far as i am concerned, i have taken police report writing as part of the administrative justice could, and if you look at it, police report writing is a science. you just cannot put a bunch of mumbo jumbo down on the piece of paper and have in amount to anything. as witnesses, observations, times, streets, descriptions, etc., so you should look at it in that light. i thank you for your time. president mazzucco: any further public comment?

yes? >> ok, i am really sorry for the lady who went through the domestic violence. i am also very sorry there was no translator there because there are translators, and spanish is one of the languages spoken almost all of the world. it started with latin. here in america, we speak english. president mazzucco: any further public comment? the rules state that we do not ordinarily engage the audience in san francisco with a long history of immigration, the city of st. francis, we have always said officers to translates. now it is the influx of the hispanic community and the asian community. it is our goal and our world that we will have somebody available to translate, to make

this a safe city, to make people feel comfortable being here, to make it able for people to report crimes. it is unanimous policy of the commission and the police department. we will not discriminate against anybody because they do not speak the language. that is absolutely wrong and has been happening for years. next item, please. clerk: item 9, adjournment. president mazzucco: before we adjourn, we'll just learned that the mayor and the supervisors will honor our own commissioner turman, who will be honored with 10 other black san franciscans for living the legacy, the human rights commission, the san francisco

police commission, and he has been chosen. he will be honored on valentine's day, february 14. [applause] so we now move to adjourn. all in favor? >> just a few steps away from union square is a quiet corner stone of san francisco's our community to the meridian gallery has a 20-year history of supporting visual arts.

experimental music concert, and also readings. >> give us this day our daily bread at least three times a day. and lead us not into temptation to often on weekdays. [laughter] >> meridians' stands apart from the commercial galleries around union square, and it is because of their core mission, to increase social, philosophical, and spiritual change my isolated individuals and communities. >> it gives a statement, the idea that a significant art of any kind, in any discipline, creates change. >> it is philosophy that attracted david linger to mount a show at meridian. >> you want to feel like your work this summer that it can do some good. i felt like at meridian, it could do some good. we did not even talk about price

until the day before the show. of course, meridian needs to support itself and support the community. but that was not the first consideration, so that made me very happy. >> his work is printed porcelain. he transfers images onto and spoils the surface a fragile shes of clay. each one, only one-tenth of an inch thick. >> it took about two years to get it down. i would say i lose 30% of the pieces that i made. something happens to them. they cracked, the break during the process. it is very complex. they fall apart. but it is worth it to me. there are photographs i took 1 hours 99 the former soviet union. these are blown up to a gigantic images. they lose resolution. i do not mind that, because my images are about the images, but they're also about the idea, which is why there is text all over the entire surface. >> marie in moved into the

mansion on powell street just five years ago. its galleries are housed in one of the very rare single family residences around union square. for the 100th anniversary of the mansion, meridian hosted a series of special events, including a world premiere reading by lawrence ferlinghetti. >> the birth of an american corporate fascism, the next to last free states radio, the next-to-last independent newspaper raising hell, the next-to-last independent bookstore with a mind of its own, the next to last leftie looking for obama nirvana. [laughter] the first day of the wall street occupation set forth upon this continent a new revolutionary

nation. [applause] >> in addition to its own programming as -- of artist talks, meridian has been a downtown host for san francisco states well-known port trees center. recent luminaries have included david meltzer, steve dixon, and jack hirsch man. >> you can black as out of the press, blog and arrest us, tear gas, mace, and shoot us, as we know very well, you will, but this time we're not turning back. we know you are finished. desperate, near the end. hysterical in your flabbergastlyness. amen. >> after the readings, the crowd headed to a reception upstairs by wandering through the other gallery rooms in the historic home. the third floor is not usually

reserved for just parties, however. it is the stage for live performances. ♪ under the guidance of musical curators, these three, meridian has maintained a strong commitment to new music, compositions that are innovative, experimental, and sometimes challenging. sound art is an artistic and event that usually receives short shrift from most galleries because san francisco is musicians have responded by showing strong support for the programming. ♪ looking into meridian's future,

she says she wants to keep doing the same thing that she has been doing since 1989. to enlighten and disturbed. >> i really believe that all the arts have a serious function and that it helps us find out who we are in a much wider sense than we were before we experienced that work of art. ♪

>> at sfgtv, we have don and nona. the had the announcements? >> yes, please turn off all cell phones. if you wish to speak, please turn in a speaker card. if you present documents, please provide a copy to the clerk for the file. items acted upon today will appear on the board of supervisors agenda on february 7, 2012 unless otherwise stated. supervisor chu: thank you very much. i think a number of folks have asked whether we will be calling items out of order, but we will be calling items in the order the appear on the agenda. item number one, please. >> resolution accepting bequest by the late leila boroughs,

authorizing its expenditure by the mayor's fund for the homeless for the purpose of assisting san francisco's homeless and extending appreciation to ms. burros for her gift. supervisor chu: thank you very much. >> good afternoon peter i am the director of the housing and homeless division for the san francisco human services agency, and i am before you today to ask your approval to accept and expend the resolution from the estate of the late leila boroughs. this comes at a wonderful time for the homeless programs in san francisco, and how we plan to utilize the funds if the property is sold in a timely manner is to add on to our current homeless family initiative, which was started back in november of 2011 with

the infusion of funds from salesforce.com to help our homeless families. currently, some of the funds that are being used, along with the salesforce funding is what is known as hprp, federal stimulus money. it stands for homeless prevention and rapid rehousing program, which has an ending date of june 30 of this year, 2012. so it will allow us to continue on with providing rental subsidy and homeless prevention funds to our homeless constituents. supervisor chu: thank you very much. you have a sense of what the value of the sale would be? >> from what we have gathered, it is in the $400,000 range. supervisor chu: ok, thank you. supervisor avalos.

supervisor avalos: thank you for your presentation. it is great to have funds like this to support homeless services, and i want to thank the family of leila boroughs in that. to follow our financial policies though, this is one-time monies. so are we waiving our financial policies if we are going to be paying for ongoing -- we have to pay for capital and not for ongoing shelter services? >> no, this is not for shelter services. this is for homeless prevention services, which could be paying back-rent, late on electric bills, telephone bills. it could be moved-in grants. it is one-time, but if we use it for rental subsidy, it does have an end date for the subsidy. supervisor avalos: our subsidies are generally approved in the budget on an annual basis. >> that is correct. supervisor avalos: this is

funding that will not be around on an annual basis. the question for the comptroller is that we have our financial policies and talk about how we receive one-time monies, and how they are going to be used. i am for funding going for our housing subsidy programs peter i am not opposed to that, but i want to make sure we're following what we had approved last year around our financial policies and that we're using it appropriately. >> some of the rental subsidies, it does not have to be ongoing. there can be a gap for people who have lost employment, or it could be to pay back-red. it is homeless prevention services, of which subsidies are included in there. supervisor avalos: question for the controller. i like the fact that we're putting resources into homeless prevention. i have been a big advocate for the rental subsidy program. as far as receiving these funds

and expending them for the rental subsidy program, does that fit our policy? >> an excellent question. i will need to take a minute to talk to the department representative here to understand whether it does or not. supervisor avalos: i am sure there are capital costs that could go to words, you know, our shelter services, our shelter programs, our homeless programs, our health clinics that serve, as people. not saying we do not serve homeless people with it, but i want to make sure we do not come back and say we did not approve this expenditure in an appropriate way. >> just a point of clarification. when i speak about homeless prevention services, it has an overview of all of the things that you just mentioned. so it could be used for capital, could be used to pay back-rent, it could be used to pay keeping

someone's electricity on and the telephone services on. supervisor avalos: i would be supportive -- i am just one person on the committee. i would be supportive of keeping intact in keeping funding for our rental subsidy program for families. supervisor kim: thank you. supervisor chu: i think there is an additional question. then we will go to public comment. supervisor kim: i am happy to hear that we have a fund that citizens can give to to augment our public taxpayer dollars. just a couple of questions. when did the mayor's fund for the homeless again? when did it open? >> back in 2003, i believe. supervisor kim: how much money is currently in the fund?

>> we currently have approximately $235,000 that has not been committed. supervisor kim: there is $235,000 in the fund that has not been committed. >> correct. supervisor kim: how much in the fund that has been committed? >> the total fund, along with the anonymous donation of $500,000 is $1.3 million. supervisor kim: how do people find out about donating to the fund? >> it is on it the city's website. it has been, like i said, around since approximately 2003. along with the homeless prevention funds, there are funds under park and rec where people can donate. it has been in around for a

wild. supervisor kim: since 2003. >> correct. supervisor kim: do you have a policy for how we expend these funds? >> not a written policy, but we do have initiatives that we like to use the funds for. supervisor kim: which initiatives? >> the current one is the homeless family initiative, which we built upon with the donation -- supervisor kim: the one we launched in november? >> that is correct, that we launched in november. supervisor kim: is there a way we develop these priorities? is it based on federal and state funding? is there a way we prioritize so that these programs do not have -- they do not have funding, so we prioritize them with private funding? i am curious to that process. >> well, you asked the question

last year when we got the infusion of private donations which allowed us to expand upon the initiative. we have had the family initiative since 2007, where we wanted to provide rental subsidies to families, but it was not a pot of money that was ongoing, and part of the changes that we made, we made it from at least having from 24 months up to a five-year subsidy, but it was not ongoing, and it was based on whether or not a homeless family could continue on with their program. but, you know, based on the need that the department carves out, that is basically how we establish our initiatives. supervisor kim: my last question but i am sure this is a public document already. but is it possible to get a list of the donors and how we have expended this money, the $1.3

million? >> yes, except for the anonymous donor part. a question to the controller's office, do we have a policy currently of policy priorities for how we deal with these private funds? i am sure the mayor's program is not the only place where people can donate privately to the city. i am sure other departments have them. i think it is great we are able to raise revenue through charitable and private groups. i wonder if we have an overall policy on how we expend these dollars? >> good question. regardless of where money is coming from, it requires the board of supervisors to specifically appropriate that money to use you authorize or two, in some cases, designate to a department that, through the creation of a special fund which

this is, that those funds are appropriated and can be used for expenses that the board of the rises in that special fund. so the board acts to appropriate the use of the private money coming in and the specific use through the budget or supplemental appropriation for this board or previous boards have established special funds to appropriate those proceeds for even years. this is one example of a special fund. there are others. they are all in article 10 of the admin code where all of our special funds are listed. but there are other special revenue funds. for the purposes of accepting private gifts for other public uses, such as parks, street cleaning, and we have gift funds for both of our hospitals. in all those cases, the board has specifically appropriated for a specific use or authorized its use for a set of expenditures through the fund. supervisor kim: i know that recently the bennihoff's made an

appropriation for the homeless fund. in my memory, there's arctic -- an article about the dave matthews and donated to the mayor's fund. >> that is correct. in this case, this fund is authorized by the board of supervisors to automatically appropriate revenues coming in to eligible uses, as defined in the section. so they do not come back to the board in this case, because the board in establishing the fund in the first instance authorized automatic appropriation bill supervisor kim: so the board authorized this fund in 2003? >> i do not know when the fund was initially established. i think it was before 2003 that the fund was initially established. but that is one of the rules that the board codified as to the mechanisms of the fund. supervisor kim: thank you. i apologize for all the questions. this is a new to me.

i appreciate that the city is proactive about gaining revenue but i am is appreciative to ms. boroughs for donating to our homeless services here in san francisco. supervisor chu: thank you. why don't i open this up for public comments. there is no budget analyst report for this item. if there are any members of the public who would wish to speak on item number one, please come forward. seeing none, public comment is closed. to supervisor avalos's question -- >> the answer is that the one- time and nonrecurring revenue speaks to general fund revenues. it specifically excludes from the revenues that are otherwise restricted for other legal reasons, state, federal, or local laws, to a different purpose. in this case, we have a legal request. it is binding upon the city on how we can use these funds. it is physically requires us to use it in a certain way. that means it does not flow

through the general fund. therefore, it is not subject to the recurring revenue policy adopted. supervisor chu: thank you. it sounds like in some categories of expenses that can be paid for through this fund, there are items are categories within what you can spend it on that can be one-time in nature. paying back payments or utility fees on a one-time basis. >> move-in grants and furniture needs, things of that nature. supervisor chu: ok, thank you for the clarification. if there are no other questions, the item is before us. supervisor avalos: motion to approve. supervisor chu: motion with recommendation. we will do that without objection. >> item number two, hearing on the status of the america's cup workforce development plan to include reports from the mayor's office of economic and workforce development, the port, and america's cup event authority on provisions for prevailing wage for temporary and permanent structures, ensuring high labor

standards, and maximizing opportunities for local workforce training, and employment on end-use jobs. supervisor chu: thank you. this was brought to us from supervisor avalos. i know there are a number of speakers. we will have additional america's cup items later on. supervisor avalos for any opening comments. supervisor avalos: great, thank you, chair. i appreciate the opportunity to bring this hearing back. its last appeared on september 25 in the city operations and neighborhood services committee. we provided this committee out of convenience, and i appreciate their work of the office of economic and workforce development, our labor and community allies, the laborers, carpenters, and we have had some good developments in our discussions around the new work

force and small business inclusion plan. that will be discussed today. i appreciate that movement. just yesterday, we were talking about how we can move forward on prevailing wages and local hire. the office of economic workforce development in the event authority were able to come to some concessions and some real benefits that i think are important to note. that is the payment of prevailing wage. subcontractors also be bound by these wage provisions. and there will be a lot of work in bringing the premises of into line as well. i think it is great progress. i want to say that that movement is very well-appreciated. i think it is going to have really great benefits for residents here in the bay area and locally. i think there is more to go. i believth