tv [untitled] March 8, 2012 4:30pm-5:00pm PST
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new families. there are prepared to help families navigate the economic challenges they also face. such that one parent showed up at the front door of the family research center saying, i have never been unemployed in my life, where do i go? i do not have food to help my family. these are centers that were prepared to support them. in terms of what remains to be done, there are two points with like to make. consider referring the issue of family flight. as we know, families have free will. if they want to leave, they will leave. the goal is not to create a cage around the city and keep families here like zebras in is to provide what we would like to focus on is how do we develop san francisco as a world-class city for families? what does it mean to be a world- class city for families? it means doing well by the families who will here already. as well as being a place where people believe they can start a family. this is a place that will
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support and be a thriving place for them and their young ones. families -- and that families can move to. as we attract families that say this is a great place with resources and support services and a great quality of life i would like my children to have. john avalos asked about assets. president chiu referred to millions of dollars spent. when we think about the resources, through programs -- 3 programs come to mind. preschool for all, a kindergarten to college, and the museum pass program. the family support network for -- worked for several years to create a family museum pass modeled after boston's program that is available to any family at the library where they can check it out and take their family to different museums during the week. all these three programs are in need-blind and accessible by all
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families. able to be accessed by all families. how many cities have programs like that? the fact we have these kinds of resources is amazing. the fact that we have 61 different departments and organizations focused on supporting children and families, there is a lot going on here. in terms of the second point, the second point is what san francisco needs. a clear city policy platform suit -- for supporting our families. clear goals, outcomes, david chiu mentioned to measure both. this is a clear focus for what needs to be done for our families and gives us that ability to be focused on what we need to do collectively. everyone being on the same page. linking together. when we look at other cities,
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this is something that is not [unintelligible] boston, the same land size as us and has a slightly higher population, they started something called countdown to kindergarten and number of years ago. it is a model and a brilliant program on uniting the city around what does it take to get children ready for school? it is something that was brilliantly conceived to focus on what different sectors can do pray what can families do to get children ready for school, what can the city do to support children, what can schools due to be ready for those children and families coming to them? everyone's role was clear in this plan which was part of a large public awareness campaign that created an environment in a city that people were focused on how is boston preparing its children for school? this program, this initiative was so successful it changed
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into something called thrive in five. it is akin toou our first five program. we already have these things that other cities took time to develop. how can we come together and look at what we can do collectively? that being said, the san francisco family support network books for to working with everyone to ensure san francisco is a city that values and promotes family's well- being. our children deserve no less. thank you. supervisor farrell: thank you for your comments. ok. supervisor dufty, thank you for being here. for those left, we have one more speaker and we will open up for public comment. thank you for taking the time to stick around.
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supervisor dufty: i will say my kid starts t-ball at 5:30 p.m. i cannot stop without acknowledging supervisor elsbernd as a dad. we almost built puc headquarters without child care because the people who do the cost-cutting plans decided that was a great way to save money. i would encourage you to look carefully at everything that has the name transbay terminal on it. they do not have a very aggressive child care plan. i wanted to empower you both as dads to be active child care dads. we need more of them here. let me say that i am the director of housing opportunity partnership and engagement. our role and responsibility in
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working for mayor lee is to look at all our housing services whether they are shelter supported housing and looking for better outcomes for individuals and families. that live in those housing services provided by the city. to the extent we do better by families in those housing services and enable those families to become more self- sufficient and successful. we are a city that is more welcoming of families of all incomes. what coleman has articulated is extremely important and i have talked about a black agenda for the san francisco and that is something i get to do in my role. we recognize where we -- we're not where we should be in terms of federal housing -- we're not where we should be. we do have great organizations whether it is the family support network for co -- or coleman or others. we have a great jobsno now
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program. we have to link so families can live to success. i think it is also recognizing there have been new directions at the federal level around rapid rehousing and looking at what we have done in san francisco. the traditional model has been to take an evicted family and put that family into family shelter and to move that family into housing as is possible. no matter how great disservice is, the experience -- no matter how great the service is, the experience is breaking to families. we're trying to maintain some stock of housing so we can move a family directly in there and address their needs. i think being engaged and i want to commend you and your colleagues but particularly you for staying here without a doctor at this hearing because this is not easy. you are looking at it from what is not working because the numbers are not working in our
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direction. to a certain extent, being a politician, you have to champion what is working. you have to get the message out there about a city government that is in partnership with our school district and is providing resources and i think doing an unprecedented job of supporting public education without trying to control the decisions made by that school district. that is something that is to be commended. what you are doing is using this hearing as another step on a path of trying to guide our city with the initiatives we have had like kindergarten to college and other things that speak to an aspirational city that wants to be welcoming to families. i do not think we have to put families against one another whether it is middle income, working class, families that are on the economic margins. this is not one pipe that will be carved up. this is something where we need to engage and get our faith- based institutions, i just had a meeting talking about getting churches more involved in supporting families that are at
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risk in a crisis -- and iraq crisis. this is a great endeavour that you have embarked upon. it is important to recognize the successes that are taking place and the ways in which we're doing a good job. there is ways to be insisting that things like child care matter. 50% of the families that want licensed child care cannot get it because the capacity is not there. every day, you have the opportunity to ask our corporate partners that are making philanthropic investments. you have the opportunity to ask the government decision makers and to ask agencies who are coming here saying we need funding, to ask them to work with one another in a more coordinated fashion and that is what my agenda is. to focus in on the services we provide to do a better job. the advocates will tell you we do not have the size of homeless families we do in new york city. even from a proportional basis, it is smaller here and we ought to be able to do a better job.
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we have lost so much african- american population and that is bad, but we ought to be able to do better by those families. we have a commitment to change the way things happened. i'm extremely excited on my 13th day in this job to be here and to have the opportunity to work with you. i want to say knowing you both extremely well, i appreciate your commitment and with no individuals coming here and opportunities we have, we're not stopping the journey here. this is another step and deryk -- i appreciate being part of it. pro cote thank you. thank you to the speakers who are still here. we're opening up to public comment. i have a number of speaker cards. if anyone wants to speak, please come up. you can line up up here. it is for 30 p.m. for 39 pm -- 4 clack 30 p.m.
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-- 4:30 p.m. >> thank you. there are five families in my building. we have six children under the age of 5, a seventh on the way. i do not have any children. i am here for the six parents who had to work today and could not come. and wanted to ask you for help. we're in a bad position. we need help with mortgage help and condo conversion. you are aware of how that works. supervisor farrell: we are. thanks, next speaker. >> i am here today as part of the san francisco parra political action committee but i am the president of friends of -- valley.
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i would invite you to come to the farmers' market to see the number of strollers and ankle biter is running around. it is quite great. earlier you asked what are things that the board of supervisors can do to help talk about the great things that are going on in san francisco unified and with families in general. i was thinking about that. a couple things that are happening, there was talk about strings attached to the rainy day fund. that tends to be can -- conversations around proposition h funding and strings attached to that. the way the public or parents perceive their children being used whether it is a perception correct or not, there's a
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perception children are being used to forge a political want as opposed to honoring the public to be supporting what the voters have. it is so much easier to get out by muni then it is to get a child to get a stroller on many. that says something. when the joint committee for the board of supervisors and education has not met or was canceled 75% of the time last year and has not met yet this year, that says something about what the priorities are. i would encourage you to think about those things. there is a new funding measure that is being supported by the pta called our children, our future. that will bring in $1,000 per student. i would love to see the board of supervisors support that.
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>> hello and good afternoon. i am the chair of the san francisco youth commission. the commission is concerned with families -- family flight. our -- scope is not limited to that. what affects the adult population definitely affects children. we are not talking about youth jobs or transportation patterns. we need to prioritize our families because they include young people. they include adults. we as a city think about these things together, that is how we can best address family flight. i want to say on behalf of the
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commission, we're looking forward to your policy proposals and how we can provide input. we want to do a similar hearing on family flight and invite other young people to come up with ideas how to address this on a policy proposal. we have a list of things the commission is doing on this issue. we can provide that for you as well. we gave it to the director. thank you for holding this hearing. supervisor farrell: thank you. >> i work with the bernal heights neighborhood center. this issue is incredibly important for the vibrancy of the city and the future of san francisco. i wanted to highlight the fact that all city departments identify housing as being one of the principal factors of why families cannot stay in the city. that said, the mayor's office of housing have identified that
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funding for housing with a cut to redevelopment has diminished. hopefully, we can get some of that back at some point during this election season. that would be great to be able to find affordable housing for the people who are struggling to stay in san francisco. what i wanted to say is our policies are also kind of pointing as in the direction we're not heading toward. we want to keep families in san francisco. the performance art that was released said market -- the rate housing has exceeded the goals the general plan has for housing production. shows we're heading in the wrong direction if our mission is to retain families in san francisco. considering market reproduction is not producing housing to affordability levels that will keep this families here. if we do not get our policies in
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line in order to stem the production of market rate housing and increase the production of affordable housing, lot of this will not matter. if we do not have people who can afford to live here, we do not have parents who can advocate for better education or resources because they cannot afford to stay here. housing should be viewed by our policy makers and the population as a right and not as a commodity which i feel like it has been looked at. in san francisco for a long time. thank you. supervisor farrell:. -- supervisor farrell: thank you. next speaker. >> thank you. i am so pleased the government audit and oversight committee is taking on this task as -- on family flight. as much as these statistics, but
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to thousand eight -- 2009, eight reach of contract, one nuisance. 2010, 173 breach of contract, no nuisance. 2011, 195 breach of contract, one nuisance. up till now, there is over 350 people who have received three date notices. if this government audit and oversight committee is sincere about trying to keep people in san francisco, i would hope you would try to keep everyone in san francisco, not the super- rich. not the super-well-off. being of low-income, fixed income, ssi, social security, disabled, senior citizens, all
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those individuals who do not matter to this group because mark farrell, sean elsbernd, david chiu voted for high- density and to destroy parkmerced. they started their huge sweep of evicting all bus. where we to go? you are part of the problem. you are the problem. i wish you would -- there is no safety net for us. i wish you'd fix it. we need a safety net to stay here. we are born and raised here, acculturated here. we want to stay here. supervisor farrell: thank you. public comment is closed. i want to thank the speakers who stuck around and the people who spoke in public comment.
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and catherine and my colleagues. this is a huge and complex issue. multifaceted. it is not something we can fix overnight but it is something that hopefully people know now we will focus on in a big way and i look forward to working with everyone here today. members of the public who could not work on policies and proposals to make a difference in the future. thank you for coming. madam clerk, colleagues. any other items? could i make a motion to continue to the call of the chair? we can take that without objection. madam clerk? >> no other matters. supervisor farrell: thank you. we're adjourned.
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we are honored that the mayor of san francisco has stopped by. i am very pleased to introduce him and give him a few minutes. he said he only needed 45 or 50 minutes. [laughter] i am kidding. here is the mayor of san francisco. please join me in welcoming him. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. welcome to san francisco. i want to thank all of you for being here. i have two more weeks to say this. let me say it clearly. welcome to the world series champion city and county of san francisco. it is a great testament for web .0 to be here for the eighth time. it is your decision to bring this back every year for the
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last eight years. it just goes to show and prove we're leading the world in technology. san francisco was ranked the no. 1 annual growth for high-tech jobs. this growth is not slowing at all. last week, i welcome one company to their new headquarters on howard street. the least 90,000 square feet of space to tech companies that plan to employ over 600 employees. this is just the tip of the iceberg. according to a recent real estate report, there are 40 technology companies all currently looking for 2 million square feet of office space in san francisco. to put this in perspective, this is the equivalent of four trans- america.
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midst of space. tech companies employ over 20,000 employees. i am committed to ensuring that san francisco remains at the center of the tech industry. that is why i have created the central payroll tax exclusion. i signed it on stocks. i reached out to check ceo's to understand what more we can do to help. i have also committed to a wholesale review of our tax policy to develop more equitable alternatives that do not punish job creation. we are working hard to find other ways to interact with technology. our city is the first in the nation to pass open date up legislation. san francisco has been a leader in allowing the community to create over 60 applications based on this day to. over the summer, our department
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of technology hosted hackathons and resulted in the creation of 23 apps in created over 10,000 hours of civic engagement. i want to present a challenge. we are a consent -- congested city. into the years, we will host america's cup, -- in two years, we will host america's cup, one of the largest events. over 500,000 people visit the city on any given day during that time. one of the complaints i hear the most is that people get their cars towed away when their part in the wrong place. it can cost $500 and leaves them with the worst taste in their mouth. they were here to celebrate something. i want to challenge you. find me a solution. let there be some hand-held
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device that can warn somebody that their car is about to be towed. we can save a lot people having disappointment in their lives. we will work on the data to release it. you can go at it and help us to resolve one of the biggest problems we have, that is sparking any towaway zone. can you help us to do that? [applause] all right. by insuring the san francisco business policies encourage job growth, and by staying at the forefront of ideas like open government, i am confident that our city will continue to be the place where entrepreneurs, innovators flock to us as a place where you want to start your business, stay, and grow. i want you to know that we want you here to start a mistake, and grow. thank you for holding the summit.
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