out what we are going to do, what is going to be the relationship to fulfill an agreed upon plan, and that those have small business priority of purchasing from small businesses, so how about a commitment is going to be fulfilled. i hope to have that information after tomorrow's meeting. legislation but has been before the commission, last monday, a week ago today, the mayor signed a revolving loan fund, and thank you for attending the

signing, and the first $500,000 is going to be allocated a immediately, and the remaining $500,000 will be allocated at a later time, and as you heard, the eating and drinking establishments controls were passed today out of the land use committee and to move forward as a committee report to the board of supervisors meeting tomorrow 0. if it all goes well, we could see these new recommendations will be in effect until early june. the benefit corporation will have its third hearing at the meeting this coming wednesday.

there were some amendments made at the last hearing. in the legislation, they provided more definition in terms of benefit corporations, and there is confusion, so more specificity around the definition, and the other addition which is the joint venture applications. all applicants need to be of benefit corporation, and the disability access improvement is still waiting to be scheduled, as well as the permits for the ground floor, and the security plans for the commercial parking garage shows still needs to be

scheduled of public safety committee. you have just received somewhat of an update now with regard to --i think i am on low blood sugar, and supervisor mar have lots for a hearing to get more information, and that will be some time in may. good news on mobile food fronts. there is something we no longer have to be concerned about, and

in regards to the commission retreat, staff is pulling together information on what would be required and will be giving its first presentation to the outreach committee meeting, and in may we will review and discuss the strategic plan, and i will be getting back to you in time to review, and i have some updates on the staffing and vacation, but we did have some nice press, and also the bar association did an update on an

interviewe i, the bar association did. your legal rights. lastly, under the director's report is the proposed committee schedule. we are currently working off the schedule in 2011, so chris and i wanted to present this and have you take a look at it. this is not written in stone. we will be following up with

committee chairs on whether these work. you have said fridays are not a good day for you, so we may need to change. we will be following up, are we wanted to get it out there that this is on the boats, and we can modify from there. >> the director did want me to note that next month's meeting our commission meeting will be held on monday, may 7, because may 14 is the flavors of san francisco event, and that will be in room 408. >> item 11, president's report. >> all i have to ride is i am no

longer president after five years, so it feels third. nothing else to report at this time. >> vice presidents report, which i assume we will continue until the following month. item 13, commissioner reports. >> i have a report. i met on march 28 with supervisor chiu's office to starts the ball rolling on commercial vacancy. and we had a draft we started last year. i asked his office to review it to see if there is anything he would like to comment on so when we meet for out reach we can proceed further with some

direction from supervisor chiu's office. dr i have a brief report as well. on march 23 i attended the office of the efficacy on high- tech and skilled workers in the sow process. they invited me because some of the small business owners feel it is extremely difficult to get approval for visas for skilled workers, and the citizenship integration services came from d.c. to attend this meeting, so there were some immigration lawyers and their clients attending. they felt that high-tech and professional lawyers are here not to take jobs from our

people. they are here to create jobs, so one indian restaurant owner testified that he open several locations in the bay area and created over 100 jobs, so they are talking with the office themselves affected region with the office of advocacy to hope they can streamline the process and create more jobs in the bay area, and i attended the public hearing of the citizens meeting of community development. goowe listened to many nonprofit organizations talking about how difficult it is because of continuous cuts, so that is it. thank you. >> any other commissioner

comments? seeing none, next. >> general public comment. seeing none, next. >> new business. >> any new business? >> seeing none, next. >> item 15, adjournment. is there a motion to adjourn? >> i move. >> commissioners, the meeting is adjourned.

>> it is a privilege to be here

this evening for a special meeting focused on the war on drugs. please read the roll. but we will call this meeting to order. [roll-call] we have a quorum. >> i want to thank everyone for joining us. this is a special hearing. this hearing is a product of a partnership of the human rights commission kickoff this year with new c. hastings college of law went to students region with

two students. she is moving so quickly she is already moving to new york, where she is going to do a special project. it was the work of these students the main this hearing happen, -- that made this hearing happen. i want to thank them and their professor. these students took a particular interest in what the war on drugs looks like, and this critical effort they put into organizing this meeting as well as the artwork and materials they created were essential to this project, and without it, we would not be here this evening. i want to thank our city partners for joining us this evening.

the department of public health and mental health board members, the san francisco youth commission, the director of san francisco collaborative justice program, and the san francisco police department, and i would like to acknowledge the police chief who is with us this evening. thank you. before we start, i want to make one other acknowledgment. is cecilia's still here? cecilia has been on the commission for the last seven years. she was appointed last week, and our loss is the health commission postgame. this is the fifth -- the house commissions gain.

this is the first time she will not be here, and i want to thank her for all her efforts and wish her the best in her new position, and i want to call on two commissioners who will be leaving this hearing. -- leading this hearing. why don't you take over at this point? >> i am susan christian. good evening. thank you for coming tonight.

i am probably the newest member, and it is an honor for me to serve on this commission for the city and county of san francisco. i just want to say a few words before we get going. first, we are here to listen. from a number of experts and from any public speakers interested in addressing the topic of this hearing. tonight we are not going to take up the question of whether drugs or narcotics should be legalized. what we want to look at is the affect of criminalization and the sanctions that have been placed on narcotics use and abuse. we want to hear what these things have done to our communities. i worked as a prosecutor in san

francisco, and i feel privileged to do so, given the fact that i was hired by harris and that i continue to have the pleasure to work with the district attorney. both of these leaders have progressive visions about what crime is and how to deal with it in a community as diverse as san francisco. we are talking about a war on drugs tonight, and that is a federal creation, but it means different things to different people, and that is one thing we are going to talk about tonight. we all understand while drug use is pretty much the same across many demographics, enforcement tends to fall most heavily on communities of color and communities that have not been in the majority. we need to look at that, and we

need to understand what those negative affects have been, so one thing we are looking at tonight is finding out what has been going on and how we can improve care of our communities in ways that perhaps do not cause so much harm in what san francisco can do to create a new model. there is a national dialogue going on that has been in parts ignited by professor alexander and her new book, the new jim crow, and we want to begin a public dialogue from where we think critically about the effects of what has been called the war on drugs in our communities. thank you for coming, and i am going to turn the microphone over to commissioner davis. >> before we get started, thank you all for coming out, and in

the western division where i work, we do a lot of work with families that have been impacted by this war on drugs, and we have seen a wide range of that impact. i want to it knowledges the chief of juvenile probation and thank him for being here as well. for 40 years as a nation we have waived this widespread war on drugs, and there has been an increase focus on drug-related crimes, and with major increases in funding to law enforcement and criminalization in communities of color and this increase in prison and jail population, we really want to examine it and take a closer look. this is an opportunity to take part in a critical and honest dialogue about the impact of the war on drugs and what we are

doing right to address it and what we can do better, so in order to make this dialogue meaningful and effective, we have invited testimony from researchers and experts in the field as well as service providers and community organizers. the community in general and people most severely impacted. we have also a lot of time for audience members to comment, so we look forward to hearing from the various speakers and ultimately from the public as well. >> i would like to welcome and a knowledge sheriff hennessy for being with us tonight. as noted, we have a number of scheduled speakers. each of those will be speaking for five minutes each.

during that time there will be limited opportunity for commissioners to ask questions of those scheduled speakers, questions we might feel are important for the record. commissioner davis and i are going to ask our colleagues to bear in mind lack of time. after a scheduled speakers are finished, there will be an opportunity for public comment, two minutes each, and the last people to stay on the topic that we are here for tonight. first i would like to welcome alice hoffman. she is the president of the national association for the advancement of colored people in california. welcome. [applause]

>> thank you to the commissioners and the co-chair. as a national board member of the n.a.a.c.p., to have an opportunity to discuss this issue, and i want to go on record to say that we are pleased to get at second it -- the commission in los angeles to pass a resolution to end the war on drugs. we have all come to realize the war on drugs as a failed war. i am probably speaking to the choir, but sometimes that is how you get salvation, because we know this war has failed, get a lot of resources are still going toward it. i am pleased to be here with the

commission, to finally have a human rights commission connect this with human rights and criminalization that is going on. that is a profound step forward. people want to talk -- very few people want to talk about the humanity and the depletion of human resources going on across this country. i have heard this linked to human rights, and i want to applaud you for that and remind your when we talk about rights, first of all, there are the rights we are entitled to from the bill of rights, and they found out in alcohol prohibition it did not work and they could not tell adults what to do with their bodies and they

finally gave up, and we have the same thing going on with marijuana and drugs, that is one right we will eventually have to come to terms with, and not pass judgment on those who use drugs but that should be my right to decide, and then there is the right of the community, and sometimes when you get the war on drugs, that is borne out of racism, when you go look at the history of when this was called, it was called by the people in washington who decided musicians are getting high on pot and certain women were fraternizing which those musicians, and it had to be fixed. that is hough no war on drugs began.

it mushroomed over the years until it is not even recognizable. i think we have to understand prohibition is not the answer. you want to know how bad this has been for our community and? if you look at what has happened for us and education, the amount of money they are putting into prisons instead of educational institutions is robbing us of developing the talent we need to keep california and this nation in the forefront of innovation and viable people participating in economic mainstream. you cannot take the majority population. some people like to say we ethnic minorities are a minority, but we are not a

minority in california, and you cannot complete your future by locking up your people over these low-level crimes and think you're not complete in your future as favre as a talent you are going to need down the road, plus when you do not treat your assistance as schumahuman, whenu get a problem, they should not lose their lives through criminalization. they should be put in an environment, council, and do what ever it takes to get them healed. if you are addicted, you are not necessarily a criminal. you are an ill person, but if you get caught with a joint, you might get a felony. you might reach someone, and you might never get caught because they are so busy -- you might rape