i have lived here for nine years in the tenderloin and i have participated for a few of those years. thanks to la voce latina, i have been able to vindicate myself to this is not something i'm ready to see disappear. >> as families have benefited, also want to benefit as a family here in san francisco. as you know, we're the only organization for latino families in the tenderloin.

as a mother of two, i am concerned with the safety in the tenderloin and that it is not a priority now. not just the -- my children, but the thousands of children that call tenderloin their home. if you visit our neighborhood, you will see there are a lot of issues, such as drugs and violence, and this is a big issue for us and the kids. and it is difficult to find safe and clean parks because of the reasons i mentioned before. if our children are indeed our future, where are the parks, education, resources and support they need for tomorrow?

that is why we are year, that is why we are speaking we want you to hear my voice, we are the voice of the community. we're here to ask you to protect and permit la voce latina to continue to grow with the community but also all of the immigrant communities in the tenderloin. thank you. supervisor chu: ok, final call for families with young kids. >> my name is pilar, i have been

involved with la voce latina for about five years. in that time we have had many achievements and successes. some of the programs we had were used to safety programs, parent counseling, training, and also in the shooting safe packet -- passage projects.

we have been working a lot with you to have better communication with parents and communities to provide different outlets for them to use after school instead of succumbing to the neighborhood issues. and we are here to ask for your support because we care a lot about your opinion and we hope that we can count on your support today. all we want to see is a better and more bright future for our youth. thank you. >> good morning, name is norma.

i have three kids. something that is really important that we have not discussed la voce latina has none is we have established foot patrols with the tenderloin police department who are there to watch the youth as they enter and exit school. as you have heard many people mention, safe passage is a project that la voce latina helped to institute threat the

tenderloin. -- throughout the tenderloin. we have also been actively fighting the deportation of our youth and fighting and just deportation, you getting in trouble for small things. we have had several workshops ranging from housing, have that ability, helping our you'd get to college. supervisor chu: thank you to the members of the public waiting in line.

we will back to the line. >> good morning, supervisors. executive director of the executive parks alliance. i sure do not envy your position in having to balance all of these competing priorities for the city with its tight budget. i do want to emphasize with you our rec and park system is a part of the solution. these kids that you have been hearing from desperately need clean and safe places to play if they are to avoid the obesity epidemic. our youth need clean and safe places to play, whether it is kiteboarding in this city, are getting out to camp. we adults on the safe and clean places to relax, go for hikes, and deal with the stress positions we have to make every day. seniors need the park system just as much as the rest of us. these are our parks. the parts alliance remains opposed to any further cuts to the root operating budgets to the recreation and parks

department. you know over the last six years the repeated cuts to the operating budgets for the rec and parks department has left it with a chronic $30 million a year operating deficit. our parks the better support than that from our citizens. we remain opposed to any further cuts to the operating budget. we also stand ready to work with all of you in identifying both short-term and long-term solutions to the funding mechanisms necessary to adequately support our parks system in the long term. thank you very much. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning. i am the director of external affairs for the san francisco symphony. i ever present hundreds of large and small arts organizations and respectfully request your support for the mayor's budget. joining me today are educators, volunteers, students, and staff, from seven of those

organizations, san francisco simpson a a,ct, odc, san francisco performances, valley, san francisco opera, and the exploratory him. we have organized our testimony so you will be hearing from three students, two educators, and one volunteer board member today, but we all speak on behalf of the hundreds of large and small arts and cultural organizations that deliver educational services to thousands of students in all of our public schools and direct our communities. supervisor chu: thank you for consolidating the public comment. >> my name is robert. i am representing the exploritorium and the san francisco arts alliance. it is great to look around here, looking at all the young faces, myself included. these programs are what is

bringing our youth into adulthood. what this had done for me is it has given me a sense of direction, where i want to go in life. i see it every four months. we rotate, new students come in, and again, you see that rotation anti-pollution, the way they live and look at life, the way that they see civil service. it has really done that for me. it is just so important that we support the mayor possible budget initiatives for the arts for all these wonderful programs and just continue these excellent programs. they really have a huge impact on the youth in our community. thank you so much. have a good day. supervisor chu: thank you. >> good morning, supervisors.

i am sophia lindsey from the board of directors of the san francisco opera. i'm here to ask you not to cut the arts grants programs. we build the opera house, the citizens of san francisco donated the money, and it was built in 1932. this is the crown jewel of the opera house from around the world. in 2011, we had 23 countries represented, 48 states, and including porter rico and washington, d.c. we do a lot of education for our students, and in addition to our education program, we simulcast to at&t park. we also have opera at the golden

gate park, and we help free concert at stern grove, free concerts' with our training program. so please think of all the work and all the good that we are doing for the arts and for our students. please do not cut our programs. we do a lot to earn this money. when our people come here, they stay in hotels and eat in restaurants. thank you for your consideration. supervisor chu: thank you. >> my name is a alexander. i am a native san francisco born and raised in the sunset. i am here to share my story of being a part of san francisco valley school. as a child, i was extremely hyper, bouncing off walls, driving my parents knots.

my parents wanted to find an outlet for my energy and enrolled me at the ages 6 into world folks can classes, which i enjoyed. by the age of 9, the dance class as i was taking exposed me to valley for the first time. by the age of 14, i had a major life decision to fully dedicate myself to valley training. at the age of 17, i auditioned for the san francisco ballet school. i was nervous if i would be excepted or offered a scholarship to program since my family did not have a lot of funds to pay for my training. after the addition, i received a letter informing me i had been accepted and offered a school -- full scholarship to attend a program. i was so excited and i knew it was a major turning point in my training and i was headed in the right direction. i spend the next four years training at the san francisco ballet school on full

scholarship. for the last two years, i was invited to train in the trainee program, which performed earlier this year in city hall. now at 21 years old, and excited to tell you the san francisco ballet has offered me a professional contract as an apprentice to answer. this fall, i will be dancing in japan, london, washington, d.c., and during the 2013 season, dancing with the company on the war memorial opera house stage. i am at the start of my professional career and i have my school to think for that. without a scholarship, i would not be where i am today. i want to thank the city of san francisco for providing funding to the san francisco ballet school. supervisor chu: thank you. >> i have lived in the mission all my life. the arts have had the most significant impact in my life. three years ago, one teacher saw

my potential and got a full scholarship to odc used dance program. odc creates artists. if it were not for them, i would not be culturally and meat -- aware of anything other than what i saw on tv. it was not for dance, i would not be motivate or even interesting. their program maintenance available to me and gave me direction and i'm so immensely grateful for that. a few months ago, i created a piece for the students of international studies academy to perform. when beautifully. my goal was to get them interested in dance and specifically odc. i promoted and encouraged these goals -- rose to pursue their interest in dance for which it did for me. i am here for those girls and i ask you to support the mayor's proposed budget for the arts and cultural organization. so that performance programs

like odc can continue to exist for them. thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. is that the final speaker? one final speaker. two final speakers. >> my name is sally ting. i am part of the exploritorium high school program. i have learned a lot of this program as far as work experience and career aspirations. i have also become more open minded because we have such a diverse group. i have had a lot of great experience getting to know the other youths who come from different places and backgrounds in this program. it is actually really impressive when i got into the program, i learned how intelligent and

knowledgeable my fellow explainer is our, and it really just goes to show, when we get the opportunity and support, we have the potential to do many great things. i hope that you guys continue to support our program so that we can continue to keep growing. thank you. >> good morning, supervisors. i am the manager of the program at the exploritorium. over the past 20 years, we have hired youth to work in the building. we use communication to engage young people, as the young people before me said. through this engagement, they are able to find about their own learning process. we have been doing this for over 42 years.

we have had close to 4000 young people from san francisco work as explain ours. i am a product of the program. i started working there when i was 15 at a very formative moment in my life and it was like to do for me. it is really interesting being the manager of the program now, seeing how life changing it is for all these young people we have here today. we definitely appreciate your support in the past, and we hope that through the years, you will continue to support not just the exploritorium and arts alliance. supervisor chu: thank you for coming and consolidating the public comments. we will return back to the line. >> sorry, we still have two speakers. supervisor chu: i'm very conscientious of the people that have been waiting in line as well. we can speak offline on the

side. how about that? let's go back to the members of the public waiting in line. we had a group that came up that were seated after the people who have been in mind. thank you. >> good morning. my name is robert. i'm a resident of the tenderloin. i'm here to ask not to stop the funding -- my name is robert. i resent of the tenderloin. i'm here to has not to stop the funding for the la voce latina. since they have been in the community, they have been able to let their children speak out for them since they are not able to speak english for themselves. they have come up with a lot of programs that did a lot of research in the tenderloin to help better the tenderloin, not only for themselves, but for everyone who lives there. i am this asking you all to keep the funding coming so they can have the opportunity that

everyone in america deserves, a chance to be educated, a chance to grow, and a chance to grow up in a safe and loving community. thank you for your time and understanding. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker please. >> i am a organizer for the women's group of the collaborative. i am here for la voce latina. i am here because i do not want you to come funding for la voce latina. i am standing for the families in san mateo. i need you to look at the budget and do not cut. supervisor chu: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning. i am a organizer for the sr collaborative, a student, and i'm also a community artist.

i'm here on behalf of la voce latina. i'm pretty sure you heard of the safe passage project. i am the artist. it is a painting that spanned 11 blocks and is supposed to be safe passage for the youth in the neighborhood to grow from each organization to the next. from the gate, la voce latina has been a force to be reckoned with. they have been supportive of almost everything that has come out of the sro collaborative, and these women have been immaculate. not only that, to get rid of a program like la voce latina, which is the only project which appears to let families is detrimental to the overall community as a whole. basically, we need this project to survive for our community. anyway, thanks for hearing me out. i hope the right decision is made and make you all have a nice day.

supervisor chu: thank you. as folks, and leave, please be quiet so that we can hear the speaker. would you like to speak? >> good morning, supervisors. my name is roger. i am the senior citizen -- good morning. my name is dr.. i am the senior citizen of the jewish community. i am here about the san francisco performance. they need help regarding support from the government of san francisco. i have been using their programs for 20 years. i agree that they need help and i would like to support them.

this is from one hand. on the other hand, they deserve a little pressure because when we ask them for senior citizens tickets when they have half empty seats, i talk to the president from san francisco performances five times over the past few years and she never held senior citizens. this is why i think maybe we do not need to help them about this. thank you so much for your time. supervisor chu: thank you. we will return back to the line. >> good morning, border supervisors.

i'm a member of chinese progressive association. i am a volunteer cpa, and for the last five years, i have been volunteering for the community without pay. right now, our community faces a lot of problems. our workers are not being paid minimum wage, they do not get paid overtime.

a lot of these workers are working in bad conditions and want to give an example of a group of restaurant workers, 14 of them, that were working over 10 hours a day getting paid low wages, but in the end, only one worker was willing to persist in the wages they were rightfully owed.

the reason the workers did not continue is because the employer threatened the workers, went to their homes, content to sign a paper to withdraw and only one worker pursued the case. this is an example of the board were we are doing in the community to educate the workers to make sure they understand their rights and to know that they should have courage to come forward. i want to thank all the supervisors who supported our campaigns. i hope you will continue to support us as well as increase resources to the office of labor standards enforcement four races this to investigate and enforce the law.

i also know that the supervisors have to make a lot of decisions about what to fund, so i want to also have to support progressive revenue measures for the city. thank you very much. good morning, everyone. i am a sro peer family organization -- organizer. i first want to thank all of supervisors for supporting our campaign. i hope that today it i can earn your continued support bee.

we hope to have more resources to help continue to enforce labor laws. if we do more publicity and outreach education, it will allow more employers to know they have to follow the law and for workers to understand what their rights are. in my work with the sro families, over half of them are not being paid minimum wage. many are working 12 hours or longer and are getting paid $1,400 a month.

some families out of desperation just to earn a few hundred dollars more a month, they leave to go to another state. one person leaves to go work in another state, meaning they cannot be with their family and they do not speak english, and they did not know how to spend it back, so they are saving it when they come back home once a year. we hope today the supervisors will support us in increasing resources and being able to improve the enforcement and education around wage theft. thank you very much. supervisor