and the sacrifices of a lot of small business owners [speaker not understood] to stay there for the community. so, thank you. >> billy, i don't know if you'd like to say a few words. i just want to say thank you. pat and nancy did this. i just took over two years ago. pat was my mother. but it would be an honor. thank you. >> thank you very much. she helped me get the bar going really good. >> pat, would you like to say a few words? thank you for waiting today. we're really honored to be here today and to have the recognition from the city and county of san francisco. it means the world to us. so, thank you all very much. >> i know that there is entire bernal heights neighborhood that will be celebrating with you. and, again, we want to thank you for what you do for our neighborhood and the entire city. [speaker not understood] a party on saturday. (applause)

>> thank you, kiloton. and i have another presentation. i'd like to ask officers john cafe and officers david sands as well as we have here with us captain mowser. we have our commander who is here. if you could please come up. we'll give them some time. i know that officer cafe just had surgery and hopefully will take the time to recover fully. but let me just say this is a

presentation that has been a long time coming. and i think that i can honestly say not only on behalf of myself, but on behalf of my entire office that the work that we have done with officers cafe and sands in many respects has been the most fulfilling work that we have done since i was elected to the board of supervisors. the way that -- let me tell you a little bit about sort of how we got to this point. and we all have talked about and heard about community policing and the importance of having a police department that is connected to the neighborhoods that it serves. one day i was walking down 24th street, i think i was actually maybe going to get a burrito. officer cafe approached me. officer gang and sands had been

doing gang prevention work at the mission station for a number of years. and officer cafe said to me, you know, we work with a lot of youth. we interact with a lot of young people, mostly young men, and we're kind of getting tired of arresting some of the same young people, arresting them, chasing them. we arrest them, they go through the system. at some point they may serve time, but at some point they come back out and we have to deal with them yet again. is there a way that we can work together to break that cycle? and, so, for the last year and a half we have been working with them where, with young people that they've run into and interact with, and these are young men mostly who have a past, who have done some bad things in the neighborhood, but young men who are ready to change their lives.

and we started a few months back over a year ago with one young man, and we created this system where the officers, officers cafe and sands, approached the young person, asked them if they are willing to change their lives. and if that commitment is made working with the mission captain, we find them a job. and we have done that for a number of young men in the last year and a half. and i think it's fair to say that in so doing, these two officers have helped us allow these young people to completely change their lives. and our experience has been that once you find them a job, that these young people who for so long were creating problems in these neighborhoods, are some of the most effective and

efficient workers that you can find. and not only are you helping them to change their own lives, but you're helping them change the lives of their entire families. and i've had the opportunity to meet at least one of the parents for one of the young people involved. when i spoke to him, it just looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. this has had a tremendous impact as well in the neighborhood. a lot of the places where these young men would hang outlook completely different than they did before. * and, so, one young person at a time, we are changing this cycle. and it is incredible that two officers who literally have put their lives on the line, and with many of these young people have literally chased them and stopped them from doing bad things, would have the, the,

the thought that we want to help these young people, the very young people that we're trying to prevent from doing bad things. we want to help them. it takes a very unique kind of person to be able to do that. and officer cafe and officer sands, you guys have inspired us in ways that i really don't have the words to describe. we had a meeting with many of the young men that you have already helped, and you can see the change in their attitude. you can see the way that they look at life. they have never, many of them have never had a job before. they don't know what it's like to put on a uniform and go to work. and it's hard for you to work as they do. many of them never thought that they would ever, ever speak to a police officer and have a relationship with a police officer, but you have made that happen.

and in the process you have taught us all a lesson. and it's an example of how this police department is really trying to make community policing a reality, a real meaningful reality in our neighborhoods. i'd like to give captain moser, the commander, an opportunity to say a few words. none of them work, by the way, would be possible without the mission captain being committed to this work. captain mosher has been a strong supporter of this program. before that, captain greg corales was a strong supporter of this effort as was and continues to be chief [speaker not understood]. so, captain mosher. >> thank you. my name is captain moser. i have the distinct pleasure of being the commanding officer of officer cafe and officer sands. i want to speak about

dedication. these officers order to make a breakthrough literally have to make hundreds of contacts with individuals out there on the street. not every contact is an arrest. not every contact is a law enforcement contact. these contacts are about getting to know these individuals and building trust. sometimes they have to do the job of making that arrest and a lot of times it's building trust and trying to make that breakthrough. and once they do make that breakthrough, you should see the looks on their faces when they come into the office and say, hey, we got a guy, we got a guy that we've been talking to for a year and he wants to come forward and he wants to try it. i can't speak enough about that. their dedication also goes beyond just their work with gang prevention and violence prevention. whenever there is an issue in the district, i can always count on these two to come forward and with some sort of idea, hey, how about if we try this, how about if we try that?

they're always thinking towards making improvements, not just within the issues that they work with, but within the district as a whole. they are truly an asset not only to the mission, but to the city of san francisco. and it's a pleasure to be their commanding officer. thank you. >> well, with that, i just want to again thank you. and by the way, right now it's not just getting them jobs, but we're trying to connect many of them with city college so that they continue to get an education. one of the young men wants to be a chef. so, we're working to find that person a job with a local restaurant. san francisco has amazing restaurants. so, you're really teaching these kids that they have, you know, choices that they can make and that they can have a new life for themselves. but, again, i can't, i can't thank you enough for what you do. so, with that, officers john cafe and david sands, please come on up. if you can say a few words.

we just want to thank you, supervisor campos, for this honor. it's just a different aspect of our police work that we thought could change some people's lives. so, thank you very much. >> thank you. i just want to say we couldn't do this without the help from, you know, the upper brass and supervisor campos, we were able to call our captain and supervisor campos at the last minute and say we have a window of opportunity with this young man a time to meet. with supervisor campos' aid, they scrambled and said can you be here by 3:00 or maybe 3:15? and we meet, these young men get to see city hall. they've never seen city hall. they can come down they're and see there is another way of life. a lot of them never left the mission. so, you know, it can't be done without help from everybody. it's a team effort here.

and like i said, it's a window of opportunity and when we see it, it's few and far between, but we take advantage of it. and so far it's helped them, their families, and we just hope that everybody else in the city or the other districts, if you guys try it, i think it will improve everybody's life in san francisco, and eventually all it does is build self-esteem and shows these guys they can do anything if they try. some of them are very good at what they do. so, we're just going to keep doing it and we just hope that everybody else, if you have an opportunity, we're going to try and expand it some way. if we can, i think in the long run you'll see a lot of guys that never had the chance or never had the opportunity when given the chance, they can excel far beyond a lot of people's expectations. thank you. >> well, thank you for your persistence and resilience. for every yes, it takes months and months of you asking. and we know that we have to be on call because we have to take

advantage of that short window when their minds have opened up and they're willing to say yes. but thank you for doing that. (applause)

>> thank you, officers. thank you supervisor campos. colleagues, why don't we go to our 4:00 p.m. special order. madam clerk, will you call items 23 through 26? >> item 23 is the public hearing of persons interested in the decision of the planning commission's july 26, 2012 conditional use authorization to allow child care facility doing business as alpha kids academy on property located at 175 junipero serra boulevard. item 27 is a motion approving the commission's decision to approve the conditional use authorization. item 25, motion disapproving the planning commission's decision and item 26 is a motion directing the appropriation findings. >> this is a project in district 7, supervisor elsbernd. do you have any comments? >> thank you, mr. president. this appeal has been withdrawn. i would like to take the opportunity since hehere to thank margaret on behalf of all the neighbors for all of their good work and diligence, working together on this. they're not here, but the

project sponsors, the preschool as well as the home site, the church, all the parties involved, really came together and worked well and i'm optimistic that the agreement that has been reached will work for everyone involved for a very long time to come. >> thank you. so, with that i understand there will be a motion to table all these items. let me ask, is there any public comment on this matter? seeing no public comment, okay, supervisor elsbernd, are you going to offer a motion to affirm the planning commission's decision? which i understand from the clerk we need to do. supervisor elsbernd is making that motion. second by supervisor campos. colleagues, can we take that motion without objection? without objection, that should be the case. madam clerk, could you read the in memoriams? >> yes, mr. president. today's meeting will be adjourned in memory of the following individuals. mr. elsbernd, mr. henry rabbit. on behalf of mr. chiu, mr. gary

cray. mr. lanier [speaker not understood]. >> and with that, madam clerk, is there any more business in front of the board? >> that concludes our business for the day. >> with that, ladies and gentlemen, we are adjourned. [gavel]

>> i love teaching. it is such an exhilarating experience when people began to feel their own creativity. >> this really is a place where all people can come and take a class and fill part of the community. this is very enriching as an artist. a lot of folks take these classes and take their digital imagery and turn it into negatives. >> there are not many black and white darkrooms available anymore. that is a really big draw. >> this is a signature piece. this is the bill largest darkroom in the u.s.. >> there are a lot of people that want to get into that dark room. >> i think it is the heart of this place. you feel it when you come in.

>> the people who just started taking pictures, so this is really an intersection for many generations of photographers and this is a great place to learn because if you need people from different areas and also everyone who works here is working in photography. >> we get to build the community here. this is different. first of all, this is a great

location. it is in a less-populated area. >> of lot of people come here just so that they can participate in this program. it is a great opportunity for people who have a little bit of photographic experience. the people have a lot, they can really come together and share a love and a passion. >> we offer everything from traditional black and white darkrooms to learning how to process your first roll of film. we offer classes and workshops in digital camera, digital printing. we offer classes basically in the shooting, ton the town at night, treasure island. there is a way for the programs

exploring everyone who would like to spend the day on this program. >> hello, my name is jennifer. >> my name is simone. we are going on a field trip to take pictures up the hill. >> c'mon, c'mon, c'mon. >> actually, i have been here a lot. i have never looked closely enough to see everything. now, i get to take pictures. >> we want to try to get them to be more creative with it. we let them to be free with them but at the same time, we give them a little bit of direction.

>> you can focus in here. >> that was cool. >> if you see that? >> behind the city, behind the houses, behind those hills. the see any more hills? >> these kids are wonderful. they get to explore, they get to see different things. >> we let them explore a little bit. they get their best. if their parents ever ask, we can learn -- they can say that they learned about the depth of field or the rule of thirds or that the shadows can give a good contrast. some of the things they come up with are fantastic.

that is what we're trying to encourage. these kids can bring up the creativity and also the love for photography. >> a lot of people come into my classes and they don't feel like they really are creative and through the process of working and showing them and giving them some tips and ideas. >> this is kind of the best kept secret. you should come on and take a class. we have orientations on most saturdays. this is a really wonderful location and is the real jewel to the community. >> ready to develop your photography skills? the harvey milk photo center focuses on adult classes. and saturday workshops expose youth and adults to photography

classes. >> san francisco recreation and parks department offers classes for the whole family. rec and parks has a class for everyone. discover what is available now and get ready to get out and play. henri matisse. frida kahlo. andy warhol. discover the next great artist. get out and play and get inspired with toddler classes.

experience art where making a mess is part of the process. classes and the size the artistic process rather than the product. children have the freedom to explore materials at their own pace and in their own way. talks love art, especially when they died into the creative process -- dive into the creative process. at the end of the classes, they have cleaned and washup. of.com great way to get out and play. for more information, visit sfrecpark.org. that out and play and get into the groove. rec and parks offers dance

classes for seniors. first-time beginners or lifetime enthusiasts -- all are welcome. enjoy all types of music. latins also, country and western. it is a great way to exercise while having lots of fun. seniors learn basic moves and practice a variety of routines. improve your posture, balance, and flexibility. it is easy. get up on your feet and step to the beat. senior dance class is from sf rec and park. a great way to get out and play. >> for more information,

>> i want to learn more about e-mails, internet. er >> social networking and e-mail. >> i want to know how to use it. >> the digital divide is essentially the divide between those who have access to these digital tools and those who don't. >> these young people is having computers and i just don't know, they're doing it fast. so, i want to know. >> not knowing how to navigate the internet is at a loss of what to do. >> we don't have a computer. >> we are non-profit that unites organizations and volunteers to transform lives through digital literacy.

our big right now is the broadband technology opportunity program, a federally funded project through the department of aging so we're working in 26 locations, our volunteers are trained to be tutors and trainers offering everything from basic classes all the way to genealogy and job search. >> to me, a computer aon auxiliary brain, it's like knowing how to use your brain, how important is that. i think it's important and possibly seniors, it's important for them to stay in touch. er >> people like facebook or skype so they can connect to their family members or see their family member's albums from far away.

>> (speaking spanish). >> what we like to focus on is transferring skills from volunteer to learner to help them get on to facebook, find housing on craig's list, being able to connect with friends and family. >> i decided teaching them what i knew and that got me into wanting to give back and to learning more and how it works. >> i discover -- i discovered that seniors need a lot of review. >> i am beginner so little by little, i learn a lot now. >> i learned just the basics, if you get the basics, you can learn it, if you don't get the basics, you're lost. >> it's simple, it's easy, once you know it and that's what i want to learn, how to make my

life easier and more knowledgeable with a computer. >> so, what we need right now are more people who speak languages other than english or in addition to english, who can give their time during the day and who care deeply ideally about helping to close the digital divide. >> you know, its's a humbling experience, it could be something simple to us in our daily lives but to someone that doesn't know and to help somebody gain that experience in any way, it's awesome. >> (speaking spanish). >> no matter how tired or cranky or whatever i miekt feel when i walk into this class, i walk out feeling great. >> if you feel comfortable using a cuter and you have

patience, we want you on our team. >> with they showed me how to do skype. >> will you help me learn more?