the tenderloin, that that child was being affected by my benefits. so, that ain't nothing i'm really proud of. so, this is my way of trying to redeem myself, ma'am. >> thank you. yes, ma'am. >> thank you. stephen fields, are you here? come on up. so, the reason i'm interested in becoming part of the reentry council, it's something that i've always wanted to do, but i didn't really have the time for. some of my successes here in san francisco is that i piloted a program with the juvenile corrections programs at a youth guided center. piloted a program called principle collaborative centers here for youth here in san

francisco, helping youth out in bayview and hunters point area. people who are marginalized with a lot of disparity, helping them to get into different programs. from there, i worked with the adult populations here in san francisco for over the past 10 years, helping people to get into treatment centers throughout the city of san francisco. most of my work is very much targeted here in san francisco. i currently am a program manager here in san francisco. i also am a certified treatment counselor and currently attending college out at san francisco state university, applying for graduate school to become a social worker. i worked with the mayor with the court systems. aye i'm more familiar with the probation department. i am familiar with the reentry and i am very familiar with incarceration. i served time both in state and federal facilities in the united states.

for me, it's been a life journey, but it's everything that's allowed me to become who i am today, which is a person who loves to reach out and help another person get his life back on track. some of the things i've experienced here in san francisco is homelessness, long-term drug addiction, all those problems i've overcome. today i work in and out of the county jails, out of san bruno, [speaker not understood] brightvthv. i currently supervise intern counselors who try to go out and change people's lives and touch their lives in a way that reduces recidivism here in san francisco. i participate actively in writing grants for different -- for different programs that our agency can go out and reach more people over the years. i probably have helped, i'll just say modestly hundreds and hundreds of people. that's about it. >> supervisor breed.

>> did you get [speaker not understood]? >> i saw your name. do you have any questions? supervisor cohen? >> i'm sorry, can you tell us how you heard about the reentry program again? i heard about the reentry council. i was working for jeff hadachi in the public defenders office. >> what were you doing at the pd office? reentry counselor, social worker. i heard about the program, i attended one of the very first sum its for the reentry council. i was actually a client of the reentry social worker here in san francisco in the very early beginning stages. and it was just something that, you know, for me it was about giving back and learning something different. at that time i was interested in studying recidivism and i was also interested in studying research articles on disparity and why people ended up trapped and going back and forth into jails and prisons.

>> and your application indicates that you've attended meetings, you're familiar with the process and the procedures at our reentry council. you attended meetings before? i'm sorry. >> have you attended any reentry council meetings? i have attended reentry council meetings and find them very interesting. i like to keep my finger on the pulse of what is a.m. going on here in the community in regards to formerly incarcerated persons, their rights in regards to job applications and the different things that are of major concern for people who are incarcerated. for instance, the right to vote here in the city of san francisco for people who are incarcerated and people who are currently out in the community, different issues like that that allow us to be more proactive in the community. and also to gain back some of the vital components of life that i think are important for helping people who have been formerly incarcerated. >> thank you. >> thank you.

you're welcome. >> toni scott, are you here? i'm going back to malik wade. has he stepped back in? okay. i think those were the only ones that were listed. is there any public comment for this item? you have two minutes. good afternoon, my name is [speaker not understood]. i work for the reentry navigator program here in san francisco which assists individuals who have prior convictions [speaker not understood] training or employment. and i'm here today in support of dennis kinkle's application for a seat on the reentry council. i have known dennis now for over a year. since he came into the soma one stop and became a participant in the reentry navigator program, during that year i

have seen him evolve. he has achieved his ged in less than three months. he was hired as a transitional employee and then based on his exemplary work was hired as a permanent employee at good will. he completed a warehouse training program and now has been invited back to speak to current students to provide them with insight about his experience and his advice back to his employer good will and [speaker not understood], but, one, volunteering his artistic abilitieses, his time and materials to paint holiday decorations at good will, which gave him a chance to find employment. and he has volunteered to be a speaker in speaker's bureau [speaker not understood] council subcommittee is working

to form. i've learned a lot from him. he is experienced reentering several communities and is always willing to share his thoughts what works and what doesn't and i think he would bring a valuable perspective to the reentry council given he has taken advantage of so many services here in san francisco. and has made them work. and i support his application and [speaker not understood] each of the candidates have great things to offer so i hope that they will continue to work with the reentry council. thank you for your time. >> thank you. are these new, supervisor cohen? >> yes, i would like to [speaker not understood] one more. i'm sorry, public comment is over. >> let me close this. is there any more public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> just a couple questions about just the composition of the -- and the makeup of the reentry council. >> sure. >> i've been listening.

the'ly katetionvindications from the applicant and on the website. it looks like seat 4 is the only one that is allowed -- i'm sorry, seat 4 is the only one that's vacant today. >> correct. >> out of the list of folks we've seen today, are we allowed to vote on only one person? >> correct. >> so, can you talk to me a little bit to help me make my decision about the makeup of this council? >> um-hm. absolutely. well, 16 of the 23 members are appointed by virtue of their seat. so, the district attorney, the public defender, head of public health, et cetera, the seven formerly incarcerated individuals, three are appointed by the mayor, four by the board of sups. the other appointee [speaker not understood] who is appointed by the mayor. ron aloe [speaker not understood] was appointed by the board of supervisors which

is the chair we're filling. [speaker not understood] is one of the other board appointees. eddie [speaker not understood] -- >> he is mayoral, right? >> yes, mayoral appointee. stephen low is one of the board appointees here. as is kim courtney. so, it is stephen, jerrold and kim courtney are the three other appointees with leslie, eddy, and then one other gentleman appointed by the mayor. so, the kind of range of experiences, the range of ages, some gender diversity with two women, about 13% of the people involved in the criminal justice system are women. so, it's not so much disparity to have only two of the seven appointees be women, with jerald miller, african-american, and three asian american representatives.

>> i'm sorry, you said one african-american, three asian, two women? >> yes, two women. >> and in terms of kind of comparison to the population, as you probably know, about 60% of ~ the individuals incarcerated are african-american, with latinos and asian americans comprising a significant minority. in san francisco, the disproportionality is three times the rate of the san francisco resident population, which is actually slightly higher the national average. so, that's one issue that we're looking at. >> supervisor breed. >> okay, are you finished with your -- okay. this is probably one of the most challenging decisions i've ever been faced with as a member of the board. mostly because this impacts the people that i care about, the

people i grew up with. the candidates that have come before us have been really -- i'm really, really impressed with your qualifications, but more importantly, i'm really impressed with all of the work that you are all doing in the community to try to help someone else. this means really a lot to me because as supervisor, one of the things that i want to look at is ways in which we can help to change lives, especially for those who are coming out of [speaker not understood] and making sure that they have access to opportunity, especially employment and housing which we know there are numerous barriers to issues of that nature. and with that, i definitely want to move forward with the recommendation of robert bowden

because i know him, and i know exactly what he's out there doing in terms of the work in the community and the impact on the lives, especially those that i have worked with for many, many years. i think that that voice is actually missing on the reentry council, the voice of someone who's come up through the experiences that i've witnessed, the experiences many members of my community, selling drugs, going to prison, homicides, all of these things that sadly destroy a community and which destroyed my home, the western addition. and i think that the fact that i remember when he first started this program, and oftentimes you hear people talk about what they're gonna do for their community, and he's out there doing it. and although i know that other

members of this council -- i mean, other applicants here are doing the exact same thing in terms of doing something to give back, the voice of what i'm looking for for this particular reentry council is a voice that will help me further my mission of helping those who are released from prison really adapt to coming back to society, especially in san francisco, and becoming a part of the community, a part of transforming the community. and i think mr. bowden will bring that voice. and i'm really excited about just all of you here and i wish that there were opportunities for you to serve in a capacity like this. and i hope that we get a chance to see you again if other seats become available. i'm not sure exactly what my colleagues are interested in

doing, but my support is 100% behind mr. bowden, and i hope he will be considered for the full board. >> thank you, supervisor breed. i have to say that this is probably the most qualified set of people for any of the seats i've seen so far in my short life on the board of supervisors. each one of you would bring a lot to this reentry commission. and unfortunately we only have one seat. i wish we could have all of you. you know, regardless of who is going to be selected, i really hope you keep your interest up. it seems that you're doing things anyways, but as seats

become available, please reapply. you folks are just amazing. so, i pretty much could select any one of you. i'm listening to my colleague, supervisor breed's comments, and [speaker not understood]. so if we were to open for nomination right now, you're nominating mr. bowden, i will second that. >> thank you. >> supervisor cohen? >> thank you very much. i appreciated jessica's work -- appreciate jessica's work with the reentry council. i've been on the board for three years and have watched closely the reentry council, the work that they've done, the reporting that they've done

were important, particularly in this hour post realignment, which is a really critical time for us in california, particularly here in san francisco. and i have growing frustrations with realignment [speaker not understood]. i understand this happened at the state level, but it's frustrating because i've had three shootings this week in the district, one of which was an officer involved shooting. you think about last weekend how many shootings happened across the bay area. i think there were five shootings in four days. and when i talk to other colleagues in other counties, they, too, are experiencing an uptick in violence, particularly around gun violence. so, the way i see the reentry council as being another partner as a tool in this

discussion on how we decrease the recidivism rate, particularly young boys from going into a life of crime. and begin to -- a reentry council is a part of a body that helps us with the discussion around how do we support those men and women that are coming back into our community so that they can get jobs, find housing, reconnect with their children, reconnect with their families. and, so, i share the same concerns with my two other colleagues. that said, i think michael santos stood out the most for me. as i struggle to try to find my words, when i think about the composition of the reentry council, what i think is lacking is a latino male.

and, so, that is why [speaker not understood] is attractive to me. and you yourself discussed, jessica, what exactly african-american and latino being second to the number -- to the ethnic group that populates our jails. and i think mr. santos, is interesting because he's obviously [speaker not understood] can write, he has a quality to be able to inspire other folks, not just latino men, but also have the ability to inspire people and transcend the race and ethnic identities that many of us have and operate with. so, i would like to put forth and nominate mr. michael santos today for consideration by this body so that we can make our

recommendation to the full board. so, i'm not sure procedurally how we get out of this little conundrum because i think there are two names and two motions on the floor. mr. deputy city attorney? >> good afternoon. deputy city attorney andrew shen. i think just to summarize where the committee is right now, there is a motion to move forward with recommendation mr. bowden and i believe that motion was seconded by chair yee. there is also an in addition a motion by supervisor cohen to forward michael santos to the full board. in terms of what we can do, we can certainly take a roll call vote on the motion regarding mr. bowden, and i guess in terms of disposition of supervisor cohen's motion, if there is a second. if there is no second to your motion, supervisor cohen, it would simply fail lack of a second and we can do a roll call vote with respect to mr. bowden. >> thank you very much for that clarification.

>> so, i think the next step is is there a second or not for supervisor cohen's motion. >> so, we'll take a roll call vote on mr. bowden. >> on the motion, supervisor breed? breed aye. supervisor cohen? cohen no. supervisor yee? two ayes and one no. >> mr. bowden will be forwarded to the full board. thank you once again. all of us appreciate every one of you that have applied. and please keep up the good work that you're doing. thank you very much. we're going to move into -- hold on, let me say this first. can you please call items 8 through 17?

>> mr. chair, item numbers 8 through 17 are items regarding existing litigation. would you like to adopt a motion to move into closed session? >> thank you. before we entertain a motion to convene this closed session, is there any member of the public who wishes to speak on items 8 through 17? good afternoon, supervisors. today you are reviewing a whistle blower retaliation settlement titled dr. derek kerr versus ccsf. i'm the plaintiff and i didn't want to sue the city. but dr. maria row aver owe and i stumbled upon wrongdoing ~ in involving laguna honda's ceo that we just couldn't ignore. after notifying the whistle blower program, i received a unique permanent layoff and dr. rovero was harassed. we reported the retaliation to

the ethics commission, but ethics did nothing to protect my career. instead, they told me to get a lawyer. then ethics took over two years to complete their investigation. in retrospect, the lawsuit was our only hope because ethics has not sustained a single whistle blower retaliation claim since it was founded. not one. many studies have shown that reprizals against whistleblowers are common with rates up to 90%. but with our ethics commission, the retaliation rate is always zero. that's why we are here today. we hope some benefit will come of this and offer two suggestions to prevent future lawsuits.

number one, ask why the ethics commission dismisses every retaliation complaint it receives. and two, ask the controller's whistleblower program to perform a whistleblower satisfaction survey. thank you for your time. >> thank you. hi, supervisors. i'm maria rovero, i'm the silent partner in the lawsuit you're going to be reviewing. dr. kerr and i blew the whistle on laguna honda gift fund and also tainted department health contracts. then after 20-year careers at laguna honda, i was believed and forced out of my position and he was terminated. and therefore, the $750,000 settlement for wrongful termination that you are going to be reviewing. ~ bullied. barbara karosi is the ceo of

laguna honda and she admitted she made the determination to terminate dr. kerr. what is the message you receive when the [speaker not understood] who retaliated is still in office? to same it shows you condone whistle blower retaliation and violate laws that protect whistle blowers. it shows you accept executive who pilfer funds at laguna honda. violating what supervisor campos has said is a sacred trust. it shows that you condone spending public funds on rigged contracts given to cronies. it shows that you'll accept driving out ethical and committed workers from laguna honda and replacing them with towedies who rise to the top because they don't dare ask any questions about the problems there. ~ it also shows that you support a culture of dishonesty and incompetence about laguna honda.

barbara karosi said she stands by her determination to [speaker not understood] dr. kerr [speaker not understood]. clearly, martha karosi doesn't get it and hopefully you guys are take this into consideration. thank you. good afternoon. my name is rita o'flynn. i am affiliated with san franciscans for sunshine. i have exposed [speaker not understood] in the lead hazard program. in in terms of the city's settlement proposal for dr. kerr's lawsuit, the city is really getting off cheap. dr. kerr is a well respected physician with a long history of service at laguna honda who uncovered fraud, waste, and abuse and mismanagement of funds specifically intended for the disadvantaged patients served by the city at laguna hospital.

rather than thanking dr. kerr for going above and beyond in his care for patients, he was fired, was robbed of his career and more importantly the patients of laguna honda were robbed of the excellent care that dr. kerr provides. like many who hope to avoid legal action and secure swift and impartial judgment by the alternate avenues offered by the city, dr. kerr sought administrative remedy in the form of a complaint to the ethics commission. and like many others before him, dr. kerr's complaint was dismissed and it was dismissed in spite of considerable and compelling evidence to the contrary to the finding of the ethics commission. fortunately, dr. kerr was able to secure the services of an attorney to fight for his rights. many are not able to do so and the city seems to be relying on this, viewing its citizens as perfect victims. dr. kerr has been lied to and lied about and when the what the city put dr. kerr through this whistle blowing activity

is beyond appalling. quite frankly i think you should not only award him his settlement, but i think you should also award him attorney's fees. they should be awarded at the standard low start rate and they should be trebled to send a message to city employees that this type of retaliation will not be tolerated. thank you. >> thank you. seeing no other public comment, public comment is closed. colleagues, is there a motion to convene in closed session after a five-minute break? >> so moved. >> so moved. we'll reconvene for closed session in five minutes. >>please stand by; meeting in recess >>please stand by - meeting in closed session >> okay. colleagues, can i have a motion to not disclose what happened in closed session? >> i think you need to wait

until linda say -- can we go ahead? okay. he so, deputy city attorney andrew shen to report back on the committee's discussion during closed session. the committee has moved forward unanimously the first nine settlements on their agenda, items 8 through 16. and has also moved to continue item 17 to the call of the chair. >> thank you. colleague, can i have a motion to not disclose what happened in closed session? >> so moved. >> moved and seconded. so, it moves forward. okay. >> thank you very much. >> madam clerk, is there anything else on the agenda? >> no, mr. chair. >> okay. then this meeting is adjourned. [adjourned] the

city of san francisco sfgtv meeting of the san francisco entertainment commission occurring march , 2013, will begin shortly.