cultural income, you know, like life line san francisco is very welcoming of people. people socialize that are -- people on disability, people that are poor folks and people that are wealthy folks. i find it's way different from i came from new york. it's very different from new york. >> thank you. >> thank you. is that it? >> um-hm. thank you. >> is it helena? helene. >> helene wenzel. good afternoon. the next thing you have to fix is the parking around city hall. i am helene wenzel. i'm say senior, a lesbian, in a committed relationship 24 years, we are married. i've been in san francisco enough years to see a big change in the population and the growth of the eldering community from san francisco,

the lgbt elders. i'm an elder law attorney and my focus for a good 50% of my clients is on lgbt issues, financial, health, estate planning, et cetera. and what i see there is a great deal of focus on aids, on invisibility, questions on living alone or together, outliving a partner, on illness and death within our community, on housing and the lack thereof past a certain point if you're not gainfully employed or have a very huge pension from something that you did when you were gainfully employed, you might be out on the streets in san francisco. i have not done much political work here. i have been -- this is a mid-life career change for me. i was a college professor. i was [speaker not understood] at san francisco state when it was largely lesbian. i've been on the aids legal

referral panel. in fact, the first work i did as an attorney was at my tree when it was still on henry street. i've worked at the [speaker not understood] nclr elder love forum. i'm past president of the national academy of elder law attorneys, local northern california chapter. i would bring new blood and new ideas, even though i'm in an old body and i would be very happy to work with [speaker not understood] people. i understand there is some interest in having a woman and a lawyer. i am both. thank you. >> thank you. any questions? seeing none, thank you very much. next person is james illig. i-l-l-i-g. i'm sorry, thank you. next person is james wagoner.

good afternoon. i'm a recent law school graduate. i graduated from jfk university school of law last year. and currently i'm honored to be the boardshire fellow in law and aging at bay area legal aid where i started the project for glbt senior advocacy in september and the project is basically concerned with providing legal representation and advice concerning public benefits for lgbt seniors. the project is trying to ensure that lgbt seniors do not -- low-income lgbt seniors do not disappear from our community if something goes wrong with their benefits. and so far we've had some successes and we had some challenges.

but the project will continue for the rest of this year and i have made this my last career. i suffered a period of illness and disability with hiv/aids. i recognize that as well as the doctors helped me, the lawyers helped me, too. i decided there was something i could do to repay the community that had supported me when i was in need and when i was vulnerable. so, i went to law school at the age of 53. i'm now 57. i'm enjoying very much working with seniors. they've got great stories to tell. they need to remain in our community. and the task force is one way of assessing how we can keep them in the community.

i'm currently a member of the equity advisory committee of the human rights -- san francisco human rights commission. and we have worked with some -- on some senior issues on that committee in the past year. i have the best job in the world and i would like to be a member of the task force because i believe the work it is doing is going to be groundbreaking. it's going to serve our community and it's going to show other communities how they can best approach the rising flood of seniors that are coming our way. and the issues that lgbt people experience in particular. thank you. >> okay, thank you. any questions? supervisor cohen. >> thanks. i'm curious to know, in your

work, in your professional life, what kind of work did you do within the lgbt community as well as within the lgbt ethnic communities? i've had very little experience with the ethnic communities. it's one of the challenges of my job to do outreach to every part of the lgbt community. and i've been doing this for a bit over six months and that challenge remains. >> so, how do you overcome those challenges? i build alliances. i find somebody in the community who already has connections with other people who have a wealth of information and experience with the issues involved. and i rely on their mentorship basically. so far i've put a lot of focus on transgender people because

it was the least familiar to me of all of the lgbt community. i really enjoyed building alliances there. >> so, you mentioned you're 57 years old. yes. >> you put it out there, not me. [laughter] >> what i'm looking to hear is how you spent your professional career. maybe it wasn't in the lgbt community, but maybe you spent it building relationships in other communities. san francisco is a pretty ethnically diverse community. also there are not only challenges in the lgbt/hiv community, but also an interesting layer of complexity when you add growing up in a culture that may have -- you may have grown up in a culture where your sexual orientation choice was frowned upon. so, i'm looking for someone that has experience in that area that can identify or be able to really connect with a

person, that they can under the experiences. so, maybe not in your most recent career as a new lawyer, but previous -- previous work experience, you can draw upon that. my earliest experience was when i was teaching at catholic university in washington, d.c. i became the faculty sponsor to the first gay student organization there. and i was promptly fired for that. so, i understand what it's like to be -- that was in 1980. so, i'm the generation right after the stone wall generation. i'm the one that we were trying to be active and out, and it was a challenge then. i understand what many of my friends were born the generation before me. i understand what it's like for them, that they have a different outlook than i do, and it deserves respect as

well. i've been part of the generation that was heavily discriminated against, bullied in school. i understand what it is to be ostracized and looked down upon. i chose early on to be out and to suffer the consequences of being out. >> all right, thank you. thank you very much. >> thank you. next person on my list is jeremy cuffey. next one is john caldera. next one is kathleen hentges. next one that may be here is lawrence nelson. next one is mark burns.

you skipped a couple names. >> i skipped a couple names because i have indication that they're not here. thank you. i just wanted to put that up quickly. >> no, i actually wanted to put you first. so, you can see from my background that i have a very broad base of both community service and professional experience that touches on a lot of work this task force is asked to look at. i have community based [speaker not understood], community home care, lgbt mental health, [speaker not understood] programs, hiv and aids services, the list goes on. i have a lot of experience in these areas. so, with all due respect the work the task force has already been doing several months, i think what i can bring to that is a lot of professional experience and community passion around the service. i've had the opportunity the last year to work on the mayor's long-term integration design group which has really given me a great perspective on both the challenges the city faces with a lot of managed

care coming and the desire to increase access, and to increase coordination of services. and with a lot of conversation around as we do with ihss, cultural appropriateness. which have 11% of our client base that is lgbt as well. i had the opportunity at new leaf to be the board advisor to the elders council. i want to share a quick story. when the dph cut funding to that program, i got the chance to work with a group of elders who were all activists during the '60s who out of their own pockets put together an event every saturday for laguna honda hospital. they would bake their own casseroles, [speaker not understood]. because the nursing staff refused to assist them throw these events, they helped walk and wheel the residents out of their room to this party. to those who were an integral part of the society in the 60s

and 70s this was the only chance they had to be part of their community again on a monthly basis. i think taking that sort of thought forward into the type of compassion and cultural appropriateness we need to design into our long term care is a need this task force has. thank you very much. >> thank you. any questions? supervisor cohen. >> [inaudible]. so, part of our packet -- it is frustrating people looking for a seat write a letter, have a friend write a letter. we receive letters from mark leno and tom ammiano. i want you to describe work you've done with both these gentlemen. i know both of them from a lot of fund-raising experience back when i was executive director of under one room roof. i first met senator leno when he played santa claus for me in a fund-raiser in gay men's chorus that we were doing.

i've had the opportunity just in the past few years to work with his office on sb 10 08 which was the dual project legislation, and we were cooperating with seiu to design some long-term care training models that were going to be used statewide during this demonstration project. something ammiano and i have done, a lot of fund-raising work together in the hiv community mostly under one roof. he also works with my partner who is the director of the experience area doing fund-raising for school programs. >> so, staying uniform with my line of questioning, for those members here listening, you can please tailor your comments to incorporate them to my question. i'd like you to describe for me the work you've done in various ethnic communities within the lgbt. first knowing there is an lgbt population throughout san francisco, i have a lot of

working diversity in my professional career and in my service. i'm a member of glide. i do a lot of volunteer work at glide, sing with the choir there, i've been with them for 10 years. in my current work we have an extremely diverse client base. our client base is microcosm of san francisco. i think that we have less than 50% caucasian members -- >> who do you work for? in home supportive services consortium. i'm their deputy director. >> okay. and my work in alameda county. i have probably the most diverse experience in my life, 25% of the population are identified openly as lgbt and we have branches in east month, fruit veil, and downtown [speaker not understood]. so a lot of experience working with the population. >> thank you. >> thank you. thank you. >> next person is marshall feldman.

good afternoon. i am the caring coordinator of psychotherapy services at the alliance health project. fortunately the aids health project. i have been active in providing lgbt community services since 1978 when at the age of 24 i worked at the gay center in los angeles at the [speaker not understood] counseling department. i've been continuously providing mental health services at the lgbt community in 1991, and san francisco for the last 15 years. i'm very aware that frequently when we talk about health, mental health is given short shift. mental health is an area that [speaker not understood] old whether housing or social service and frequently it's not a part of what we have. i have for the last 10 years been focused on the mental health needs of the aging lgbt community. i have devised a support group that meets and is open regardless of hiv status, regardless of income, and it

has a broad range of men -- in fact, we offer two groups. it's been a very popular outreach. in addition, i developed a training on the mental health needs which has been provided locally for various community organizations as well as graduate programs as well as nationally and next month i will be in australia at the melbourne health and difference conference which is a national conference on lgbt mental health issues, -- health issues and i will be presenting on mental health issues at that conference. i am an active member of the community partnership and also a member of the hiv and aging policy. what i bring, i hope, is the unique perspective to mental health to the committee and i would be honored to be selected as one of the members. thank you. >> thank you. any questions? seeing none, thank you very much.

next person is moll steinert. good afternoon, my name is mollie steinert. i have both a personal and professional interest in being on the task force. as an aging lesbian, i'm very committed to seeing that our community is friendly to the lgbt aging population in the city and that for those of us who chose to come here to find community, safety, and political work as well can age in this community successfully. professionally i was the former executive director of open house for three years and at open house the objective was to make sure that services for

aging lgbt people were accessible and available. and i spent a lot of work doing cultural competency training with our senior service agencies because we were unrepresented in those agencies. and made a great deal of headway. however, we continue to be unrepresented in those senior agencies and services. i also worked on housing, lgbt housing and was part of the effort for 55 laguna. currently i'm the executive director of stepping stone which run four adult day health centers in san francisco and i'm painfully reminded that we still have a very long way to go to make sure that lgbt seniors are represented in our

senior services. i'm also a member of the long-term care coordinating council in san francisco and i have a deep commitment to making sure that services are available to our community. thank you. >> thank you. any questions? seeing none, thank you very much. thank you. >> next person is nikos diaman. ray rudolph. richard appleby. rick crane. robert connors. valerie agostino. veronika fimbres. william kirkpatrick.

william lipsky. so, i didn't call several of the names that there were indications they wouldn't be here. so, i didn't want to miss anybody. is there anybody on this list that i did not call, just in case you are here? seeing none, okay. are there any public comments for this item? seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. supervisor cohen. >> i have a question for the city attorney. i was wondering if you can tell me what is the makeup of this body? maybe the clerk of the board, i'm not quite sure. so, the task force is made up of

how many people and particularly want to know how many men, how many women? >> [speaker not understood]. i looked it up already. there's 14, one vacancy, supposed to be made up of 15. and currently there are 11 male and three females. >> okay, thank you very much. >> do you want ethnicity i can give you that. >> thank you. >> there's 7 caucasian, 3 asian, pacific islander, 3 african-american, 1 latino. supervisor breed? >> thank you. i think this is pretty amazing that we have so many not only qualified candidates, but so many candidates that are committed to the lgbt community, and specifically issues around seniors. and the person -- i know the person who previously held this seat and she was very much not only committed to these issues,

but as a transgender woman, she was really concerned about what that means for aging and being able to have access to affordable housing, care, and the kinds of things that help with the quality of life for all seniors in san francisco. i would like to, with that, i would like to move forward mark burns as the candidate for this particular seat primarily because of his work with in-home support services, a program i'm very intimately familiar with the work that they do in terms of cultural competence, the compassion that they demonstrate for our city's most disabled citizens who need care, is extremely important. and i think that we need that particular voice at the table when discussing these issues. i actually made that decision

before i had gotten the letters from mark leno, senator mark leno and assemblyman ammiano. but i respect their work in the lgbt community. and one of the things that i think mr. burns will bring to the table is his love, his genuine love for people. also his volunteerism, his spirit, and the arts as a member of the gay men's chorus who on occasions have practice at the african-american art culture complex. again, his diverse experience of being actively engaged in various aspects of our city, and being active in supporting seniors, especially our most vulnerable senior population, is something we really, really need at the table. so, i'd like to move his name forward. thank you.

>> again, i want to thank everyone that is present today and wanting to be serving the community, lgbt community and san francisco as a whole. like always, we seem to always get so many people that are qualified. i could see every single one of you who, as you stepped forward today, would bring a nice perspective to this group. one of my main concerns is -- one of the reasons why i looked up whats was the current makeup of the group -- of the task force was to find out what was the mix. and as we always want to do, we like to have a diverse group of folks. and right now currently what's really missing or what seems to be not balanced with the diversity is with the gender, gender issue.

so, i'm going to -- there were two women that were up here speaking today. they're both highly qualified. so, even making decision between the two women for myself is difficult. however, i will go ahead and put myself out there. my preference is to nominate moll steinert to be on this task force. and, again, everybody that was up here seemed to have a commitment and a very good perspective, where they come from, the type of experience they will add to the task force. so, that's who i would like to nominate, but let's listen to commissioner cohen and see if there is any consensus with anybody here. >> good afternoon, everyone. just for the record, we've had 33 applicants for one position.

that's pretty competitive. that's almost like my seat. there were 22 candidates for two supervisors. i understand the angst around it. here's what i like to hear. i look for equity, parity and diversity. i'm looking for someone who has demonstrated experience in work either volunteering or in a professional way and multi-ethnic communities, making sure that we're reaching everyone. now, i, too, share in the concern in making sure that there is diversity on the entire task force. that's why i ask the question, what's the complex -- what are we dealing with here? interestingly enough, i came to a similar conclusion to supervisor yee and i said, yes, i think we should definitely

support a woman seeing how there is an overwhelmingly large number of men that are on the board. however, what's interesting is i came to settle on helene wenzel as the name i'd like to put forward. i'd like to maybe propose bringing helene and moll back up and we can ask a few more follow-up questions and interview a little bit more and then we can make a decision from that point. that's if the chair will accept that compromise. >> no objection. supervisor breed? can helene and moll -- mollie. >> mollie come on up. i'm sorry. i see moll. >> it says m-o-l-l on our sheet. that's not your fault. got it. >> sorry to put you two

together like this. that's okay. >> do you guys know each other? yes. >> would you vouch for each other in terms of work? [laughter] >> i mean, we're looking for the best and obviously the strongest candidate. sometimes you can have two of the best. maybe you guys can offer something about each other that might help, help us make this decision. i know it's a little tough when -- i don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. if you're uncomfortable, just wink -- i can speak about myself. >> be my guest. say something about yourself. it's helene? yes, it's helene. as long as you didn't do helen, that's fine. no apologies. one of the things that i realize i didn't speak to, you did ask about diversity. and my clientele, quote-unquote, my clients are quite diverse. i spend a lot of time -- i had spent a lot of time in bayview hunters point and visiting with people. just basically getting a feel

for the full panoply of the people who live in san francisco. many of my clients are not lesbian, they're gayses, they are elderly. i've dealt with all of their family issues. i think i have from the black community, hispanic community, latino community, asian american as well. and i guess going back to, you know, the old days and this does speak to my being a senior . in fact, i kind of got outed by the b-a-r. it showed up on the internet. i'm 68. so, i probably trump you on that, but that's neither here nor there. what i do see, though, is really how important it is, you know, how gender and age and ethnicity and, if you will, wealth and lack thereof, affects our people. and, you know, just