writers. we want to even the playing field. i know that's how we do business here. we want to be cognitive of that and make sure you have the even playing field in opportunities there whether you are all staffed up or not. i would hope that we can somehow get beyond the art commission is considering xy and z and we actually have representative from your body coming back and saying we have actually implemented the following changes based on the coverage that took place on whatever day is today. is there any other comments from the commissioners? >> then i'm going to call public comment. as i stated earlier i have some cards in my hand. this first call under the general managers report will be strictly related to item 7a. can i start with larry ware?

>> good afternoon commissioners, my name is larry ware. i'm the founder of the poetry program i started 35 years ago at the bayview library and started the african american history program 40 years ago. i was the last unsung hero at the program and honored laureate for my work and i was honored for the city and the mayor elected someone else. now you know who i am. i have known this gentleman for the last 50 years. i have the video of his mother and ed rub ins who was nominated for the pulitzer prize. and -- i have known her. anyway, i think this gentleman deserves

considerations for one of these grants coming up. i have worked election polls and in 1957 and i have been part of the community. when i started the poetry programs, the african american history program i funded that out of my own pocket without any help. the friends of the library have contributed a couple hundred dollars every year and the poet like the christmas song, nat king cole and debra mason and janet, they have been in programs with me. i was also commissioned to write a poem to david gillespie and unfortunate he passed away. i have been m programs involve the greatest

singer james brown and the foundation. i have been teaching poetry and creative writing over 45 years and music history and music appreciation and i need further funding myself so i can further do my work. music is the universal language and open up the greatest vehicle for communication. i would like to see serious consideration given for a grant to mr. williams for the wonderful work he's doing. anthank you very much and happy thanksgiving to everyone. >> did you apply for this round? >> no. i will apply because i can use it. it's not about me, it's about the community. i got the track record and the work. i want to see, when we came up

as kids, we had a safe pass. i have seen the city council members through the library and i worked with the history preservation project. i'm actively involved in the community. my father is the chaplain for the sheriff's department and the jails. take the kids out of jail and a keep them in school and i have been a positive influence for the young people throughout the city through my poetry and music appreciation. >> thank you. >> thank you for being here today. the next card i have is from mr. kevin williams.

>> good afternoon, xhirgs. -- commissioners. i would like to thank you for having taken out the time to place this important item on the agenda. but you have been miss informed again as to the truth of what is happening with the bayview pilot program grant and cultural arts fund. now, there are two components. one of them has to do with the rfp process and this is an rfp process. you can call it a grant or call it whatever you want to call it. i do believe that the issue that commissioner moran raised is a

critical issue because there was not a clause for protest. i have done thousands of them. it's a grant, but there is a solicitation, a competitive process. so, the standard of review if we were to look at this from the vantage point of civil code procedure section 109.5. there must be a determination as to whether or not the agency proceeded as required bylaw. and in this instance, it did not. why? no protest period. no. 2, all interviews. have you heard of a process of selecting engineers to build a bridge where there

is no interview. indeed the panelist who are involved to make the selection has to know something about bridges. has to know something about the safety of that bridge and the components that make it safe for the public. in this instance we have people who are non-artist. whether they are from bayview or not, this is in subsequently. this fundamental importance is they have to have knowledge and background in the area of the selection. that has been the custom and practice for selection since time in memorial. in this instance, they weren't singers and performers and they were paid $1,000 to make a selection that most people would do for free.

$1,000. and let me make one final point. the last point i want to make is the comment made by -- that it's existing programs to assist them with enhancing their arts program. let me tell you about one such program which is the bayview opera house ruth williams memorial theatre. of the 23 applicants that applied, it was turned down for $10,000 funding. it's right on third, it exist and it was the arts commission that named it after my mother. ruth williams. she saved the building from demolition against the city's wishes in the 1960s. if this is

not a program for funding, i don't know what it is. i have sent on the 1102 e-mails. the agreement signed between the puc and the arts commission. it's a legal document. it makes the puc legally responsible for giving the money to the arts commission to handle. so, this commission is not ab solved of it's responsibility to monitor the entities that contracts with. i'm still waiting on a copy of the signed agreement by mr. herrera, city attorney. they have refused to give it to me. i'm still waiting on the work product of all the applicants due after the award. they have not provided that. i thank you for your time. as i said before, this is improper,

this is illegal, the selection was done in secret. i have a memorandum e-mail showing when they made the selection and announced it, they sent out noticed for people to call and rsvp. a public selection process. how open is that. rsvp means you have to make an appointment. >> thank you very much. i want to ask our attorney norene, there was a reference to a section, will you give me your quick initial thoughts on that. >> city attorneys office. the code section he cited is a civil code section that provides for a lawsuit against a governmental entity when a body makes a decision required

bylaw. i'm not familiar with the particulars of the sunshine request. i would follow up with our staff. we have an attorney on our staff who is legal council to the arts commission and i will check on the sunshine request to our office. >> thank you for your comments, we all know that perception can be reality. we want to shed some light on it and make sure we get that information back on an expeditious manner. now we have commissioner torres. >> there was an allegation made that the panelist each received $1,000 to review the grant? >> the panel is paid for their time. they get paid $200. all

of our grants panel receive $200 a day which they receive for their time. there is a policy that artist should be paid. >> i believe commissioners should be paid too. [ laughter ] >> we need a raise. >> just to clarify, we have 5 panelist who if they so choose can accept $200. >> it was correct that it was $1,000 for all the panel. >> nice work, mr. williams. >> it's still $1,000.

>> thank you, doctor. >> you should hire mr. williams as council next time. >> the next card i have is mr. watson. >> good afternoon. my name is watson, executive director of public glass. i got one of the grants, my organization got one of the grants in question. i just want to come and say that we from the bayview found out about it we had somebody from all organizations, i met people at the library and we sent a representative to the process. we are a very, we are a small

organization, but we do a lot of work. there are about three or four of us on staff that have done -- i have done this kind of work in rhode island. i have received grants before. when we sat at the meeting, we all do great work and i don't think my organization deserves it anymore or less than anyone else. i left that meeting saying we need to get our grant together and do it in a way that it's written and get everything in order and get it in. that's grant writing. it's not creative writing. it's getting it done. this has been pretty consistent with the project. i just wanted to come and give my two $0.02 about it.

what does your organization do? >> we provide access to the community to glass working. we are an arts organization. anybody that knows anything about glass is it takes a lot of equipment, a lot of resources. it can sometimes be exclusive. >> they are glass blowers? >> essentially, the casting, the whole realm around it. >> how long have you been in san francisco ? >> 10 years. the place i'm with has been around since 1997. we just want to make it available to everyone. that's what this grant is for to make this available to the community. >> you provide this to the community?

>> yes. >> i'm getting confused. it seems to me there were 23 people who applied to this grant and it was awarded to 10 people. there is winners and losers. is there something beyond that? it seems to me that a lot of this discussion is about people who weren't awarded the grant that some people feel they should have been. is that not it? i would like clarification because i'm missing something. it's a process. so you feel that these grants were not awarded fairly? is that what the premise is? there is no recourse because they have already been awarded? is that the issue? >> [inaudible]

>> i didn't come down here to cry about what some people got and others didn't. i'm talking about what this law requires. and on the issue of grant writing proposals, we have grant writing people that have written proposals to the city for 50 years. and the percentages are less than 1/2 percent for bayview hunters point. but you need to understand is that we have raised a new level of sophistication from the 60s to 2013. so it isn't that we don't know how to write a grant, it is following the law. what we are talking about is what the rfp said. it had sunshine ordinance in it and a provision

that you can't stereotype in the selection process. i brought with me exhibit a, vivianeles. i read every comment the selection made including hers. they said in effect because she was from public housing she lacked the sophistication to put on an event. i read e-mails where it said some of the commissioners would not drive their vehicles in the bayview. i read the research and that's a violation of chapter 12 of san francisco administrative code that i have followed for 20 years. >> mr. williams, how does this reflect on puc as opposed to the arts commission? >> because the money, this is the source of the funding as

the grantor, they are the grantee. there is a contract that i have asked for that is supposed to be signed by city attorney dave herrera and they have refused to give it to me. i have asked for it for 30 days. they are not following the law. we are talking about simply doing that which the grant agreement requires. since they have not done so and followed the sunshine ordinance process, the funding has to be revoked. the grant agreement says it must be terminated if they fail to comply with city ordinances. they have not complied. >> let me interject with all do respect. i do want to because i think we've made a lot of progress today. we have addressed a lot of issues and i think everyone is on the same page. what i would not want to do is hang our hat entirely on

the situation that a law has been violated even though that maybe the case. we'll get to that, right? in the event that we are all on the same page in terms of making changes even though they are abiding by the law, we may want to have better practices or proposal that makes people feel comfortable about the process. i'm going ask that we keep because we are not going to resolve it today. we are not getting it done today. i'm going to ask that we move forward with continued public comment so we get whatever facts out there. thank you. >> the next card i have is from vivian alice. >> good afternoon, everybody.

my name is vivian ellis, a resident for 59 years and in the arts for over a decade. my castle productions, i portray 40 years of native san franciscans in the arts from age 2-82. it's a musical production and i got no support from it. it was grass roots and the costume designer designs the costumes in the 60s and designs the children's costumes in 2008. so everybody was connected. the point i'm trying to make is i'm well qualified to do musical productions. i'm a teacher and choreographer. my

granddaughter performed and i introduced her as baby beyonce. i had an acapela group. i'm kind of confused as to i'm supposed to be a grant writer and artist at the same time. i put in work. we have a saying that we say in our community that you have to put worken and i have constantly put in work all my years and when we had mendell plaza presents, i always contribute to my community. i work with seniors and the youth and i get nothing. i'm tired of people taking from me and using me as a network for people that come in the community. it's unfair. i have to get materials and costumes for the children and

it's just very unfair and they know what i do. i'm well-known in the community because i'm also an activist and i have taught over 5,000 and i'm getting a little tired. it's time for me to mentor teenagers. it's not just a performance, it's a livelihood for us. what kind of unnerved me is one of the comments that was made that i lacked sophistication. are you serious? then they made reference to my son. my son was taken from me from hospitalized. it will be 38 years in november 7th. these people, i don't know who these people are, but it's not right to attack people all around. we use performing arts as a means to balance our emotions and

community and working with parents and teachers and i wish we would have more integrity and consideration for human beings. >> vivian, thank you for being here. the next card i have is from jacqueline flint. >> good afternoon, sister. >> good afternoon commissioners. i'm going to speak for both me and kirk rhymes, we both submitted a speaker card in case i wasn't able to stay the duration. my name is jackie flen. we have been located in the bayview for over 10 years. we are excited to embark on a new adventure with the sf arts commission and through our youth employment program as well as the summer youth program. earlier this

summer some of you had the pleasure of meeting some of our young adults that referred to the project pool this year and corey was interested in commissioner torres stem cell program. that was all through the summer program that she was exposed to. i would also like to say that the summer is an a little bit bitter sweet for us because it does end. after this summer we had over 38 actual positions filled with some of those kids and what we did was we proposed for an expansion of that program through the arts commission and part of our goal is to keep youth in the bayview active, do something constructive with their time, but in addition to that, we

wanted to in a way mentor them and equipment them with employment skills which is the other realm of what we do at the organization. by adding a creative and performing arts component, it really complimented the work that we have already done. we are preparing to begin our arts program. we just got in all of our material and the kids are era ed -- ready to go. they want to do it on weekends to create 6-8 portraits of how they see the bayview. it's intended to inspire them not just what they have been exposed to and what they see and know of the bayview but also what they see in the future from now. it was truly a program intended to inspire but in addition we wanted to teach art, incorporate employment skills and give guidance to

their long-term success. we want to thank the arts commission for the opportunity as well as the puc for extending us the opportunity. thank you. >> we have nothing from kirk today? >> nothing from me. thank you. >> the next card is from jessica miley and arm ani. >> hi, i'm jessica and performing arts workshop and armani is the artist. the workshop is -- we have been working in the bayview since the late 80s and we work with residents before and after school. we were a recipient of

this grant program. we are very excited to be able to deepen our work through the elementary school. we actually hired armani who had been volunteering at drew where her children were students and she's quickly become a core piece of our staff. we are happy to give this opportunity to deepen her work at the elementary. >> thank you, as she said i volunteered for a few years. i'm a resident of the bayview. i live there and currently working with performer arts workshop and these types of grants allow me to come into these schools and teach children and give them an opportunity where they may have not had it before. they get a chance to explore different art forms. i teach ballet, jazz, hip hop, dance. i give -- get

an opportunity to spend a lot of time with the children and they get a chance to perform with me. a grant like this helps them perform in the neighborhood. i just want to say that i have also seen children grow a lot from this extensive who, that i do with them. i'm there year-round. i have seen children become better in the classroom and i have had a student that wouldn't speak at all and she's now volunteered to do that. getting an opportunity to work with these students gives them something they may not had going to school on a regular day. i appreciate being a part of this. >> i should also say armani students are performing on third street on march 20th on stage. we are really excited about it. it's going to be a super professional presentation opportunity for them.

>> nice plug. >> i hope you all come. that's directly as a result of this grant opportunity. thank you. >> thank you both for being here. >> the last speaker card i have is from ace on the case. >> good evening, commissioners, this is my first time appearing before you commissioners in recent memory. i ran out of tape. i guess i will get a copy from the government channel. before there was a government channel, there was an ace on the case that recorded the supervisors. some of our black community people where they took our ideas they made it city government. here i am channel 29. i