recently, you have been connected. >> exactly. >> so let me say this because you alluded to having the staff and i assume that you have had the staff and i will just want to express my concern that you have had the staff and there is no relationship prior to this movement, to establish that relationship. and so i am asking you, as the head of the or the head. >> yeah. >> and to, really pay attention, and to really for the public, strong now and the public record but we are going to be looking to you to make sure that we are forging those relationships and more importantly once they are established to nurture them and take care of them and there is a lot of effort and so you can consider me a partner and i am happy to extend my hand to help. continue to force it, and partnership, and to a leadership that is part of the

merchant's association. and we need to make sure that a lot of our businesses are part of the sf travel, and they are a member and so that we can begin to promote and push this forward. i have a question, also, what percentage of sf travel, comes from public dollars? >> (inaudible). >> so just, so that i am clear, the city and county of san francisco does not fund. >> we dpo not receive any from the tax, and we do have, the tourism and improvement district, that is similar to a cbd or a bib and so it is assessed on a self-assessment, that is voted on by the hotel community. and they contribute to san francisco travel, but we do not receive any or we do have a contract, that those goes out to bid with san francisco international airport, and that is a contractual agreement, to help promote san francisco international airport to the rest of the world and get a

lift from the international destinations. and that is the only city dollars that we will receive. >> and so, really my final statement that i want to impress upon you is that when you are creating your marketing materials and you are talking we need to make sure that it is ethickly diverse, that every ethnicity is represented in the picture or the statement, and i am not sure how your materials are all assembled but that is really critical and one of the ways that i think would also be helpful is there is diversity brought on your staff and i don't know that your staff. speaking out of turn, i want to say that i am happy to help you, identify talented members, particularly in the african american community in a position should become available when you have someone on the staff you have a different lens and you have a different voice that you are speaking through. and staff meetings. and internal discussions that may be missed and you as a man

of color, can certainly and i can identify what i am trying to articulate here. >> i am a gay man of color. >> so, speaking of that, i do have one more thing about the sf, a specific section that calls ought for gay travel, do you think that it would be designated sections for the other protected classes. >> that i think is a great question and we are pursuing it and in addition, so the diversity advisory council that we discussed that is one step, but also we have seven areas of focus in our marketing. and one of, and it is the destination as a whole, and the foodies, and the assisting the abilities and the different ways of attracting them and there is the lgbt and also, now, we are evolving and with one of our new, focus areas, directly in those 7 is the diversity and so that will be part of the charge and the mission, and so, that is what our goal is, with both them and

also with the guidance of the diversity advisory council. >> thank you very much and i appreciate your time. >> before we step forward. >> sorry. >> i wanted a little bit more funding about the funding, you do not receive any grants or any funding for sf travel? >> outside of what i mentioned, the contract with sfo, no, all tf comes from the tid. >> okay. >> and the membership dues. >> okay, and no grants, and no any of that, and funding? >> well, we do have a staff member, that is funded by it is sort of the issue for us and she reports to kerri at the grants for the arts and so she is a partner. but, >> she respects to sf travel. >> well, she works with us, in partnership with us and so there is that relationship,

with her, that salary, is and she report to kerri, at the grants for the arts. >> okay. >> and we do not. >> and you are saying that there is none, i just wanted to make sure that it is clear that there is some in the public dollars, and sf travel. >> if you, and that would be the one that i, and i apologize, and i have forgotten about that and there are no program mat dollars. >> can you explain the airport. >> there is a contract that the airport sends out to rfp that goes to help to promote the san francisco, international airport to the rest of the world and may need the goal of that, is to, help, give lift, for the air service from the international destinations in san francisco and in the national airport and we the san francisco travel fund a number

of offices and 12 or 13 countries throughout the world. and where we promote, and with those relationships and sfo has the contract with us, to help go out and pursue, air service, from international destinations? san francisco. and that contract is, you know, it goes to the regular, city process. >> and for the effort. >> and do you know what the dollar about is? >> i can get that for you. >> okay. >> thank you. >> okay >> and we are having an expansion, beginning in the planning and so i am going to have to appreciate. and kefp carroll and so i have the questions about how you are avoiding the contracts for catering for parking, for janitorial and for concessions and event planning and etc., i know that it is a pretty broad

spectrum here, but which is why it is important that we hear this answer. so, again, how do you award these types of contractses and then the second follow up, is, is there existing equity based model? >> for a contract? >> yeah. >> so, just i represent the hotel council of san francisco. >> okay. >> we don't make contracts or provide contracts or negotiate contracts for the hotel industry. >> okay. >> but the hotels handle that themselves and we don't even influence, or get involved with our contract negotiations. so, i can't speak on how they do that. and as part of it, i can definitely send out more information on it if you like on it. as far as equity i know that they work with the organizations and purchasing organizations that have equity standards built into them and i can get the information built into that. and there is organizations, and up hold the pooling and purchases in the concern market and in that they have the economickty programs for it and

they don't have it for you now. >> okay. >> that is all of the questions that you have for you. colleagues do you have any questions. >> okay tu. very much. >> i am also going up to the hearing on the expansion because it is going to bring more jobs and i want to make sure that we get our opinions up there as well. >> if you see a local two representative up there, let them know that their presence was missed. >> all right. >> just have conclusions remarks to make, >> yeah, we can open up for public comment. >> we want to open this item up po public comment, is there any member of the public that would like to make the public comment, stand to the left side, of my hand, and your right. and line up, two minutes each, and come on up first speaker. >> hi, my name is kegt en, and i am with the san francisco and also a member of the african american chamber of commerce and i imagine that you set aside at least ten or 20

million dollars or more, for fillmore to help the remaining and the businesses, and churches, coltrain and my church, and the historical churches. but what they need for the repairs and the people come it the tourists come to those places and as a city, deals with the main library, the old main library, we would like to have that fun with the old substation. and the chamber, is in the feesbility of adding to it, and the three stories to that. and making that muni substation a tourist attraction by the design and earthquake proofing

and the material used. in it and also, we are interested in revitalizing, or remodeling the buffalo soldiers museum and library that is in the city of san francisco. and that was started by ulysis moore who died recently. >> also, i would like to interest in it and we are interested in enhancing the small theater in the ocean's building. that these curtain and we will start to broadcast the tv programs out of there. >> thank you. >> next speaker please? >> professor david jones, and chair of hospitality management of the university of san francisco and i served as one of the subcommittee co-chairs

on this working group and the job readiness training in the educational opportunities, areas which is a very broad stroke for everything from high school, and programs and vocational and community college up to the community level and the efforts that have happened as a result of this i think, are starting to make some impact at that level, especially to oewd and the communication of the entry level aspect but my key from the university perspective is that as a us state and sf and we have 130 students, and 60 percent of our students are minorities and with have two african americans, and in san francisco, state is in the same kind of situation. and so, we need support of these programs at high school and youth, and level, and in order, to make sure that the opportunities for the cedar city are aware of these young people are aware of the careers there, and not just the jobs and the aspect of it but the careers and the potential for them, and later on if they

started in the industry, at a entry level, to the university level because we don't have the management at the in the nigh norty area and in the under served communities is not here and it is not coming through the universities as a result of it and that is an issue obviously for two years when i was at san francisco state and so i encourage you to keep that mind open on the funds from the tot, to support these entry level programs that you will eventually lead them to the university area and i will say one thing is that we are proud to say that our president of our alumni association, walton, is not only an hm graduate, but he is also an african american and so we do see success out there from those graduates and we want to see more of them. >> thank you. >> could i ask you a follow up question for your perspective and i think that is pretty eye opening. what specifically do you think that the city could do to change that situation as a matter of working with the san francisco school district, or

matter with the city college and the sf state to change that up? >> so, i think that it comes with all levels and i think that if you, if you started at the high school level and the youth enrichment programs and like a pri and others, it is, and they or the students at that level, or especially in the under served communities like the bay view hunter's point yeah and how the opportunities are in the community and learn that they create the jobs and has the opportunity that it has in san francisco, and i think that opens their eyes to future potential. >> and one of the thing that i will mention is that there have been a lot of concerns about the challenges of african american students and residents from the bay view being able to get jobs in the tech community and we asked the trade association representing the technology companies in san francisco, to work with the boys and girls club particularly in the bay view, and in the fillmore and in the other under served neighborhood $to be sure that everyone no wants a mentor ship and a young

boy or a girl and we received a commitment from the trade association representing the tech community that we will get one and i wonder if there is a similar situation that we could figure out again for the tourism. >> the university level, we have a check for the society of minorities. and these organizations, and on the national level that was organized by the african americans at cornell it is all minorities today and i think that the growth of those organizations and the ability for those students to interact in that area and in fact i spoke to the caa earlier this week, and mentor and helping our students mentor in the chinese community with some of those potential entry levels woo the job market and i think that the students can be an'ss set in that way. >> thank you. >> and we are about to hear from apri. >> and good afternoon my name

is jackie flinn and i am the executive director of the institute of san francisco and i was asked to par participate because of the work that i do have with the youth and the young adults as well as the workforce in the bay view and our common thread, for the reason why we are all able to come together is because really, we are all investing in san francisco families, and i am the mother of the fathers and the children, and i invest the time to create a better environment in san francisco, and so i am definitely proud to be a member of the leaders, and a plan developed by so many of us to really build a stronger community and get folks into the hospitality industry. we are looking at investing in the current workforce system, utilizing oewd and a lot of the models that do work and applied it to what we were hoping to see in the hospitality

industry, and along with that, there includes a stronger partnership, and the hotel council and the hotel, hr staff in to be able to enter face with these young folks and these are the ways that we think that we can get introduced to the hospitality industry and to young people and we are very surprised with the response that we got from the hotel and i received a call from the marriott again, last week asking for the young folks to be referred to the internship program and so we do have to start somewhere, and i just want to close with the day before yesterday, our tentative funeral for a young man, and he had a lot of potential and we met three years ago when he came into the apri and for the ged and and what i learned from him is also a chocolatetier and he has no resources, and prior to this item, we were hearing

the penalties or the fees for working with the inmates and when we first did it out the resources are limited and often i see them go back and i want to see that change on here because i am investing in his future and i want to see that legacy go on. thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> i am privileged to chair the business development and technical assistance for this group. and we talked about and we were hoping that the board of supervisors can do and they just specifically, as you mentioned earlier, is that when we have a line item in the budget, that would allow the city to proactively support on the budget and the process. and incubate or and that is a crap shoot. and you know, your san

francisco, travel, could no have existed without this body and actually bringing it into the existence, by the line items, and you will find that this chamber and the board of supervisors that created, the process that funded a lot of the modern day san francisco travel as we know it. the san francisco travel, go back to the 20s, and the 1920s and but, the body that you have today, and got a lot of the funding, from your legislative action, and thank goodness you don't need that dollars from the public any more, what we say is the same thing, and we have the same play book when you look and you are give us a line item to create african americans, and all of the minorities, and this is not only support the industry, but also promote the culture and heritage here. and we actually create an

institution that can break the back of poverty, and a lot of families, and it is not a hand out, and it is the way to view the communities that are strong and effective in erraticating poverty and hire more people to create an environment where you can see, that this say model, that the rest of the nation can use. >> thank you. >> if i could just make one comment about this. this is a very interesting idea, not one that i was aware of as we were going through the budget process and i do know that there is 3 million dollar, sort of ask of the budget attached to this which is the significant ask around a new program, but one thing that i would like to just suggest is that there are conversations about what we can do between now and next year to think about a proof of concept and an investment that may not go from zero to three million and an idea for us to understand, exactly what we are talking about, and if there are things

that we can do in partnership with the hotel council or sf travel to really understand what we are talking about. i think that it, and i am willing to engage in that conversation, and i don't want us to say, well, this is the cycle and talk about $3 million for next year, if there are things that we can do right now to approve a concept. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> good afternoon. my name is robert woods and i am with the blank human rights, leadership council, san francisco. >> some years ago, i was a member of the group that developed the fillmore, when the fillmore was just tumble weed and fence, and we went out and we got a grant for them to where the community could participate in this, and right now, we are looking at what we will be looking at what the chamber needs to, and the

chamber need is not just a couple of dollars, they need a commitment that will make not only make themselves whole, but make the community in which they are planning to impact, whole, also. what we are looking at here, is we are looking at a chance to play with the house money like you did for lanar. and the mayor gave with it, the housing, and the 30, and the housing authority gave to it, with the housing which is became the developer, and 30 million dollars. well nalar is now out on third street buying up property, that the community could never participate in. and that is what we call playing on house money. gambling with house dollars.

and we would like to have that same opportunity for the chamber. we would like to play on house money too. this is not a game that is only for a few. if you are going to help our community, our community, in bay view, and point, we have a problem out there in with the lanar out there playing on the house money with 30 million dollars that they did not have to pull out of their pocket, for right now, and because we gave it to the four million on another project. we would like to have that same opportunity. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> good afternoon, john, templeton and i want to thank the supervisor for the support of the freedom trail and will generate another half million visitors and have an impact of

$200 million and we have already begun our marketing to the tourism professionals, occur and we have a fleet of 12 vehicles that we are using for the tours of the african american freedom trail. and we are looking to bring a number of youth together to help us finish and file applications, and we have a conference on september the 13th and ladies and gentlemen, tony jackson, who is the house ranking block in the marine corps before he came the director of the parks and he is going to be our ski note speaker and we have an actual layout of the 400 sites that we have identified for the freedom trail. and as everybody has alluded it costs the money to do that and you know, we look forward to working with the staff to identify resources, like the opportunity in the bay view hunter's point, and the arts

commission, and the money that the puc has put together and there is another available to something like this and we look forward to work with you to actually create the jobs, the freedom trail addresses something that has been identified and all of the reports which is a sense of belonging, and this is a thing that we are actually trying to demonstrate by looking at the youth to show the impact that this heritage has on their performance. >> thank you. next speaker, please? >> thank you, supervisors, and members. and you may thank, supervisor cohen for this hearing, and let me, my name is reverend townsend, and the vice president and the san francisco branch and naacp and i want you to know that brown would loved to have been here and he is still in las vegas, and i just returned from 105th, national

naacp convention and something that i think everyone out to see once, before they buy, and it is an extremely important event. and i was not coming because my plane was delayed, i did not get until four in the morning but i turned on the tv and saw the hearing and i thought that i better get down for a couple of reasons, primarily to thank everyone involved, the black chamber and the travel industry, for all of the hard work that went into this and i want to say that when they were first approached, the response was amazing. we talked about the fact that we wished that we got that kind of response from the whole lot of other areas in the city. we know that we still have a lot of work to do, but the groundwork is being laid and it is going forward and i got to tell you that in las vegas, where i just returned from, all over the hotel, african

americans are working and when i was in chicago, this them sang and i was in los angeles, twice in june and the same thing is happening, but supervisor chiu i just want to say quickly, when it comes to prop 209, i want to remind you that doma and the defensive marriage act was a state law and san francisco oppose ited and filed a court brief against it. when the or when the ice and the feds said that we had to turn in people, san francisco not only defied it, because you did not agree with the law, you actually made it a sanctionary city and besides the government, what i am saying to you, was we bring up issues for our community, you say that you would like to help us, but you got your prop 209, has your hands tired and reverend brown says so what you are saying is we have a problem but it is politically incorrect to do anything about it. but i am saying that it is time for san francisco to quit laying on prop 209 and get some

courage and say we are willing to suffer the consequences for doing the right thing. bringing you something out of the naacp, every right that you have, every privilege that we have, was gifted to us in blood. because people had courage. i can look at you all up there, and look at your race and some someone had not been willing to sacrifice, none of you would be where you are. it is your turn, thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> i want to make one comment on that. >> i very much, appreciate your comments on prop 209 as you know, there were lawsuits, and the city of san francisco, joined in to challenge it, and we lost. and i would be happy for the additional losses and i think as a city we should continue to be on the record and push hard for its repeal. and i am happy to talk to you about it. >> in the mic.

>> please. >> because we lose a battle that is not the end of the war i agree. we have to keep on fighting. >> that is all that i am trying to tell you. >> we can't say i appreciate it and i would assume that i know that this is i am talking to the choir. thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> thank you, very much. i react to say that the enterprise zone started in the 70s. and it started under the agency. and for the fillmore, and the bay view hunters point. and when is it still available, on the infrainstruct stur, committed that you all have, and the man have set up the city, and i would say like to say, and we will amount to seeing the celebration and, 52 years ago.

and the human rights. and it was 52 years ago. and they celebrated 50 years. there was never, never, anything started and some people to start with the unfinished agenda, and have to finish when nothing that he started, and now we are the ones, that got the human rights going. in 1962, and became a commission in 1964. >> and i would like to say that, i would listen to the people talking, and i said, let me put this down. and there are moneys that you are hidden in this city, and under the other names, and the other names of what they are set up for and if you all, would call, and which have

requested, you are going to find a whole lot of money that is coming into this city and sitting somewhere that it is not supposed to be sitting it is supposed to be for the community, and i stated at the last meeting that i was at there is going to be a white to come to the city hall and take a lot of folks to jail, thank you. >> and next speaker please. >> good afternoon. board members. my name is james brian and the western region director, and the program and institute. and i also chaired one of the committees. and that was involved in the san francisco travel process. and today, what i wanted to bring before all of you, is the importance of what is generated by the hotel tax. and i think that you all probably know, that is somewhere, later on