and i just thought about something and since i am here, and i am coming to tell you, because there is something that i want to share with you. because it was appropriate. and i, in my years, 30 or 40 years in business and government and the city, now, icon included that as when i shared that viewpoint, that it can be obtained by everybody immigrants, all, and everybody, except the african americans and the native indians of america, only. and now, i have a discussion about this with the... and we argued and we did not think that was okay. (inaudible).

>> are there any other members of the public that would like to make the comment at this time? >> seeing none, the public comment is closed and i just want to make a few comments, and i grew up in this city, and i have been actively engaged, and trying to help, support members of the community, and change lives, and yes, i represent district five, and i do it, but i do take offense that i am not someone who is thinking about members of the african american community, all

over the city. a couple of weeks ago a friend that i grew up in the western community, who lived in the bay view hunter's point was killed in a tl. and african americans who i grew up with, many of them who grew up in the western edition, sadly have ended up in the tl, and substance abuse, and drug abuse, and homeless and sros and other places. and when i am in that area, and i am driving by or catching a bus down in that area, there is never a time that i don't see, a lot of the folks that are out there, that i don't know. that are not my friends that i don't say hey and wave and so on and so forth and in many instances i interact with those, i need a job, i need support, what can i do? well the job one stop, in the western edition, community is not just for the western edition, community, it is for

anyone who is a san franciscan, who is looking for an employment opportunity, and i am out there, on the corners, and pushing people, to show up for these opportunities, and we have through the eoc and townsend and his work and getting the people the job opportunities who basically decide, you know what? i am ready and i want to do it and i am going to show up, what do i need to do and we have led them step by step, and not only that, we have city job opportunities funded readily available for them, and if they basically get to a point where they being employed, the point that i am making is, there is a lot of work, that is being done. and it is not just specific to a district, this is a city wide problem, there is a problem, when many of my friends, who i grow up with are dead are in jail, there is a problem in the city, when it is really difficult, when i am talking out, every single day and someone is looking for a job opportunity, or wondering what they can do or where they can live, in the city and county of san francisco.

and this is not just a board of supervisors, problem, this is a city as a whole problem and this is a leadership problem and we can't be greety about me me me and my my my i want to basically do well with my business and not give back to do anything for anybody else. that is bigger issue here, when we are talking about the solutions we need to put it all out on the table and talk about what is happening now, and in the organizations that are funded and not doing the work, what is happening with those organizations and the poverty pimps who are getting millions of dollars to take care of our community and they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing we, have to all put that stuff aside, and figure out ways in which we can come together, as a community, and be responsible for making a difference for the people who need it the most. no, we can't, help everybody, and there is some people who we know, there are amazing workers out there, but can't pass the drug test in order to get a city job, and we know that we have folks in the community

that need a little bit more help and a little bit more support and guidance, we need to figure out ways in which we can invest those dollars, appropriately, to get those folks ready because we don't want to send them to the hotel and have them fail, we want them to succeed and we want them to be working when we and the folks get off of the plane we want to see a diverse group of people and african american and we want to see them at the restaurant and hotel. business and business people all over the city, representing the african americans community, and so, when we talk about it we need to get the population ready, it is what i have actually been working on as a supervisor and i am proud of my work and i am proud of the fact that all of those folks that are out there working and advancing and cleaning up and doing things and dpw, some of those folks are from the hunter's point and some of them from the tl and the fillmore and they are from all over and we have a city wide problem that we need to

address, and i think that supervisor cohen and i, we have been leading the way and doing what we can, and money is going to a lot of programs, all over the city. and we are trying to hold them accountable, but we are only two people and when you are bringing forth, information, and ideasing and solutions to this problem, we are open to that and we are toep to that but we will not be dictated to, we want to be a partner in this effort. we want to figure out how to work together to resolve this you. and we want to do it with facts and information and do it as a real partner. and so, i just want to make sure that we have to look at ourself and say what is the problem or the real solution, and so the opportunity is now. we have a board of supervisors,

not just we have two on the board, but because we have other sympathetic members of the board who care about this issue and the time to deal with legislation is now, and the time to deal with the appropriate funding and appropriate planning and data collection and all of those things is now, but a big part of what is going to help us achieve that goal is strong leadership from the mayor's office, and strong support from his various departments who have the ability to effectively not only, implement this work, but hold folks accountable insure that the numbers meet the need and specifically, with the western edition, neighborhood access point, which is the job system in district five, which i know, many of you know about, we are checking, every single month to make sure that those 61 people that have gotten jobs through the problem and how many of them are employed after the next month and after the next month, and after the next month and yes we have lost two or three folks through this particular opportunity, and but

we can't just say, here is the money, i got 61 people employed and all of a sudden we go back and none of them are employed because they are in temporary jobs, that is not what we should do as a city. we have to hold them accountable do the work that we are there to do and the funding that they are doing to get the people jobs or my job as supervisor it make sure that they are getting people jobs and people are keeping those jobs, one step at a time, one thing at a time and i appreciate you all being here and i appreciate the feedback and so now i want something tangible that i can work it as a legislator to pass the policy and figure out where we can get dollars from and how we can and where is the plan and where is the detailed plan as it relates? with that, i thank you all, again for coming, and i will turn it over to supervisor cohen. >> i want to close out and, thank you for those thoughtful

remarks and i want to acknowledge a few people, i saw rhonda, and i want to acknowledge, moss and miller, and we have got fred, and casey and i don't know, thank you for leadership on this and helping me to coordinate all of this and i do have a request that this committee, continue this et em to the call of the chair to be sure that we can bring this back in a few months to be sure that we are meeting our goals, and that we are and we have an opportunity to continue this dialogue so that we can determine how much we have progressed and how much we have not. i would like to make that motion, and ask that the body make that motion. >> and thank you for hearing this item. >> okay. >> and so, thank you, so, president chiu? >> so, i am happy to as a member of the committee to make the motion, and let me just add the thanks to the members of

the community, and to the important critical conversation, and this is not on the shoulders and not just on the shoulders of our african americans colleagues and i am happy to partner and to do as much lifting as needs to be done. >> and we, as a number of folks have said that we talk about this issue, but it is important for us to move beyond the talk and actually go through the results and see the progress and look forward to that work, that we are going to do and offer it the next time, and we will be able to report back on what has happened, and i am happy to make the motion for us to continue this item at the call of the chair. and thank you. >> thank you. >> okay. the item, and the motion has been made to continue this, with the item is the call of the chair. without objection, and item passes, thank you so much. all right, madam clerk, is there any other business before us. >> that concludes our business for today. >> we are adjourned. thank you.

>> 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. >> thank you for gathering here today for this wonderful event. looks like the rain is going to hold off hopefully prayerfully. i am robert cowan and a pastor and we're here and we are blessed to have many of our city officials including the mayor who is going to come and speak in a few moments as soon as everyone is gathered. it's great to see everybody. what a great compilation of folks. the children aren't paying attention as it should be. how is the food? >> great. [applause]

>> sip did a wonderful job with the barbecue. let's give them a hand. [applause] . a street violence intervention program. they did a wonderful job with the barbecue and the hamburgers and hot dogs and if you go away hungry you must be on a diet so water further delay let's welcome our mayor, mayor lee. [applause] >> thank you. thank you reverend. thanks for being here as well and blessing us. good evening everyone. welcome to herst play ground in sunnydale. i am grateful to the chief and supervisor cohen and park and rec and juvenile justice here. we have so many departments that worked together to make sure that this place is safe and we

welcome everybody back here. i know that everybody feels the tragedies of things that happened a few weeks ago, but this community is strong because of its people, but saying we want to bring people back to our own park. this is the people's park right here at herst play ground and we want to make sure on this national night out not only do we celebrate across the city but we bring people out to their parks, to our parks, to our neighborhood to celebrate to reclaim the areas we want to be safe and collaborate with our youth and employment organizations, our education institutions to work together with seniors and families to make sure that there is no place in the city that is unsafe and particularly here, so i want to say thank you to everybody for

coming out tonight, and that this should be yet another beginning, not just this one night. this is everybody's park. this is where the kids can feel safe to play where the parents can bring them out and watch over them where all the different agencies can have and create programs that support them. where our seniors can have a walk and feel the vibrancy of the city and invest in play grounds like this. you like this new play ground? yeah. [applause] and soon we will get the sand out of that play area and replace it with some good things that don't have the sand in them. we're going to continue investing in this neighborhood and in the people especially but i want to say again thank you to supervisor cohen. your wonderful leadership out here working with us. thank you to

tamika moss and the program working with the residents of sunnydale and the community. thank you to all of the different agencies. i know public works is out here doing the fiscal things with rec and park but we're all here to invest in the people that live out here and i want to say thank you again to the police department. you are -- all of you are on the front lines helping us not just with your service but also making sure that community policing leads our effort here, and how about creating more jobs for our youth making sure we do the right thing because it's not just about police services. it's about youth services. making sure our public health is supported out here. give people the recovery that they need. helping with services -- our youth organizations, our health and human services program, our jobs program working together

to make our community strong. this is for everyone. it's not just prevent crime. it's about encouraging people to fulfill their whole lives richly. this is what this play ground means to me and i plan to be out here often and embrace our kids and grow up freely strongly safely in our neighborhood. thank you everybody for being out here tonight. [applause] >> thank you sir. all right. you know advisory board for the police is the one that organized this. we really want to thank the mayor and the police chief for bringing all these resources together so that all that you can see came together. we are also blessed to sur police chief here so let's welcome our police chief suhr. >> thanks reverend. [applause] >> i got to thank the ingleside

sea path as well and acknowledge the captain over there for coordinating with park and rec. how about the rides and jumping things? this is exactly how national night out is supposed to be. this is a national event. it's all across the country and it's just great that this year again after having such a sad event that occurred up the block just last month this year -- this is bigger than last year. we were here last year and i don't think there is anyway it was bigger than this so it's great to see everyone came back to the play ground where kids and community should always be able to go and we and the mayor and the rest of the city agencies here are committed to this neighborhood and this park should be for the kids and the community, not just on national night out but any night of the work to come and enjoy so there will be cops here

regularly. soon enough they will be using this clubhouse as a place they use as the base of operations and there's not -- i can't say enough how much time we want to spend with the young people in san francisco and for all of the people that contributed tonight and for the mayor and his leadership supervisor cohen, the district attorney, and others and i think you jinxed us with saying the rain isn't coming and have a good time and next year will be even better. >> thank you sir. we are blessed to have the supervisor for district 10 so let's welcome supervisor cohen. >> hello family. hello. what a beautiful day. my god we couldn't have prayed for something better than this.

thank you for everyone for coming out. thank you. because you know what national night out is about? it's very simple. it's one night when cities all around the country come together to say we're taking back our parks, taking back our streets, taking back our cities, taking it back from the violent crime element and reclaiming it as a safe haven for the community. there are people here that deserve some recognition. i want to recognize the community partners and specifically list up ms. ruth jackson sitting here in the green. this woman deserves serious recognition and love. i want to recognize the fact that we have a true community. you look around here we've got sano ans, asian pacific islander community, the chinese community, african-americans, caucasians. we have literally the physical

man festation of what makes san francisco biewsm. we have the latino community. this is incredible. we have young people. we have seniors this. is exactly what this is about and what visitation valley is about and i want to thank all of the sponsors and partners who made this possible and all of my friends out there in the back serving and grilling and packaging food and giving from their hearts and that's what this is about. this is a labor of love so remember that as we continue to have a good time tonight. i am malia cohen. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much and we have -- blessed to have our district attorney here, district attorney gas con. >> thank you reverend and mayor and malia. the essence of community is the ability to come together and have good people

use the open space, and today not only are we celebrating people coming together and using this park, but also we're celebrating the fact that as a community we refuse to allow violence to define us. we as a community are coming together, neighbors, police officers, supervisors, the district attorney's office, our probation because we refuse to allow our community to be defined by the worse moment -- by a bad moment of violence, so i am very proud of being here today. this park is a wonderful place. it's a place that we want to want to make sure the community uses and we are committed to ensuring this is a safe place for all to play. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i also want to

recognize rec and park for really providing so much of what you see here, the table and the chairs and the bouncy houses and that thing, whatever it is. it's been fantastic and a blessing with being accommodating and with this we have a closing prayer. this will go on to 8:00 o'clock but we want god's blessing on this park and now to forever only things happen to you. we ask you for your spirit here and god rebuke all violence and evil from this area. we pray in the name jesus. we know you can do it. have grace and amen. thank you very much. [applause]