the oversight committee. currently there are very few women, there's only one woman serving on the committee so i think broadening the diversity is going to be important. and that's, you know, considering -- so i want to move miss queen mcnulty forward for seat no. 1 and that's not to say, the qualifications are there, i really appreciate the finance background, i really appreciate mr. townsend's government experience as well. that's, as i said very, very impressive and i think there's other places where you can find your talents here on other commissions or other government bodies so i want to encourage you to do that. of course mr. seville for seat no. 2 for the labor seat i'm happy to support and d. j. brookter for seat no. 3. i think we do have some consensus there.

if i got you correctly, supervisor tang, you are aligned with that. you haven't actually decided between townsend or --. >> through the chair, i had, because supervisor cohen had already put mr. brookter forward, i think our difference was mr. townsend, but as i express i am very thrilled with all four of the applicants here today. >> i'd like to propose that we have a motion to support brenda queen mcnulty for seat no. 1, michael seville for seat no. 2 and michael brookter for seat no. 3. >> second that. >> take that, colleagues, without objection? okay. thank you. >> thank you, everyone, for your application. >> let's see, can we take a one-minute break before the next item? it will be very brief, i just need to run to my

office. be right back. (brief recess).

item 5 is a hearing to consider the terms of members to the veterans affairs commission. there are 5 seats and 11 applicants. >> very good that was a big item for today. 5 seats, 11 applicants and let's go on to, in order, the people who are on the list, on the agenda, starting with mr. joiner. >> good afternoon, thanks for giving me the opportunity to address you. i'd just like to highlight a few things about my application that i think are important for your consideration. no. 1, i'm

a native san franciscoan, i grew up on potrero hill in the early 80's and 90's, i'm raising my family here, i came back here after the law school, i came back here after the marines. another thing to point out was i was in private practice for a couple years before i left to join the marines. in the marine corps from 2004 to 2008, i had a pretty diverse speerbs there, i served as a judge advocate representing service members and advising them on a wide range of interests and at the end of my commitment i also served with an infantry battalion in iraq. after we got back home i eased, received an honorable discharge, came back to cooly which was the law firm i was practicing with before i joined the marines. i think if you look at my application you'll see i have a commitment to public service. that's something that was instilled in my by my parents but also schools here in san francisco, i went to public

school, high school so when you look at my application you have somebody really committed to doing something for others and you can see that in my leaving private practice first for the marine corps and most recently to serve as a prosecutor with the u.s. attorney's office. another thing that i want to highlight is the mandate of this advisory committee, of the veteran's affairs committee, is pretty broad. i think it's important to have folks on the commission that have a broad experience and i think you have a unique blend of experiences in my application that i think if i were fortunate enough to be appointed would serve the committee well. as i mentioned i am a native san franciscoan, i also have diverse experience in the military and i'm committed to public service. and i just you know, personally for me one of the things that got me interested in the commission

was not only a broad mandate to advise the board of supervisors and the mayor on the interests of veterans but i had the opportunity to staff a pro bono clinic resource to plow shares last summer and it took me out of my own experience and reminded me that there are other veterans out there who have not been as fortunate as i have, that maybe didn't have the same support network that i had or the same opportunities. it's really a tragedy because i think that the pool of veterans out there have a unique set of abilities that you just can't teach anywhere else and that especially given the operational tempo in the last few years have really forged some leaders that the community should be aware of. and there does seem to be a gap i think in today's society between folks who haven't served and folks who have served and that's a tragedy because i think a lot of businesses might be missing out on qualified applicants simply because they don't have the golden resume', they don't have the opportunity to connect with some of those

businesses. and so what i'm looking forward to if i have the opportunity is embracing that broad mandate which i think is really fascinating but it's also a challenge, right, because when you have such a broad mandate to advise the board of supervisors and the mayor on veterans' interests how do you identify what's important? and i think my background, being a local kid here and having experience that spans both the public and the private sector would be an asset to the commission and i think i'd really be able to support my fellow commissioners in arriving at important recommendations for the board of supervisors and the mayor to consider. >> thank you and thank you for your presentation. supervisor tang. >> sure, thank you for your presentation and of course to all the applicants for this incredible commission. question to all the applicants here, if you could share a little bit what are some of the issues facing the veteran's community, some of them are the

same over time but what are some of the issues you would like to work on through this commission appointment? >> the first issue that really comes to mind is i feel like there's a gap between the private sector and veterans seeking employment. so one of the issues in my mind that i would like to explore if i am on the commission is what are the ways the city can support various programs that are aimed at connecting veterans with local businesses? and we're fortunate. we have a phenomenal group of companies here in san francisco and nearby, there's a tremendous amount of opportunity out there. certainly you can see it in how we're attracting folks from other parts of the country. i feel like running into native san franciscoans is geting rarer and rarer these days but that's because there's so many opportunities here. i think there may be some links connecting local businesses with the veterans and that may be a fruit full area. it's

been a persistent issue in terms of providing health care and other services to disadvantaged veterans. that's an issue swords may help address. that's something the commission would need to stay focused on, certainly, and that would be at the top of my list as well. one other thing, and i believe the commission is already starting to consider this, but there are only 17 commissioners, maybe 16 right now, i think there's one vacant seat. but there are a lot of issues that's a lot to bite off and chiu on and think about. i think the commission is reaching out to other cities and actually sharing ideas. i think that has the potential to identify some really key initiatives that maybe the commission wouldn't think of on its own but that collaboration i think could be key. >> thank you. and just perhaps springing off your pro

bono work with swords to plow shares, what were some of the issues that, legal issues that veterans are facing that you were able to assist with and how will that inform your work on the veterans' affair commission? >> i think everyone vetd tran is going to vary for open office hours but one of the issues that came showing up was a discharge upgrade which was an interesting wrap around issue for me because as a judge advocate i was a defense counsel and a lot of clients i represented wound up with adverse terminations on their discharge. i was seeing the back end of that and how it affects people searching for employment later on. i think what swords does is really help people navigate the morass of the veteran's administration and that's where i became involved as a lawyer was to help navigate that. a lot of it also is directing

traffic. you know, who do i talk to? i have a dental issue, i'm homeless, who do i talk to to get that addressed? so i see the root cause of that as you have to get the information out there so that people now what's available. and so i would view part of a commissioner's role as not only engaging with the board of supervisors and the mayor's office, but also engaging with the veterans' community. clearly you have to do that to identify what needs there are and i think the commission is doing great work on that, especially as i mentioned the partnership with swords, which is just a tremendous organization. >> michael duggart, right, director. specific question i don't know the answer to and i'm actually very curious when it comes to veterans affairs commission and work. do you see if there are generations of different experiences exhibited in people who are vets and what they face

in terms of issues that the veterans affair commission is --. >> yeah, i think there are certainly different generations of veterans and that's just a reflection of history and the different conflicts involved. depending on your experiences maybe some of your experiences as a veteran will be different. there is a consistent need for services, there is a consistent need to address ptsd, i think it's important for the commission to reflect the different generations of veterans. part of that is to facilitate that connecting file between the commission and the veterans community and i think that may be something that maybe supports my application because i do have a connection to this most recent generation of veterans, not just in the fact that i served at the same time as they did but that i did serve with an infantry

battalion during a deployment and i think a lot of the veterans's need for services especially with ptsd and other issues will have that experience as well. when i consider veterans' issues i'm not doing it in a vacuum and i'm not doing it as someone who was never outside the wire. i was side by side with some of those guys. >> do you think that the commission is too large? >> i don't, actually. >> how many people currently sit on this body? >> the commission is 17 people, as i understand it there are only 16 actively serving right now. >> so tell me why you think it's not too large. >> well, i think it has a pretty broad mandate. one of the things i saw when i attended a commission meeting is the commission appears to be making good use of subcommittees. so there are a

lot of potential issues out there. i don't know that the commission would be doing its job if you constantly brought every issue to the board of supervisors or the mayor's office. i think having 17 members is a benefit and people are donating their time, which is a fantastic asset, and i think that's probably one of the most important things i could bring to it is a commitment to devote my time and energy to the issues the commission are considering. when you talk about a commission with such a broad mandate, how do you define the needs of veterans? you have to study that issue. >> true. one more question. can you tell me what or which issues do you believe should be brought to the board of supervisors? >> you know, i think that the commission as i mentioned should focus on some issues that will, no. 1, connect the veterans with some of the employers in this community because i think a lot of veterans get overlooked, in

part of because a lot of folks who are doing the hiring don't have that experience as a veteran so they may look at a veteran and it's not the golden resume', it's not ivy league, someone has a high school diploma and they have service in the army or the marine corps. well, that's interesting. i think there's room to improve to get the message out there in an operational environment they are developing intangible skills that could be an asset. it's leadership in a word. i think it's important to make sure that veteran applicants that may not have the golden resume' don't get overlooked. i think there's room for the commission to investigate that issue and make recommendations to the board of supervisors on things maybe the city and county can do to help facilitate that communication and highlight that issue because it really is an asset sitting here right in san francisco. >> is there anything specifically or an issue specifically that you believe should be brought to the board

of supervisors? your statement was pretty broad. communication is an issue we all struggle with. mta, if we're honest with ourselves, even our constituents and reaching everyone. is there something specific, you know, that you consider would bubble up to warrant coming to -- flaging and coming to our attention? >> i can't tell you that i have a specific policy recommendation at this point without having had the benefit of deliberations with other commissioners that i would put down on paper and send off to the board of supervisors right now. i actually think it would be premature for me to have that specific recommendation. what i can do is identify key areas that i think we can focus on and continue the good work of the commission but i can't give you a policy paper right now and a specific recommendation. >> maybe you can give me some of your ideas of your specific goals to help the san francisco military veterans in areas of

housing, transportation or health care. >> yeah, transportation is one issue i think that access to transportation is going to help maybe a disadvantaged veteran get around the city and go to job interviews, right? maybe there's something specific that we can recommend to the board of supervisors. >> maybe a free muni pass? >> or a discounted rate. i think that's right. i think that's something that could be helpful. you know, in terms of health care i think that given the resources of the city and county we have to defer a lot to the veterans administration there. but, yeah, i absolutely -- there's certainly things that can be done that i'm a bit surprised may not have been done earlier in terms of discounted terms on muni. the other thing is i think there's a lack of hard data about how many veterans are actually here in the city and so i think that maybe the city

might want to consider getting better information on that. >> what are you basing this assumption off of? >> i'm sorry? >> you said i think that the city doesn't have a good -- what are you basing that assumption on. >> i haven't seen any hard numbers on how many veterans are in san francisco. i think there's probably some broad census numbers but i haven't seen anything specific. >> did you reach out to my office? did you send an email to connect with my office prior to coming to the rules committee? >> no i have not. >> thank you. >> thank you, we have many more applicants so we will go on to our next applicant, sam pandy. >> good afternoon, supervisors, thank you for having me, i'll talk a little bit about my background then i'll go into what i think is needed and our forefront issues for the commission.

first off i'm a coral fellow placed in the mayor's office doing research specifically for the veteran's commission and my task has been to come up with a snapshot of services in a nonprofit sector in the city and county as well as federal and state incentives offered to veterans specifically. other than being a core fellow, i'm a current soldier in the national guard. i enlisted when i was 19 and am enlisted now. i think that plays into part because there's a huge demographic that really hasn't had their voices heard that are youth veterans that are younger. we can't exclude issues specific to them so bringing that experience on would be a huge plus to that commission. i'm also a board member for this organization called the military mental health project which is going to be assisting some other organizations in creating a documentary for military mental health specifically in san francisco for homeless veterans. so those are some of my background

points . what i think needs to be addressed there's roughly 29,000 vetd trans in the city. many of those are elderly and at risk. we should take a look at the female homeless vets center, there's one staff member now, we did talk about jobs and that last kabld date brought up a very good point. vets in tech, there was a previous job fair that the commission put on last year, really implementing a direct facilitation relationship between vets and tech and the job fair for veterans looking for jobs in the city would be great. homeless veterans, the va currently doesn't have a process to keep track of homeless that are severely in

incapacitated that don't have access to their dd214's. they don't have that access. with the city and the new navigation center coming to the forefront there should be a way to catalog the dd214's for our veterans who have mental deficiencies. that is a huge point. there are six veteran groups in the bay area, that have currently lost clinician support. this support includes councils and services for ptsd which is a huge forefront issue, not just veterans from current eras but veterans that have gotten back from deployment. one has been at the sfva, the county va, and this is mainly due to staffing. finding a way to get

volunteers who have that background to help facilitate conversations with veterans i think would be very helpful. >> thank you for your present. supervisor cohen. >> mr. pandy, you said you are an intern in the mayor's office. >> correct, i am a coral fellow. >> i am a prior coral fellow too. i'd like to know did you reach out to my office prior to this committee meeting? >> i have not. >> for what reason? >> focusing more of my research on the current issues and then i can reach out with your office with a more statistical approach with a direct recommendation. >> i'm going to make an observation. it's customary for folks reach out to meet you one on one to have this level of interaction. unfortunately right now we have a whole list of candidates and we don't have a lot of time to get to know

you. in the future it's to the advantage of all the applicants to reefrp out to the whole committee. >> thank you, appreciate your presentation and the topics on which you spoke and we'll go on to our next person. next up we have john caldera i have matthew scott gay but i have a note that he is not here today. so we will go on to matthew caldera >> good afternoon, supervisor avalos, tang and cohen. i am nearly 50 years old and i have lived almost my whole life in the city of san francisco. i can't imagine anywhere else. i have been a member of the american region for 16 years and i currently serve as the

first vice the lie 3 4 f1 i have lost

more veterans last year to suicide. every 24 hours 22 veterans will commit suicide. women are 3 times more likely to commit suicide if they have served in the armed service. i apologize, this hit me very personal last year. there are a lot of issues hitting our veterans, including moving back into our veteran's building to make sure our veterans have access to that building. right now we are thrown to the winds and veterans are meeting various places so we look forward to moving back into that building that has been promised to us since world war i. we helpd with the creation of a veteran's court which is meeting at 850 bryant and is considering whether or not to deal with veterans that committed crimes that are violent versus non-violent crimes. initially for the first two years the court only dealt with veterans that had

non-violent crimes so this is a move up and i think this is something our veterans need. i'm very pleased to say i was at 150 otis with mayor lee during the ground breaking having helped address the issue of homeless veterans. there's a lot that our veterans need. as i started the year with our veterans i said our veterans are in crisis and feel they need more visibility. you asked if our commission was too big. yes, it is way too big. initially there were only 15 members. now with 17 members we struggle to meet quorum. last year we were obligated to meet 11 times, last year we were only able to meet 9, once because we were not able to meet quorum and another time because we failed to follow the brown act and our paperwork was not submitted in timely fashion. this is a commission that

needs more oversight. i think that we would benefit from a staff person. i look to the youth commission. the youth commission has their act together and they are 17 people and somehow they manage to make it work and we're struggling. but i really believe it would be in the best interests of this commission to move it back down to 15 seats. i think that we would be able to meet quorum easier. right now there are four women on this commission. we need more representation of women on this commission. there are, i believe, 3 men of color. i'm the only latino on this commission, i'm the only openly gay man on this commission. in 8 years i am now the second most senior commissioner on this commission with ray wong being the most senior member of this commission. i live to serve the veteran's community and i will support the actions of this commission. thank you. >> thank you, mr. caldera, i appreciate your mentioning the

suicide among vets. i recall last year there were a lot of commercials that were on that i thought were really deeply affecting and that really -- actually commercials going directly to vets. and could you say that they were, you know, effective in doing any kind of support for people facing that terrible choice of suicide? >> before the veteran's building closed to us we were able to hold one great big town hall meeting and we were able to talk about the wounded warrior project and addressing veterans suicide. i believe once we have access to that building once again we will be able to once again host one of these town hall meetings to address these issues. i believe it would be of interest to us as the veteran's affair commission to cohost a planetary public session with the department of public health to see how we can work together to address the issue of our homeless veterans, to address the issue of our veterans that are in crisis, address the issue of our veterans