skylights. slide the stairs down, so when they come out of the stairs, they they're coming down here it is an easy design feature to change. that is my request. may be they have too much deck. maybe they don't need it for short-term rental. >> president hillis: project appellant? >> good evening, commissioners. my name is elizabeth gordon. along with my husband, we own 50 clifford terrace to the west of the subject property. we really struggled with whether we go forward with this d.r. or dismiss it because we did appreciate the efforts planning made in trying to get this a lot more reasonable when it was originally proposed, it was a huge looming doghouse.

we really felt we are trying to be run out of a neighborhood, in a sense. planning really worked and got it into a much more reasonable place. there was one important change that we wanted made, and that was to have people, when they do come up the stairs, exit onto the deck itself instead of the landing so close to the property line. bottom line is, we ask for that change before the d.r. and it was denied. we only got it because we filed the d.r. but now the issue remains that landing on the stairs are a problem. they really are within that 5- foot setback. a further issue is, we are concerned about where this is going in terms of purpose of creating such a large living, giving rise to large profits. >> president hillis: for your

time. you will have a two-minute rebuttal, though. is a public comment in support of the project? in support of the d.r.? let's hear from the project sponsor and then you will have a two-minute rebuttal, also. are you in support of the d.r.? sorry, go ahead. >> one minute? my name is dorian stone. i and my wife and 60 clifford terrace which is two doors up. and the adjacent lot to tom and liz. you will see here on october 11 th, liz has filed a discretionary review against work we are proposing. >> president hillis: so you are for the project? >> i am for this project. and giving you context of who i am to be a cure in support of this project? >> president hillis: hold up. we have to hear from the project sponsor first.

you are the project sponsor? >> yes, i am the architect of the project. >> president hillis: you have five minutes. >> i am the architect for the project. we have a very small project here. it is simply a roof deck and sarah -- stare access to the roof deck. the project started over two years ago and we had a neighborhood meeting and that was in august of 2016. the only person to show up at the meeting where the d.r. requesters and they asked that we immediately meet with them and do a shadow study and talk about how we could address some of their concerns, which we did. our initial submittal to the planning department was of a larger volume. it was a stair penthouse. and in concession to the d.r. requester after the neighborhood

meeting, we lowered the height of the penthouse and we reduce the length of the landing. during the planning review of the project, there was a suggestion that we reduce the overall mass and go to a roof hatch, which is what we did. so we now have a project where -- and i also want to talk about the request to have the stairs slide towards the street. the roof hatches directly above the existing stair in the home. there really is no way to move the stairway, which is a communicating stair within the house that goes all -- goes up all three floors. there is no way to have the roof be accessed independently of that stair. so the proposed design we have now has been reduced in mass and is as minimal as it can get. we have a roof hatch and we have a 30-inch pipe parapet wall and then we are exiting out of the roof hatch to the east away from the d.r. requester's property. so there is a 5-foot setback between where our roof deck begins and where the property

line is. on the other thing i wanted to mention was we had the option of doing this as an over-the-counter permit with the city. the only reason that we are going down the intake path is because there's a privacy sense that would not be allowed over-the-counter process. but we wanted to be transparent about what we are doing and yet this has taken such a long time that we feel like there's nothing else we can do with the design to make it have less impact on the neighbor. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you so now it is time for public comment in support of the project. >> time. >> president hillis: you have three minutes. >> all right. again, my name is dorian stone.

we own 60 clifford terrace. we are the adjacent home on the other side of tom and delays at 50 clifford terrace. you will see in two weeks that they submitted against the work we are proposing. i think, a couple of things. i don't think there's anything extraordinary about this. we have lots of roof decks in the neighborhood. is a wonderful place to have a roof deck and enjoy the views and everything else. i don't see why any property should be denied. i think in the course of the past couple of years, we have seen ideas and proposals from tom and delays to expand their home in terms of decking and so on. in addition to decking they have put in recently and have heard complaints from them with concerns of privacy being raised by 48 clifford terrace. it just seems a bit counterintuitive as to why there'd be such sensitivities today.

we think that gaby and mike bring a great character to the neighborhood. they are doing things to protect the way their house looks and they are a wonderful family to have in the neighborhood with the kids they are raising and it adds to the entire environment. we don't see any concerns of negative use of the property. that is it. >> president hillis: thank you d.r. requester, you have a two-minute rebuttal. >> commissioners, dorian brought up the d.r. and i just wanted to say that we don't take these processes lightly at all. we are in a situation where they have both proposed improvements that we think very much warrant to this action. it is with great regret we have had to bring it in and we will address them as they come up. i wanted to also say that they

were going on about the two years. in fact, the neighbors next door , moved to europe for nine months and right on the eve of when they moved, as when we got word of their addition. they were travelling for nine months and couldn't respond to our input. and then there was another seven-month increments where they just dropped the ball and then all of a sudden we heard that they were going to be moving forward. so that is 18 months of the last two years that they are talking about. also, i want to say it is very clear, at least it feels to us they really don't need more open space. they have a wealth of riches when it comes to open space. and unlike a lot of others. this is clearly about a right to a view but we understand there is not a right to view or so gaby and mike has been telling us for years, as they have grown

these trees horrifically told to block our view and we have complained about that. we are concerned about purpose and here is an advertisement that gaby put in the thumper. they were also on v.r. po about renting their house out when they were in europe. with all that revolving doors and neighbors and people parking in our driveway, our newspapers were disappearing and we were concerned if this roof deck was allowed -- is allowed as it is, this is what we will be dealing with. it really be a doctor really be about large profits and large housing. -- a really will be about large profits and large housing. >> president hillis: project sponsor, you have a two-minute rebuttal. >> high, my name is gabriella and i currently live at 48 clifford terrace with my husband and two kids. our daughter sophia and i left a garden, but we have raccoons

that have smashed every potato we have ever grown. roof garden would allow us to grow more vegetables as it would have plenty of sand without fear of losing harvest to raccoons. roof decks in the neighborhood are common. there are many homes with four stories. many of those are near the 40- foot height limits. i have a map to show all the relevant heights in our neighborhood. our host is only three stories and only 32 feet high to the top of the parapet. we have been addressing the d.r. applicant's concerns to our proposed roof deck for over two years and have made three major revisions. along with many considerable alterations. we have now compromised on a roof hatch, minimal guard rail at a mandatory 30-inch fire rated wall of the property line. we believe a 6-foot wall -- 6- foot tall windscreen setback 5 e addresses her privacy concerns much more than her proposed clear glass one. it saddens me that after so many

years of negotiations, a neighborhood outreach meeting, individual meetings with her and her architect, three major revisions, a shadow study, and endless e-mails, we have been unable to counter reasonable solution reasonable solution on a simple roof deck. what saddens me even more is what they wrote on the d.r. form it is a complete mischaracterization of what has happened. my husband and i have made some mistakes but those have been to no bearing on what is at issue right now. i will not be -- i will not respond with another personal attack. what is important to note is that we voluntarily demolished e second and third floors of our house back in 2008 at her request. we created more than 200 square feet of open space in our rear yard. our rear yard to, which is composed of two small lots behind the house -- sorry. >> clerk: that is your time. >> president hillis: thank you

very much. >> thank you for your consideration. >> president hillis: we will turn it over to commissioners. commissioner koppel? >> commissioner koppel: i will go a staff recommendation again here. i don't think the work is extraordinary. >> president hillis: is that a motion? commissioner melgar? >> vice-president melgar: is at a motion? i second that. >> clerk: on that commissioners do not take d.r. and approve the project as proposed. [roll call] >> clerk: so moved. that motion passes unanimously 7 -0. item 23 is case number 2016- 003314 drp. 180 vienna street. discretionary review. >> good evening commissioners.

i am a staff architect. the agent before you is a public initiated requests for discretionary review of a building permit application, 2016.0014.7155 to construct a two-story horizontal addition at the rear of an existing one-story single family home on a 25 by 100-foot down sloping lot. this block of vienna street consist of one and two story stucco and wood clad houses. the rear addition, as proposed, would extend 17 feet from the existing rear wall at the first and second stories and be setback 5 feet from the d.r. requester's property line. the basement story would extend -- extend 23 feet from the existing rear wall and setback s in a staggered fashion. the reason for the d.r. is the d.r. requester, a resident of 170 vienna street, the adjacent neighbor to the north, concerns three primary issues.

building scale at the rear is out of scale with a neighborhood context, the depth of the addition impacts the light to the d.r. requester's home and yard, and lastly, there are further impacts to parking difficulties in the neighborhood public comment to date, the department has received no letters in opposition, nor letters in support. the staff recommendation, in light of the d.r. requester's concerns after reviewing it with respect to scale and massing at the rear, recommended limiting the two-story addition to the offer mentioned 17 feet from the existing rear main wall such that it extends 5 feet beyond the adjacent neighbor to the north with a 5-foot side setback and lions with that adjacent neighbor's deck to the south. basically, what we did it as it gotten set out for notification. we missed it and as soon as the d.r. was filed, we called in the

project sponsor and made those recommendations, which they accommodated. with these changes, and based on that residential design guidelines, the project meets the department standards and guidelines. therefore the planning department recommends a commission not take the d.r. and approve the project as proposed as it has been modified to further minimize any privacy concerns, scale issues and does not represent any extraordinary or exceptional conditions. that would justify further modifications to code compliant projects. this concludes my presentation. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you d.r. requester. >> at their word to filed? >> -- there were to filed? >> i paid for half of it. >> there is one d.r. >> are you mr toole? >> president hillis: you are

the d.r. requester. >> yes, sir. thank you. my name is frank and i am the property owner at 170 vienna. i do have several concerns about the project. i heard the commission express your own concerns about protecting sunlight in the central soma plan and i know you are very conscious that sunlight is precious in the city, especially during the winter months. i have a one bedroom house and that one bedroom has one large window which provides most of the light into my home. the second story addition to the project would block light and greatly impact the livability of my home. i request the architect proposal is to do a shadow study to which they receive no response. although i do appreciate the modifications done. my second related concern is the bulk and scale of the project. and yes, the existing side of 180 vienna -- size of 180 vienna is small. looking to the left and the right from the rear of my house, all the houses have similar

depth and similar yard space until the end of the block. the increased depth is absolutely not compatible with the other houses on the block. third, and this last one is shared by several other neighbors as well, i don't personally have a garage. it takes me a long time to find a parking space every single night when i come home from work several of the neighbors are concerned that the neighbor at 180, who i have never met in the two years i have been living at 170, i do interact with the architect, who is a very professional gentleman, but we are concerned that them putting in a three bathroom house is going to affect the parking situation in our neighborhood, since he doesn't even live there and we are wondering if that will be a single-family home. again, i do acknowledge the changes made to the original plan were much improved. i do feel that the 17 feet of

the second story is still going to significantly impact light into my home. it is a second-story. it is quite high on a slope. i would respectfully request the commission to recommend the second-story extension be limited to the current footprint of the house and their porch, which is also a second-story. we are not talking about that. i'm not concerned about that. but limiting it to the full front of the house and the porch and not 17 feet more out of the back of the second-story. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you public comment in support of the d.r. requester? >> i paid for half of this d.r. too. i live behind the house. you talked about shadow effects. frank will have a wall effect. and you talked about transit first, everybody in our neighborhood has cars.

unless they are real old and can't drive anymore. this will not be a single-family residence as far as i'm concerned. get started off as 4400 square feet. then after we squawked a little bit, they reduced it to 2900 square feet. and then they reduced it to 2200 square feet. this will be a three-story house because you enter on the second floor. the first floor is down below. it is on a steep hill. the first floor is down below the second floor and that they will extend -- they say they will extend to the garage, no, the basement will be extended 2. that will be the first floor and then you have the second floor which is now the first floor and then you have a third floor on top which is now the second floor. you enter on the second floor.

i will be happy to have something done with this house because it has been vacant for two years. the weeds are up 10 feet tall and you can't even walk in the backyard anymore. they are supposed to be a 29- foot setback from the back of the lot and now they say it will be 48 square feet. the meth does not work for me. -- the mathematics does not work for me. there'll be no façade change to the front. the garage is so narrow. you probably couldn't even get a car in there peerk which is typical of a lot of the old houses. so you will end up with a three-story house, 2200 square feet. the average square footage in our neighborhood is 1800 square feet. i had my property manager print out something for it. and today, here, we have been here since 1:00. i know you have been here a long time.

they said that the average square footage in san francisco in 1600 square feet. i think the average of our area code is about 1100 square feet. it will be twice as big as any other house as the average house in the area. and i just think that there is some modifications. the second floor should not come out. the first floor can come out. they want to put the basement in there, it will be 10 feet tall. that is fine. i think it would help mr toole. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you any additional public comment in support of the d.r.? seeing then, project sponsor? -- seeing none, project sponsor? >> good evening commissioners. i am the project architect. thank you for having me tonight.

i have a demonstration that i would like to -- for mr toole's comment regarding his window at the back, you can see this is his window. this is the subject property. the front orientation of the homes are east. the sun rises in front of the homes and makes its way towards the top and to the back. this first rendering is where the sun is rising and you can see the sun lies directly in the back of the property. we are not blocking any type of sunlight during the morning.

this is to demonstrate where the most impact of our addition when the sun sets at the highest point. you can see it is actually in this location here, where it is setting towards the afternoon. and the impact on mr toole's window is very slight. where the shadow is reflected slightly on his window. i have photos that we took. san francisco does not have a lot of sunny days. but we were waiting for this day and we took this photo. this photo was taken during the impact hours around 1:30 pm in the afternoon when the sun directly hits behind this property. you can see the impact is very minimal to his window.

this last rendering shows the sun is setting towards probably around 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm in the afternoon. and the impact is lessened. therefore the shadow is lessened to his window. i have a different angle to show you. lastly, we worked extremely close with the property owners and their families. i worked with the family is we designed a plan that will occupy -- excuse my notes here,. as you can see, entering the

home, this is garage level. we are proposing for an open railing from the garage level to the basement. the basement consists of one bedroom and a bathroom. this is for the owner's children who is currently in the teenaged year and they would like him to have his own space. you can see at the garage level, it is for the elderly parents. they would like to take the stairs -- they wouldn't like to take the stairs so we created a bedroom and a bathroom for them. again, it is open railing. the main floor, which is the second floor of the property, two-story above the basement back open kitchen floor plan, along with the open railing and the massive bedroom for the property owner. we designed this in mind to keep this as a single-family.

the other parent doesn't really have a vehicle to drive. we do have a one-car garage that the occupied dutch that occupies the owner's a vehicle. the neighborhood does not really have a lot of garage design. we are keeping this garage to accommodate the owner's cars. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you any public comment in support of the project? seeing none, d.r. requester, you have a two-minute rebuttal. or you can take a minute each. whatever you want to do. you have two minutes. >> i just want you to take a look at the back of the house. it is a three-story house. three bathrooms. if you can reduce it to two bathrooms, that would satisfy me >> those were great pictures.

those were pretty. did that mathematically whatever , or did you eyeball that? i am just wondering. >> president hillis: it is best to address us. >> i am just asking if that is what it is or just a generation of what it might be. i would also ask -- i have not done a shadow study. i don't know. i was trying to eyeball it myself. and if this was in the summertime, once again, that is the south side of my house. so the sun drops significantly down to the south six months out of the year. thank you. >> president hillis: all right project sponsor, you have a two-minute rebuttal if you need. >> we are using a rendering program that allows us to input the degrees where the sun rises in the east east and the sun sets in the west.

we use the degrees between that sunrise and sunset to demonstrate the shadow casting over mr toole's window. and all these data are available online and we could -- i could send those over to mr toole if he wants them later. >> president hillis: ok. thank you. that closes this portion of the hearing. commissioner moore? >> commissioner moore: could you explain whether or not this particular project is in demolition? >> no, i don't believe it is. >> commissioner moore: oh, k. -- ok. it is becoming a three bedroom family home. i personally do not see anything exceptional or extraordinary about it, particularly when you look at the adjoining properties

and how it obeys the averaging rule. it sits where it is and is a code compliant project. i cannot see anything. i make a motion to not take the d.r. and approve as proposed. >> vice-president melgar: second. >> president hillis: commissioner richards? >> commissioner richards: question, mr winslow. can i ask and try to understand this better. on page 27, there is a brief story addition and says it a three-story addition into a real regard to the scale of the surrounding buildings. when i look at this, it reads exactly like what this diagram here. is this a three-story building? >> by building code definition, it is a three-story building because of the downslope. from the street it is a -- it is

a two-story building. existing it is a one-story building. if you look at the photographs, these are modest tones. >> president hillis: the home on the other side extends out. >> commissioner richards: in response to the guideline illustration, that is one of -- an illustration indicating an intent. the way we applied it in catching our mistake after we sent it out was what would be the proper relief to the adjacent neighbor. with respect to shadow, light, and enjoyment of the open space. visual access from the window. that 5-foot setback, as well as pulling the rear wall of the originally proposed building further inward was in my opinion , the trick. >> commissioner richards: would a pitched roof made it look better?

>> it depends on how high the gable springs from spee eight it is code compliant. but it looks like there could have been some softening of it from the setback. >> president hillis: i am supportive of commissioner moore 's motion. there will be in impact to you, server, but within what we see all the time, it is sensitive with a 5-foot setback. you can continue to talk and make adjustments of the roof and things like that. but i don't think, i feel it rises to exceptional and extraordinary here. >> clerk: if there is nothing further, there is a motion that has been seconded to not take the d.r. [roll call] >> clerk: so moved. passes 6-1 with commissioner richards voting against. >> president hillis: the

meeting is adjourned. have a good evening. -- one nat,

indivisible with peace and justice for all. >> president cleaveland: thank you. >> this is a reminder to silence all electronic devices. the fire commission regular meeting, once turkey -- wednesday september 26th, and the time is 5:00 pm. item one, rollcall. [roll call] >> clerk: item two, general public comment. members of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes on any matter within the jurisdiction and does not appear on the agenda. speakers shall address their remarks to the commission as a

whole and not to individual commissioners or department personnel. commissioners are not to enter into debate or discussion with the speaker. the lack of a response by the commissioner his or department personnel does not necessarily constitute an agreement with or support of statements made during public comment. >> president cleaveland: is there any public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. madam secretary? >> clerk: item three, approval of the minutes. discussion and possible action to improve the regular minute meeting -- minutes from the meeting on september 12th, 2018. >> president cleaveland: s. or any public comment on the minutes? seeing none, public comment is closed. what is your pleasure, commissioners? >> excuse me, move with a slight modification. >> president cleaveland: ok. >> to section five, in the last sentence of that section, it

says commissioner veronese explained his position and it goes on. i would like to add that i supported the call by commissioner covington to have the retreat and to review the mayor's priorities as we did several days ago. >> clerk: what page we. >> commissioner veronese: it is page 6. the very bottom of the page. it starts with item number 6. you could add in the sentence. >> president cleaveland: do i have a second for the changes? >> commissioner hardeman: second. >> president cleaveland: all in favour of adopting the changes essay aye. >> aye. >> president cleaveland: all in favour of approving the minutes as amended? >> aye. >> president cleaveland: they are approved. >> ok we will take item five out of order. as we wait for paramedic, matt

lane to arrive. item five. presentation from the black firefighters association on their goals as well as an update on the san francisco fire youth academy. >> good evening. good evening fire commissioners, chief joanne hayes white and command staff and any distinguished gets -- asks. my name is sherman i'm a captain at station to. i'm president of the san francisco black firefighters. today we want to give you some information on our youth academy i will start a short, three minutes video and then we will bring up our youth director fire

marshal to answer any questions and give further information. >> clerk: can we please go to the laptop? [♪] [♪]

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>> president cleaveland: very nice, captain. >> so that was just a little video of some of the things we have been doing this year. now i would like to bring up our director, assistant fire marshal , tyrone pruitt. >> thank you captain captain. good afternoon fire commissioners and chief and our members and community that is here at this mission. it is a plant pleasure and an honour to come before you with our fire youth academy. this academy has been in progress 15 years and the first thing i want to do is i want to thank the chiefs for all of the support that the fire department has given us over the years. back when things were a little bit harder and we were in need of a lot of equipment in financing. thank you to the fire department for your support. one of the traditions of the

youth academy, other than building our youth for a position in fire service and other careers, we give them an opportunity to take on leadership roles. at with that said, i want to bring up our academy and family members. come on up, please youth academy , please come up. >> president cleaveland: they are afraid you will make them speak. >> with that said, the board presentation today will be presented by one of our cadet leaders. she will give you a presentation on the history and background and the goals of the fire youth academy. thank you. >> thank you. good evening,, everyone. i am 16 years old and currently a junior at el camino high school. i hold the rank of second lieutenant in the fire youth academy. today, i will be informing you about the fire youth academy

history, and what we do in this program. the san francisco fire youth academy was established in 2003 by the san francisco black firefighter association under the leadership of it's director and the assistant director inspector. in 2004, at the assistant fire marshal took over the academy and continues to service the academy today. academy meets on every saturday except holiday weekends. from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm. the academy is currently running from march through november. however, after graduation on november 9th, 2018, it will return to the regular schedule running from september until june. our academy currently, in middle school and high school range from ages 13 to 18 years old. the academy teaches and trains cadets about the fire service and also provides different opportunities to grow.

our training includes firefighting subject to one matter, the basic fire department operations, organization and also, cadet training in first aid and medical response. we also learn about nonspecific fire service material such as government structure, financial management, social conduct, and health and nutrition. the program allows for hands-on training under the supervision of the six professional firefighters, paramedics, school teachers and the san francisco unified school district and other members of the community. the program focuses on early preparation for careers in fire and emergency medical service but is also provided guidance and leadership development skills that can be applied to any profession. the academy has grown to include any importance in the emergency medical service injury and general career development. the academy reruns as an academic base program.

over the last 15 years, it has provided training and mentoring over -- two over 370 youths in the san francisco bay area. the cadets have graduated from this program and went to pursue careers in the fire service. higher education and other professions. speaking about graduates, i would like to present diego perez. >> good evening. i was part of the youth academy for eight years before graduating in 2014. and there has been nothing more influential in my life as an adult than this program that is taking place behind me, the lessons that i learned from things beyond the fire department including financial management and government and managing things like debt and loans and borrowing more money as opposed to earning it and

stuff like that that the captain drilled into me have carried on far beyond my days on saturday afternoons and carried out to multiple successes i have had in my life. i'm currently awaiting acceptance from san francisco state to attend their communications department, communications program as a broadcast major. and my career choice as a journalist was also heavily influenced by my time in the fire youth academy. like i said, all the impacts and the exposure i had to think outside of the department allowed me to direct myself to journalism and to be a member of the media. i would first and foremost like to thank the chief chiefs and the youth academy for everything they provided for me and thank you, once again for giving me this opportunity to express my gratitude. thank you. >> now we will have some cadets he will speak about the personal experience.

>> good evening, commissioners and chief. i name is joanna and i'm a freshman at a level high school. i will be in my fourth year and it will be my fourth year in the program and i am the staff sergeant. this program has not only given me insight and training into the fire service, but it has taught me to be a better leader and other lessons applicable to life such as how to make a good impression at an interview or how to publicly speak. i feel this program is a big part of who i am at a recommend it to all my friends at school. thank you. >> thank you. >> good evening, everyone. i have been in this program for six months. i was first brought a the board in march and from this program, i have learned a lot of skills that i can transition over to my adult life as a just recently graduated from high school and currently attending city college skills i learned from this

program such as first aid and financial literacy, like the skills that this program has taught me have been so much more beneficial to me, it has benefited me outside the program as well. thank you. >> good evening park everyone. i am 18 years old. i graduated from galileo high school last spring. i'm currently attending san francisco state university as a freshman. i have been enrolled in the program since a sixth grade and i'm currently the commander of the academy. throughout my eight years of experience, i have in place in numerous leadership positions that have allowed me to grow as a team leader and an individual. from being this shy introvert that i once was to becoming their role model that younger kids can look up to. i feel grateful for all the opportunities and knowledge this program has given me. from all the hands-on training and lesson plans in first aid, i was inspired to extend my career options into the medical field.

thus leading me to pursue a career in nursing. looking past all the ups and downs that may occur in this program, i can always look forward to the comfortable and open environment that this program provides. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners and chief. i am a volunteer here with the youth academy. i have been volunteering here as a cadet graduate first and i have been with the academy for eight years and still going strong, showing up every saturday. it is really important to me and has paved the way towards the fire service because that was my ultimate dream. that is what i wanted to do is work for the fire department. so as a high school student,

where do i start? how do i do this? where do i go? so, joining the black firefighter youth academy i looked up cadet programs and youth programs that i could join and i found the black firefighter youth academy with a councillor at my high school, gateway high school. i started in 2010 and i graduated high school in 2012. it really paves the way to go to college. city college of san francisco. influenced by other members of bfa. it really influenced me to take more classes. also, helped prepare me to go into the academy at city college of san francisco and really, being disciplined, ironing your stuff, being on time, and just knowing all the basics of firefighting.

as a graduate, i'm still achieving my ultimate goal to join the fire department. and currently i am on the list right now. so it would be a pleasure to be the first graduate of this program to actually get hired by the fire department, somewhere. i know many of us have gone in the program and i believe nobody has actually gotten picked up by eight a department yet. not because they don't want to, but because different career goals come in line. as you heard, nursing, journalism, we all have our path and this is what i want to do. to me, this really influenced me and helped me build resumes and helped me go on interviews confidently, whether it be with the fire department or whether it be outside as an emt, or anywhere else i go. i need to build that confidence and have that ethical standpoint

in being confident and just being happy with what i am doing thank you. >> when i first joined the academy, it was exactly four years ago. to me, it was just like yesterday. the first thing that the chief asked me was what do you want to be when you grow up? and that day, it i just kept thinking. i honestly did not know. after the academy, little by little i started liking the academy. i was happy i woke up at seven in the morning and stayed there for five hours because i learn something every single day. it helped me in the academy and outside of the academy. each day that i go to the academy, i feel confident. when i joined the first day, i was the opposite. i felt like i did not have a voice or that no one really cared. but the chiefs showed me that was wrong. my voice does matter as long as i speak loud and confident.

but i also love the academy and that the kids are like my second family. we all work as a team and we all help each other out. we are like one big family. when it is graduation, we get sad because some of us leave. last year, we were learning about c.p.r. and fire extinguishing and that moment hit me. i want to become a firefighter because i love doing it. it is something i am passionate about. and i want to be in the future and study fire science. becoming a firefighter is my goal and i know i can succeed if i try my very best. that is what the academy means to me. it is something that will help me in the future, even outside of high school. thank you. >> thank you for indulging us and listening to our young people talk about their experience in the academy and their goals. but i also want to recognize some of the parents here. could the parent stand up?

we rely on the parent his' support and their participation in this program because they are the reason that these young people are here they are the ones who will ensure that they have a future ahead of them. again, every saturday that i get up and come to do this program, i am sure, just like you guys staying out late at night, sometimes you wonder, do i want to do this? you have to remember, i did this for 15 years without any compensation. nobody paid for anything for me. i did it because i love the results. i love working with these kids. i love the enthusiasm. like this young lady came into this program as a go-getter. she reminded me of one of our assistant chiefs. i like that. we have other ones who came in shy, not knowing much and we gave them an opportunity to lead and they take it and they move forward to. that is important. it doesn't matter if they work in fire service. we want them to do a positive thing in their