start listening. i come to you today for my brief public comment as a voice of san francisco past. i have lived in this grand city for many decades. [please stand by]

suffering, including during this, yet another christmas season. please work harder. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is lisa. i'm a proud district 5 resident. and i'm here on behalf of my friends and neighbors and as a board member of the bay area housing advocacy coalition to thank supervisor brown for her wonderful service for district 5. she has always led with her heart and with her head as a pragmatic progressive. we are so thankful for everything she's done for our district, for district 5 and

advocating for the people who are most vulnerable in securing affordable housing for those who need it and honestly, every weekend and weeknight, just picking up the trash and cleaning up graffiti, talking with everybody and really making connections with everybody in our district. we are so appreciative. and we will really miss supervisor vallie brown. thank you for your service. >> thank you. next speaker. >> my, i'm kathy. i'm coming to talk about city college but first i would like to thank supervisor ronen for her legislation around the district, setting up districts for courtland street and portal areas. i think that's a really important piece of community development. so i finally retired from sfusd a year and a half ago, and i

finally got to enroll in city college classes. and i found in the classes that i've taken, that there is an incredible diversity of people in san francisco taking these classes. and my class was cut, even though there were 25 or 30 people in the class, and i understand a lot of the classes that have been cut have been very large. but i went to a meeting of people who were talking about the issue, and i found out something that's really alarming, and that is the classes in the trades, the building trades, the upholstering, the classes in trades that have been popular and allowing employment at a reasonable salary of people who actually live in san francisco, it seems ridiculous to be cutting those classes for economic reasons as well as all the other reasons. and i would just like to thank you all for your support. and it's so great to know that everybody is on the same side,

at least the people that have spoken are on the same page. thank you. >> our mayor, in her absence, the chairman of the board, other supervisors, i would like to take this opportunity to thank vallie brown for all the work she did in district 5. i'm a long time resident of district 5, i to california in 1947, and i watched all the things that have happened over the years. met anyone who cared so much to pick up the garbage, to pick up the people, try to find places for people to live, try to help all of us to develop new relationships and understanding here in our district. and i would like, again, to thank you so very much for what you have done. >> i want to say, i'm with you all on the city college. but i came here to talk about

the reparations initiative. and i also came here to not necessarily talk about racism and those type of things, but to talk about acknowledgement and being overlooked. most of the time when black people are hired, you know, except for franklin, most of the time when black people are -- it's about us struggling against something and fighting some oppression, but you never acknowledge this, and i understand the city, you never acknowledge this for our contribution. we actually contributed to the fabric of this city. alexander leesburg helped start the first school district, the first hotel, the first african-american bank in san francisco in the united states. mary ellen, first interfaith church. cecil williams opening doors for

the lgbtq community. and our contribution is never acknowledged. so why would we he know want you to stay? we had a whole history here. so yeah, we need reparations. and what i also want to say is i would like to congratulate vallie brown, because she's been my first advocate at city hall, ever. right? and you know what that means to a young black male? somebody i can bring my ideas to and she tell me what works and what doesn't work. that's what i need. i don't need the racism talk. show me what can work and what i can do. so she's more like a mentor, educating me on things and proper perspective. so i just came here to be solution-oriented. i see the seconds ticking and i want to say unite the city. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hi, my name is liba.

i wear many hats. i am a parent, first and foremost. and resident of san francisco for decades. thank you all for being here and doing the fabulous job that you are doing. i am today to speak on behalf of the reparations. and that is being put into place. it really hurts me in my heart to even have to come and speak on this. i think it's a hands down when we look at the history of the black people who have been in this country and the trauma and the atrocities that they have suffered as a people. i think that it is also really

says something to the fact that when so many others have received reparations and these people, i'm speaking of the black, commonly called african-american people here, are still being overlooked. i think that it is time that we stop overlooking these -- the african-american people. i think that it is time that we take these reparations and put them into place. and that we do justice, and that we give justice where justice is due. i think that it is time that we stop dividing the city and providing for some and deleting out others. this community has suffered so many murderings and killings and pushing-out and homelessness. it's time that reparation is

given to these people for the hundreds of thousands. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello, supras. thank you for having us here. i want to let the ccfs people know, i am a former student as well as i know people there now and it's sad what they were doing, especially to the older generation. also thank you for the affordable housing. please keep in mind that many people need more than a three to four bedroom due to health conditions so they have reasonable accommodations, especially that people that have asthma and need companion pets so try to have four bedrooms. i'm here to speak on reparations because it's about time we get paid. i'm tired of sitting back watching our people being stepped on. everybody else gets rights from the shes to hers to hims the

pronouns, animals, everybody gets rights, rosa parks didn't give up her seat so we could have a front row view. malcolm x would roll over in his grave if he knew kids were going to a school with his namesake on toxic land. martin luther king junior dreamt of ending segregation but we are still segregated. you are selling our kids in school, it's totally sad. we have no sense of belonging. we don't even have a foreign language. what are we taking? we sit back and watch you guys build and build. and i'm not just saying you guys but i mean all around the world. we are humans too. and we deserve reparations. i don't care what you tax, get it tomorrow, take it from the chase center. i'm trying to get up out of here because the human rights commission has a meeting at the opera house at 5:00 that

everybody needs to be there. because it is a human rights violation what they are doing to us. and it's sad. why are we being left behind? everybody else getting rights. and i appreciate you mr. walton, for speaking on behalf of city college and everything. and i appreciate everybody that -- [off mic] >> thank you. next speaker. >> thank you, supervisors. i wanted to join others in taking a moment to thank supervisor vallie brown. it has been a privilege to work with her for quite some time now in getting the fillmore heritage center to the point where it's at. and she believed in a team with heart when nobody else did. and she has a lot of heart too.

and so this friday, there will be an event -- i need to adjust that -- at the fillmore heritage center as one way to say thank you to supervisor brown. it's not nearly what she deserves. it's not nearly the thank you that we want to give her. but it's what we are able to give her. so, again, thank you supervisor brown, and thank you to the board. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hi. my name is quinton sandburg. i'm a resident of district 5. in a world where who you know and what you do rules, i hope that's enough. i'm here to support a true leader of community in vallie brown. there's not much i can say that no one has heard or witnessed themselves as colleagues here at city hall. but i believe it's important to express my disgust for the results of the recent district 5 supervisor election. it's an injustice, plain and

simple. how you may ask i get into a level of comfort to say injustice? i received a wide range of threats on a regular basis that included death threats. i heard people affiliated with the campaign, including the candidate making insinuations that i'm being watched and followed and i met a guy named fig. that guy stalked me into a bar and introduced himself as the local neighborhood nazi leader. giving some explanation of his involvement in the election and threatened me if i didn't stop talking about politics. that right there assures me i'm on the side that's right, that's just. and yes, i said nazi. a group that's recognized as a terrorist group, that clearly liked the results of the election. i do hope that dean preston will be able to explain his income tense incompetence or lying. >> i know he's not here.

one of the things we try to do is not name individuals as you are making your remarks and if you could respect that, i would really appreciate it. thank you. >> i do want to say one thing in closing. sig, and to all those that support or are white supremacists, in my world and i'm not alone in this, your time is done. i clearly haven't stopped talking and will not, because i believe in being fearless, fighting and standing next to those that do the name. vallie, i stand with you now and will always, because i trust and believe in you based on your repeated actions of kindness and community activism and from the overwhelming outpouring of support from the district 5 and the city in general. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> behind every great woman is another great woman. and that's how we got to know vallie brown, working in our

event supervisor, london breed. i want to thank you. i come here representing the merchants associations of many community members in our sunset for showing up for all those meetings before when you were an aid and then as a supervisor to the commons and golden gate park, you were always there. we thank you so much for your support and your leadership. thank you so much. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i want to thank the supervisors that are in support of the $2.7 million to support t city college san francisco classes to be restored. and i want to encourage the rest to join in your support. you've been hearing a lot of reasons for the downsizing of city college. many of them are under the guys of fiscal responsibility or with the best intentions in mind for the san francisco residents. that's not true. one of the reasons you are

hearing is about the classes that are being cut are underenrolled and that is causing a budgetary crisis to city college of san francisco. but many of these classes are fully enrolled, many are overenrolled, and many have extensive wait lists, some up to 100 students waiting to get into the classes that they need. our chancellor is saying it's not because of financial necessity and we don't need the money. he is saying it's about restructuring to focus on those trying to transfer or graduate, but that's not true either. many san francisco residents are being forced to get the classes they need to transfer at community colleges outside of san francisco because of the same cuts. residents are unable to utilize the programs that they pay taxes for like free city. these cuts have no rime or reason. all they do is add insult to injury to those already being

disenfranchised. please support $2.7 million in emergency funding to help stabilize the college while we wait for coming legislation and policies to be implemented that will restore city college to its intended purpose of education for all. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello. my name is eva. i'm a student at ccfs. mayor breed opened this meeting discussing funding for mental health and protecting san francisco. i believe that part of that should include city college as well and the need to include the emergency bridge funding through our spring semester classes. at city college, programs like arts, culinary arts and hospitality are the first two-year hospitality program, culinary arts has been cut which means that consequently only

morning classes are offered. so what does that mean for students who are unable to attend afternoon classes? what would happen to their schedule? there's also the older adult learning program too. and i want to say over the weekend i celebrated my grandfather's 91st birthday and we celebrated at my aunt's house because she she wanted my grandparents to leave the house. for this program, a lot of older people are able to leave the house to attend city college because it's a way to help their mental health as well. as mental health is important to all, i have to say that city college classes have helped students not just learn but to cope as well. i know that for me, i struggled with severe social anxiety. i couldn't leave the house to get mail. i didn't talk to my high school friends for four years. my voice deteriorated and now i'm trying to talk to you all.

it was hard for me to be around others and to be honest i still struggle with that to this day. but city college has helped me rebuild myself. it's my asian-american studies helped me be more in touch with my community and be connected to my professor who got me involved in an art show. the women's and gender studies department helped me -- [off mic] >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello. my name is marco. i'm a student at city college. i want to thank the other students that have already spoken. i think that we really need this bridge funding to save the classes, because like many of you have already heard from the comments, city college is an institution that really helps with the physical, mental and

emotional wellbeing of the residents in the city in every district. city college campuses are all over the city. it's relevant to every district. so i appreciate the support from the supervisors that see this very clearly. to the other supervisors that have not signed on, i credible you to do so as well -- i encourage you to do so as well. the more we disenfranchise people from city college, the harder it will be to rebuild that trust and connection to our community. city college has that already and we should protect it. we should make city college thrive instead of cutting down and just allowing the state to dictate the type of education that the city should provide. san francisco has always fought to be a unique city that has its own values and follow its own path regardless of what the state wants to see. we all recognize san francisco as a city of trailblazing, a

city that the entire nation looks at. and when we fail, the entire nation and the entire people that are trying to push the values that we have in san francisco fail as well. city college of san francisco is an incredibly important institution, not just to san francisco but to the movement of education as a human right as something that we all deserve every day of our lives for the entire time we are alive. education is not about degrees. it is not about transfers. while those things are important, it is not the goal of education. and it shouldn't be on a human level. and i appreciate the supervisors who see that. i encourage you all to sign onto this so we can save our spring 2020 enrollment. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hi. my name is rick. i teach part time at city college. i'm speaking as a member of the higher education action team. and also as a powerless faculty

member at a college of powerless students. at city college, the power rests with our rogue administration, led by chancellor, i believe supervisor mandelman voted against hiring him. i said rogue because that's what recently happened and there's been other incidents where he sends a letter rejecting the emergency fund. what kind of leader would reject this funding to save the classes? less than a month ago, out of the blue, the administration announced all of a sudden a $13 million deficit that would require them to cut 300 classes. that resulted in utter chaos at the college and fewer educational opportunities for students. the printed schedules that finally came out in a timely manner for a change lists these 300 classes that have been cut. who are the students being

harmed? they are working class students of color predominantly. they have generally suffered fewer opportunities throughout the history of this country but most egregious are the cuts to the older adult program. some of the classes are classes in balancing. that is where older adults learn to prevent falls. when older adults fall they break bones and they harm their bodies. and so we are requesting the $3 million roughly to reverse these cuts. the question for all of you is are you in favor of denying educational opportunities and shortening the lives of older adults that will happen because they can't take these classes? or will you support the emergency funding for those of you who have not yet decided to support this funding? we are also calling on you to do an independent audit of the college to make sure the taxpayers money is being properly spent. >> thank you.

next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm marla night. i'm a retired city college teacher. i taught in both the credit and noncredit divisions. my daughter attended city college before transferring to a four-year university. and i have taken classes while i was teaching. and i'm also taking classes in the older adult program, which as you heard, was cut 90 percent. and these are extremely vulnerable people. i have always been so proud of the mission of city college. and this has been a travesty what happened. it happened summarily. i really hope you support. and i'm happy to hear that so many of you are supporting emergency bridge funding to reinstated the spring classes. thank you so much. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. it's a pleasure to be here and thank you for all your support for city college.

my name is diane wallis. i've been an efl teacher since 1992 at city college. from the article in yesterday's chronicle, i saw the links that our chancellor had written you a letter and said the situation is not an emergency and he and husband trustees will handle this difficult situation directly at the college. unfortunately many of us have lost confidence in this chancellor and in our board of trustees, and we are grateful to you for overseeing what's going on with these cuts. he said in the letter that the cuts were part of a long planned restructuring of the academic program but all the cuts came as a surprise. and he also said that the cuts were made to prioritize the high-demand students who need to graduate. but one of the classes being cut, which i found out from a colleague at john adams, is the healthcare information technology class 74, which is necessary for students to graduate and is only offered in the spring semester.

that class has been cut, which means that students will not be able to graduate in spring 2020. another class that's being cut is welding 144a which will prevent one of our students from continuing with his vocational needs. we would like to restore the full spectrum of classes to enrich the community, music art, older adult classes. we should be expanding our vision of san francisco community college. and the reason that many of us are here today is because we feel like there's a complete and repeated lack of communication among all the stakeholders at the college. we don't feel like we are being included in the process of how these cuts were made, and we feel like it's a very dangerous direction for the college to go in. and thank you again for all your support. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm jenny, english instructor at

city college and also president of aft2121. i want to thank supervisor walton for introducing this request for supplemental funding and the others for cosponsoring. thank you so much. a couple weeks ago we learned that 280 classes would be canceled from our spring schedule, the day before students began registering, students were understandably confused when they went to register for classes that no longer apeered on the schedule. we are asking for enough funding to restore these 280 spring semester classes as well as summer classes that are planned to be canceled. the classes that are being targeted are largely classes that are being devalued by the state of california as you heard supervisor mar explaining in regard to the proposal for community higher education

funds. and we are asking you as the representatives of the people of san francisco to allocate these funds so that the college that those residents depend on can run the courses that our residents have come to expect and which they deserve. i just wanted to say a couple of things about the specific classes that have been canceled. the older adults, you've seen that 52 out of 5658 older adults classes that have been canceled. those are classes that people are older adults, people are seniors engaged in the community, engaged with each other, some of them teaching them physical skills that prevent injury and hospitalization. we also saw the cancellation of 13 out of 14 sections of women's self defense, this is an incredibly popular course that's taught every semester at city college. so please allocate this funding. please support this measure. thank you very much. >> thank you.

next speaker. >> my name is simon, long term instructor, former chair of women gender studies. it's been gratifying this week to visit your offices where we encountered supervisors and aids moving the experience of city college, what we have come to call city college success stories, stories where the college, where the people continue to support in election after election has saved people's lives. the ways of the college threaten with destruction. and i'm not overly dramatic. i've been there for 45 years. it has kept alive this mission. civic engagement. did you notice the powerful student organizers who have spoken today and have lobbied you. lifelong learning, did you hear the way older adults remain productive and healthy? were you inspired to learn how

ceramics and metal arts classes are sometimes the gateway for students afraid to enter college get their first taste of it and stay to graduate. as we lose last remaining women's history class at city college, the last two remaining self-defense classes, which help domestic violence survivors escape from violence, countless art and music classes and pretty much all older adults, 40 percent of engineering as you have heard, city college will be unrecognizable. we thank those of you who support this ordinance. we ask supervisor walton to be our hero, and he has done a beautiful job. thank you so much. we thank supervisors mar and haney and fewer for joining on. to answer a question, we need eight cosponsors that will signal to our trustees, and we can talk to our trustees, they could then implement these --

restore these classes. i am not ashamed to implore you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> my name is ron richardson and i teach english and literature at college of san francisco, college of san francisco, because we are going to have to slash community out of our name. if we continue to -- if we allow these deep cuts to happen for the second semester in a row, which is part of a movement to turn our community college into a junior college, focus on those who wish to transfer, which is an admirable goal, but that misses the point of a community college. when i talk to people in san francisco and tell them i teach at city college, they get so excited. so many of them say i've taken classes at city college. i think it's about one in five san franciscans asked, i've taken spanish which helped me to get my bachelor's degree, i drop

out 18 years before and it allowed me to get that. that wouldn't have been recorded at the transfer level class. i've taken japanese, cooking and photography, all of which helped me to add to the culture and community of san francisco. however, these cuts also hurt students who are trying to transfer. let me talk about one of my students. i've heard students talking about classes that have been cut and she said she's a student of color, she told me she had one more semester to go before she was able to transfer. and she said that that class, one of those classes got cut, so she would not be able to transfer. so she said i have choices. i can wait until fall. i can go to another school or i can drop out and beside i need to take care of my kids. but if she does drop out, those kids are less likely to go to school. i fully support reparations. we need to answer the historical

injus i -- injustices in this community. and community college is one of the ways we answer that along with reparations. >> thank you, next speaker >> i'm michael adams, i'm a student at city college and former administrator at two large universities, one in nebraska and one right here in san francisco. i'm here to thank you all who are cosponsoring this measure. and ask those who are still thinking about it to please consider the consequences that you are hearing about today. it is about students of color. it's about older students, it's about students who are caucasian and young. it's about this community of diverse citizens who use education to come together to be community. there have been frivolous talks about how frivolous some of the subjects are that have been cut, music, arts, metal work.

i would appreciate giving you the opportunity to look at a couple of books. one is called this is your ring on music. and it talks about the interaction between music and the development of the brain, including what some people call mental therapy. i won't boar you with the rest of the books. but the issue that you just discussed, item 38, about mental health, development of mental health process in this city belongs directly intersectionally with music, music therapy is something we hear about. my son lasted ten years longer than the doctors said he would because of music. if the board of trustees refuses under the influence of one man, and there was one smart man in the room when he was hired, and he is sitting over here, who

said no. if they refuse, please allow us to accept the money. and we'll deal with the board of trustees. [laughter] >> thank you. next speaker. >> my name is steve. i'm a member of public workers for action and support of the group that had the press conference in front. you know, it's interesting, 50 years ago there was a strike at san francisco state to set up ethnic studies program. and for preadmissions and now we are 50 years later, and basically the program at city college is going to be shut down, all the programs of ethnic studies. this is an outrage and it is tackling the working class. we are going back. now, i support getting rid of trump. he's a criminal gangster and a racist but what is going on in california? what is going on in california with the democratic governor newsom and democratic legislature including our

legislators who support legislation that attack working class students and community colleges, that cut funding. don't they know what they are doing? aren't they aware of how working class students and minorities are affected when they say you have to complete it in two years and most of the students have to work and can't complete college in two years. i support the ordinance for more money, but the other aspect is privatization, corporationization. it's not only the attack on the classes, the butchering of the college which has been supported by the board of trustees but also the privatization plan of the reservoir. the city spent millions of dollars for developers to take over the reservoir. working class students need to space to park. that's a working class issue. the city paid for the development of the profiteers who want high income residents in the condos and pushing out working class residents and students.

so this issue of privatization, corporatization, when you have more billionaires in san francisco than almost any other city in the world and we are talking about attacking city college? why are we having this discussion and debate here? it should be free for everyone. [cheering and applause] [off mic] >> thank you. next speaker. [cheering and applause] >> hi. i'm elizabeth. i'm also a city college student. i'm also wearing my university of professional and techal employees at ucsf. i'm a medical interpreter. i want to bring us more towards history and worldwide. i'm a chilean american.

in '73 there was a coup against the president where a new model was instituted which privatetized everything in chile. and now the people there are fighting to gain back what they lost. and what they lost, including education, because education become completely privatized. chile has become one of the highest levels of inequality in the world. and that's precisely due to the privatization of healthcare and water and a lot of issues like that. and san francisco should learn from the experience. in fact, the students in chile were the first to rise up. and then the teachers and the university teachers as well. the level of unions and social organizing that's been going on with the unity between labor and

community, is really significant, and people should really take a look at this, because a lot of the political leaders of that country from the left as well as the right have been comply sit in this privatization scheme. so no matter how progressive we consider ourselves in san francisco, we need to look at chile as an example in terms of whatnot to do, including the issue of our pensions, which have become privatized, and which are trying to -- they are trying to do that to us as well as working as well, privatize our pension systems whereas the -- [off mic] >> thank you. next speaker. thank you. next speaker. right behind you. thank you.

>> hello. members of the board, supervisors, i am aurelius walker, pastor of true hope church in bayview point. a pastor for 15 years and san francisco leaders demand san francisco create a reparation fund with hotel and marijuana taxes. the city must make amend for the past injustice with support for education, housing and economical opportunity. martin luther king said the arc of a moral universe is long but it bends toward love, compassion, mercy and justice. we go forever and justice lives, creating crashes that will drive the power structure to change.

change will not come if we wait for some other persons, if we wait for some other time. we are the ones. we have been waiting for to change, president obama. the real community, the black community, the establishment of the african-american church that served as education centers with liberty and also things that will assist. so i urge you to support the reparations of the african-american community. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, mr. president. my name is latoya and i'm a native of san francisco and i've been a resident of san francisco for a few decades. i'm here in support of the reparations initiative as well

as in support of the city college folks here. i am before you today speaking because i feel it's necessary that i bring up the fact that the treatment of blacks in san francisco is deplorable to say the least. the black diaspora of san francisco has left a trail of broken and bruised african-americans here and even outside the state limits. my biggest issue is with the state lotto number. it's not anonymous. it's done by a third party website. units are offered to african based on rank. there are no quality control mechanisms in place to ensure that is intend done as intended. they cannot receive information after submitting which causes

them to lose opportunities. the phone number is not working and they are not responsive to e-mails. also issues with the education system. it's sad that african-americans make up 3.9 percent of san francisco's population, however 50 percent of the special ed population are black male children. my recommendation is to enact -- to update the preferences to reflect that african-americans are marginalized by the city and county of san francisco and should be given a priority preference to housing. i'm also upset for the fact that the city has shown time and time again that it values a dog more than the life of a black, african-american person. i ask you aren't our lives more important? >> thank you very much.

next speaker. >> okay. it's kind of evident, you -- so many people come to you, you kind of look like medical melancholy like what's up. we already know the situation that's happening with the african-american people. we are talking about indigenous hebrew nation of people that have been obviously abandoned in this country. the time has arrived. there's a time and a place for everything. our people have been patient with the united states of america concerning what needs to be done concerning who they are as a nation of people. every nationality that a great injustice has manifested, they have received their reparations. we have come to a time where it's not about really begging you but the bottom line is that you know that the commonly african-american people are really trying to -- tied to nature. we already know the history of what has been done to the

african-american people. tulsa, oklahoma, you burned, you bombed, we have been murdered, we have been massacred, we can go on and on, the attorney general, the top cops just made a statement that if we continue to complain that we are not going to have protection. it's obvious that we need to take responsibilities of our own selfs and fight for ourselves. we are not going to beg you to give us reparations. you are going to give us reparations. and what you are not going to do is take this cannabis and make billions off of us. you are not going to do it. all these boys in jail, african-american boys in jail because of weed that they have been given ten to 15 years and you think one of the richest cities in the united states of america is about to make profit? it's not going to happen. me personally, i don't care where you get the money, but the bottom line is you going to get the money, because you already see what's happening with the african-american people. they are being moved out. and all the homes in bayview --

[off mic] >> thank you, ma'am. thank you, ma'am. [off mic] thank you, ma'am. next speaker. >> [off mic] >> thank you, ma'am. thank you. thank you. >> hello, supervisors. my name is janette smith and i'm also a resident of the bayview district 10. and first of all, mr. walton, i

want to tell you thank you. you are doing an awesome job. like she said i'm not going to go that far, but they are targeting us african-americans. and i just want to say this: the real reason they are targeting us, because we are intelligent, we are smart. they think we are stupid. but we are powerful. we are one of the most powerful races there is. that's why they want to get rid of us. but you know what? we are not going anywhere. you see? she rises with strength. >> i know that's right. >> we are not going anywhere. we are very powerful. and that's what they're scared of. but you know what? god bless you. we are powerful. and we are very intelligent. and keep up the awesome job you are doing. keep it up. that man that was trying to get

rid of us for those apartments up there, he is gone, and i thank you so much. and everybody else that security and the people he hired is going to be gone also and i pray you help us get the next manager up in there that's going to treat us with respect and treat us right, and we'll treat them good. we are very powerful. that's what they are scared of. >> we rise. >> when we rise our people rise. >> when we rise. >> our people rise. >> when we rise. >> our people rise. >> thank you. >> let's go. >> thank you. next speaker. go ahead and get started. >> yes, hi. i'm kelly, i teach political science at city college of san francisco. and you heard all the comments about what has gone on at city college. i thought the last comments a

woman made before about what happened in chile was relevant to what i was going to talk about. all these different pieces that are being done at city college, it's lots of pieces, classes that have historically been between 20 and 28 have now been eliminated. that includes a class i've been teaching since 2012 called, and this is going to be ironic to start, the politics of globalization. and what i teach about in one of the sections is how austerity measures around the world are implemented. and they are implemented through a series of shocks. so they do things like they threaten to close down city college or they threaten to -- no money in the new york city fiscal crisis or the greek debt crisis or the i.m. f. restructuring plans. you name it, it goes on and on and on. and of course now ironically, this is happening at city college. and the class that students have

been taking since 2012, they are not going to learn about it now because the class has been cut. and so it needs to be restored so people understand this history, they understand what's going on. because it's straight out of that have playbook that's been going on since the new york fiscal crisis. i want to thank you very much, supervisor walton and all those supporting this measure. if you do not approve this supplemental money, it basically means that you are letting this shock happen. that's really what's -- that's the effect of it because of the way they've started to implement it. don't let that happen. don't let that happen. you can make it not happen. >> thank you, next speaker. >> good afternoon. my name is richard scott. i'm a retired teacher from city college and a member of afd2121

and a delegate to the san francisco labor council where i'm co-chair of the social and economic justice committee. common sense and life experience make people skeptical of certainty on complex human issues. however, i'm single-minded in believing that city college is in a fiscal emergency and that our city has the resources and moral responsibility to allocate $2.7 million or approximate amount to solve the current crisis. in the astounding personal note in quoting that you received from chancellor rocha, i have two responses. one, there is an emergency at city college, and it's my personal view that chancellor rocha is a bureaucratic tyrant and an enemy of higher public education. however that is an opinion but it's a fact that he's an

employee of city college, not president of the board of trustees or even a democratically-elected member of that board. and i believe in the near future, he will no longer be an employee of city college. and i hope that's the case. if the drastic cuts continue, the people will rise up. there will be no confidence vote in the chancellor, large protests and disobedience and pressure from labor and many other segments. economic democracy has no greater ally than universal effective public education from preschool through 12th grade and higher education that is affordable and accessible. and in the near future, education in the near future, free. education is without question, a human right, and we will do whatever is necessary to achiev] >> thank you.

next speaker. >> good afternoon, supervisors, president and staff as well. i want to acknowledge you. my name is mic kimball. my students call me kimball because i'm a friendly sort of guy. i'm not here to represent the teachers. i am a teacher. i graduated from city college in '99 and i'm still there teaching. i commute two days a week from sacramento because that's where i can afford to live. i make about $42,000 a year and dedicate about twice as much time as is responsible to my classes. my students love me. i'm a little -- no, actual, quite a bit unconventional. i consider my students my customers. i consider my students my product. i consider my students my boss. now, i've been telling them the current administration is failing. and i've been telling them you go to starbucks or some other high-there are, high-level,

pride themselves on service location, if they give bad service, complain to the manager. our board of trustees has told me, us, the teachers, to stop sending students in for comment, it's unproductive. well, if they can't complain to the managers, what can they do? one of my students last night, i was at school until midnight counseling students last night. one of them, you've heard these horror stories, these tearful stories, he had this sad look on his face, i'm lost, i don't know what to do. his classes for next semester have all been cut. i have nothing to tell him. i just said, skyline, somewhere else, this is not right. this city which i lead to leave in 2002 for economic reasons, has the greatest community, strongest community that believe in you.

and i am really proud to be part of it. >> thank you. next speaker. >> my name is joyce and i'm enrolled in the -- ma'am, please hold. >> ma'am, please hold down the. >> my name is joyce and i'm enrolled in the older adults classes at fort mason for the wide figure drawing. and i've come here basically to ask your help in restoring the classes that have been cut for older adults at fort mason and other places in san francisco and for the older adults and the disabled. and i just brought this, the chronicles yesterday talked about city college ends classes for 2000 older adults.

and i wanted to emphasize that these classes are known for balance, exercise, music, art, they help seniors get out of their homes. they are no longer isolated. they are producing work in a community in a very productive and healthy way. and it's wonderful community people come from all over the world and have many levels of artistic ability. i came here to ask your help to try to restore the older adult program for city college. but hearing this, i also feel that i must say that i realize just hearing all these testimonies how important it is to the whole of city college to continue for all the students in the city, and especially the students that are economically limited and need to have this wonderful programs at city

college. so i ask your help in this. and thank you very much for your time. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello, supervisors. my name is steven brady. i'm the delegate for union campus supervisor walton's district. you may be under the impression that the classes being cut are for older people and also non-credit classes. there's a lot of classes for trades people being cut. i just read an article in the chronicle that we are the most expensive city now to build housing and why are we cutting classes for our trades? our programs at evans have been gutted. we've gone from 15 down to 7.7. i have the schedule here from 2016. and it was 60 units offered then. and also there's 40 non-credit classes. a lot of these are gateway classes to construction jobs. they are all gone now.

we've gone from 60 down to 44 credit classes. in automotive, which i teach, we've also been gutted. we've gone from 79 units in 2016, down to -- sorry, it's slow here. 46, almost half, when you count all the other classes. these are for, you know, classes that get people good, shall feel -- shovel ready, safety conscious job. i'm wearing red for education. my friend ed has taught automotive classes for 25 years and went from 3 to 2 to finally one this semester. and now he has no class. he got an e-mail about that.

i don't think that's very respectful to someone who has served our community for all those years. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hi. i'm win coughman. i've been teaching for 37 years. i'm the president of afd2121. before i start on city college, i want to support the initiative for reparations. city college is a school, is a college that offers education to all communities, communities of color, immigrant communities, secondhand, used to have a program for foster youth, youth coming out of the foster system. san francisco needs city college.

if we allow it to become the vision that the creditors had for us, to be something that we don't recognize, then we will have lost an enormous amount. so i ask those supervisors that have not yet cosigned on to the ordinance to please do so. we need eight signatures to signal to our trustees that the spring schedule can be restored. if it's not, then all of these heartbreaking stories that you hear will not just become true but probably increase by thousands. anyway, please sign on to the ordinance, be on the right side of history with the reparations