after being on calworks for some time, i was referred to the jobsnow program. i was able to better my interviewing skills and even got help with interviewing close. through this program, the program was four weeks long, and i was offered a job as a shipping and receiving assistance. after learning more about the company, i learned that this was opportunity to introduce books into my son's life. before i worked for them, i had a hard time getting my son interested in books at all. now we enjoy reading together. i enjoyed working with book big, and i feel that my skills are a perfect fit for the company. the program gave me a better hope for our future. in closing, i would like to likebook big for offering -- i would like to wouldbook big -- would like to thank book big. >> and i will introduce tamara as well, the we employed a year ago with the program. >> hello. i am a single mother of a 10- year-old little girl. i was unemployed for over a year. money was extremely tight, and i spent the majority of my time looking for job, sending out resumes, and going to de

if people are not able -- they're not making money to get on calworks, or they get on aid, we cut that aid, that has an adverse affect on a population that needs it. i would like to see the city continued to move in a direction where we are prioritizing when it comes to our budget, our budget strategy. i was fortunate enough to be named to the budget -- i was not fortunate enough to be named to the budget committee. i will exercise my voice to guide us through this precarious system. i think we need to have a serious conversation about pensions and supervisor elsbernd carries a torch on pension reform. there have been other discussions about pension reform. our city assessor started the conversation about prop. 13. there are several things in place on the state and local level having an adverse affect on our financial health locally. we are in a quandary. we cannot really move beyond that until we remove the pocket. prop. 13 is a serious block. it would free up hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be brought into public schools and could also be in fused in our local -- infused

the program calworks is now being cut by the state. there will be an 8% grant cuts starting in july. we will beat -- we are busy right now to see what we can do, develop strategies to ensure that those families are protected as much as possible, to try to expand our employment opportunities for those families so that they are not adversely impacted or to minimize the impacts of those cuts. at this point in time, we also have some cuts going on in our aging and adult services every now, and we're working again with our cbo partners how we can minimize the damage -- cut's going on in our aging and adult services arena. >> good evening, everybody. for some reason, i cannot talk sitting down. i do not know what that is about. but just a couple of things -- i am fred blackwell from the san francisco redevelopment agency. we are not a general fund department. we are funded through a mechanism called tax increment financing, which basically means in redevelopment project areas, with give the intrigue -- we give the increases and property tax

assembly bill has been approved that's aimed at cutting down on the misuse of debit cards issued by calworksunder the will they could not be used inside poker rooms, casinos, even adult entertainment businesses. the bill follows an executive order issued by governor arnold schwarzenegger last year to limit where the cards can be used. >> showed over an eight-month period more than $227,000 a month of ebt cash was being withdrawn at various casinos and poker rooms throughout the entire state. so this measure will help stop that. >> state rules put into place last year already prohibit state-issued debit cards from being used at places like casinos and similar businesses. but the author of today's bill says this was never enough. >>> a massive wildfire burning out of control in arizona is threatening mountain communities and forcing people to evacuate. the flames are being fueled by high winds, low humidity. more than 2,000 firefighters are battling that blaze but are faced with rugged, overgrown terrain and a very fast-moving fire. nearly 200,000 acres have already been scorched. >> because o