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Minutes of Meeting on July 12, 2004
A meeting of the Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) was held on Monday, July 12, 2004 at City Hall Hearing Room 416.
I. Roll Call:
Members Present The meeting was called to order on 5:00 p.m., Commissioners, Casillas, Escobedo, Haile, Huie, Kaff, Lau, Ow, Nguyen, Specktor, Tran & Zheng were present.
Members Absent Commissioner Atay, Bondoc, Gonzalez were absent.
Others Present Dang Pham, Executive Director & Winny Loi, Commission Secretary
- Approval of minutes for June 14th: Commissioner Haile moved to approve the minutes & 2nd by Commissioner Ow. Commissioner Tran made an amendment to the minutes, she asked Teresa Caffese to have the subpoena form translated to Chinese & Spanish, so people can understand the information. Commissioner Huie made a correction to the word Aide. The Commission unanimously adopted the amended minutes.
- Public Comment
- Roger Gordon stated that someone in the Secretary of State Kevin Shelly’s office tipped off immigration officers about Jonathan Gomwalk’s illegal status. Immigration & Customs Enforcement officers arrested Mr. Gomwalk on April 26. Gomwalk has been in the United States illegally for more than 15 years. He would seek amnesty based on the fact that current Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has repeatedly targeted his family. Mr. Gomwalk has spent the past seven years transforming the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG) from a local gardening club into a national model for environmental job training in inner city neighborhoods. He is also the manager of the Transitional Employment Program (TEP) since its inception; he created the nation’s first welfare-to-work program with a strong environmental component. The Commission asked if they could draft a resolution & forward the information to the Commission so the Policy & Legislation Committee can review it, before the full commission on the next commission meeting on August 9th.
- Resolution urging the Mayor & the Board of Supervisor to request SFUSD to look for another site for the charter school. Commissioner Haile moved to approve the resolution, which was seconded by Commissioner Kaff. Commission Lau amended the resolution to add to the 4th whereas which she stated: whereas for many reasons, newly arrived immigrant youth may come from all races and nationalities and they are subject to physical, psychological, social and economic pressures that add to and even multiply the effects of the normal stresses of adolescence. Mr. Brian Cheu, Interim Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action came to the commission to speak in support of the resolution. The Commission unanimously adopted the amended resolution.
- Resolution to support Non-Citizen Voting in School Board Elections. Commissioner Haile moved to approve the resolution, which was seconded by Commissioner Ow. Commissioner Escobedo amended the resolution with a few changes. She addition information to the whereas: to have non-citizen parents who are concerned about the children’s education in public schools & can participate in the decisions on it’s improvements; having parental involvement in schools has a direct, positive impact in increasing academic achievement for immigrant, language minority and other low income students. Mr. Cheu of Chinese for Affirmative Action spoke of support this resolution. The Commission unanimously adopted the amended resolution.
- Director’s Report: Mr. Pham, Ms. Loi, Commissioner Casillas met with Captain Al Pardini & Lieutenant Thomas Shawyer on June 28th to go over the compliance plan & address questions about the plan. Commissioner Escobedo & Tran could not make it to the meeting, but was able to address their questions to the San Francisco Police Department. Captain Pardini took all of questions back to the department to work on & will be sending a follow-up letter to the Commission. Mr. Pham, Ms. Loi, Commission Huie met with Lieutenant Shawyer on July 7th to talk about the resolution. Lieutenant Shawyer will bring the resolution back the Chief Fong to go over the language & make additional changes. They asked if we put the resolution for the August agenda. We also talked about the language card, roll call training & also special training on mental illness. The grant proposal from the Department of Justice in D.C. was done very well, but was short by 2 points.
Ms. Loi told the Commission that the Intern has been helping out with the mailing of the Summit Report. He has mailed out 2 boxes.
- Finance & Operations Committee: Commissioner Huie asked to have the Adhoc committee on the next month’s agenda.
- Program & Access Committee: There is going to be a meeting in July to address the Muni complaint.
- Policy & Legislation Committee: none.
Adjournment: The Commission meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.