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Minutes of Meeting on October 16 2003
A meeting of the Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) was held on Monday, October 16, 2003 at City Hall, Hearing room 408.
I. Roll Call:
Members Present The meeting was called to order on 5:10 p.m., Commissioners Gonzalez, Haile, Huie, Lau, Nguyen, Ow, Ribas, Tran, Zheng were present. Commissioner Tran left at 6:25 p.m, & Commissioner Ribas left at 6:58 p.m.
Members Absent Commissioner Atay, Bondoc, Casillas were absent.
Others Present Dang Pham, Executive Director
Winny Loi, Commission Secretary
Welcome New Commissioner: Richard Ow
II. Approval of minutes for May 12 2003:
Commissioner Haile moved to approve the minutes with a few changes. Correction on item number II on the last sentence of the last paragraph: He feel that the Mayor’s office should not put the Vietnamese flag when Vietnamese delegates come to the City & County of San Francisco. Correction on the title for item number VI: Resolution opposing Prop 54. Commission Haile moved to approve the minutes as amended and was seconded by Commissioner Lau. The Commission unanimously adopted the amended minutes.
IV. Presentation: San Francisco School District- Orla O’Keeffe, Executive Director for the Education Placement, Frank Tom, Assistant Superintendent of the High school of San Francisco & Gwen Chan, Chief Development Officer & Center came to the commission to address the issue of the concerned parents regarding neighborhood schools. Superintendent Ackerman is putting together a Transportation Task Force to do an assessment of all the transportation that’s available & begin to review all the policy & procedures. They are also working on developing some proposals. The school district reserves at least 50% of the student’s seats for students who live in the district. They also have any open choice system, where other children from other neighborhoods who can choose to go to any school even though they do not live in that district.
- Sergio Canjura from Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services (MONS) came to the commission to express his concern regarding the resolution drafted by the Commission. He feels that the resolution does not address the issue of the day labor workers. He has been working on this issue for the past year & feels that there is misinformation on the draft resolution; he stated that the City & County of San Francisco has not been conducting a successful DLP. The Program has been controversial & political. It does not allow the MONS to finish the process of the RFP. It only addresses the needs of the agency & the day labors. He encourages the Immigrant Rights Commission to work with him & MONS to come up with the best solution for the laborers.
Captain Greg Corrales has been at the Mission Police station for about 2 years. He knew that dealing with the DLP was one of the biggest challenges. He had a meeting with the Director of the DLP & also the workers. He felt that they had a good meeting, but he soon learned that he was overly optimistic. The former Director was incapable of compromise. He felt his duty was to get the program together with the neighborhood, but there were residents who were opposing the program. The Mission Police Department still received tremendous calls for service everyday. The neighbors complain about gambling & drinking on the sidewalks. He is willing to work with anybody & help these people get work. When the workers don’t go along with the party line with the former program, they get cast out of the program & also threatened. He is looking for some organization whose priority is getting work for these people & looking out for their welfare & not into social activism.
Judith Berkowitz from the East Mission Improvement Association & the Coalition from the San Francisco Neighbors. She & the neighbors support a program, which is well run & responsive to the neighbors & the men on the street, but they do not support a politicized program, which does not address those needs. She finds it curious that the Commission is awarding moneys to a former member of the commission. On the resolution it states that the awarding of this money is to a month-to-month basis, which completely sidesteps the RFP process. Also awarding money to subcontracted performance is setting a very dangerous precedent. She would like to go on record to request a copy of the Committee minutes & any public comment if it was made, because this resolution has no input from anybody but from one entity. It is disingenuous of the Commission to move forward on this resolution without hearing from all parties. Before the Commission moves forward in awarding these moneys, she asked if the Commission considers doing a feasible study. She requests that Chair Gonzalez withdraw his resolution until all input has been taken to consideration.
Dindrako Zelana (DLP) spoke loudly into the microphone, which the comments he stated were not clear on the tape.
Pedro Rosas was a member of the DLP he does not believe in funding the DLP. He feels that the DLP is corrupt & the program only works for themselves. They fired him because he was telling the truth & now he does not have a job anymore.
Anamaria Loya the Director for La Raza Centro Legal (LRCL) gave the Commissioners some information about the DLP. (There was a folder & other materials handed out to the Commissioners) When the DLP gets funded they must follow very strict guidelines. She feels that the commission should playa role in developing the RFP & developing the criteria being used. She believes the commission is able to be neutral in the process. She feels that the MONS may not be capable of being neutral in developing an RFP & reviewing applications because they are currently defendants in a lawsuit filed by their agency. They have met with every neighborhood association in the neighborhood & also met with the individuals that testified tonight. They are also members of a task force & talked about Day Labor issues. They have been meeting regularly with the neighborhoods, sometimes they are able to reach an agreement & sometimes they cannot.
Julio Loyola member of the DLP asked if those funds be released to the DLP. Renee & Anamaria are not responsible for the labor’s being expelled for the program. Workers meet every Friday & the workers determine if the other workers are expelled from the program. If the Commissioners were interested in their weekly meetings, that they were welcome to come join them every Friday at 8 a.m. at the trailers.
Hector Valdez is the director of social services of the DLP. Since LRCL took over the DLP they have dramatically increased their services. He is asking the Commission to support the funding for the DLP.
Jose Alfaro is a member of the DLP. He states that the only way that the DLP runs properly is because of LRCL. He is on the site & not in the office. He states that the funding does not benefit LRCL, it only benefits the program.
James Collins from Mission Agenda is an organizer in the Mission district. He asked the commission to fund the DLP. He also was a day laborer on a day-to-day basis.
Alfsonso Servin a member of the DLP, asked the commissioners to fund that program. The funding is necessary to continue their eleven-year history of helping the workers who do not have jobs & cannot speak English. Please allocate the funds to LRCL so the members of the DLP can have the services, which have always been given to them.
Maria Vivanco, student of USF. She is asking the Commission to advocate the funding be given to LRCL. LRCL has give services to the workers directly & indirectly. She asked the Commission to fund the DLP.
Epiferia de Cortaza asked if the Commission could return the funding to LRCL. A mother who lost her child did not have funds to bury her child, but LRCL came up with the funds. The DLP also helps women workers find jobs.
Daniel Rosas he is a member of the DLP & Cesar Chavez street workers Association. He asked if the funding be given back to the DLP. Currently the DLP has about 200 workers.
Maria Perez is a member of the DLP. She is here to ask if the funding be returned the DLP. There are many men & women who benefit from the funding.
Eloria Henandez De Candell asked if the Commission give the funding back to the DLP so that LRCL can continue to help them.
Jose Luis Candell is a member of the DLP. Many of those funds can help them. Those funds are very important to them. He knows that the Commission will make a good decision so the laborers can be helped.
Adjournment: The Commission meeting was adjourned at 6:58 p.m. due to lack of quorum. .