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Meeting Information



Full Commission

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Immigrant Rights Commission

Minutes of the neighborhood meeting

Held at the Community Center of Visitation Valley

7/10/2006

 

 

The neighborhood meeting was called to order by Commissioner Diana Lau (chair) at 6:40 P.M.

 

Members Present: Commissioners Lau, Escobedo, Alexander, Dajani, Haile, Levy, Melara, and Lee were present.

 

Members Absent: Commissioners Enssani, Jones, McCoy, Kaff, Ng, Nguyen and Spektor.

 

Staff Present: Dang Pham, Executive Director and Vanessa Soriano, Student Intern.

 

More than 100 residents attended the neighborhood meeting, which provided the translation services in Cantonese, Mandarin and Spanish.

 

Dan Bernal & Harriet Ishimoto of Congresswoman Pelosi’s Office spoke regarding the “Citizenship Workshop” which will be held on August 14, 2006 at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and invited participation.

 

Tomas Lee from San Francisco 311 Customer Service Center talked about the new, upcoming 311 call system for non-emergency police contact in SF. The 311 system will cater to 172 languages and assign case numbers to callers for follow-up. San Francisco’s 311 Call system will also be hiring bilingual, costumer service experienced, people with knowledge of San Francisco.

 

San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong spoke about the importance of community assistance, specifically reporting incidents. She also stated that 911 calls are able to assist in languages other than English.

 

Janet Michelson from MTA spoke about the union of MUNI and the Department of Parking and Traffic, forming the MTA. She also mentioned that online documents would be available in Chinese and Spanish soon.

 

Chief Mark Kearney informed the public about the current events regarding fires due to fireworks and how the SFFD handled those situations.

 

Kristina Palone representing the Mayor’s Office, spoke about her position as a link to the Mayor’s administration regarding citizen concerns.

 

Dean Joan Low from City College of San Francisco informed the public about ESL and Citizenship classes that are offered. She also spoke about the programs that City College provides for students to pursue AA or AS degrees.

 

Citizen Complaints and Comments

Many participants spoke up during this public hearing, with major concerns being neighborhood safety and street cleanliness. Government leaders present listened and addressed to their concerns and made follow-up promises.