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Minutes of Special Meeting on January 13, 2003
A special meeting of the Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) was held on Monday, January 13, 2003 at Tenderloin Community Room at 201 Turk Street in San Francisco from 5:25-6:05pm.
I. Roll Call:
| Members Present |
The meeting was called to order on 5:25 p.m., Commissioners Nwadibia, Ataya, Casillas, Berumen, Haile, Lau, Nguyen, Tran & Zheng were present. Commissioner Tran arrived at 5:45 p.m. Commmissioner Gonzalez, Gusukuma, Huie, Ribas were absent. Commissioner Casillas & Zheng left at 6:05 p.m. |
| Invited Guests |
Supervisor Chris Daly
Captain David Shinn – San Francisco Police Department
Shawn Collins – North of Market Neighborhood Improvement Corp.
Shih-Wei Lu – Department of Public Works |
| Others Present |
Winny Loi, Commission Secretary
William Chan, Deputy City Attorney |
II. Approval of minutes for Dec. 9, 2002:
Commissioner Lau moved to approve the minutes with the following amendments: “Commissioner Lau presented to the Commission a rough draft of the Summit Report.”
Commissioner Haile seconds the motion to approve the minutes as amended. The Commission unanimously adopted the minutes as amended
III. Public Comment:
Commissioner Nwadibia welcomed the invited guests and invited the public to address the Commission.
Tan Dang expressed his concerns about the lack of City forms translated into Vietnamese. He noted that most of the City forms are translated into Spanish or Chinese.
Thuy Nguyen, Chair of the Women Mutual Association, spoke to the Commission on her concerns about the translation services for the Vietnamese immigrant community. She noted the need for more translating services & translated City documents for the Vietnamese community. She stressed the need for translated voting materials to allow the Vietnamese immigrants to participate effectively in the political process. She also noted the need for translation services at the hospitals & the housing authority to enable the Vietnamese immigrant to communicate effectively about their needs.
Thuy Doan from the Vietnamese Community of San Francisco also stated his concerns on the need for more Vietnamese translating services.
Supervisor Chris Daly addressed the Commission noting that the Tenderloin neighborhood is an ethnically diverse area with many residents speaking a variety of languages. The residents come from hard working lower income families who often have limited English proficiency and in need of translation services. He also pointed out the importance of the Commission’s work on behalf of the immigrant residents of the City especially in the current post September 11th climate. He informed the Commission of the Board of Supervisors’ efforts to adopt a resolution opposing the USA Patriot Act, which give the federal government sweeping powers to restrict the civil rights of immigrants.
Captain David Shinn addressed the Commission on the efforts made by the Police Department to better serve the limited English proficient residents in the Tenderloin neighborhood. He noted that when the officers responding to a complaint do not speak the language of the complainant, they would radio for translation help from other officers on duty. He also pointed out various organizations, such as the Safe Awareness For Everyone (SAFE) program, which goes out to the community to educate residents about safety. The Police Department is also continuing its effort to recruit more bilingual officers
Adjournment:
The Commission meeting was adjourned at 6:05 p.m. due to the loss of quorum.