Veterans' Affairs Commission - May 9, 2017 - Agenda
- Call for Public Comment (Introduction and general comments by guests) (please keep comments to 2 minutes)
- Officers’ Reports:
a. President’s Report, SFVAC President Michael Maffei
b. Vice President’s Report, SFVAC Vice President Dwane Kennedy
c. Secretary’s Report, SFVAC Secretary Dottie L. Guy
- Old Business:
a. Proposed Resolutions, Commissioner Olivieri, Lead. (action item)
- New Business: (Speakers, please keep your presentation under 10 minutes)
a. Presentation on Veterans Court by the Honorable Jeffrey Ross, Superior Court Judge and Ron Perez, Program Manager, COVER Program, Commissioner Maffei, Lead.
b. Presentation by County Veterans Service Officer Dorian Carr, Commissioner Maffei, Lead.
c. Recent Death of Homeless Veteran, Commissioner Dacumos, lead.
d. Update by Wallace Levin on Korean War Soil Dedication Ceremony, Saturday, May 20, 2017 at 11:00am, Commissioner Maffei, lead.
e. Update by Wallace Levin on Memorial Day Parade, Commissioner Kennedy, lead.
- Veterans Related Legislation: New or possible legislation affecting Veterans or Veterans Community
- Announcements: see attachments
- Honors Report and Moment of Silence: In memory of American Armed Service Members who have made the ultimate sacrifice in all wars and conflicts, plus the passing of
homeless veterans and veterans who died while waiting approval of benefits requests and suicides within the veterans and armed services community.
- Adjournment
Note: Commissioners who are unable to attend this meeting or expecting to be late are asked to notify Secretary Guy prior to the meeting at dottie.guy@gmail.com or via text message.
This document is Official Business of the Veterans Affairs Commission, City and County of San Francisco. It is part of the official Public Record of the City and County of San Francisco.
Public Access:
Public Records are covered under the State of California Brown Act, as well as the Sunshine Ordinance of the City and County of San Francisco. These acts ensure that deliberations of City Business are conducted “before the People,” and that City and County operations are open to the People’s review.
For information on your rights under the Sunshine Ordinance (Chapter 67 of the San Francisco Administrative Code), or to report a violation of the ordinance, please contact: Mr. Chris Ruston, Administrator, Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, at (415) 554-7724.
Veterans Affairs Commission Meetings:
General meetings of the SFVAC are scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month, with the exception for the month of July, when there is no scheduled SF VAC meeting, and are held in Room 416 in City Hall.
Meeting confirmation, and specific announcement of general meetings are made via public posting of the Meeting Agenda as required by law, at least 72 hours prior to scheduled meetings. Agendas for SFVAC meetings (and archived meeting minutes) are available on the SFVAC Pages of the City of San Francisco website, and are also available for public view and inspection at the 5th Floor Government Information Center at the San Francisco Public Library, at 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. The documents librarian telephone number is (415) 554-4472.
Disability Access:
City Hall of San Francisco is wheelchair accessible via all entrances. There is wheelchair accessible public parking nearby, including the underground garage at the north side of City Hall. The nearby BART/MUNI station (Civic Center) is wheelchair accessible as are nearby city bus lines and stops. For more public transit information services, call (415) 923-6142 or dial 311.
If you or a Veteran you know is in immediate danger to themselves or others, please call 911 or visit your local emergency room.
The Veterans Crisis Line is also available by texting 838255 or by going to their website and chatting with a mental health professional.
24/7 Confidential Support
Text MYLIFE to 741741
Crisis Line:
(415) 781-0500
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Attachments: Events and Information
SF Veterans Coming Events (PDF)
From Commissioner Campbell: Veterans can now file class action suits for delays in their VA claims. On Wednesday (April 26), the Federal Circuit Court ruled that veterans seeking to challenge delays at the VA may aggregate their claims and file a class action. The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims will now be able to certify classes for class actions or similar aggregate resolution procedures. This decision overturns decades of precedent which denied individual veterans the ability to proceed on behalf of others facing similar challenges to obtaining benefits. See Monk v. Shulkin, United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Case No. 15-7092 (2017). Opinion: https://efiling.uscourts.cavc.gov/cmecf/servlet/TransportRoom?servlet=ShowDoc&dls_id=01 204388791&caseId=85114&dktType=dktPublic
SF Veterans Town Hall Collaborative
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Special focus: VA Mental Health and Social Work:
what services are available and how to access them.
May is Mental Health Month!
You are all invited to learn about some of the issues facing our Veterans, and to hear about the resources, programs, and benefits available for our Veterans and military families.
When: 4th Wednesday of May (May 24), Morning session 9-11 am; Afternoon session 4-6 pm.
Where:War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Ave., 2nd Floor, Rm 206, SF CA 94102.
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Military Hiring Fair
Career Event
Thursday, August 17, 2017
9:30a.m. - 2:00p.m.
AT&T Park
24 Willie Mays Plaza
San Francisco, CA
Join us for a one-of-a-kind event featuring a hiring fair, networking opportunities and workshops tailored for veteran job seekers, active duty military members, guard and
reserve members, and military spouses.
Participants are eligible to receive up to two (2) free tickets for them and their families to attend that evening’s game between the Giants and Phillies – limited tickets available.
At 9:30 a.m., a free employment workshop for job seekers will feature resume building, networking, and interview tips.
Questions? Contact jrussell@uschamber.com.
Employers and Military Job Seekers register at
HiringOurHeroes.org
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Passage of Remembrance
SAN FRANCISCO VETERANS MEMORIAL
KOREAN WAR SOIL DEDICATION CEREMONY
Saturday, May 20, 2017, 11:00 a.m.
Armed Forces Day
Sponsored by
San Francisco Veterans Memorial Committee
and
Korean War Memorial Foundation
Charlotte and George Shultz Horseshoe Drive adjacent to the Memorial Court
between the War Memorial Opera House and War Memorial Veterans Building
301-401 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, California
The San Francisco Veterans Memorial and Sacred Soil
The heart of the War Memorial Complex is the Memorial Court, a panel of lawn set on axis with the dome of City Hall, flanked by pollarded Plane trees lining recessed pathways in a basket weave pattern of pebble mosaic paving. In 1935, War Memorial Complex architect Arthur Brown, Jr. recommended landscape architect Thomas D. Church to complete the Memorial Court. Mr. Church, renowned for his gardens reflecting the Beaux-Arts tradition, set to work and completed the design in 1936. His drawings referenced a “future memorial” to be added in the octagonal area of the Memorial Court. Over the years, honor was shown to fallen veterans by interring battlefield soils in the Memorial Court octagon. Soils from World War I battlefields were consigned there at the time of its completion. A similar ceremony depositing soils from World War II battlefields took place following the 1945 signing of the United Nations Charter in the Veterans Building. And in 1988, veterans groups held a ceremony interring battlefield soils from Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, China, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Guam, Italy, Laos, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. In 2010, a private Veterans Memorial Committee raised funds to design and install the long awaited San Francisco Veterans Memorial in the Memorial Court, and in 2014 the completed memorial entitled Passage of Remembrance, was dedicated to honor our nation’s military veterans. Prior to beginning construction of the San Francisco Veterans Memorial, the soil from the center of the octagonal area of the Memorial Court was carefully removed and safeguarded. The Passage of Remembrance provides an area within its walls where this soil was reinterred as part of the Memorial’s dedication. In February 2016, as part of a Gold Star Parents ceremony at the San Francisco Veterans Memorial, battlefield soils from Afghanistan and Iraq were added to and interred in the Veterans Memorial. On May 20, 2017, in a ceremony co-sponsored by the San Francisco Veterans Memorial Committee and the Korean War Memorial Foundation, battlefield soil from Korea will be added to the Veterans Memorial in ongoing remembrance of the courageous men and women who died in the service of freedom. The soil was obtained in Incheon, a strategic port on the west coast of Korea. The military forces of the United States and Korea launched a decisive and massive amphibious landing, which turned the tide of the Korean War and led to the liberation of Seoul, the capital of Korea. The battlefield soil from Incheon symbolizes the dedicated services and sacrifices of the Korean War veterans of the United States and Korea as well as the robust alliance between our two nations. Our special thanks go out to the Honorable Chae-Hyun, Shin, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco, for securing the soil from one of the major battlefields of the Korean War.