5. Legislation Referred from the Board of Supervisors (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)
- Resolution urging government agencies to work together to develop a free MUNI Fast Pass for San Francisco youth (Supervisor Campos, Avalos, Cohen, Kim, Mar, Mirkarimi, Chiu)
Presenter: Sheila Chung-Hagen, Legislative Aide, Supervisor David Campos
(Document B)
Chair LaCroix offered introductory remarks, sharing that this is legislation referred is unique in that it is a resolution that cites the Youth Commission’s Resolution 1112-AL-01- Free Youth Transportation, sponsored by Commissioners LaCroix, Liang, and Yang; and referenced work that the Youth Commission has been working on.
Chair LaCroix informed her colleagues that commissioner Shackelford will be chairing this item as Chair LaCroix, and Commissioner Liang were the main sponsors of this resolution.
Acting Chair Shackelford then welcomed Sheila Chung-Hagan, Legislative Aide to Supervisor David Campos.
Mrs. Chung-Hagan then provided an overview of the resolution and noted that the Youth Commission was the body who brought the issue on the need of affordable public transportation for youth in San Francisco to the attention of the Board of Supervisors. This resolution would call for all departments to work together along with community groups to launch a timeline with clear and secured funding for the free MUNI for youth pilot program; and work together on increasing agency efficiencies to invest in youth ridership.
Mrs. Chung-Hagan also referenced the Youth Commission’s support of their resolution on free youth transportation and mentioned the Youth Commission’s past resolution on the Youth Lifeline Fast Pass-a discounted monthly MUNI fast pass for low income public school students that the Youth Commission proposed in February 2010.
Mrs. Chung-Hagan also shared that the Student Advisory Council had also recently passed their resolution on free muni for youth on September 26, 2011. Chung-Hagan then invited commissioners to come out and speak at two upcoming meetings regarding Supervisor Campos’ resolution: on Thursday, October 6, 2011 from 4:00-6:00pm at the Board of Supervisor’s City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee in room 263 of City Hall; as well as Director Ramos’s item calendared as a discussion item on Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 4:00pm at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board meeting in room 400 of City Hall. She urged commissioners to discuss the importance of this issue at both meetings and then thanked them for their leadership on this issue.
Commissioners then asked clarifying questions on the distribution of passes, the likelihood of including BART, the timeline of this pilot program, and funding.
Chung-Hagan shared that this program is currently in the planning process, that this resolution simply asks for city departments to work together to look at how this pilot program would work and how to go after funding and secure resources, and shared some information on the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) which is a program that works to find ways where MUNI can be more efficient. Chung-Hagan stressed the importance of commissioners coming out to the upcoming meetings to ask these specific questions, as well as give additional input.
There was no public comment.
Acting Chair Shackelford then explained to commissioners that they were going to now discuss the resolution and work on a motion to either support, not support, or not take a position.
Commissioner LaCroix expressed to her colleagues that this resolution is similar to the Youth Commission’s resolution on free MUNI for young people and reminded everyone that this is a program that will ultimately benefit all young people in San Francisco; and the Youth Commission is mandated to look out for the unmet needs of young people in San Francisco.
Commissioners then discussed the option of adding an amendment to explore options to prioritize low income youth in the free MUNI plan. Commissioner Sun added that it is important to have youth who can afford a fast pass pay for one. Commissioner Ontiveros noted that the budget to have free MUNI for all youth is only 4.6% of MUNI’s overall budget.
Commissioners then discussed the different options that were available, with some pointing out the significance of supporting a plan that is inclusive of all young people in San Francisco, environmentally sustainable, and that would unite youth ridership. Commissioner Sun, Carrion, and Chan, shared their thoughts on prioritizing low income youth.
Commissioner Tu Mutch, Baer, and Ontiveros weighed in on the logistical difficulties of differentiating low income high school youth and that free public transportation for all youth is a better option. Commissioners also reminded each other that they had just recently unanimously passed their own resolution on free youth transportation.
Mrs. Chung-Hagen stepped in to reiterate that this resolution is simply asking all city departments to work together; currently there had been a whole host of possible challenges and concerns coming from the working group, and suggested that the Youth Commission utilized their subgroup and committees to work on the design of this program as it moves into a further stage.
Commissioner Ontiveros, seconded by Baer, moved to support this resolution and urged the Board of Supervisors to include the Youth Commission in the collaborating process with city agencies and to explore a needs based program for transitional age youth.
Commissioners Chan and Brodwin urged their colleagues to add an amendment to urge the Board of Supervisors to look at other options to prioritize low income youth. Commissioners Ontiveros, Armstrong, and Baer debated the need to add the amendment as the resolution calls for agencies to work together to explore the options of free MUNI for all young people.
Youth Commission Director Yedidia reminded commissioners that the Youth Commission makes comments and recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.
Commissioner Brodwin stated that it is important to have a stance to imply that other options should be explored.
Commissioner Chan, seconded by Brodwin moved to amend, to support everything in the basic motion, but also urge the Board of Supervisors and Mayor to consider other options specifically targeting youth in need.
Acting Chair Shackelford noted that there are two motions at the table and the Youth Commission should move forward and take action.
Staff Yedidia clarified the two motions. There was the basic motion to support the legislation referred with a request to include the Youth Commission in the planning process and to keep in mind transitional age youth for future programs. There was also the motion to amend, which supports everything in the basic motion, but urged the Board of Supervisors to explore other options.
The motion to amend passed by the following 11-4 roll call vote: Ayes (11) – Bonner, Brodwin, Carrion, Chan, Holloway, Liang, Tu Mutch, Ontiveros, Persky, Shackelford, Sun. No’s (4) – Armstrong, Baer, LaCroix, Marshall-Fricker.
The motion to support the legislation referred passed by the following 15-0 roll call vote: Ayes (15) – Armstrong, Baer, Bonner, Brodwin, Carrion, Chan, Holloway, LaCroix, Liang, Marshall-Fricker, Tu Mutch, Ontiveros, Persky, Shackelford, Sun.
Commissioner Bonner then clarified her notes to include in her memo to the Board of Supervisors on legislation referred.
6. Presentations (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)
A. Presentation on the City’s Budget Process and Fund Structure, with special attention to the Children’s Fund, Children’s Baseline and Proposition H
Presenter: Cindy Czerwin, Budget & Analysis Division, Controller’s Office
(Documents C, D, E)
Chair LaCroix welcomed Cindy Czerwin from the Budget and Analysis Division of the Controller’s office and gave introductory remarks on why a presentation on the City’s Budget Process is important and useful for the Youth Commissioners to have.
Commissioner Tu Mutch added that the Youth Commission as a body should understand how the budget works as it relates to the Children’s Fund and the Children’s baseline which funds youth programming and services in San Francisco.
Ms. Czerwin started by giving a general overview of the Controller’s office, which acts as a completely neutral office, and the 6.8 billion dollars budget of San Francisco, of which only about 2 billion dollars is discretionary. She then went into more detail on the sources of funding that are dedicated to the Children’s Fund. The Children’s Fund is a total of 42.7 million dollars that sits with the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families; this fund is not considered a general fund as it is specifically set aside children’s programs and services. Ms. Czerwin also explained that there is also the Children’s Baseline and the Public Education Enrichment Fund.
Commissioners then asked clarifying questions on discretionary revenue and the non general fund. Ms. Czerwin explained that tax revenue is discretionary and that sales and hotel taxes are one of the biggest sources of revenue for the city.
Chair LaCroix asked Ms. Czerwin how the Youth Commission can become involved and what they should be focusing on when providing any comments on the budget process. Ms. Czerwin commented that the Youth Commission should think about efficiencies and on long term goals of where they see youth in San Francisco should be and what youth should have.
Chair LaCroix thanked Cindy for her time and expressed interest in finding a way to work with the Controller’s Office in the future.
7. Youth Commission Business (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)
- [Second Reading] Resolution 1112—AL 02—Immigrant Youth Summit
Sponsor and Presenter: Commissioner Yang
(Document F)
Chair LaCroix asked that her colleagues motion to table this item to the next meeting since Commissioner Yang was absent from the meeting.
Commissioner Ontiveros, as Vice Chair of the Youth Immigration Committee, wanted to continue the discussion and asked commissioners not to table the item, as he strongly felt that the Youth Commission should make a decision in supporting the Immigrant Youth Summit as the event is only several weeks away.
Commissioners then discussed whether or not this item should be table; and then asked for more information on the Immigrant Youth Summit. Staff Yedidia and Truong provided the context behind the Immigrant Youth Summit, Commissioner Yang’s hard work during the summer with the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs, and expressed that the goal of the summit is to reach a few hundred immigrant students from 9 public high schools. The summit will be taking place on October 28, 2011 from 10:15am-4:30pm at the West Bay Conference Center. Commissioner Ontiveros expressed that this meeting was the perfect opportunity to get everyone’s input as well as everyone’s availability to help.
Staff Yedidia then called roll to get feedback and help from commissioners;:
Holloway attends a private high school and asked for the committee to look into whether or not he can attend;
Chan would have to check in with her school to see if she can attend, but offered her support with providing outreach to API Equality and LYRIC;
Carrion will stop by the event after his class to help with set up and/or clean up and reach out to his JAC networks;
Brodwin stated she will inform the First Generations club at her school and will help with outreach;
Bonner offered her help in providing public speaking, advocacy, and resume writing workshops and she is free on Fridays to help all day at the summit;
Baer would attend the summit after school to help clean and would post a flyer at his school;
Armstrong offered to reach out to immigrant young people at her school;
Marshall-Fricker would not be able to get out of class;
Tu Mutch stated that she would attend and work on outreach for this event;
Persky noted that he has an early day on the 28th and would stop by to help the committee;
Shackelford was not sure if she could get out of school, but will get back to the committee;
Sun stated that she had shared this resolution with her appointing officer; and
Chair LaCroix offered her support in setting up and cleaning up.
Commissioner Baer moved to approve this resolution, seconded by Brodwin. This motion passed with 15 ayes.
8. Staff Report (Discussion Only)
Youth Commission Director Yedidia informed commissioners that their business cards are here and to pick them up in the office. Yedidia also passed out the committee meeting schedule of 2011-2012 and reminded commissioners that they are all expected to set up meetings with their appointing officers and/or their legislative aides; and asked commissioners to start planning to visit community based organizations and set up community meetings and to talk to staff and their Community Outreach officer Brodwin for help on this.
Staff passed out flyers on the upcoming Bay Area Urban Debate League event to take place on October 26th, 2011 at the San Francisco School District building. Yedidia concluded staff report by urging commissioners to come out and speak in support of free MUNI for youth at the Board of Supervisors City Operations and Neighborhood Services committee meeting on October 6th, 2011 and at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority Board of Director’s meeting on October 18th, 2011.
9. Committee Reports (Discussion Only)
Staff Truong read all upcoming committee meetings out loud.
- Executive Committee; next meeting: Wednesday, October 12, 4:30-6:15pm, City Hall, room 345
Chair LaCroix gave a quick update on the full Executive Committee meeting, how officers set the agenda for October 3, 2011, and shared that each officer will be checking in with commissioners on a regular basis to add requested items onto future meeting agendas.
Commissioner Brodwin updated her colleagues that she had been meeting with staff and working on a Community Outreach plan and is opened to hearing recommendations from peers.
Commissioner Bonner gave a brief report back on her duties and responsibilities of being the Legislative Affairs officer.
Commissioner Tu Mutch shared that she was working on a Public Relations and Media plan and will be establishing expectations for commissioners to make the Youth Commission a household name in San Francisco.
B. Youth Justice Issues Committee; next meeting: Wednesday, October 5, 4:30-6:15pm, City Hall, room 345
Commissioner Ontiveros gave a quick report back on the Youth Justice Issues committee presentation to the Violence Prevention Imitative (VPI) Joint Funders at the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families (DCYF). Ontiveros shared that the committee would be continuing their presentation and would need the support of peers as the they get more in depth with their policy priorities.
C. Youth Immigration Committee; next meeting: Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 3:30-4:30pm, City Hall, room 345
Commissioner Ontiveros reminded commissioners that the Youth Immigration committee would be meeting this Wednesday, October 5th, to finalize the break out session themes and get into the fine details of the event. Ontiveros invited his peers to contact him with any suggestions and help.
D. Youth City Services Committee (Housing, Transportation and Recreation); next meeting, Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 4:30-6:30pm, City Hall, room 345
Commissioner Baer gave a quick report out to his peers that the Youth City Services committee had a successful first meeting, Baer had been nominated Chair of the committee by his peers, and then read the committee’s mission statement into the public record.
E. Youth Employment Committee; next meeting, Thursday, October 13, 2011, 4:45pm, City Hall, room 345.
Commissioner Armstrong, nominated to be Chair of the committee by members, gave a brief update of the Youth Employment committee’s first meeting and shared that the America’s Cup presentation to the committee had been rescheduled.
F. Student Support, Health and Facilities Committee; next meeting: Friday, October 28, 2011, 4:30-6:30, 555 Franklin St., 3rd Floor
Commissioner Bonner, nominated Chair of this committee, went over the goals and priorities of this committee which included utilizing their relationship with Youth Outreach workers, asking for support for high school drop out prevention work, and attending a school budget training at their next meeting.
G. School District Curriculum and Class Time Issues; next meeting: Tuesday, October 18, 5:30-7:30, 555 Franklin St., 3rd Floor
This committee had not met yet.
10. Attendance Review (Action Item)
Chair LaCroix reminded commissioners of the format for how to review the attendance and authorize an absence of a commissioner. Each commissioner had 60 seconds to explain why they were absent with time for questions from other commissioners after the statement.
A. Commissioner Chan, Monday, September 19, 2011
Commissioner Chan explained that the last full Youth Commission meeting conflicted with her last week of work; and that she made the decision to miss the meeting in order to plan for a big event at her work place.
Commissioner Ontiveros asked follow up questions and asked Chan to inform her colleagues in the future and utilize her participation in the Youth Commission to endorse future events, so that commissioners would be able to help her out.
Commissioner Chan noted Ontiveros suggestion and apologized for not managing her time effectively.
Commissioner Bonner added that if any commissioners would like to add an item on the agenda, they can contact her for the Agenda Request form.
Commissioner Tu Mutch, seconded by Holloway moved to authorize the absence of Commissioner Chan. This motion was approved unanimously by acclamation.
LaCroix: item 10B is tabled to next meeting:
B. Commissioner Zukerman, Monday, September 19, 2011
Commissioner Zukerman was absent from this meeting. Chair LaCroix stated that item 10B would be tabled to the next meeting.
11. Announcements (This Includes Community Events)
Chair LaCroix opened the meeting to announcements.
Commissioner Bonner urged commissioners to attend the Bay Area Urban Debate League event on October 26th and asked her peers to contact her if they were interested in helping out. Bonner would also be giving a speech at the beginning of this event and encouraged her commissioners to come out to support the event.
Commissioner Ontiveros shared with his peers that the budget proposal at City College of San Francisco Board meeting on September 22, 2011 had passed. Ontiveros stated the importance of speaking in public on issues that affect youth and urged his colleagues to voice their support at the October 6th’ Board of Supervisors City Operations and Neighborhood Services committee hearing on free MUNI for youth.
Chair LaCroix added that Fiona Ma’s office had invited commissioners to a Drum, Salsa, and Chili cook off event on October 8th at Stern Grove.
Commissioner Ontiveros also announced that there is a Youth Advocate internship opportunity. The flyer is posted up at the Youth Commission’s office bulletin board.
Commission Carrion invited commissioners to the Street Crime and Public Safety summit to take place on October 31, 2011 at St. Paul’s 1122 Jamestown Avenue. The summit would have discussions on all the violence that had been happening in the neighborhoods of district 10. Carrion will be attending the summit and encouraged his peers to also attend. The summit starts at 11am and will update commissioners on confirmed participants as soon as he gets the information.
12. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:07pm.
Any materials distributed to the members of the Youth Commission within 72 hours of the meeting or after the agenda packet has been delivered to the members are available for inspection—along with minutes of previous Youth Commission meetings and all supplementary information—at the Youth Commission office during regular office hours (9am to 6pm, Monday—Friday). The Youth Commission office is located at:
City Hall, Room 345
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 554-6446, Fax: (415) 554-6140
Email: youthcom@sfgov.org
www.sfgov.org/yc
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE SUNSHINE ORDINANCE
(Chapter 67 of the San Francisco Administrative Code)
Government’s duty is to serve the public, reaching its decisions in full view of the public. Commissions, boards, councils and other agencies of the City and County exist to conduct the people’s business. This ordinance assures that deliberations are conducted before the people and that City operations are open to the people’s review.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE SUNSHINE ORDINANCE OR TO REPORT A VIOLATION OF THE ORDINANCE, CONTACT THE SUNSHINE ORDINANCE TASK FORCE, please contact:
Sunshine Ordinance Task Force
City Hall, Room 244
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
Phone: (415) 554-7724, Fax: (415) 554-5784
E-mail: sotf@sfgov.org
Copies of the Sunshine Ordinance can be obtained from the Clerk of the Sunshine Ordinance
Task Force, at the San Francisco Public Library, and on the City’s website at
http://www.sfgov.org.
The ringing and use of cell phones, pagers, and similar sound-producing electronic devices are prohibited at this meeting. The Chair may order the removal from the meeting room of any person responsible for the ringing or use of a cell phone, pager, or other similar sound-producing electronic device.
In order to assist the City’s efforts to accommodate persons with severe allergies, environmental illnesses, multiple chemical sensitivity, or related disabilities, attendees at public meetings are reminded that other attendees may be sensitive to various chemical-based products. Please help the City accommodate these individuals.
To obtain a disability-related modification or accommodation, including auxiliary aids or services, to participate in the meeting, please contact Mario Yedidia, Youth Commission Director [phone: 415-554 6254; email: mario.yedidia@sfgov.org] at least 48 hours before the meeting, except for Monday meetings, for which the deadline is 4:00 p.m. the previous Friday.