San Francisco Youth Commission
Housing, Environment, & City Services
Minutes
Thursday, May 7, 2015
5:00-7:00 PM
City Hall, Room 345
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

Members: Rosa Chen, Anna Bernick, Noah David, Lily Marshall-Fricker, Precious Listana, E’mani Davis

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Chair Chen called the meeting to order at 5:06 pm. Commissioners present: Rosa Chen, Noah David, Anna Bernick, E’mani Davis.  Commissioners Precious Listana and Lily Marshal Fricker were absent. Staff present: Monica Guzman. There was quorum. 

There was no public comment. 

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

Commissioner Davis, seconded by Commissioner David, moved to approve the agenda. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation. 

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. April 23, 2015
(Document A)

Commissioner Davis, seconded by Commissioner Bernick, moved to approve the minutes from the last meeting. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

4. Public Comment on Items not on Agenda (Discussion Only)

Students from Paul Revere introduced themselves and read statements prepared for the Youth Commission.  They commended the Youth Commission for the work that they did on bringing awareness to youth homelessness.

5. Legislation Referred from the Board of Supervisors (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

There was none.

6. Presentations (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

There were none.

7. Business (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

A. Policy & Budget Priorities Presentation to BOS

The committee debriefed on how the presentations went on last full YC meeting.  There was no public comment.

B. Year of Homeless Youth Priority Update

Commissioner Bernick suggested that Commissioner Listana mention the collaboration and work that Larkin Street did with the Youth Commission on the homelessness resolution. Next steps are that Commissioner Listana will speak to Supervisor Kim to sponsor this resolution.  Once a sponsor is secured the HECS committee will talk to Larkin Street to schedule a rally.

There was a question from the public asking what the main goal is for the Year of the Homeless Youth Resolution.  Commissioner Chen answers that the goal is to raise awareness about the issues. 

There was another question from the public asking how the YC would counter views such that being homeless is a choice?   Commissioner Davis answered that the first step is by bringing more awareness to the issue which in turn gives people more knowledge of the situation.  This knowledge or education of the issues would help clarify misconceptions people have.

There was another question from the public asking what the YC definition of youth was? Commissioner Chen answered that it encompasses all people 24 and under.

C. Equity Analysis Priority Update

Discussed next step for this resolution.  The committee decided that staff would contact Supervisors Mar's office to see if they would be interested in sponsoring. There was no public comment.

D. SB 413 Review

The HECS committee read over the full text of SB 413 to discuss what parts they agreed with and what parts they did not.  They later discussed their ideas with an overwhelming response of disagreement with the criminalization of benign actions (such as talking loudly or not giving up a seat).  The committee felt that although youth (and all people) should be respectful and not make noise and give up seats to elderly or disabled, making it a citable infraction is not the solution.  One main question the committee had was who would be enforcing this new bill on MUNI.  They also wondered who has been citing youth since they heard that over 900 MUNI citations were handed out last year. 

The committee decided that next steps would be to hold a meeting with members from the SFMTA, community groups who oppose this bill and perhaps the SFPD.

A member of the public stated that the intentions of this bill seem very wrong and that the wording of the bill is very obfuscated.

8. Executive Committee Report

There was none.

9. Staff Report

Staff Monica Guzman mentioned that Scott Warren, the Executive Director of Generation Citizen wanted to have a feedback session with YCers.  There was no public comment.

10. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 6:46 pm.