San Francisco Youth Commission

Housing, Environment and City Services 

Minutes

Thursday, December 3, 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: Giovanna Soto, Erica Kong, Lily Marshall-Fricker, Jarrett Mao and Cris Plunkett

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Vice Chair Kong called the meeting to order at 5:21pm. Commissioners present: Erica Kong, Lily Marshall-Fricker, Jarrett Mao, and Cris Plunkett. Staff present: Allen Lu. There was quorum.

There was no public comment.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

Commissioner Mao, seconded by Commissioner Marshall-Fricker, moved to approve the agenda. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item) 

A. November 12, 2015 (Document A)

Commissioner Mao, seconded by Commissioner Marshall-Fricker, moved to approve the agenda. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

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

There was no public comment.

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

A. Presentation: Textile Awareness Campaign

Presentors Brandon Northart, and SF State interns Kelly, Carolyn, and Matthew from YLI Goodwill introduced themselves to commissioners. They shared with commissioners their efforts to reduce the amount of clothing in waste facilities, specifically their goal to

cut the amount of textiles sent to landfills by 25% over a 12 month period. Furthermore they hope to reach a zero waste goal by 2020.

The presenters stated the problems with textile waste, noting 5.7% of landfill waste is comprised of textile. On average, 70lbs of textile waste per person year is put into our landfills. 95% of textile waste can be recycled. In San Francisco, 4500 lbs of textile waste is dumped per hour. Presenters also shared that other wastes in landfills impede textiles from decomposing. Another concern is chemicals from clothes seeping out to landfills. Clothes release methane, which releases 4x faster than carbon monoxide. Excess greenhouse gas is being emitted. Additionally, the presenters commented that a lot of good clothes are going to waste.

Presenters expressed that numerous materials used in textile production. Textile waste accounts for 17-20% of water pollution. In addition to environmental concerns, the presenters noted other ethical objections including workforce, wages, and work environments.

Commissioner Marshall-Fricker asked if there was a way to not have landfills. Presenter Kelly replied that increased composting, reduction and elimination of plastic bag and plastic wrap usage would help eliminate the need for landfills. Kelly noted other measures implemented by local agencies to reduce the need for landfill that include the Environmental Protection Agency’s RICA policy, and California AB 939—Waste Management Act—which seeks to divert waste from landfills by a percentage annually. Local organizations such as SF Environment, Goodwill, and Recology also work to attain these goals. Through individual efforts such as clothing donations and recycling, and wear clothes an extra year, provides more space in landfills. Additionally, it provided local jobs for local people.

The presenters made the following ask of commissioner;

Encourage yourself and your peers to change our behaviors. What we buy di-rectly affects supply. Make efforts to reduce our usage. Refuse and reduce: don’t purchase additional clothing. Buy only when you need it, and donate your old clothing when you don’t need it. Purchase used clothing from thrift stores and and goodwill. Recycle items, and send even broken shoes to goodwill because they know how to dispose of it appropriately. And lastly, demand from our pro-ducers that they extend their responsibility.

The presenter asked commissioner what they can do to spread the message, and how can they help meet the zero waste goals. Commissioner Kong replied it’s a worthy topic, and that she has not seen this type of campaign anywhere else. She also commented how quickly the environment is changing, and that she personally has clothes to donate.

Commissioner Kong asked about their outreach measures, and how they plan to pass this message out to others. Presenter Kelly replied that they hope to use billboards, bus ads, and more in person presentations, and conversations with roommates and friends. They also hope for support from San Francisco State University. Presenter Matthew added the importance of peer sharing given that youth are the next generation and it is their responsibility to spread awareness.

The presenters stressed the need to donate to local thrift stores and goodwill. Because many curbside donation boxes are for-profit, and ship out overseas, this type of dona-tions negates the positive impact on local communities.

Commissioner Kong asked about the process of making a donation. Presenters in-formed commissioners that once a donation is received, the thrift store presents the items for in stores sales. If selling the item is not possible in store, then efforts are made to sell the item via e-commerce. Lastly if that doesn’t work, clothes are recycled and made into new clothes.

Presenter Kelly commented that San Francisco has a large homeless population, and making a donation also possessed a social justice aspect. Many of the clothes going to landfills can be given to homeless people.

Commissioner Mao asked how the presenter efforts are targeted at young people. Pre-senter Matthew informed that they are currently targeting everyone, and want to influ-ence and persuade the upcoming generation as much as possible. He mentioned that it’s also important to target youth called fast fashion (see H&M) who targets young peo-ple.

Commissioner Kong advised for the presenters to reach out to High School environmen-tal clubs and classes.

Commissioner Marshall-Fricker, seconded by Commissioner Cris Plunkett, motioned to support. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

B. Review Reports on Homelessness

Mayor Lee was going to create a department to solely combat homelessness in re-sponse to the growing number of homeless in San Francisco. Thar number currently sits at 6,686 homeless persons.

Commissioner Plunkett presented on the Home for the Holidays program, a $5 million in-itiative targeting 104 elementary school families facing homelessness. He also present-ed on the Winter Shelter Program. The program is held from November 22nd through February 22nd, and it seeks to shelter homeless people as much as possible during the winter months. The program has about 500 units of supportive housing available, and provides 2 meals for each guest on a 1st come-1st serve basis for a 1 week stay.

Commissioner Kong commented on an article, which provided a unique perspective of Home for the Holidays initiative. She mentioned how the article discussed the initiative which helped a family that has an elementary school student. According to article, the family will have 15.4 months of rental subsidies. The cost for the program is approxi-mately $500 million, and there will be an additional 70 families to be housed next year. Government pays for all rent, and they get $509/month for spending. Finding suggests however that more than 70% of families leave city after the initiative and 30% stay. Students are allowed to finish that year at the elementary school, but afterwards they move out.

Commissioner Marshall-Fricker mentioned that Mayor Lee wants to create a new de-partment to address homelessness.

Commissioner Mao informed commissioner on the Navigation Center Reports. The Nav-igation Center is a shelter but is special in that it allows more freedom to people who go there. They also try to move them to permanent housing. There has been a lot of posi-tive feedback about the staff. Some problems: inter-client theft and conflict, involving those who have been there longer having unfair sense of ownership. There have been complain about couples in same dorms as singles, and clients talking through the night. Serving heavily addicted clients is a problem. The shelter allows drug use as long as it doesn’t affect others negatively, but complaints are there about that environment is bad for those who want to quit. Some of homeless base skip out on housing opportunities (like TL) is because they don’t want to be in the TL where it isn’t safe and there’s a lot of drugs. There is also reported discrimination against LGBTQ clients. Generally, com-ments suggest that the Navigation Center is better than traditional shelters, and they allow pets, personal possessions, and partners.

There was no public comment

C. Review Committee Priorities

Commissioners reviewed their identified priorities for the 2015-16 Youth Commission term. The priorities included AHBP legislation, Park Equity, TAY Housing, youth Homelessness.

6. Executive Committee Report

The Executive Committee wanted to remind commissioner of the upcoming meeting of the full Youth Commission on December 7, 2015. There was no public comment.

7. Staff Report

A. Programmatic Updates

Staff announced new staff member and former commission, Leah LaCroix, will be staffing the Housing, Environment, and City Services committee through the remainder of the 2015-16 Youth Commission term.

Staff also reminded commissioner of the Bernick Holiday party, and took note of who was planning to attend.

There was no public comment

8. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:17pm.