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Meeting Information



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Southeast Community Facility Commission

MINUTES
THURSDAY, October 10, 2002
6:00 P.M.
1800 Oakdale Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94124


I.          Call to Order
Commission President Millard Larkin called the Thursday, October 10, 2002 meeting to order at 6:14 p.m. in the Alex L. Pitcher Community Room at 1800 Oakdale Avenue.

II.          Announcement
Commissioner Larkin read the Sunshine Ordinance aloud and welcomed everyone to the meeting.

III.          Roll Call
Present:          Commissioner Millard Larkin
                    Commissioner Bobbrie Brown
                    Commissioner Enola Maxwell
                    Commissioner Kim Nguyen

Not Present:          Commissioner Malik Looper (excused)
                    Commissioner Tofaeono (excused)
                    Commissioner Heidi Hardin (excused)

Staff Present:          Toye Moses, Executive Director; Annette Price, SECF Commission Secretary

IV.          Approval of Minutes
Commissioner Maxwell moved and Commissioner Brown seconded to accept the minutes of Thursday, September 12, 2002. Motion passed to accept minutes as presented.

V.          Public Comment
No public comment was offered at this meeting.

VI.          Communications
There were no communications to the Commission.

In order to accommodate the presenter’s schedules, Commissioner Larkin switched the order of presenters and started the presentation with Mr. Charles Flowkes from Providence Baptist Church who spoke on “How Homelessness @ Providence Baptist Church would affect Community.”



VII.          Presentation
Commissioner Larkin welcomed Mr. Charles Flowkes, board member of Providence Baptist Church of San Francisco and thanked him for coming tonight to share his thoughts on How Homelessness at Providence Baptist Church would affect the Community. Mr. Flowkes thanked the Commission for the invitation to speak to the Community and gave a little overview and background of how Providence Baptist Church came about having a shelter. It started off in 2000 as a winter shelter and now is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The shelter houses approximately 75 individuals on a daily basis. Mr. Flowkes explained that statistics for homelessness in Bayview Hunters Point from 2000 to 2001 indicate that homelessness has increased 55 percent. Mr. Flowkes stated that Providence has been housing the homeless population for a number of years prior to Providence Baptist Church officially going into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with United Council and opening its shelter. The services that Providence provides are shelter, food and counseling. Mr. Flowkes stated eventually Providence hopes to be able to move the shelter out of the church and acquire a building dedicated solely to the homeless. Mr. Flowkes then opened the presentation for questions and answers including:

-          What does Providence Baptist Church do to combat violence at its shelter? Providence is required to submit monthly reports to the City & County of San Francisco regarding any police calls/incidences that have occurred within the church. Thus far, Providence has not had any violent incident since it began sheltering the homeless. Mr. Flowkes stated there is a sense of security and our clients feel Providence is a safe heaven for them and their families.

-          What toll if any has housing the homeless in the church taken on the staff and church and what support can this Commission lend to the program in terms of assisting or providing something to Providence to acquire the site that you’re looking for now? Mr. Flowkes responded it has taken some toll on the building, which is one reason why there is an immediate need to acquire a building dedicated solely to sheltering the homeless. We have contacted George Smith, who will put us in touch with the redevelopment agency who will help us to understand the process of what needs to be done in order to accomplish our goal.

-          The question was asked: Does the shelter have some type of process where the homeless are transitioned from something that is temporary into something that is more permanent? Does the church follow-up with these individuals once they leave the shelter? Mr. Flowkes responded that the church is in collaboration with different agencies and that their clients are referred to other programs that provide many other services, i.e., transitional housing, mental health, etc.

Commissioner Larkin stated that he would like for Mr. Flowkes to make available to those Commissioners who would like to come and visit the shelter the opportunity to do so. And also for the church to give the Commission some guidance as to how the Commission can assist them in moving forward with their program for protecting those and assuring a safe place for people who are less fortunate to live. Commissioner Larkin then appointed Commissioner Brown to be the Commission’s liaison with respect to the Providence Homeless program and Commission Brown accepted.

Commissioner Larkin introduced Police Chief E. Prentiss Sanders, who will speak on “Putting a Closure to Some of the Crime Problems in the Community.”

After thanking the Commission for the invitation to present, Chief Sanders stated with regard to putting a closure to some of the violence in the community, some results are apparent in changes in operation in the community as well as in communities across the cities. Chief Sanders remarked that he has reorganized the police department. It is a police department that can get interconnected with every citizen in this city and in every community. Chief Sanders explained he and staff personnel are working to look at that small percentage of people in our city who are attempting to make the lives of citizens unpleasant by their criminal behavior and/or lifestyle. I have changed policing philosophy. To police a city like San Francisco we do it not only by a general overall area but block-by-block, person-by-person. The drug business in the United States is a $250 to $300 billion industry -- conservative figures. We have to start looking realistically at how to attack the drug problems. We know now that what we have to do is deal with not only the drug dealers; we must deal with the drug recipients, the casual drug users.

San Francisco has one of the most forward visionary community policing plans in the United States. Some of the things that we do in San Francisco now traditional law enforcement said it wouldn’t work. Chief Sanders stated there is a lot of violence that has been reported in San Francisco but noted it is not black-on-black crime. It is not unique to San Francisco; it is a phenomenon that is taking place in our cities and across our country as we speak. Chief Sanders stated the San Francisco Police Dept. has several different programs, one of which is Cease Fire. The goal of that program is to let certain individual know that this is not Dodge City and Shootout Town. San Francisco will not tolerate any of that behavior. SFPD has many programs that works with collaborative partnerships – schools, parents, churches in the different communities to try and outreach to those groups of young people who are underserved and have seldom been exposed to places outside of their community, i.e., children who have lived in San Francisco all their lives and never getting the opportunity to travel across town to the San Francisco Zoo; go on fishing trips, toy drives, etc.

After a brief Q&A from the Commissioners and audience, Commissioner Larkin thanked the Chief for taking the time out of his busy schedule to come and meet with the Commission and Community and invited him and his staff to return from time to time and give the Commission an update on what is happening with respect to results of crime in this community.

Commissioner Larkin introduced and welcomed Pastor Calvin Jones of Providence Baptist Church, San Francisco who stated how glad he is to be here to speak on Providence’s new charter school JUMP. Pastor Jones stated his philosophy is consistent with his theology – “God has blessed us and our church and family and our job is to help people.” Pastor Jones stated every child regardless of race deserves a good education and this is what he and the other churches are striving for. He stated the church’s commitment to the charter school came under the relationship with five other churches – Jones Methodist Memorial Church, Jump Academy, Bethel A&M, San Francisco Christian Center, and True Hope. Jump is a public school funded by the state that is free of charge. It’s a small school with approximately 70-something children. We provide before and after school care, breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack. Hours of operation are from 8:00 to 3:00 and after school care begins at 3:00 and ends at 6:00. Commissioner Larkin commended Pastor Jones on all his hard work and then opened the presentation up to the Commission and audience for question and answer. The question was raised what is the criteria for admission to this school? Pastor Jones responded students are admitted on a first come-first serve basis but that the school must be integrated with a diverse student population.

Commissioner Larkin thanked Pastor Jones for coming, for opening the charter school and homeless shelter, for all of his work along the years, and stated that the Commission will definitely be inviting him back.

Because of commission meetings falling on or close to the upcoming Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday, Dr. Moses suggested that the Commission entertain motions to switch the meeting dates.

Commissioner Brown moved and Commissioner Maxwell seconded that the Commission
meet on the 25th of November instead of the regularly scheduled date. Commissioner Brown
moved and Commissioner Maxwell seconded that the last commission meeting of the year
be moved to December 23rd, 2002 instead of its regularly scheduled date.

VIII.          Directors Report (Discussion) Dr. Moses reported that:
a)          Planning Dept. met at SECF facility to speak on Bayview Land Use. The League of Women Voters met here to speak about the election that’s coming up. Everything is going well. Dr. Moses stated he spoke with PUC Real Estate. They are still working on Decorative Plant’s lease. It’s still going thru with the City Attorney’s office then it will come back to the Commission.

b)          Still awaiting Webmaster update of the Commission’s website which is current with agenda and minutes postings; The Commission website is still in progress. Commissioner Hardin has been requested to submit a hard copy photograph.

Commission Maxwell moved and Commissioner Brown seconded to accept the Executive Director’s report. Motion passed unanimously to accept report as presented.

IX.          Old and Ongoing Business
Commissioner Larkin directed staff to invite Espanola Jackson and Bill Keaney to speak on the
history of SECF building, the mitigation and calendared that meeting for October 23, 2002.


X.          Introduction of New Business
Commissioner Larkin stated he would like to invite Mother Brown to come back to give a brief synopsis on what she’s done for this community over the years, as she has fed a lot of folks in our community and have worked in conjunction with some of the homeless programs and some of the churches in the community.

Commissioner Brown suggested that Damone Hale be asked to present to the commission on the topic of homelessness re the young population in the Bayview. Commissioner Larkin instructed staff to invite Mr. Hale back as well as Jesse Williams, George Smith.
XI.          Announcement
Commissioner Maxwell informed the Commission of the street fair that would be taking place Saturday on the Hill from 10:00 to 5:00. There will be great music and food. All you can eat for $5.00 and there will also be a fish fry at 11:30.

XII.          Adjournment
Commissioner Brown moved and Commissioner Nguyen seconded to adjourn the SECF Commission Meeting. Meeting adjourned at 8:03 p.m.




Respectfully submitted,



_____________________
Commission Secretary

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