Immigrant Rights Commission
CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COMMISSION
MINUTES
JANUARY 9, 2006
MEMBERS PRESENT: Commissioners Diana Lau, Elahe Enssani, Deborah Escobedo, Vera Haile, Flex Levy, Samira McCoy, Phu Nguyen, Zina Specktor, and Jamal Dajani; Commissioner Solomon arrived at 5:15 p.m.
MEMBERS EXCUSED: Commissioners Gilberto Alexander, Svetlana Kaff, Ivy Lee, Sonia Melara and Sam Ng.
Commissioner Diana Lau convened the meeting at 5:10 p.m. and wished everyone present a Happy New Year!
STAFF PRESENT: Dang Pham, Executive Director, Marie Mitchell, Commission Secretary
GUESTS PRESENT: Cynthia Cen, Newcomer High School and Leonid Bluvshtein, private citizen
APPROVAL OF MINUTES - NOVEMBER 14, 2005
Commissioner Escobedo moved to approve the amended minutes of November 14, 2005. Commissioner Nguyen seconded the motion. With no further discussion the minutes were approved as amended.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES - DECEMBER 12, 2006
Commissioner Haile requested that the minutes reflect she was excused absent from the December 12th, meeting.
Commissioner Enssani moved to approve the amended minutes of December 12, 2005. Commissioner Dajani seconded the motion. With no further discussion the minutes were approved as amended.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Cythnia Cen, Teacher, Newcomer High School informed the Commission that the San Francisco Unified School District currently has a proposal before the School Board to relocate Newcomer High School to the Edison site and possibly change their name to Newcomer Education Center.
Mr. Leonid Bluyshtein (through translation) indicated that within the Russian Community in San Francisco he finds it difficult to receive materials with Russian translation during the election process (the Election’s Department has translation in Spanish, Chinese, etc.). He feels the Russian Community is not adequately represented and would like the Commission to intervene on their behalf to develop materials in Russian, and asked why there is no publication as to the nature of The Immigrant Rights Commission.
Commissioner Escobedo informed Mr. Bluyshtein that the Commission would be holding a hearing on language issues in April and encouraged Mr. Bluyshtein to attend.
EQUAL ACCESS TO CITY SERVICES (EAS)
Commissioner Escobedo went over the draft page by page with the Commissioners to making sure everything was correct. Her judgment was used to determine if a city department was compliant or not based on the department’s annual plan. Staff will put the draft in the final form and it needs to be reviewed again by the members of the Program & Access Committee at their February 22nd meeting.
Commissioner Solomon Jones, on behalf of the Commission, thanked Commissioner Escobedo for her genuine effort and all the valuable work she has done on the report and he moved that the EAS preliminary report be approved as amended. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Haile and approved.
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Commissioner Lau asked members to review the list of committee assignments to ensure they are listed on the committee of their desire and notify Mr. Pham before the next Commission Meeting if changes need to be made.
PLANNING OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS
Commissioner Lau indicated that only one meeting was held last year. The Commission needs to do quarterly neighborhood meetings. The month and location to hold the meetings need to be discussed. Commissioner Alexander suggested that an announcement of the neighborhood meetings should be printed in the local newspaper. The Commission decided that neighborhood meetings would be held in the Richmond, Visitacion Valley and Tenderloin District in March, July and October 2006.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Mr. Pham informed members that HR 4437 bill would have an impact to the immigrant residents. The language in the bill requires that church and non-profit organizations must pre-screen potential job applicants before referring them to jobs or job training program. Commissioner Haile echoed her concern with HR 4437.
The bill mandates that the employers of all sizes for all industries government run with electronics verification system.
Commissioner Dajani will work with staff to draft a resolution to urge Senator Feinstein and Senator Boxer to vote against the HR 4437. The Commission will review at the next month meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
Commissioner Haile moved, seconded by Commissioner Levy, to adjourn the
meeting at 6:50 p.m.