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Question 1:
Saving Theaters
Question 2:
Community College
Question 3:
Rezoning
Question 4:
Drug Dealing
Question 5:
Youth
Question 6:
Day Laborers
Question 7:
Visitor Attraction
Question 8:
Appointments
Question 9:
Commitment

QUESTION 6:

MODERATOR: Next question, please.

PANELIST: As you saw in that photo in the slide show, there are a lot of day laborers that are standing over on Cesar Chavez Street in an effort to gain employment and support their families and themselves. Do you think it would be more appropriate for the city of San Francisco to set up a hiring hall and if so, how as mayor would you support this effort?

MODERATOR: Mr. Ribera?

TONY RIBERA: Well, when we kicked off our campaign---I’m not going to try to bum-rap other candidates up here, but several people told me that the opening of my campaign was a lot better than another one that was more costly, and the pictures in the paper were of one of the other candidates up on the stage with very many wealthy people...[laughter] … The picture of Tony Ribera was at Mission and Army, shaking hands with day laborers....and you know, my dad was a day laborer when he came here from Puerto Rico. I think we need to reach out to these men, many of whom have families, many of whom work long and hard hours for less than the minimum wage because they have absolutely no protection whatsoever. We have to reach out to them. It’s a complex issue. I know that when Jim Gonzalez was on the Board of Supervisors he tried to reach out to the community and to organized labor to get something for the day laborers; but it’s a complex issue, and I’m not quite sure that they fit in to a specific slot of employment as we now know it. But I certainly would reach out to them and do everything in my power to make their lives more livable and to treat them with more dignity than they’re receiving now. [applause]

PANELIST: Then you think a hiring hall is not a good idea?

TONY RIBERA: I’m not sure. I’m not sure, because I think Jim explored that idea and there were problems connected with it, you know, I’m not sure all of them would buy into that. I think whatever we do, we have to include them in the process. You know, one of the things that I’m not going to be as mayor is Big Brother telling you what’s best for you. I want to hear from you what’s best for you.

PANELIST: Thank you. Mr. Gonzalez?

MATT GONZALEZ: Yes. My understanding is that there is a building that has been identified and a lease has been entered into, that would be between Mission and South Van Ness. The day laborers are planning to move in in November. There’s going to be use of the Mayor’s Office of Community Development money for some of the capital improvements...But I think that right now we’ve been engaged in a war for the last six, [to] eight months, relating to who should get the funding that the city provides to run the program. And I think that it is very unfortunate that the city should be considering the Volunteers of America that are situated and located in the East Bay, and I think that the program has a longstanding relationship with an organization that has advocated very strongly for the rights of immigrants, and is primarily responsible for why this problem is finally getting solved. Personally, I would support a recommendation that is on the table right now--Supervisor Ammiano has brought it forth--that would move funding for this program to the Immigrant Rights Commission and out of the mayor’s office where it has been very politicized. [applause]

ANGELA ALIOTO: When I first entered office in 1989 there was a huge bust at this Club Elegante. I don’t know if any of you remember that, but it was huge, and the FBI went running in with the INS and, I mean, everybody was arresting everybody! I had a hearing after that, and from that came one of the strongest sanctuary laws in the United States of America, to leave people alone in the City of San Francisco if they are not doing anything illegal. Having said that, I talk to day laborers all the time, and of course I would be for a place for them to stand, as opposed to standing out in the street, if that is what they want. But their issue is that they’re afraid. They need to feed their families, and they’re afraid to be in one place. I’m a discrimination lawyer; I know what they’re saying. They’re afraid to be in one place in a group and, as such, be treated differently because of the color of their skin, and do they have a right to be afraid, should they be afraid? You’re damn right they should be afraid! Having said that, if they would want it, I have no problem with that, but I can tell you something: the concept of being afraid and yet having to go out and make a living and feed your family and feed your kids, and on top of it not knowing if your government is going to pick you up for whatever reason, has got to be a horrible way to live; and in the city of San Francisco we need to do all we can to make their quality of life as good as ours. [applause]

PANELIST: So was that a yes or a no?

ANGELA ALIOTO: That’s a yes, if they would want one. As I understand it, Supervisor Ammiano is going to tell you all about it! [laughter]

TOM AMMIANO: This is a very very poignant issue because it addresses everything: class, ethnicity, sexism, faith, it’s been undermined and undermined and undermined...The good news is the city has been behind this program with monetary funding from the mayor’s office and the Board of Supes. So that’s the good news. However it does get personalized and it does get petty, You know, when you’re mayor or you’re on the Board of Supervisors a lot of people are going to yell at you, call you names; when I take the 14 Mission they go, “Hey, why did you vote for that?” But you have to be able to take it. You have to be able to think what is the common good? The common good is the dignity of these people, and right now the mayor’s office is putting all kinds of roadblocks in front of the funding because he’s mad at someone who directs the program. I say, “Get over it, pal;. Be an openly gay comic in 1984 in Sunnyvale. Get over it. Yes to a hiring hall!” But the irony is that every time there’s been a building that would serve....the (something) Building on Cesar Chavez....Kelly-Moore....even the ESS Building that used to be the old Sears....a certain number of people go, and they scare the bejesus out of the landlord, and the landlord goes, “Oh, no. I don’t want that program.” So we need an independent-from-landlord program, We need the city to really subsidize. The building on 26th Street that Supervisor Gonzalez referred to is fine as a temporary measure, but we need more and we need the political will to recognize that it’s not only hiring, it’s also English, it’s also immigration rights, it’s also health rights, and it’s also a criminal justice issue: we need to work better with the police so they don’t persecute the wrong people...

MODERATOR: Thank you.

TOM AMMIANO: ...and, by the way, contractors need to be regulated too, because they’re part of the problem. [applause]

SUSAN LEAL: Ok, I’m really going to mess you up, Anita: I’m just going to go very quickly back to the question about the youth, because one thing I forgot to mention is when Mayor Jordan tried to cut the Mission Branch Library and close it down for three years, I said “No way!” and we kept it open and found the temporary quarters, so I wanted to add that to my resumé about youth services in the Mission. Day laborers... . Day laborers: I fought for money for the day laborers when I was on the Board of Supervisors. It’s been a tough problem. I know Renee Saucedo’s father. When he came here he was a day laborer, in fact he was friends with my dad who was a day laborer. And it is racial issues, ethnic issues, class issues, they’re all rolled in together. And, you know....I love you, Rene, but you can make some people crazy; but just because someone doesn’t like you, or maybe has gotten into a squabble with you, that does not mean to punish the people that are out in the street. And we do need to find a suitable hiring hall for the day laborers. We need to find a place where people are not standing out in the hot sun without a toilet. We need a suitable hiring hall, because it’s not only the right thing for the day laborers, but also a place that, if we don‘t provide it, and I say this to the mayor--if we don’t provide it, then the neighbors, who you think you’re being friendly to, will actually be more angry with you. So we need to do the right thing, provide that for the day laborers, and for the neighbors. [applause]

GAVIN NEWSOM: I have great respect, extraordinary respect for people... [surly murmurs from the audience] ...and I have great respect for dissention. I respect people’s right to express their opinions, and God bless you for expressing it each time I stand up. [Laughter, some applause] I have enormous respect for anyone that gets up early in the morning and will do what it takes to get ahead in society and work hard. Extraordinary respect. I also have great respect for the neighbors that are frustrated. You know, we’ve been talking about this for a decade. I thought district elections were supposed to work these problems out. We keep talking about this... talking about it. The issue of noise, that’s very real for the neighbors, issues of litter, that’s very real. Loitering, that’s real. There’s some bad apples; not everyone, but, like politicians, they don’t necessarily always do the right thing. Issues of urination: those are real. We need to recognize that. I support a hiring hall. I support a dignified, safe space. I support a space that has parking; I think that’s critical. I support a space that has highly trained staff. I support a space that provides DSL services. I support a space that provides health care. I support a space that is holistic and culturally competent, that provides the kind of resources that are necessary to make this program work, and I’m proud to have been a member of the Board that has fought for the funding with Supervisor Ammiano and others. I’m not shy about funding it. We need to make it happen. [applause, heckling]