Ross Mirkarimi to form joint committee between City College and City Hall

By Catherine Lee
The Guardsman

A new committee is being proposed to address joint issues and interests between City College and the city of San Francisco.

The City College Board of Trustees suggested the joint committee to multiple members of the San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi plans to introduce legislation to create the committee at the next scheduled Board of Supervisors meeting.

“The committee will be something useful to get issues aired and get the city interested in the future and fate of City College,” Board of Trustees President John Rizzo said.

The new committee would include district supervisors and board of trustee members, but it’s undecided whether other representatives would be included as well. Committee rules and members will be finalized if the committee is officially approved by the board of supervisors.

Both Rizzo and Mirkarimi’s offices envision the committee as a venue where San Francisco residents can contribute ideas and concerns for City College.

City College has thousands of employees, many of them San Francisco residents, and has a student enrollment over 100,000.

The committee will make a clear statement that San Francisco supports City College, and that requests for support will have a clear channel of communication, said Robert Selna, legislative aide to Mirkarimi.

The city currently has a joint committee with the San Francisco Unified School District for grades K-12, so there is a pre-existing model for cooperation in education and city affairs, Selna said.

“It would be good for the city to have a way to know about the contributions of City College to the city,” Rizzo said.

Once the committee is approved, critical issues on the agenda would include City College funding from the city, workforce training and the continuing education for SFUSD high school graduates, Rizzo said.

“We do a lot for the city, and it’s not always acknowledged,” Rizzo said.

Email:
clee@theguardsman.com