Come hear MORE at the June 16^th Community Meeting!

• GOOD NEWS!

-  The San Francisco Planning Dept. has re-allocated a half-time Senior Planner to our planning effort and a part-time Cultural Preservation Staff

- Introduction of the NEW Japantown BNP Senior Planner, Paul Lord

• GREAT ANNOUCEMENT!

- The City through the leadership and support of Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi will look into conducting a new feasibility  study on the Japan Center

• A NEW JAPANTOWN COMMUNITY PLANNING COUNCIL TO BE DISCUSSED

-  Discussion on a NEW organizing structure, composition and process

-  Discussion on Electing community members and stakeholders to the new Council

-  Discussion on Council members voting on issues and to approve or disapprove the community recommendations of the Japantown BNP, prior to submission to the City Planning Commission

• BAD NEWS FOR THE OWNERS OF THE JAPAN CENTER AND THE HOTELS!

-  Their Waikiki Trade Center in Honolulu was foreclosed on!  $25 million in debt

-  Their Little Tokyo, Kyoto Grand Hotel and Weller Court in default! $33.8 million in debt

-  Forced to sell Waiane Shopping Mall in Oahu

-  Japan Center Next???

DON’T MISS THIS IMPORTANT MEETING!

When         Wednesday, June 16^th

Where       JCCCNC, 1840 Sutter Street (Issei Memorial Hall)

Time           7:00pm

Food and drinks provided

It was confirmed that full funding for JCYC’s Japantown Youth Leaders program will be included in the budget the Mayor submits to the Board of Supervisors next week!  The community came together and delivered over 1200 letters to the Mayor, called his office and spammed his Facebook and Twitter accounts.  The $94,000 in full will be reallocated back to the Youth of our community and we thank all of you for all your efforts!

THANK YOU

• 350 letters were collected
• 294 individuals signed our online petition
• Over 100 Facebook posts and tweets on Twitter were posted and seen by City Hall.

The letters, a printout of the online petition, as well as a visual piece will be presented to City Hall by NihonmachiROOTS representatives this Thursday.

The fight to save Japantown Youth Leaders isn’t over yet.  Continue to spread the word and stay tuned to Japantownnow.com for updates!

Mayor Gavin Newsom (http://twitter.com/GavinNewsom) loves tweeting, so what better way to get his attention about our campaing to regain city funding for JCYC that to tweet?!

Just REPLY to any one of his tweets on his twitter page: http://twitter.com/GavinNewsom with the following message:
“I support Japantown and I urge you to do the same by reinstating city funding for the Japantown Youth Leaders project!”

If you don’t have a twitter account, now is a good time to start one! It’s really easy and only takes a minute. http://www.twitter.com/

DON’T LEAVE JAPANTOWN BEHIND – REALLOCATE FUNDING BACK TO JCYC’S JAPANTOWN YOUTH LEADERS PROGRAM! – Post this on Gavin Newsom’s Facebook!

Let the Mayor know that the JYL project is very important to the community. And let him know that DCYF’s decision to cut funding to JCYC demonstrates a blatant disregard for our community and sets a very dangerous precedent for the future!

Help us keep the Week of Action going Strong! Email Mayor Gavin Newsom! (gavin.newsom@sfgov.org)

Week of Action to SAVE JCYC’S JAPANTOWN YOUTH LEADERS starts today! Please visit the address below to sign our online petition!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savejyl

SAVE JAPANTOWN YOUTH LEADERS (JYL)

Background: Recently, JCYC was informed by the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF) that the only funding allocated for youth services in Japantown will not be cut in 2010/2011, but completely eliminated.   For the past 12 years, the Japantown Youth Leaders (JYL) program, formerly known as JAYS, has brought hundreds of youth to Japantown on a weekly basis to participate in community service, leadership training, and personal development.  The youth who consistently support our community festivals and events such as Cherry Blossom, Nihonmachi Street Fair, and Kodomo no Hi, are current or former participants of JYL.

Why You Should Care: Despite the city’s budget crisis, other communities will still be receiving funding from DCYF. In 2010/2011, DCYF will allocate $20 million for children and youth services and has decided that Japantown is not worthy of even a small amount of those resources.  This decision demonstrates a blatant disregard for our community and sets a very dangerous precedent for the future.  We believe it is in the best interest of our community to collectively take a stand and make it clear that the needs of Japantown can not and will not be dismissed by the city of San Francisco.

How Can You Help: The Mayor has the discretion to restore this funding until June 1^st when his office, by law must submit a budget to the Board of Supervisors.  We have the rest of May to let the Mayor know that it is not acceptable for the city of San Francisco to dismiss the youth of Japantown.

Continue to check back to JapantownNOW.com or visit our Facebook page to see how you can help us send this message to the Mayor.

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