explore every possibility that we can to decriminalize juvenile behavior in order to provide them with an opportunity to correct their behavior and move on so they can get education and get employment and they can become a productive member of society. and generally the juveniles, again, that we deal with are not any different than the adults we deal with. these are juveniles that often come from homes where supervision of the home is either not there or is very lacking. there s really a significant lack of role model support so there are a lot of problems already. the juveniles that generally come to our attention already bring with themselves. the problem is there s still not enough funding, there is not enough vehicles to provide the services that are necessary, so that is a challenge for us, and unfortunately, often the drug use, drug abuse and those other things do lead to serious crimes when they in fact do become involved in a different part of the process. the other q
inning of an economic recovery. two things i think are useful. last october, our economy recovered to our last speaker. our last keepeak. we are bigger than ever, but we are struggling. it is not sufficient just to get back where we were. our economy needs to grow constantly to keep everyone employed. that gives you an idea of where we need to be, and what it shows you is even though we have gotten back to where we were, we are a long way from our potential, and this is where the job market took a long time to recover. we do not have a jobs problem. we have a growth problem. you cannot force people to hire if they do not have reason to hire, and that is why doing things to get growth going, that is the best way to get a recovery in the job market. if you look back, we are seeing more signs of this. second, our recovery has been very slow. is it credible to believe the u.s. economy can speed up eventually and get back to full employment, which is around 4 or 5% unemployment
offenses. also, the ballot measure, the state measure which will eliminate the penalty. thank you, all of you for coming and for all the volunteers that made this possible. i want to thank the san francisco public library, every year they have provided us with a venue to do this event and also for sfgovtv for putting us on the tube. we will see you again. keep in touch. thank you. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the president of the san francisco chamber of commerce. [applause] good morning. based on the energy of the room, i think we could have kept a coffee going for another 30 minutes. good morning, and welcome to the 162nd annual meeting of the chamber of commerce. this morning we have a fast- paced agenda. today we are happy to present the agenda for jobs, received an economics refrain, featuring a panel including ron conway, his a-rod lacey common on the editor and chief not sarah lacey, george hugh, and katie jacob stanton, vice president for twit
it tells you there is an incentive to grow. i think this is an important reason for young people looking for jobs you may notice the business sector has gone from a defensive strategy to a more offensive strategy, and that is the key parts of what is beginning to drive our cycle, and for those of you complaining companies are just sitting on cash and not spending and now, a software belies those claims. a lot of technology, which is why the area is benefiting. initially our focus is on technology and trying to become more efficient. if you look at capital spending, what is telling you is businesses have strong incentives to be thinking about the future and focusing on expansion, and they are actually doing it. there is a third driver in this cycle. people are starting to notice more thaan more. we are coming to the conclusion that americans do not make anything anymore. is all going to china. you can see all kinds of trends common and and unemployment is beginning to turn aro
happen at the misdemeanor level. let me go to a couple of the questions from the audience. i ve shared them with our district attorney. george, two questions there, one related to whether or not drug possession should be treated differently for adults than from juveniles. and then a question about back on track, whether or not that program would be positively or adversely affected by senator leno s proposal. yes, let me start with the first question concerning juveniles. i think juveniles definitely need to be treated differently, and certainly here in san francisco, we do. we very seldom in fact, i know for a fact we ve not criminalized simple possession drugs. there s a lot of other vehicles we use to deal with juveniles before it ever gets to a prosecution for possession of drugs. and i think that there s some good reasons for that. i think that when we re talking about juveniles, we should explore every possibility that we can to decriminalize juvenile behavior in o