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workers [speaker not understood] to make a commitment to the citizens we serve and to city college to get the education that's necessary to perform these functions in the park, which we don't get from the people we hire off the streets. and, so, the fact of the matter is when you tack about all these public service trainees, there's no training. there's no pathway. you bring these people in, you don't know where they are. you don't know who is supervising them. you don't know what work they're [inaudible]. it's disrespectful to these young men and women who they want to have an oppor...

em them the way we believe they're entitled to be served [inaudible]. and we negotiated this district captain ~ position for accountability sake. that died for two years. only after [inaudible]. where 25 or so district captains appointed to the current positions like last week. so, as much as, you know, we can talk about the powerpoint presentations and everything else. the facts are the facts [inaudible]. [inaudible]. before and after photos get real results that result in a camaraderie among the workers that are from our communities [inaudible]. and then go around that commitment a...

and then go around that commitment and engage all these other programs which is what's been happening. there's no reason to hire at the journey level rate as an entry level spot when you have an already previously committed to apprenticeship [inaudible]. so, our concern was that the department insisted on hiring 34 17s instead of hiring 34 10s. and that's where our union put its money where its mouth is. we gave the wages. the apprentices make 55% of the journey [inaudible] these workers [speaker not understood] to make a commitment to the citizens we serve and to city college to get...

and i have two names to call up first. vince courtney. [inaudible]. before we go on to our public comment. >> hello, and thank you to the department and ms. callahan for the presentation today. i'm sure we'll have a good discussion today about the apprenticeship program, which i know we all strongly support and [inaudible]. i also think it's important to sometimes step back and just look at where the rec and park department is. and i am very, very positive about the direction of this department. we had a budget hearing on the department's upcoming budget proposal. i think its was las...