‘Watchdog’ Grand Jury
March 23, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO — Seeking to encourage interest and recruit more minorities to serve on the Civil Grand Jury, the San Francisco Superior Court released a videotape/public service announcement highlighting the jury’s importance last Thursday. Under the direction of Judge Julie Tang, this video/PSA will be distributed to a wide variety of local media outlets and neighborhood and community organizations throughout the city.
The Civil Grand Jury is an independent 19-member panel, which operates on one-year terms and is essentially a “watchdog” body of city government. It investigates various government departments/agencies for wrongdoing and then forwards its findings to the Presiding Judge (currently David Ballati) who releases them to the public for possible remedial action by other agencies. While many of their findings are widely publicized, its members are largely volunteers (although they are compensated $15 per session) and the Superior Court has recently had difficulty securing people to serve.
In fact, the number of applicants has continued to decrease. In 2003, there were 120 applicants for the 19 spots, but in 2006 there were only 47 applicants, and in the end only two Asian Americans were chosen.
“For Asian Americans it’s especially important [we serve on the civil grand jury] because of our unique culture, language and racial experience,” noted Judge Tang. “As one of the largest consumer groups of city services, representation means we will have viable input as to whether city services are meeting the unique [culture] of our community. Serving [on the civil grand jury] is comparable to serving on a city board or commission; it carries the prestige and power to examine an agency to make it better in serving the community. If we don’t participate, we are giving up an important opportunity to make city services work for our community.”
In addition to comments by Tang and Ballati, Judge Teri L. Jackson, Mayor Gavin Newsom, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Aaron Peskin and former grand jurors will also be featured in the video/PSA.
“The Civil Grand has a remarkably important role in safe guarding city Government. It will only reach its potential if its members are as diverse as the residents in this great city. I strongly urge San Franciscan Asian Americans as well as all San Franciscans to serve and give us a tool to better our local services,” said Aaron Peskin, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in the video.
Current Civil Grand Jury member Hanson Chan, added, “Asian Americans should be involved in civil grand jury. It shows San Francisco that Asian Americans do care about city government. There is a 35 percent Asian American population in San Francisco and growing. There should be more outreach to the Asian Americans for the Grand Jury.”
For more information about the Civil Grand Jury, please visit www.sfgov.org/site/courts.
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