NASCENT -- Naval Architecture, Shore, Civil Engineering, Nascent Technology
To:
[Recipient List Suppressed]
Greetings,
First off, I must disclose a few things so that you know a little more about me: I am NOT a college graduate. I have not achieved credits in any naval, maritime, civil, or other engineering courses. I am not much of a CAD operator to speak of or to credit.
I am a USN Veteran, but that is not what I am going to stand on in this open letter to all of you. I like modern ships particularly naval ships, specifically frigate/destroyer/cruiser types, and to an extent, submarines. Prior to graduating high school, during my time in the US Navy, and ever since departing the USN, I have in some way or another kept naval ships in most of my personal activities. Some of my paper drawings have been on the Internet since 2005, and intermittently between 2003 and 2005. Some of my digital (3D CAD) developments have been online since 2007 and to a much greater extent, since early 2013.
Some of you I've met, some I've not (and probably will not be able to due to your busy schedules), and some of you I've attempted but was unsuccessful in meeting even thought I visited some of your offices, campuses, or cities. One of you I met but failed to follow up with due to some personal issues I was having at the time. One of you I've worked for, and one of you was impressed with or astonished by my drawing, saying in astonishment "YOU SHOULD BE GETTING *PAID* FOR DOING THIS!" upon seeing my drawings in late 2006. (Later, I was employed in a naval architecture firm that had hopes for me, but I did not live up to expectations.
After 5 years with my most recent employer, I departed to take time out and visit Korea and China. My activities in Korea included visiting my existing and new friends and to seek legitimate ways to immigrate to Korea. My activities in China included visiting new friends and my former employer's Shanghai office. I was in Asia recently during these time frames:
Korea, 20 May 2012 - 18 August, 2012
China, 19 August - 17 September
Korea, 17 September - 18 December
Since my return from Korea, I have remained unemployed because it is my dogged determination to create or to inspire the creation of naval architecture-related, CAD, and others courses schooling having twin offices in San Francisco and in a lesser expensive area of Seoul (either in Incheon or Songdo), Daejeon, or maybe in the Ulsan or Busan area. I also did not file for Unemployment Compensation because: 1) I voluntarily quit when my under performance became too much to ignore anymore, and 2) for the five years I was with my employer, it was gracious, fair, honest, and consistent with me. It trained me or paid for training, tried to evolve me, and allowed me to transition to various functions to retain value in having invested in me. The company offered (and I took advantage of) very generous and open-minded/forward-thinking health and medical coverage, and 3) the company, to my recollection or understanding, never had a Workers Compensation or Unemployment Insurance Compensation filed against it in its 49 years of existence, and I had no intention of being the first to file for UIC regardless of the chances of being awarded funds.
MY PROPOSITION TO SAN FRANCISCO AND OTHER PARTIES ADDRESSED
Fortunately, I think, today I decided to read yet another daily news article in the SFEXAMINER, dated 24 September 2013, on page 5. The article is, to me, timely because it touches on the issue of crime and victimization of residents of the Bayview Hunters Point area of San Francisco, a former naval shipyard and ship construction area of the West Coast of the USA. In the article, District Attorney George Gascon is reported to have visited Washington for help in reducing crime in San Francisco and for creating brighter futures for these troubled, victimized youth. The US Department of Justice granted $1,000,000.
I would like to recommend that DA Gascon and a delegation return to Washington and ask for more, to use in parallel to the studies of the mental heal care problems the youths booked into Juvenile Hall. Many of these youth presumably suffer from PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Concurrently, San Francisco, Korea, and Hallyu fans as well as others should lobby various countries to amass the funds necessary to make the proposition carry enough weight to table a discussion that could move quickly and hopefully not degenerate into arguments and disagreements over sharing, percentages, and other matters. As for Korean food, San Francisco is woefully short on affordable, easily-available street-side Korean food. I quicky got over not having a Blondies in Korea, but I am still suffering withdrawals from not having a Yoogane in San Francisco, and particularly the more affordable Happi Goong.
I would like to participate in that reduction in crime and creation of job opportunities, but not just locally. I want to relate this to Korea, and other countries as well.
SAN FRANCISCO A WORLD CLASS CITY -- not completely (but, what city truly is?)
Currently, "a world-class city" is what San Francisco bills itself. I would respectfully say, "not quite" since from my perspective, a world class city needs to have many, many more open coffee shops, and these need to be chain as well as mom-and-pop types, as I've seen in Seoul, Daejeon, and Busan. Starbucks in San Francisco would be mortified to have to compete with Tom N Toms, Coffine Guru Naru, Zoo Coffee, Coco Bruni, Hollys, Homestead, Angel-in-Us, and others, particularly since they tend to be 24-hour shops, given the Korean mindset about students studying hard, and given the daytime pressures of work, students and workers in Korea can be found allowed to sleep or doze off to re-energize, as long as they buy something.
...
(Top view, (cartoon form) of a notional campus near a pier in Hunters Point)
The best, most viable but fastest way to get SF into a little more of the "world-class city" status is not necessarily by inducing more high tech workers to here, but to increase or spark an influx of many, many more Asian students who have the spending power and drive to study long hours in Internet cafes. If many more such students are here, then San Francisco could see more money spent here, money spent by students already inclined to be up at all hours of the night, unlike many students already here. This would help transform some areas of the Downtown Business District, and into the Mission Bay and south of Mission Bay areas. In order to revitalize these areas, and not just have gentrification transformation, San Francisco MUST think of the "rising tide" metaphor in order to bolster the incomes south of Mission Bay as well. To do otherwise would be to exacerbate problems that can be remedied with less damage to them, less risk of impact by gentrification.
This increase in benefit to the Bayview area and south of Mission Bay can come from an increase in student-affordable housing that aimed at local and international students who drive up the income seen by many businesses, not just coffee shops. These students need to be able to say here more cheaply and for longer than just seven months, and some will need to be able to have the right to work. Japan and Korea offer it to citizens of or passport holders of numerous countries, but not the USA. I understand this to be due to tit-for-tat response to each of the involved countries' deliberate caps on tourists perceived as "stealing" or "choking off" jobs availability to other nations' tourists. Not only do these tourists obtain 180-day visas, they receive permission to work in order to subsidize their travel in Korea and in Japan. Because of politics, I felt severely cheated out of being able to stay in Korea longer, pay my bills back in the States, and make my stay in Korea more exciting. The same applied to my 3 months in Japan in 2004.
ASIAN INVESTMENT INTO CCSF (Community College San Francisco)
San Francisco City College is facing an accreditation withdrawal. Around 10,000 students might end up with their credits becoming non-recognized at other campuses. Even if the credits retain value for the short term, many of these students may find themselves unable to transfer to an accommodating university or college in a timely manner that seamlessly allows continuity in their studies. It would be a great misfortune were that scenario to happen.
If a group of Asian countries invested in the CCSF system, they could do so with the stipulation that they be granted rights to:
-- Convert CCSF into a 4-year college
-- increase the size of the student body
-- use that right to populate it with more students from Asia, obtain for them 2-, 4-, and 6-year student visas
-- expand the curriculum to include accredited or other material relevant to some of those students (from Asia but particularly USA students) desiring to seek employment somewhere in Asia
-- bring in additional teachers, accredited teachers who will teach material that is taught in their respective Asian countries, for the benefit of USA-rooted students wishing to transplant to Asia.
Forcing USA-based accreditation upon such teachers would not serve the best interests of the students if the target and purpose will be to diversify post-graduation offerings to students.
So, Asian investment into CCSF would also aid in increasing business in the Balboa area as well as the Bayview area. The Mission Bay and Downtown Business Districts already have much business traffic, but still may benefit, too.
HALLYU
Currently, Korea is looking to expand Hallyu, the Chinese term for the "Korean Wave". Koreans and other nationals coming to the USA for English studies tend to arrive with 7-month study visas. I personally think a 7-month window is a possible if not likely waste of Korean's time, resources, and opportunity except in the case of students who are expecting to soon thereafter return to the home countries' colleges on a timeline. The window should be expanded. Not just Koreans, but, other persons coming to the USA do so at great expense, personally and to their families. When they return home, invariably many of them gradually lose their English language skills because back home the severe competition for English-using jobs is so high that many will not get those jobs, further forcing them to spend even more money to brush up on their skills. Some become despondent, some commit suicide, some just end the dream of using English and revert to their native languages. I've met some number of Koreans who have fallen into this.
Also, as with the USA, Korea has a non-insignificant population of those who are at risk of suicide or extreme depression or acting out in violence due to severe shortage of job prospects, loss of income, or denial of access to entrepreneurial startup because traditional funding sources are very strict in their guidelines, and crowd funding is still not feasible for others -- particularly those who have no banking accounts and poor credit, meaning they cannot even receive income supporters would try to send to their blogs, web sites, or online crowd funding campaign sites. Worse, some governments still insist that low-level, non-investor crowd funding campaigns be subject to Securities laws when in reality MOST crowd funding that is performed under the term "crowd funding" is really poor people not seeking traditional "investors" -- they are explicitly, unequivocally, undeniably, openly stating they are seeking DONORS, not investors, and that the donors/sponsors will receive either nothing in return (philanthropy donation) or some small give (a public thank you, a key chain emblem, a branded or supporter T-shirt, an early access to the product being produced, or a discount on the product, and so on) thank you.
Such donors or sponsors are not the category of people who will lose large sums of money. The campaign sites and checks and balances in them are set up such that there is great public pressure on the campaigners to expose themselves publicly so as to keep social pressure on them to deliver a product. In summary, crowd funding results because banks and those controlling access to desperately needed funding are not loosening their grip except for the most promising of potentially good ideas. Most start ups fail due to improper or inadequate funding, lack of professional guidance, and excessively heavy-handed paperwork requirements imposed by multiple, overlapping, confusing, and poorly coordinated government offices all vying for some cut of an entrepreneur's cash flow. All too often, ONE single application can capture the repeated information, and then all the other concerned departments or agencies could then supply to the application the relevant fields to be filled. After an applicant supplies information common to all cognizant agencies, the applicant need no more be dragged through or slog through the process of submitting the same information repeatedly. It would save time for all involved, reduce paperwork, and enable multiple agencies to work together at almost the same time for each applicant, so that creative yet still lawful solutions can be rendered to those entrepreneurs or businesses having outlying circumstances where timeliness in government response is critical to the inception of the business plan into operation.
INTERNATIONAL MARITIME CAMPUS
(An ortho view of the notional campus, showing some underground parking or storage)
I would propose a nexus of:
-- extended student visas with explicit permission to subsidize the stay here (enhanced work/study visa)
-- a declaration of Eminent Domain (if necessary and if enforceable) upon a suitable area of the Bayview Hunters Point district
Since San Francisco is famous for excelling in acting as a nation-state more than as a city (and as a Sanctuary City for an impressive array of reasons, conditions, and circumstances from political to humanitarian to health-related), it should have no problem with, for humanitarian reasons, making it possible for longer-term English language students to enjoy more time and reduced financial pressure related to their declared purpose for being here. I also propose that Korea reciprocates in kind, as it is immensely difficult for people such as myself to legitimately, inexpensively, and long-term "stay" in Korea and develop ourselves to fitting in unless we have a degree in hand, or fit an exquisitely refined narrow category. One exception would be I I were to arrive to Korea with between $100,000 to $500,000 to invest in creating a company and actually hiring Koreans. Other than drugs dealers, fraudulent immigrations brokers, and legitimate business people with deep pockets, lesser but honest people with great intents and potentially possible idea are unable to contribute to Hallyu or other activities in Korea. The same can be said about Koreans or other nations arriving to the USA.
Some of my ideas about transforming the area are :
-- designate a 4-10 square block area of Hunters Point (ideally under performing warehouses, rather than residences) for tear-down, similar to the UCSF and biomedical corridor at the northeast, termination area of highway 280, near to and south of Mission Bay
-- immediately set up temporary classrooms and temporary housing, with fencing, and security checkpoints to separate the youth and international students from the current bad elements in the area
-- compel San Francisco to allow ONLY San Francisco residents having provable 5-year in-city domiciles to work on the construction projects, and include some of these local students as "sweat equity" to help defray the cost of their education
-- raze some number of ramshackle, decrepit, eyesore structures on either side of the MUNI Light Rail, making way for a corridor of international shops, restaurants, and Asia-themed businesses, some of which might be operated by some, but not all, of the families of the local and international students
-- build up the international naval architecture school campus with housing for the students, and provide a pier (or renovate one nearby) for maritime regattas and other matters
-- build up the mechanical, civil, and residential school campus similarly to the above
-- require the students to learn and become proficient in at least one of the Asian languages that will be present on the campus, and which will be relevant to and be expected to see stable or increased hiring over the next 20 years
-- offer tax breaks or other incentives to major nearby and international universities that would be tempted to rotate in an ample supply of visiting professors, mentors, advisors; the deans could be rotated on a 1-year basis, the professors on a 2-4 year basis
-- offer tax breaks and other incentives for maritime, engineering, and architecture executives and their employees to rotate in as distinguished speakers, mentors, and facility assistants so as to foster ad hoc and pre-planned internships for these students
-- grant to the local executives and visiting employees an exemption from having to have a teaching credential, in order that the most number of visiting directors, accountants, drafters, designers, and others can lend or contribute their day-to-day experiences and expertise in class and on campus
-- where acceptable and in keeping with the mission of the school program/charter, hire at least 80% of the teachers from within California, ideally those with exceptional ability to not only teach their appointed courses, but also teach or assist in enhancing the learning of English
-- create rooms (class and berthing, lab and study) to accommodate at least 500 students initially, with capacity 2,000 or more. At least 20% to 30% of all seating and student housing/berthing should be allocated to international students, and those countries sponsoring the revitalization of Bayview Hunters Point should be granted autonomy to register as students ANY foreign national who is crime-free or otherwise can legally pass an Interpol, USA, and home-country background check and be able to receive a Letter of Apostille or the acceptable equivalent
-- allow the international students' representative countries to have a block of between 20% to 30% of the teaching representation in the form of those teachers being from their countries, not merely USA-resident or USA-born teachers whose backgrounds are of the international students' backgrounds; as with the students, the teachers or teacher equivalents must be able to pass muster, able to obtain a Letter of Apostille or the equivalent
-- allow the international students to act as or earn income acting as language tutors, but probably only ON campus, but with some exceptionally talented students, allow off-campus earning of income provided that the off-campus learners are taught in rooms that are on campus, rooms specially designated for this tutoring
-- declare the school zone as a special protection zone so that criminal elements are thoroughly dissuaded from entering, influencing, or otherwise attempting to inappropriately exploit the campus, its activities, or its students and workers
-- grant the students the right to take time off for emergencies, reasonable travel to other countries or around the USA without the threat of their visas being in danger of accelerated expiry, and right-to-work status within a narrow scope
If the USA, Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, India, and a few other countries collectively are marketed properly and if they collectively contribute a minimum $50,000,000, and appoint as leader someone who has full authority and responsibility.
(Another ortho view)
BENEFIT TO ME
In all this, I would like to see my drawings/designs be licensed (inexpensively but meaningfully useful to me as an income stream) in these areas:
-- use as source and introductory material for students interested in naval ship design (nonmilitary designs can come from the commercial naval architecture firms in the East Bay which may specialize mostly in noncombatant vessels)
-- use as source material for game design, simulation design, and prototypes for other purposes
-- possible from-scratch design and development of a new ship design software interface based on some ideas I came up with after seeing around a dozen interfaces that I found "unapproachable" or tedious to work with from a non-engineer's perspective
POSSIBLE RISKS/OBJECTIONS
The greatest obstacles to these ideas:
-- Tight workload schedules of some of the local area and distant area companies that might be able to provide mentors or instructors
-- Political and local foot dragging
-- Jockeying and grandstanding for "ownership" and "stewardship" recognition of the whole idea
-- Environmental reports on the condition of Bayview Hunters Point
-- Environmentalists exploiting the location
-- Local area schools and universities, some of which will clamor to be satellite campuses even though they do not offer and until realization of this idea and the potential to latch on to federal or international support would not create curricula for this effort
-- Local area businesses and residents who do not understand the potential transformation for the betterment of local and international relations
(And, yet another ortho view)
IN CLOSING
Considering the possibility of lack of funding from the State Capitol, San Francisco must plan to act on its own. It must be prepared to defend the increase in rights of the Asian Pac Rim investors commensurate with their investment in the CCSF, Bayview, and Mission Bay areas. San Francisco must tame any expansion that is threatening gentrification of neighborhoods, and must become creative, committed, and convincing in the endeavor to keep that hard work in San Francisco to the benefit of local residents who live here and contribute to the local tax base, and must also protect the investment of the Pac Rim nations' investment so that any and all graduates sponsored or funded can improve their lives domestically or by taking overseas employment due to increased professionalism, acquisition of applicable language skills, and a possible resurgence in a need for more engineers who are of greater ethnic diversity and who are relevantly multi-lingual.
I firmly believe that transformation of the Bayview Hunters Point area from an impoverished, crime-blighted area to a thriving, relevant, showcase area is possible, and it is doable, and ground could be broken in less than six months if Eminent Domain is necessary, valid, enforceable, and funding all agreed to within 4 months. It would be a win-win for San Francisco and any Asian partners contributing to the transformation. It would be not just a neighborhood transformation, but a city and trans-Pacific strengthening.
Temporary classrooms could be in the form of cleaned-out hulls of cargo ships. China has a huge workforce that could make this possible and complete within weeks of a confirmation of joint agreement being in place. Also, semi-permanent classrooms in the form of active or semi-retired ship hulls, depending on compliance with ECA/SECA and upon favorable final EIR (Environmental Impact Report) content, could be done, even including temporary housing to gear up the students to maritime and civil engineering life.
The students would have to waive some of their rights, similarly to the conditions required when civilians join a military academy or ROTC unit or attend an exclusive, private college or university.
Parents of the local and international students would want assurances that their children are being sold a real and not fake dream. Having them be able to live nearby means some level of "groundedness" remains in the students. However, the campus still should not encourage nor arrange for constant and daily visits as this would make the campus too open for the goal of transforming the lives of the students.
Upon graduation, these students would be hirable, and ideally all hired prior to graduation, as their mentors and visiting instructors from the various industries would all have daily or quarterly access to the students, their team projects, their grades, and more. These students would be even more hirable due to being required to learn and become proficient in at least one language spoken on the campus.
As for the naval architecture/maritime courses, even if local firms are not hiring as many as some may hope, some of these companies have current executives and directors who are of retirement age, and some are actively internally grooming their junior staff to take over the positions of their seniors. Along the way, will mentor junior architects, engineers, and others as was done for them. However, this would be an opportunity for them to expand interest into naval architecture, marine engineering, and civil engineering to many more people who could benefit immensely from the potential emotional and morale boost of the prospect of being mentored by professionals to professional levels. Not all will make it there, but some, if not many will.
I thank you for your time spent reading this, and I hope that the City of San Francisco can help me found my entrepreneurial endeavors which include using my drawings as source material for the students.
David Syes
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