[gavel]. >> president yee: okay. good afternoon and welcome to our october 27, 2020 regular meeting of the san francisco

board of supervisors. madam clerk, will you please call the roll? >> clerk: thank you, mr. president. [roll call]

>> clerk: mr. president, you vid have a quorum. >> president yee: okay. thank you, please place your right hand over your heart for the pledge of allegiance. [pledge of allegiance] if . >> president yee: all right. thank you. on behalf of the board, i would like to acknowledge the staff at sfgtv, karina mendoza, who records each of the meetings and makes each of them available on-line. madam clerk, are there any communications? >> clerk: yes. the minutes of this meeting will reflect that during the covid-19 health emergency, board members participated in this meeting remotely through

video conference to the same extent as though physically present. the board recognizes that public access to city services is essential and certainly more acute during this time of covid-19. therefore, we hope that members of the public are able to take advantage of the following opportunities: to be able to communicate with the board of supervisors or to be able to access this meeting and participate remotely. we are happy to receive your written correspondence and make it part of the official file. if you are using the u.s. mail, address it to san francisco board of supervisors, dr. carlton b. goodlett place, san francisco, california, 94102. you can live stream the meeting by going to www.sfgtv.org.

if you have a television, you can watch the proceedings by going to cable channel 26. an important point is to be aware of the signal delay, and when you are ready to provide your public testimony, you must turn down your television and instead use your touch-tone phone to listen to the proceedings. you will listen to the meeting and be in sync to provide your telephone couldment. the number is streaming across the screen and streaming on the internet. 415-655-0001, and when you hear the prompt, enter the meeting i.d. 146-228-7935. press pound twice, and you'll have joined the meeting as a listener. to provide public comment, press star, three, and listen carefully to the prompt, which

is you have been unmuted, and you may begin speaking your comments right away. now that you know how to access the meeting, i will take a moment to tell you what is appropriate public comment. there are two separate public hearings, items 26 through 29, the 617 sanchez street. it's appeal of determination for exemption from environmental review. i understand the president will entertain a motion to continue this item until november 17. that item, we'll take public comment on whether or not you want that item to be continued. item 30 is a public hearing that is a report from the task force for the city's economic recovery. there will be a separate public hearing on that item. these items are noticed to begin no earlier than 3:00 p.m. public comment will be called for each item. if your purpose is to provide testimony during general public comment, please wait for item

33 to be called, and you are able to speak on the september 22, 2020 regular board meeting minutes. the items that are within the subject matter of the board that are not on today's agenda and items 34 through 37, the items without committee reference calendar. all other items, items 1 through 25, as well as item 31, are not eligible for public comment as they have already had public comment taken at a duly noticed public meeting. we have interpreters at today's meeting. please, will the interpreters introduce themselves in succession and let the listeners know they're here to assist with public comment. [speaking tagalog language]

[end of translation]. >> interpreter: thank you. [speaking cantonese language]

[end of translation]. >> interpreter: thank you. [speaking spanish language]

[end of translation]. >> interpreter: thank you, madam clerk. >> clerk: and thank you to all the interpreters at our meeting today. we're working hard not to leave anyone out of these proceedings, so if you are having any trouble with any connectivity issues, we have a live person standing by in the

clerk's office, 415-554-8584. and finally, pursuant to title two of the americans with disabilities act, we have an individual who has requested to make his public comment by telephone early. >> president yee: okay. thank you, madam clerk, and we will get to that individual shortly. but before we do that, i just want to thank, once again, the residents of san francisco for basically creating an environment in san francisco in response to covid-19 for us to be, in san francisco, and even within the bay area, a role model for the rest of the country for how we behave when we are facing a pandemic. we are, as you know, yellow in terms of how we will come out of the -- this pandemic, and

that means we're able to loosen up a few more things, which means we're closer to normal, but we're still far from normal. unfortunately, there was a little spike in our testing above last week. but even though we have a spike, we're still better than most of the country. but that's a reminder that we're not out of it yet. we need to continue to actually how we interact with each other, making sure that we continue to wear masks, making sure that we continue to social distance, and so forth. and if we continue to do that, we will continue to get better and better with our situation

in san francisco. so once again, thank you to all of us. it takes all of us to make the best of what we're facing today. i also want to say that every -- if you haven't gotten one of these yet, you know, it's these "i voted," already, please vote by mail. the city has made it very easy to vote at the ballot -- if they want to come down to city hall, even though it hasn't rained -- rain or shine, we're going to have so many voting booths available, and our staff is actually wiping it down and making it safe for people. so that is open all week. please come down if you want to do that, or make sure that you get your ballots in early enough to be counted. you know, we all know what's at

stake at the federal level, whether we want a leader or not want a leader. and -- but locally, we have so many things, so many important issues for you to be a part of the decision here. we have issues do we want more processes for our residents here in san francisco? there are several ballots to make that happen or if you choose not to make it happen, then you vote the way you want. there are ballot initiatives that will help our small businesses recover. so whether you want to support small businesses, we need your voices there, and we have several ballot initiatives if you want us as a city have better oversight on some of our departments. this is going to be one of those options where you get to

weigh-in and say yes, we do or no, we don't, so please vote. and one more thing i want to say is today is a special day for many of us, but it's a special day for one of our supervisors. supervisor preston, if you're out there somewhere, happy birthday to you. >> supervisor preston: thank you. >> president yee: and supervisor preston, i'm not going to sing, so sorry. i'm just going to say happy birthday. >> supervisor preston: thank you. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, let's get to the person we want to accommodate at this point. >> clerk: okay. operations, can you please pull forward mr. karnazes, please? >> hi, thank you. my name is zach karnazes.

thank you for this accommodation, although it has been very, very difficult to access this accommodation. i have e-mailed this department on september 19, october 6, october 1, october 13, and october 19, and every single one of those e-mails has been ignored by this department, and i've been very concerned about accessibility to these meetings as well as transparency issues and public access. as we know, these meetings are not available to those on the other side of the digital divide, which includes unhoused neighbored and many elderly folks and disabled folks. we cannot turn on our video or join via zoom, and yet, these meetings are pretended to be a public meeting, and they're clearly not. i'm also very concerned that there's a talk of changing covid zones and things being safer, and that was stated last

week by the mayor here. and as was just mentioned, there's a spike in cases in this past week. until there is a vaccine available, we should not be relaxing restrictions on our safety. also, i started to have covid symptoms a few weeks ago. it took me six phone calls over the course of four days to get ahold of a covid nurse. this city is severely looking in its covid response as far as timely access. lastly, i want to speak on meat haney's war on drugs. this richard nixon-style rhetoric of attacking people who are really hurting right now. instead of trying to criminalize black and brown people in the tenderloin and increase policing in our neighborhoods, i encourage this board to improve housing, especially in hotels for our homeless neighbors and to have a humane response to a

desperate time and desperate acts of desperate people instead of criminalizing them. thank you. >> clerk: okay. that concludes the public comment accommodation, mr. president. >> president yee: okay. okay. thank you, caller, and madam clerk for arranging this accommodation. next, colleagues, we are approving minutes from the september 22, 2020 board meeting. are there any changes to these meeting minutes? seeing none, can i have a motion to approve the minutes as presented? >> supervisor mandelman: moved by mandelman. >> president yee: okay. and seconded? >> supervisor walton: seconded. >> president yee: by supervisor walton, i believe. madam clerk, can you please

call the roll. >> clerk: on the minutes -- [roll call] >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. then without objection, the approval of the minutes -- the minutes will be approved after

public comment. madam clerk, let's go to our consent agenda. please call items 1 through 8. >> clerk: items 1 through 8 are on consent. these items are considered to be routine. if a member objects, an item may be removed and considered separately. >> president yee: okay. nobody on the roster. madam clerk, please call the roll. >> clerk: on items 1 through 8 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. without objection, the ordinances finally pass. madam clerk, let's go to our unfinished business. please call the next item. >> clerk: item 9 is an administrative code, an ordinance amending the administrative code to require city departments to report annually information about the number, cost, and usage of vehicles the departments have rented for periods of longer than 30 days, to authorize the city administrator to inspector provide maintenance upon request for any vehicle rents, leased, or owned by the city, to require departments to submit information to the city

administrator and the board of supervisors regarding the usage and safety of city vehicles, and to authorize the city administrator to require departments to develop correction plans to reduce speeding, idling, and/or collisions involving city vehicles. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, please call the roll. >> clerk: on item 9 -- [roll call] >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. then without objection, the ordinance is finally passed. i want to thank my colleagues for supporting this for me.

madam clerk, let's go to our next item. >> clerk: item 10 is an ordinance to deappropriate funds from various departments and to reappropriate several amounts to various departments to support district 7 and to support budgeting projects. >> president yee: okay. colleagues, i normally would let -- just have this come up with a vote without saying anything, but this is a program that i started in district 7 the first year i was a supervisor, and this is actually the seventh year, and my final year where i'm going to implement what we call the participatory budget being. this has been our most

challenging year yet with the pandemic, heading just as we're starting to resume getting people to vote on these items. to delay the program by a-dsh a -- we delayed the program by a few months, but it didn't stop the program. i did this as a way to forge stronger constituent relationships and, most importantly, to give our district 7 residents ownership in projects to improve their own neighborhoods. residents 16 years and older can submit projects as long as they are a one-time expenditure and address emergency safety preparedness or cultural, educational, recreational or small business needs. once all projects are submitted, district 7 residents

vote on what should be funded. despite having to go virtual this year, we still had over 1500 district 7 residents vote on this year's program. the ordinance before you today reappropriates a further $532,000 in funds designated in fiscal year 2019-2020 for the district 7 participatory budgeting program. the fund will go towards 19 projects, including the play space activiation disaster preparedness program, school yards upgrades and enhancements around ocean avenue and other parts of the district. since its inception, this p.b. program has become a highly anticipated and appropriated aspect of forging constituent

and government relationships and supporting small businesses in district 7. in total, this year, we have funded 126 projects to the tune of $2.8 million through these seven years. i'm especially thrilled that so many projects have supported our child funding cities initiatives, and that we have invested in and created play spaces throughout the district. i have been very proud of the increased activism and engagement of our activists and the projects this program has funded and ask for your support of this ordinance. thank you very much. madam clerk, roll call, please. >> clerk: on item 10 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: without objection, the resolution is adopted -- or the ordinance is adopted. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to item number 11 -- can we do through 13 together. >> clerk: items 11 through 13

comprise three leases with the united states government. item 11 retroactively approves the rent between the city and the u.s. customs and border protection to extend the lease to a total term of ten years, of february 1, 2003 through january 31, 2028 and adjust the annual rent to $833,000. item 12 is a resolution proving rent between the united states government and the city and county of san francisco, to extend the term by three years, for a new term ending september 30, 2023, and adjust the annual rent, increasing the annual rent to 569,000. and item 13 is a resolution

approving lease between the united states government and the city and county of san francisco to extend the lease term for an additional three years, for a total term of november 1, 2012 through october 31, 2023, and adjust the annual rent for offices to $2.5 million occupied by the u.s. transportation security administration at the international incident national, and terminal two and land at plat 50-dj. >> president yee: okay. supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: i was wondering why the rent term was at risk. i found out that information, it was satisfactory, and i will vote in the affirmative. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, please call the roll. >> clerk: on items 11 through 13 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. without objection, the resolutions are adopted. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, please call the next item. >> clerk: item 14 is a resolution to approve and authorize the director of property on behalf of the department of public health to amend the lease of real property located at 100 blanken

avenue from celestina jimenez and salvador jimenez, cotrustees, at $90,000 per year base rent, and to authorize the director of property to execute documents and make certain modifications and take certain actions as defined here in. >> president yee: all righty. madam clerk, coahego ahead and the roll. >> clerk: on item 14 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. the resolution is adopted unanimously. madam clerk, let's go to item 15. >> clerk: item 15 is a resoluti resolution authorizing the human services agency to apply for and accept a county child welfare agency allocation for an amount not to exceed $459,000 from the california department of housing and community development under the transitional housing program to

help young adults secure and maintain housing. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, please go ahead and call the roll. >> clerk: on item 15 -- [roll call] >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. without objection, the resolution is adopted. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to item 16. >> clerk: item 16 is a resolution to authorize the department of homelessness and supportive housing, h.s.h., to accept a $100,000 in-kind gift for diversity equity inclusion

consultant services in a value not to compete $99,000999 from tipping point community to support the first phase of the development of racial equity action plans for h.s.h. and homelessness response system, and authorizing h.s.h. to accept an additional in-kind gift of consultant avenueses in a value not to exceed $150,000 for a second phase of this project, for a total value not to exceed $249,999, and for the total term to commence upon board approval and to expire no later than june 30, 2021. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, go ahead and call the roll. >> clerk: on item 16 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. without objection, the resolution is adopted. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to item number 17. >> clerk: item 17 is a resolution to approve a municipal transportation agency contract for train control services and equipment purchases agreement with thales transportation and security, inc, to provide specialize the atcs-specific technical services, equipment, and software upgrades in an amount not to exceed $30 million for

an initial term of seven years with option to extend two years, to commence following board approval. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, let's go ahead and call the roll. >> clerk: on item 17 -- [roll call] >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. without objection, then, the resolution is adopted. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to item 18. >> clerk: item 18 is a resolution to retroactively authorize the department of public health to accept and expand a $1 million grant from the health resources and

services administration for participation in a program entitled, ending the hiv epidemic, plan for america, ryan white hiv/aids program parts a and b, for the period of march 1, 2020 through february 28, 2021. >> president yee: supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: thank you, mr. president. as i said, with the airport item, i have reviewed the airport memo with regard to d.p.h. and find it to be acceptable and will vote in the affirmative. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, call the roll, please. >> clerk: okay. on item 18 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. without objection, the resolution is adopted. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to item number 19. >> clerk: item 19 is a resolution to approve in accordance with with 147 section f of the 1986 internal revenue code as amended, the execution of a tax exempt loan or loans by the california municipal finance authority in one or more series pursuant to a plan of financing and in an aggregate principal amount not

to exceed 3,700,000, the proceeds of which will be loaned by the authority to pacific primary school, a california nonprofit public benefit corporation. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, let's call the roll. >> clerk: on item 19 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. the resolution is adopted unanimously. all right. let's go to item 20. >> clerk: item 20 is a resolution to affirm the board of supervisors commitment to advancing racial equity and affirming the city and county's responsibility to address existing inequities in city programs, policies, and services. >> president yee: all righty. okay. madam clerk, go ahead and call the roll. >> clerk: on item 20 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay, and also add me as a cosponsor if i haven't done so already. okay. so the resolution is adopted unanimously. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to item number 21. >> clerk: item 21, ordinance to amend the administrative code to update the city's floodplain management requirements to conform to

current federal flood plain management and national flood insurance program criteria, and to remove obsolete provisions and to affirm the ceqa determination. >> president yee: okay. can you call the roll, please? >> clerk: on item 21 -- [roll call] >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. the ordinance is passed on

first reading. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to item number 22. >> clerk: item 22 is an ordinance to amend the administrative code to establish the covid-19 rent resolution and relief fund to provide financial support to landlords whose tenants have been unable to pay rent due to the covid-19 pandemic. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, go ahead and call the roll. >> clerk: on item 22 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. so the ordinance is passed on first reading. madam clerk, let's go to 23. >> clerk: item 23 is an ordinance to amend the administrative code to establish the housing stability fund for the acquisition, creation, and operation of affordable social housing developments, establishing the housing stability fund oversight board to advise the board of supervisors regarding the use of the housing stability fund. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, go ahead and call the roll. >> clerk: on item 23 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: the ordinance is passed on first reading. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to item 24. >> clerk: i'd 24 is an ordinance amending the administrative code to require the department of public health to provide administration staff to support the behavioral health commission to expand the membership criteria to conform to state law, and to reset all commission member terms as of

january 1, 2021, to stagger the expiration of members' terms. >> president yee: supervisor stefani? >> supervisor stefani: thank you, president yee. i'm p i'm bringing this legislation forward so the behavioral health commission can continue to support the public to the best of their abilities. currently, the department of public health awards a contract to an outside organization that serves as a fiscal agent to the behavioral health commission, and in that capacity, provides staff support. in april of this year, i became aware that the fiscal agent hadn't been mitt submitting timely invoices to reimbursement for d.p.h. as a result, staff hadn't been paid for several months, and i immediately notified the director of public health. as we all know, the p.p.p. program was specifically designed to enable businesses

to keep employees on the payroll after economic catastrophe instead of laying them off. the decision to get a p.p.p. loan is a problem because the employer was funded through p. ph. the department of public health is currently auditing the contract in a federal and an investigation into the status of the p.p.p. loan was underway. while i was troubled by the status to pursue a p.p.p. loan, i was equally concerned about the fact that our b.h.c. was two separate bodies, one that was public and one that isn't. due to these concerns, i resigned my seat on the behavioral health commission. the individuals who volunteer for this body should not be burdened with the responsibility of also managing the finances or administration of a separate organization. that's simply not fair, and it isn't an obligation that we put on other commissions. similarly, every other county

in this state staffs there are behavioral health commission through the department of public health. i know that every member has spent an inordinate amount of time, and every time they've had to spend time going over the paperwork for another organization takes time away from the responsibilities that they were tasked with. additionally, the legislation will stagger the terms of the commission seats so that they will no longer expire at the same time. currently, nearly every seat on this body has expired and needs to be refilled or reappointed. i understand this circumstance has made it very difficult for the body to operate with a quorum, and my goal is to remedy this separation from

occurring in the future. i want to thank the support of my colleagues for cosponsoring this legislation. most importantly, i want to thank the members of the behavioral health commission who called to speak at the behavioral health commity last week and spoke about the dire need for reformat this commission. and thank you for my legislative assistant, andy mullen, who helped me with this as much as possible. >> president yee: thank you. supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: thank you, president yee. i just wanted to reiterate what supervisor stefani just said. this is actually a major piece of reform legislation, and i want to first thank supervisor stefani and her staff, andy mullen, but also the members of the board. when chip hillier in particular, who many of you will recall, colleagues, back when people could come and testify at city hall, would appear before us, and he

actually alerted many of us, supervisor stefani and myself, about this broken function in government. so thank you, mr. hillier, and thank you, supervisor stefani. this is, like, a really good piece of work. >> supervisor stefani: thank you, supervisor. >> president yee: yes, i echo supervisor peskin's remarks. i'm so glad i appointed you to that -- to that seat there and for you to catch that. again, it's been going on for a while, and it took somebody like you to astutely understand that there was something wrong with the system that had been supported in the past, so thank you for bringing this forward. madam clerk, go ahead and call the roll. >> clerk: okay. on item 24 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. without objection, the ordinance is passed on first reading. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to item number 25. >> clerk: item 25 is a motion to approve the mayoral nomination for the appointment of rachel tanner to the

planning commission for a term ending june 30, 2022. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, go ahead and call the roll. >> clerk: on item 25 -- [roll call] >> clerk: there are 11 ayes.

>> president yee: okay. without objection, then, the motion is approved unanimously. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to committee items, item 31. >> clerk: item 31 is an ordinance to amend the administrative code to require sellers of multifamily residential buildings to provide a new right of first offer and right of first refusal to qualified nonprofit organizations if a multifamily residential building is not under contract or remains unsold after one year and after each year thereafter; to require sellers to provide additional disclosures to qualified nonprofit organizations, to provide information to current tenants and assist qualified nonprofits

with due diligence and to allow multifamily residential buildings acquired by qualified nonprofit organizations under the community opportunity to purchase act to convert to a limited equity cooperative under subdivision code division 11, and included from the community opportunity to purchase act land dedications to the city and county of san francisco. >> president yee: supervisor fewer? >> supervisor fewer: copa has helped qualify nonprofits fur buildings at risk of losing their affordablity and preserve them as permanently affordable housing.

and too [inaudible] >> supervisor fewer: -- thanks to the success we've had here in san francisco. i would like to thank all of our community partners which makes copa possible, and i'd also like to thank my colleagues who unanimously cosponsored the ground breaking legislation last year. the tweaks to copa and legislation are the result of community suggestions and enhancements fore the last year. it will allow nonprofits to be able to make an offer on the building by requiring the sellers to provide them with more complete disclosures, add clarification language to further prevent off market sales, exempt land dedications made to the city for the purpose of building new

affordable housing, prevent megalandlords from potential workarounds by putting dozens of buildings on the market at the same time, overwhelming a nonprofit. it allows qualified nonprofits the option to convert rental buildings to limited equity co-ops as long as they comply with affordable housing restrictions. i would like to thank my cosponsors, supervisors wallet ton, yee, mandelman, mar, preston, peskin, and ronen for cosponsoring this legislation. thank you, colleagues. >> president yee: okay. madam clerk, let's please call the roll. >> clerk: okay. on item 31 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president yee: okay. without objection, the ordinance is passed on first reading. [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, we could briefly begin our next item, roll call for introductions, and shortly after, i'll bring it back to

our hearing. >> clerk: okay. roll call for introductions. supervisor walton, and as the president said, we will be interrupting it shortly for the hearing. >> supervisor walton: thank you, mr. president. last month, our board as well as other leaders received an e-mail from director mickey callahan of the department of human resources regarding an incident at the equal employment opportunity office where an employee had forged documents and lied to a black employee regarding their e.e.o. case, including manipulating and deleting case files, forging communications, dismissing lawsuits, and misrepresenting the department and the city. there have been multiple black employees and other people of color who have complained about the mismanagement at the department of human resources for years, and before the news broke out on this incident, it has been documented by the

black employees' alliance and as reported by employees to our office. today's resolution for introduction -- introduction urges the city's equal employment opportunity office to implement an option for an employee to give consent to share their e.e.o. complaint with the office of racial equity as well as urging the e.e.o. to work with the office of racial equity on their investigations. this resolution also urges the e.e.o. to report the demographics of their cases to the office of racial equity and the board of supervisors on a quarterly basis. i want to thank supervisor fewer for leading the efforts to establish the office of racial equity. departments are already required to report annually to the office of racial equity about the demographics of their workforce by race, on compensation, hires, motions,

disciplinary actions, complaints made, and whether the complaints were investigated. fraudulent actions by the former e.e.o. manager were committed without oversight or accountability from the department of human resources, and this is unacceptable. this step is the first step of many to ensure that the department of equity office and the department of human resources are held accountability. i am also introducing a motion for a committee of the whole, requesting that the department of homelessness and supportive housing and the covid command center present their plans for the shelter in place [inaudible] mobilizations. we are concerned that after months of requesting more detail, the board of supervisors and operators of shelter in place hotels do not have the details on the plan, and where more than 2,000

people will be housed. we understand and agree that the shelter in place hotels are a temporary measure, however, hotel operators were only made aware of the timeline last friday. i also serve on the committee to make sure that we ensure that folks do not go back to the streets and have not seen this information. along with this, supervisor haney will request a formal letter on our behalf later in our introductions. the rest i submit. >> president yee: thank you. madam clerk, i will also submit, and since i'm next on the roster there, and so we'll start with supervisor fewer when we come back to roll call. so right now, it's 3:02, so we could go to our special items.

>> clerk: okay. items 26 through 29 were continues from august 18, 2020, and september 29, 2020. it's a hearing of persons interested in or objecting to the determination of exemption from environmental review under ceqa issued as a categorical exemption by the planning department on april 8, 2018, for the proposed project at 617 sanchez street. >> president yee: okay. it's my understanding that these items may be continued to a later date. supervisor [inaudible], do you have any further remarks?

>> supervisor mandelman: [inaudible] i do believe this should be the last continuance and said that to both parties, but i would move that we continue items 26 to 29 to our november 17 meeting. >> supervisor stefani: second. >> president yee: okay. there's been a motion made and a second. madam clerk, before we take the roll call on that motion, let's take the public comment on the continuance itself. are there any members of the public who wish to speak on the anticipated continuance? >> clerk: operations? >> operator: madam clerk, there are no callers in the queue. >> clerk: okay. mr. president? >> president yee: thank you. seeing no speakers for public comment, then public comment on the continuance is now closed.

[gavel]. >> president yee: motion to continue items 26 through 29, made by supervisor mandelman and seconded by supervisor -- was it stefani? >> clerk: yes. >> president yee: -- okay. to -- where are we? >> clerk: continued to november 17. >> president yee: okay. can you please take the roll. >> clerk: on the motion to continue items 26 through 29 to november 17 -- [roll call]

>> clerk: mr. president, we'll do our best to bring supervisor ronen back. just suggest to pause for a moment. >> president yee: okay. >> clerk: okay.

okay. to operations staff, i believe she is at her home office and is restarting her computer, mr. president. >> president yee: all right. we'll -- we're moving quickly, so we have a minute or two. >> clerk: okay.

>> president yee: madam clerk? >> clerk: yes, i believe we're getting closer. >> president yee: okay. >> clerk: we have given her the call-in line if her computer is problematic.

>> president yee: madam clerk, i suggest we finalize the roll call, and we can always rescind the vote. >> clerk: okay. >> president yee: was that the final -- >> clerk: yes, so it would be, at this point, ronen absent, but we would return to this, so there are ten ayes.

>> president yee: okay. so the motion to continue this item or these items to november 17, 2020 passes. [gave [gavel]. >> president yee: madam clerk, let's go to our next special item. >> clerk: item 30 is a hearing of the board of supervisors sitting as a committee of the whole on tuesday, october 27, 2020, at 3:00 p.m. to hold a public hearing on the findings and recommendations from the san francisco economic recovery task force report as it relates to the economic impacts of covid-19 health emergency, supporting local businesses and employment, mitigating economic hardships, and ensuring a more resilient and equitable

recovery, scheduled prudent to motion number m-20-143, approved on september 29, 2020. >> president yee: okay. this was a report that president breed and i had proposed to help us recover quickly after the pandemic is defeated, i guess is the word that we should use, so this report is a long awaited report that all of us have been anxiously awaiting for. and so with that, colleagues, we shall now convene as a committee of the whole for the members of the board of supervisors to hear the findings and recommendations from the san francisco economic recovery task force report as it relates to the economic impacts of the covid-19 health emergency supports local

businesses and employee employment, mitigation economic hardships, and ensuring a more resilient and equitable recovery. and without objection, we will proceed as follows. first, we'll have opening remarks from assessor carmen chu. then, we'll hear from rudy gonzalez, director of the san francisco labor council, and then, the -- and then, rodney fong, the president and c.e.o. of the san francisco chamber of commerce. then, we'll have an overview of the public process and equity review from treasurer jose cisneros. and then, actually a summary of the economic recovery task force recommendations from heather green from the office of resilience and capital planning. then, what i'll do is i'll

invite my colleagues on the board who actually served as representatives of the board of supervisors on this committee, and they will come in this order: supervisor mandelman, supervisor preston, and supervisor peskin. then, we'll open -- we'll then open for questions and comments, and then, we'll have two minutes each for people that want to provide public comments. okay, seeing no objections, we will proceed as proposed. with that, i'd like to welcome our city assessor chiu. assessor chu, would you like to proceed? >> thank you very much, president yee, for not only calling this hearing but for coconvening the economic

recovery task force alongside mayor london breed. i want to thank supervisors mandelman, preston, and peskin, who consistently gave your time to meet with us and share your comments and perspective as we embarked on this process. i'll be kicking off this presentation and turning it over to my cochairs and also to the city staff team who will provide an overview of today's recommendations. as you know, the economic roofer retask force sought to bring together a broad force of leaders to support the city's recovery efforts related to covid-19. by convening a bold group of leaders, the task force was truly an opportunity to draw from the talents, perspectives of our many members. each of these members on the task force served as a connection point to the

communities beyond that -- and so that those constituencies that they represented would also have a direct line in the city's efforts in response to covid-19. i think i speak on behalf of my cochairs when i reflect on the cochairs of the extensive public process this process represented and the emphasis we put on equality front and center. we partnered with the human rights commission and many others to seek to ensure that the voices and perspectives of traditionally marginalized communities were heard, and we also made sure that each policy recommendation also provided an equity review to provide suggestions to deliver more equitable policies going forward. i think it shows we can do economic recovery in a more smart way and a more equitable

way. collectively, we've already provided ramps and relief to businesses, but we always know there's more we can do.

these things are really great successes, but we know that it's not enough. we know that unemployment is still high. we're at 8%, where not that long ago, we were looking at unemployment numbers of where like 3%. tourism and spending are down 43%. in terms of a drop in sales tax, some areas in the city, it's dropped as much as 70%, including our downtown core areas and other parts of the city, and so we look forward to your best thinking on how to reduce the burdens for our businesses, to encourage continued investments in san francisco to make sure that we're competitive, but also to make sure that as we think about connecting san franciscans to jobs, that we are helping to create jobs that

are good jobs in this city. we hope the 41 recommendations that you'll see before you today really provide a framework for you on how to think about recovery, and we all remain committed to helping and assisting you as we go. before i turn it over to our treasurer, jose cisneros, i want to make sure i thank the city staff team. thank you for your incredible dedication, to the cochairs, to our task force members, thank you, and of course to the city departments who we couldn't have done this work without, our city administrator, oewd, the human rights commission, thank you for your community support. and with that, i'll turn it over to jose. thank you. >> thank you very much, carmen. hello, everyone. this is jose cisneros, county

treasurer. i'm proud to bring you more information on how we worked as part of the task force. at this time, i think i'd like to bring up the powerpoint. thank you very much, and thank you very much for bringing up my first slide. let me talk a little bit how, you know, over 100 members of the task force helped us connect to the san francisco community. many of the task force members not only shared their own original perspectives, but they also conducted research throughout the san francisco community. they administered public surveys. they actually had in-person interviews and conversations, and they worked through formal focus groups as well as neighborhood presentations. they made presentations as various city bodies, including the immigrants rights commission, the commission on the environment, the small business commission, and the commission on the status of women. these outreach efforts brought

us information from over 1,000 members of the san francisco community, and we see on this slide what many of the things we heard from the public survey and the community outreach. certainly, financial assistance to businesses was the most desired category and reaction that we heard from business owners, but we really learned more when we started to reach out this way. we heard that not only was financial assistance [inaudible] but we also wanted to find ways to make businesses more successful, whether that was looking at conditions of usage of the street, about how we can look at specific needs of the disability community, and how we could particularly focus on business owners of color that had in particular

needs screening, technical assistance, cultural competence, language, and beyond. this was extremely value as the city put together its response to the covid-19 pandemic, and we've seen many of these conditions be reflected in the way we've reached out across the community. next slide, please. particularly what we heard was we heard many more specifics when it came to what we heard in our individual policy working groups. we created four policy working groups, and in the jobs and businesses working group, we of course not only reflected on the needs of businesses large and small, but we really looked at ways how we could reduce expenses and particularly support workers for many of these businesses. we also had a specific policy group looking at vulnerable populations. and here, we really got down into what many of the

individual needs and members of our community are concerned with: how we could build access to opportunities in affordable housing, and how we could particularly address inequities so that people who were already suffering before the pandemic hit would not receive increased impairments and sufferings and would not have their suffering extend longer. we wanted to bring particular focus to their needs. we looked at the area of economic development, and how we could do things like cut read tape and find more flexible uses for zoning codes and other codes that the city has so that we could really streamline the best ways that businesses could bounce back and find their way forward. and we also looked at arts, culture, hospitality, and enter tanment and how we could employ and activate spaces to these particular businesses and individuals could find a way to engage with their -- with their

customers and their audiences and employ their workforce more productively. these are the kinds of things we looked at, and i'm very proud of the work that was done by the members of the economic recovery task force, and we look forward to hearing about their recommendations later on today. i just want to urge all members of city government and you, the members of the board of supervisors, to, when you hear about these recommendations, please open your minds and be as creative as possible with solutions. i think we've already seen a number of creative solutions like, for example, reusing former hotels for housing, all sorts of things. these are the kinds of creative thinking we need as we address the needs created out of this pandemic and how we can bring more solutions to our community moving forward. and with that, i'll hand it over to my coach, rudy

gonzales. >> thank you, jose. it's been a -- cochair, rudy gonzales. >> thank you, jose. it's been great to work alongside the cochairs, mayor breed and president yee. i come to you not just grateful for the experience but with a renewed sense of urgency. one of the slide decks that you saw as they put up, you saw kind of the intersection of our areas of focus. and the vulnerable populations area is one that, you know, really insected and overlapped with all of the work that was occurring. you're going to be presented with a number of policy recommendations and generalizations in this report. there's a real sense of urgency on the ground for immigrant workers, for black and indigenous people of color, for workers who never sheltered in place, who juggled child care

and school closures and kept coming to work, and it's with that lens that i have to approach this experience. as a labor leader, i can tell you that the cost of recovery is high. it is always approached from the perspective of statistics and numbers, but i would urge this policy making body to think of it in terms of the cost of human life. and when you think about eliminating red tape, and you think about the opportunities that exist to provide flexibility, i have to urge you to think about the impact of working class people when you make those decisions. now i'm proud there was an equity lens taken to all of this. i think that the staff of the city who, in the middle of a pandemic response, pivoted and shifted into research functions and staff support functions all need to be commended. they have earned the respect,

and they deserve the gratitude of the city's leadership for stepping up to the place and moving into this function in addition to their disaster service work, in addition to their regular civil service. we are certainly grateful for their response. on the ground, we still have frontline and essential workers in both the public and private sector who are counting on the confidence of city leaders, they're counting on the unity of city leaders in this response, and they're counting you on taking the report and some of its findings to the next level. we could not have captured every possibly variance, and i'll tell you it's been frustrating at times to see the ball move as we try to come up with solutions. but what you have before you does represent a best approach and best practices, and i think very thoughtful recommendations to you to consider. i will just close by saying

that the economic recovery task force is sunsetting, but the work is only just beginning. and as you embark on this through legislation, through ordinance, through careful review, please look at the existing programs that we have in the city. one of the things that stuck out to me most was the amount of energy and resources that go into workforce training and development, and a real need to centralize that and to streamline it and make sure that it's transparent and that it delivers. as we emerge through this pandemic, we have that many more people who are in desperate need. so while that's my bias in the process, i do think that it's a really important lens by which policy makers can look at this and make sure that the economic recovery in kmisk is not just for the few but for the money

and for the people who are counting on all of you to lead us through this pandemic. again, immense gratitude for all the people who made this possible, and now i'd like to pass it off to cochair rodney fong for the chamber of commerce. >> great. thank you, rowdy, and thank you, supervisors, for -- rudy, and thank you, supervisors, for the opportunity. i want to thank everybody who participated in this. it's been a long several months, and as has been pointed out, there's still a long way to know. in san francisco, there's over 200,000 unemployment claims right now. storefronts, 44% of retail businesses are still effectively nonoperational or have shuttered, and overall retail transactions in san francisco are down by 66%. these are staggering numbers.

there is much more work to be done. want to point out, as we'll see in the presentation here, the local economic stimulus opportunities that are in front of us, and rudy touched on some of them that we all agree upon, the investment of public infrastructure and the support of major projects, the redesign of the public permit process, cutting the red focused on sa

reopening in may and june because the very first thing we heard from the task force members loud and clear is there is no economic [inaudible] and customers feel safe to come back as well as businesses feeling safe to operate, so they were very, very helpful in providing mitigation and other recommendations to the department of public health. and then, over the summer, we really shifted into the detailed policy work. we had four working groups compromised of ten to 20 task force members each that met for weeks to come up with thoughtful and actionable ideas for you all to implement to

help address economic recovery? and the results of that work was 41 policy recommendations, and yes, that was a prioritized list. there's many more ideas that this group came up with, but there's 41 that made it to the top of the list for your consideration. we published the report on october 8, and it is available on the web? you can take a look, and i actually added the link into the chat, and i'm very proud of this work. there was 40-plus city staff, as was already mentioned who, in addition to their day jobs and their d.s.w. jobs, came together to support this earli earlier -- important work. an overview of the city's

reopening work, the shared spaces program, how we developed our policies, a very detailed appendix d, community engagement and listening, led by myleen garcia and song dl song-hee hiwata. heard from many different focus groups around the city that we wanted to hear from, like the disability groups and others? and then, appendix e is where we did a detailed analysis of all 41 recommendations. and then finally, appendix f, the assessors office under carmen's leadership put together a recommendation of all the programs that the city has done since the start of covid. i know that all the supervisors have worked so hard on our

response, as well, so i hope that everyone is proud of this effort and does take the time to review all the recommendations and see all the good work that we've done. with that, i want to hand it over to heather, who's been a wonderful fearless leader. hea heather, if you could walk us through the recommendations. >> sure. thank you, supervisors, for having me, and to city administrator kelly for allowing me to work on it and for the cochairs to be such amazing leads. we are here at the end. i'm very excited about that, but you can see, you know, that this was a very rigorous process. 100-plus task force members came together in policy working

groups. the conversation was free flowing, and we were able to hear challenges and solutions from the ground level. task force members also reached out to their own communities to solicit further input, and so we were able to really pull together a lot of ideas and inspiration for san francisco's path forward. next slide, please. in the end, what we have in the report are these policy recommendation areas. the focus out from the task force was at the same time to be concrete and actionable and also think of the big picture. you have recommendations that are very specific in the near term and also some broad sweeping investment calls along the line of what rodney was speaking about for stimulus and visioning. i will also note there are some additional recommendations. he saw that in the table of contents for ideas that came up

later in the process, and these may not have been prioritized directly in the output of the working groups, but we all agreed throughout that it was a good idea to include more ideas, not less. this is going to be something that's reformed and re -- economic recovery is going to be something that's going to need to be reformed week after week and even day after day as the requirements change. there are many topics discussed in the report, but these were the ideas that the task force discussed, and we were able to find over 1,000 voices, one way or another, through surveys, focus groups, subject matter expert review, and this is where we landed. next slide. [please stand by]

-- economic racial lens, or just in regards to whether it's practical for us. i want to say a little bit about child care first, i have to say that, because i remember the first year that child care came up a lot. what will we do right now, we can't do anything about child care. child care is closing and we won't have the essential workers and so forth. and so that was a discussion in which, you know, we know that -- i also know that many of the businesses, whether they're family child care are starting to close down because they have no help. nothing from the federal government at all for them. especially for those are licensed family child care providers. i want to say that there's been

discussions that we had at the task force level but this discussion doesn't end there. i'm already having discussions with the office at this point and i have been having it for about two months and saying, get ready. you know, depending on the outcome of the election, if one of the propositions that is going free up money for child care, we have to be ready to spend that money on helping these businesses on day one. and not wait a year from now. so i'm hoping that we can, you know, we can take it very seriously and engaging with the community, the child care community, at this point to say what do you guys need so that you guys don't close down. because the economy is not going to work without that and as supervisor norman mentioned, and

with the schools reopening. the good news is that in last few days in regards to the school district, the discussion has taken a 180-degree turn in terms of who is spending what at this point. i'm positive that the discussions at the committee has similar impact on this. you know, in issues that are not resolved completely, but we're moving in the right direction in terms of some of the resources that we could actually access, and i think that there was a precedent, so i don't want to speak out of turn, but we have them coming in to help us, to help the district and the staff

to work out the plans. and there's other things that i don't want to mention because it hasn't happened yet, but they're, like, going to happen in the next few days. so i'm very positive that at least i'm moving -- and so thank you, supervisor fewer and ronen and haney, in pushing that discussion. the other thing that has come out, that was mentioned, one of the issues in child care industry, i think that as supervisor preston and haney and peskin, the issue of transportation was not

completely tactful but it was mentioned and it's an issue that we need to tackle. i hope that the director tumlin will take that very seriously and maybe what they need to do is to form their own task force around this and to help to answer some of the quick questions that we have along how do we get ourselves running, and how do we get people to go back on public transportation, and ensure that is safe and so forth. so those are things that i felt like this task force, in particular the report, has stimulated and so i don't look at it as one report that's finite and is done and, no, i see this as sort of a wave that has opened up the doors for us

to have discussions and to continue to have discussions. we know how important the issues are, so we can't just say those aren't important issues. what we need to do is to start addressing these issues. so thank you very much for everybody for your patience and allowing me to go on and on for a little while. so at this point, again, thank you, everybody. i want to -- i guess at this point to close this hearing. so the hearing is now closed. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> all right. madam clerk, i believe that we are going back to roll call. >> clerk: for intlukses, and, yes, mr. president, though you indicated not to call on you, you subsequently asked me to call on you. presidentie? >> president yee: thank you very much, madam clerk. i had forgotten that.

i was supposed to say something but my dependable staff reminded me. so i have one thing to introduce, colleagues. reintroducing a resolution to urge the san francisco m.t.a. to implement a plan to slow speeds wherever they can, can do this, within their own authority. especially near sites that serve vulnerable populations such as senior centers and possibly child care centers. and looking at any way that we could do this. on november 15th, we will be recognizing the 25th anniversary of the world day of remembrance, novembenovember 15th. and this is for transit victims. it's overshadowed by the deadly conditions on our streets. it is a club that nobody wants

to be a part of, and to be a victim -- to be a victim or a family of a victim from vehicle collisions. the heart is heavy thinking of all of those families who have lost a loved one or had their lives forever changed. we are not on track to meet our goals in 2024 for vision zero. we can either continue t on this path of vision zero or completely revamp how we're doing things to make real changes. i'm glad that the board of directors and m.t.a. and sfmta are agreeing. so san francisco will need to keep pushing for safety level changes to finally get automated speed enforcement passed and also update the methodology for setting speed limits. we cannot afford to keep waiting for change to occur.

the way that the state sets speed with development for rural road settings that is almost always 85% methodology. they set the speed at which 85% were driving. this assumes that the drivers are responsible and reasonable within their environment. and it does not take into account the pedestrians or cyclists. there is a tendency to speed creep and to go above the posted speed limit which is not only dangerous, but it can be fatal. we heard the stats before. a person hit by a car at 40 miles per hour has a 10% chance of survival while a person hit by a car at 20 miles per hour

has 90% survival rate. we can't be -- we can't be saving live -- we can be saving lives right now if we do everything that we can to slow down speeds. and actually tying our traffic light signals to encourage slow driving. i'm looking forward to this body working closely with sfmta's board to get this done and to help us to establish a more slow speed zones around the city. so hopefully the series of things that i'm asking m.t.a. to do will have some impact. that's how i see it. >> clerk: thank you, mr. president. supervisor fewer? >> supervisor fewer: yes, thank you, mad clerk. last week u.s.a. today highlighted the disparity about

the impact of the pandemic on the asian-american community entitled "asian americans in san francisco are dying from alarming rates from covid-19. racism is to blame." this strikes at the gaps and inequities that are exacerbated by this public health crisis and calls for our immediate attention to the need to step up our response and supporting our diverse asian-american communities through this crisis. it is literally a matter of life-and-death. racism is killing my community. having the ability to look at public health data through a racial lens has been an essential tool. thank you to the early efforts of our racial equity officers at the e.o.c. for pushing us to be accountable and to affirm our commitment to racial equity to a covid-19 response. it is illuminating where we need to double down on our efforts to tackle this pandemic.

the most of any ethnicity, this is heartbreaking. and while only 12% of the cases are asian, the death rate is three times that number, raising big concerns for me about the stigma that asian-americans are experiencing in san francisco related to the covid pandemic that may be a barrier for residents seeking timely treatment. i wanted to say only 12% of the confirmed cases are asian. in the u.s u.s.a. today article, they were quoted as saying that the high mortality rate among asian-americans means that there's either not enough testing or people are waiting far too long to get care. i recognize that it takes a herculean effort to operationalize the response

plans in the midst of a pandemic, but in light of that data about the disproportionate deaths in the a.p.i. community, i have serious questions. how are we reaching out to our most vulnerable and the communities in a culturally competent and accessible way? whether we are adequately conveying information and resources to address the unique barriers for the community for testing. how to register, whether the registration interface and processes are available in languages, and whether we're leveraging the strength of the trusted hit professionals that have a demonstrated history of working with our communities. and most importantly, how are we connecting the individuals to accurate information regarding resources and supports available for if and when someone might test covid positive, from the daily needs of food access or having space to isolate and to recovery assistance and other essential needs. while there's been recent initiatives announced to try to address testing in the a.p.i.

community such as availability of testing in chinatown, there is an urgency to do more, given what the data tells us about alarming numbers in the a.p.i. community. 40% of the richmond district is asian. and i have asked for a testing site or a mobile testing site to remove any barriers to individuals getting this resource. what worries me the most is how this data could be reflective of how our community is overlooked or left behind. i will be submitting a letter of inquiry with supervisor peskin to the department of public health and the department of emergency management to speak to the cultural and linguistic outreach strategies, and testing capacity, and the plan of action for the a.p.i. community city-wide to address this inequity. the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor fewer. now supervisor haney. >> supervisor haney: thank you, madam clerk. in addition to the committee of

the whole that supervisor walton spoke about, i, along with supervisors walton, ronen and preston, are requesting a letter of inquiry to the department of homelessness and supportive housing and covid command centers to get a response about their plan to rehouse thousands of people experiencing homelessness who are currently at shelter-in-place sites. it should not take a formal request to obtain details about the issue so consequential for thousands of people, hundreds who are staying at these hotels and hundreds of staff in the hotels, and our non-profit agencies who have said that to run these hotels. but we have asked for details and now we know that there are plans to close some of these hotels and we want to make sure that there's an effective transition for the 2,500 people in the shelter-in-place sites. the vision and the reality must be that no one is returned to the streets and that though we

have heard that is the plan that we are yet to have specific details about how that will happen. this is something that we should assist with as this board has been especially focused in making sure that everyone during this crisis had a place to shelter in place and now as we go to the next stages of transition, that people exit homelessness more permanently. so we will be submitting this formal letter of inquiry, in addition to the committee of the whole that supervisor walton spoke of. the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor. supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, madam clerk. i am asking that we adjourn today in honor of tom taylor who died at the age of 77 after a long battle with prostate

cancer. tom was a long-time lgbtq activist, philantropist and caretaker of the rainbow flag and the plaza. he was most loved for the annual christmas display that he and his husband gerry goldstein have put on on 21st street between church and sanchez, and calling revelers to a scene with a 65-foot-tall norfolk island pine tree decorated with thousands of sparkling l.e.d. lights and lavish ornaments and a miniature ferris wheel and animated train sets and giant stuffed animals and life-sized tom and jerry stockings. born september 8, 1943, in richmond california, tom left home after high school to pursue a career as a hairstylist. coming out to his parents, who would remain estranged from him for a year before finally accepting that he was gay. tom was in lgbtq activism to

spare other queer kids from the rejection that he faced. tom met jerry in 1972, which hao whomhood build a life together. the two would marry in october 2013 in a public block party-style wedding. tom was diagnosed with h.i.v. in 1983, a death sentence at the time as little was known about the virus that was killing gay men by the thousands. tom far outlived his diagnosis and over the decades he and jerry donated time, money and loving support to countless causes and organizations. they founded the diversity foundation which for years has been the quiet caretaker of the rainbow flag. and tom gave countless houring to secure lighting for this most iconic installation of gilbert's flag. tom and jerry maintained and lovingly cared for the hundreds of the rain bow flags that line the street. and yet as recalled in a recent bay area reporter column about

tom's life, few people knew how much work tom put into caring for these beloved and internationally recognized symbols of queer equality. but that was the kind of person that tom was, devoted to bringing joy and hope to others and never seeking recognition for himself. he was a city treasure and san francisco will miss him dearly. rest in power, tom taylor, and the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor mandelman. >> mr. president, i'd like to be add as a co-sponsor to the in memoriam. >> clerk: okay. thank you. supervisor mar? >> supervisor mar: thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, i want to say that i'm proud to co-sponsor president yee's resolution to reduce vehicle speeds in our city. much has been said about the streets program, which doesn't actually require any changes to the vehicle speeds.

but in a city every residential street should be a slow street. i don't mean that we should take cars off every road, with a million people in 49 square miles, every residential street should be slow enough to be safe for all of us. to achieve vision zero, this must be a priority and there's far more work that we could -- we can and should do on a local and a state level. and this resolution is one important step forward. and i'm deeply grateful to president you're fo yee for hisp on this truly life and death issue. and today i have a resolution to a fossil-free future for california. as we reckon with the public health and peculia and economicf covid-19 and racial injustice, we cannot lose sight of the scope and scale of our climate crisis. in fact, climate justice is a public health issue and an

economic justice issue and a racial justice issue. last year under the leadership of supervisor mandelman, this body declared a climate state of emergency and yet california continues to frack. we call ourselves climate leaders and yet the state continues to extract nearly 200 million barrels of oil every year. in over 250 billion cubic feet of natural gas. this is, frankly, climate denialism. existing fossil fuel production alone will push the globe past degrees of warming and into a world that will displace more than a billion people and result in food insecurity worldwide. we are already in a climate crisis. and we see it with our rising seas and our raging fires. to have any hope of a livable future, we have to leave fossil fuels in the ground. so the resolution that i introduce today urges governor newsome and the california state legislature to dispermit

permitting for fossil fuel, or petrochemical projects in california. to set california on a path to drop the existing oil production in line with the paris climate goals. and with a just and equitable transition that protects workers and economies. and to require a 2,500-foot health and safety buffer between fossil fuel infrastructure and homes, schools and other sensitive sites. california cannot be a true climate leader without addressing the dirty oil and gas production within our borders. our survival as a city and a species demands nothing less. the rest i submit. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor mar. supervisor peskin. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, madam clerk. miss calvillo, can you do me the kindness of posting the picture that i sent you earlier of mr. taylor, please.

>> clerk: yes, i'll have brent in operations to show that now. >> supervisor peskin: so i am so deeply saddened that yesterday the one and only bubba taylor, the many decades dean of the city hall press corps passed away. and many of us are going through it right now, her family, of course, for which, mark, i am so very sorry. her city hall friends who range from mayors, and to lily brown to my former colleague, and to our clerk miss calvillo. and some of her dearest friends, former supervisor dufty, and rachel gordon, who has been a fellow member of the press corp with barbara and now a city official in her own right.

and my chief of staff sonny angulo who worked with her and i'm going to now reveal something that barbara swore me to secrecy about. barbara was a secret weapon in my 2015 campaign. generations at city hall, press officers like p.j. johnson who helped me to craft these comments this evening, and many others were her dear friends. and we're all so sorry and loved her and her vivacious spirit and professionalism so much. barbara began her career in broadcasting in san diego before coming to city of san francisco in the year 1975 to kcbs radio, where she eventually moved on on-air work. and in her more than 40 years at kcbs, she covered politics,

elections, city hall happenings, and was n known as the great dae of the city hall press room which, colleagues, i will introduce a resolution to rename the unnamed press room in barbara taylor's name and honor. she was the kcbs city hall bureau chief for three decades before she retired in 2015. she covered every major news event with san francisco government for four decades, including the assassinations of then mayor mosconi and the supervisor in 1978. and the coverage of the shocking deaths was immortalized in the academy-award winning film that was filmed here in part, "mlk." she also co-altogethe-authored n for many years and was the long-time on camera host of

"city desk" where i appeared any number of times which was a weekly televised roundtable of reporters that provided the behind-the-scenes insights into the happenings at city hall. and she also served for many years as the voice sunday afternoon as the anchor at kcbs radio where i was known to call in a time or two. she never took no or too busy for an answer. not from a politician, not from a member of our citizenry. she was just remarkable. and for those of you who knew her, she was both the conscience of this building and truly one of its unsung heroes. and thank you p.j., i'll give you a few highlights. she sparred with willie brown at his tuesday press conferences, generating countless kcbs

reports from city hall that drove p.j. crazy. and while conducting a live interview during a hotly contested election night she famously got right up on a table with mayor brown, who had jumped on the same table and was screaming and dancing as the numbers came in and continued the interview. i do believe that it was over the -- the 49ers ballpark, which all went down the drain. and her dog tanner, which many of us knew, that she brought to city hall every day, even though then city administrator bill lee tried to banish that dog from city hall, was actually -- and i'm not making this up -- eventually given a press pass by mayor brown. when mayor newsome came around she always began her questions

with, well, mayor newsome, that's all well and good, and then would just nail him with a bunch of sharp and insightful and tough questions and, you know, then he became governor. when the olympic torch was secreted through the city and nobody -- and that would be literally nobody, and i was the president of the board at the time knew where it was. not mayor newsome, and the route was changed, barbara taylor, who rarely left city hall because she was always with her dog, tanner, flew out of the building and chased the torch down and actually found it. whether dealing with politicians, special interests, regular people, or dealing with -- no offense -- p.r. flacks who got their com comeuppance, barbara had a no bullshit meter and could not be

spun. she taught and counseled her fellow colleagues about kindness, and while keeping her integrity as a journalist and never taking cheap shots, she taught other people who came into the press corp about the power of the press in ways that were profoundly meaningful. and most of those folks learned those lessons, a few of them didn't. and at some point i might even reveal the name of the chronicle reporter who did not take her lessons. her journalist colleagues have described her as tenacious, professional, and most importantly, as so human. and barbara was a long-time resident of the castro district, with a sprawling and dedicated group of friends. she got in a car accident about a year and a half ago and would not let me visit her, but i want

to salute rachel gordon and those who visited her after that car accident. she is survived by her adoring husband, mark naper and her step-children, and as we are perhaps our hearts go out to mark. he has lost a partner and a best friend. and the city attorney requested to be add to this in memoriam. >> i'd like to be add to and the to the resolution. >> clerk: okay. clerk's office will make that happen. >> president yee: i would like to see it come to the full board. thank you. >> clerk: okay. >> supervisor peskin: i'm not done with dead people, mr. president. >> clerk: okay --

>> president yee: let's go. >> supervisor peskin: diane deprama, who i knew who was a poet laureate of san francisco, born in 1934, passed away on sunday at the age of 86, a poet, writer, activist, remarkable human being, pioneering women and leading feminist voice of the beat generation. diane bridged and transcended generations in her journey to live and to tell her poetry and authentic life. born in brooklyn, she began writing early in her childhood and eventually -- the smartest people drop out of college -- moved to grenwich village and there became involved with the beats in the early 1960s. she came to san francisco, i think at the age when i was 4

years old, and she lived here mostly of the remainder of her life, except for a few times when she went other places. she got involved with the diggers, if any of you folks remember that history, a group of anti-capitalist activists who handed out free food in the community. she wrote more than 40 books of poetry and a memoir that dealt with politics, community, love, and sex. and at the press conference where she was named the fifth poet laureate of the city and county of san francisco about 11 years ago she told the crowd that her deepest service was to poetry and to humans. she was a true visionary, totally a rebel, and the sort of which i think that many of us hope that will take root in this

community after the pandemic. and she is survived by her five children, jean, dominique, and alex, tara and rudy. i have one piece of public policy to submit, which is a request for the city attorney to draft an ordinance that would subject the community benefit districts and our one business improvement district to the same good government standards that the city departments and other public offices exist under. earlier this year it came to light that the security cameras owned and operated by the union square b.i.d. add allegedly, air quotes, this to the actively surveill the peaceful protesters. and i don't think we need to point fingers at those allegations, but i think that we

should -- as supervisor ronen did in her capacity as a commissioner of the transportation authority, have the alter ego of san francisco and one b.i.d. to live under our own local laws. so i'm going to ask the city attorney to draft that. and with that, mr. president, i am done. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor peskin. supervisor preston. >> supervisor preston: submit. >> clerk: thank you. supervisor ronen? >> supervisor ronen: i'm sorry. i submit. >> clerk: okay. supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: submit. >> clerk: okay. thank you. and supervisor stefani? >> supervisor stefani: thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, we have all seen the recent reporting in the

chronicle outlining california's struggle with drug addiction and, quite frankly, we do not have to read it in the chronicle," we see it every day on the streets. and the city's failure to address this problem effectively. according to an article, between january 1-august 3 #, 468 people died of an overdose in san francisco. that means this year alone we have lost nearly two people to drug overdoses on our streets every single day. those suffering on our streets are someone's son or daughter, father, or mother or partner, or brother or sister. they are suffering from the disease of addiction, a disease so cunning and baffling and powerful that it takes some to depths of despair that are unfathomable to many. addictions does not discriminate and no one is immune. those sufferin suffering on ours and in danger of overdose are dying in record numbers due to the type of drugs out there, the easy availability of those

drugs, and the lack of paths towards recovery. the consequence of addiction can be seen all over san francisco. this is clearly apparent in our parks, our sidewalks and our alley ways. and children and families have to navigate around those suffering on our streets. we hear about needles all the time. small business owners struggling to keep their shops open amid covid-19 need to contend with the effects of the drug epidemic and not just during this pandemic. this issue is personal for me too. my brother has long struggled with addiction. i have talked about that before and several members of my family, and i have seen firsthand the tremendous pain that the disease of addiction afflicts on those who are suffering from it and their families and everyone around them. my mom is also a nurse who worked in and ran a recovery center in merced and i have seen

firsthand what recovery can do for people. overdose is an acutely human problem and so it's disappointing that san francisco has not found a way to confront it. and with the condition on our street and indeed, the human toll of this disease worsens, we have got to figure this out. and we have to do better. over the past year, i have been working with the re-entry division of the adult probation department, the services center, also known as casck, and our residents in recover tow chart a path forward. in 2018, the entry entry division of the adult probation department in partnership with the senior ex-offender program and ucfs city-wide launched san francisco's first ever recovery summit. a forum to discuss the addiction realities and the recovery challenges in san francisco. what has become clear to me is that for many who have suffered from addiction, in addition to

harm reduction strategies, abstinence-based treatment, which includes 12-step programs and therapeutic communities and faith-based programs and behavioral modification programs all need to be considered when addressing addictions. on thursday, october 22nd, the summit working group prohibited their findings to the re-entry council. which is comprised of 24 members, including 12 city departments and the mayor's office and the board of supervisors and the seven formally incarcerated individuals and the state and federal probation. and they heard from 20 participants in the working group that shared their experience with addiction and shared their recovery. at the conclusion of the presentation, the council voted unanimously to support the working group's treatment and addiction responses to the city and county of san francisco. today i am calling for a hearing where we will receive reports from the recovery summit working group, the department of public

health and more to ensure that san francisco makes a full spectrum of treatment options available. we will also hear from those who are in recovery, what worked for them and how to learn from their experience. i have heard success stories from all across our city, and we must listen to those with experience with addiction as we try to address this crisis. people that can't imagine living life without their drug of choice should have the opportunity to hear from others who once felt that same way but were able to get clean and sober. we need to know all of the options to address their addictions. many people in their addiction don't want to continue to hurt themselves. they don't want to continue to hurt their family. they don't want to continue to hurt others. but they have no way out. if we do not show them what is possible. right now there are thousands of people in san francisco suffering from addictions. and they don't have a viable path out.

that is a tragedy. i look forward to hearing from our department and the partners to ensure that pathways to recovery for all and to give people the hope that they need to get clean and sober. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor. >> the rest i submit. >> clerk: mr. president, there are no names on the roster so that includes the introduction of new business. >> president yee: all right. then we can go straight into public comments. >> clerk: all right. for the members of the public, the board of supervisors is hosting and welcomes your general public comment. if you are calling in now the tectelephone number is on our website and the number is 1-(415)-655-0001. and enter the i.d. number 1462287935. i think many of you have been calling in over the last couple of months and you know that when you're ready to provide public comment press star, 3, make sure

that your background is quiet so that you will be able to hear the prompt which is you have been unmuted. once you hear that just please begin your comments. all right. we still have i believe that we still have the -- interpreters with us, we have fay and agnus lee. and if you wouldn't mind please present a very quick -- introduce yourself and that you're here to address them with their public comment in what language. >> thank you, madam clerk. [speaking spanish]

(speaking foreign language).

thank you. (speaking foreign language). >> clerk: thank you very much to all of you. there's 12 listeners in the queue listening and five members in the queue. if you are interested now is the time to press star, 3. operations, let's hear from the first caller, please. >> caller: this is mrs. chapman. i want to thank the sponsor and all of you for including the class of disabled people in the care and ordinance.

and i had a very nice conversation with one of the staff in supervisor walton's office about, you know, the necessity of considering the people who are going to benefit from being able -- from having a cause of action to sue would be people like [broken audio] and the people who are in front of my house. i did ask for a copy and i got one. i was very satisfied [broken audio] with that aspect of it. by including, you know, citations and misdemeanors and maybe felonies [broken audio] as potential results of action like occurs outside [broken audio] which can be dramatic. imagine the trauma for these poor young men who maybe are subjected to this forever.

[broken audio] in the public right-of-way. you know, not even sitting or camped out or anything like that. you're not going to see [broken audio] because, a, i wouldn't whip out a cellphone to take pictures of my co-owner. but also you wouldn't want to see the privacy violated of these young men that have relatives or their old school friends being treated in this manner. and maybe acting kind of imbalanced. but, you know, i think that it's a danger to the big handsome son of some white mother who was having a mental breakdown and who my co-owner reported to the police [broken audio] and he might be armed it says, right? and at the very time that he was supposedly outside -- >> clerk: thank you, miss

chapman. thank you for your comments. operations, incom next caller, . >> caller: hello. hello. this is gilbert crusval, district 8. i'm here to talk about transit issues regarding muni. muni is a disaster. the only reason that muni buses are running is because in the election a week away because you want that penny cent tax to go through for cal train and for muni. doing this during a pandemic and when unemployment is sky high in san francisco, the highest it's ever been since the depression, is unethical and immoral to tax seniors, disabled and poor people. we don't have a subway.

we don't have the f-line. we don't have the 27 line. we don't have other bus lines running. all we get from muni are cuts, service cuts -- the website doesn't even work. it tells you when the bus is coming. so poor people and the people in the collective neighborhoods don't have bus service, but other areas of the city do have bus service, like the pacific heights, russian hill and telegraph hill. because they're white and rich. when we should restore bus service throughout the city, open the subway, open up the f-line, restore service cuts that have been cut during the pandemic. it's time to open up. the health department is opening

downtown, the subway needs to be open. i guess that muni can't pay its pg&e bill to run the subway cars. so it's time to open the subway. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. operations, let's hear from the next caller, please. >> caller: supervisors, this has been nine months since handling of this pandemic. and i was listening to another conversation about the municipal transportation agency trying to make changes on market street. and you supervisors should maintain some standard when it comes to the construction that's

going on all over the city. impacting mostly seniors and people with disabilities. so i suggest to that deliberation that there should be no changes on market street for at least five years. it's taxpayers' money. and try to improve things on van ness and gary street. suffice to say that the pandemic is stressing us, at least when we go out and use the public transportation, and it should be less stressful. thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. okay, operations. next caller, please. we have about 15 listeners and

about seven members of the public in the queue. two minutes. >> caller: supervisors, i wanted to thank supervisor peskin with comments about barbara taylor and to name the press room in her honor. after all, that is where she lived the whole time. i'm calling today about the contract, and calling on the board of supervisors to provide some transparency, some explanation for what is going on with this inexplicable build. it's been two months since the membership approved the deal and d.h.r. refused to brief the public and the police commission about it, and the bar association of san francisco has sought documents on october 15th about this to get information. and we received a response yesterday saying that we're not going to give you anything beyond another 14 days beyond the date that there's a committee and a hearing on this contract. why is the city being so secretive about its police union

and reversing course on how this is handled in the past and what the trend is initially? after all, in 2018, the support from supervisor breed and others, the city identified a key reform in the contract to speed up the d.o.j. reform, and that as an essential objective with d.h.r. and yet you heard hours and hours of testimony and presentation about delays that persist in that contract that should be fixed -- i'm sorry -- in the reform process. and they all could be fixed in the contract but we don't have information, and philadelphia and chicago are dealing with contracts holistically and addressing the reform issues and not just the demands but the u.s. conference of mayors and the chief associations and the naacp and the civil defense fund, and scholars and retired judges and labor arbitrators and even a prominent police union

attorney ronald yank was called for more transparency. when will san francisco address this issue in a transparent process because what we know so far makes no sense. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. okay, we have 15 listeners and seven in the queue. next speaker, please. >> caller: can you hear me now? >> clerk: yes, we can hear you, welcome. >> caller: it's mr. (indiscernible) thanks. so two notes in memoriam, and i'm sorry that i missed last week's meeting and i saw randy little listed and so i went and looked that up. i'm very sad to hear about the passing of randy ridle, a former deputy city attorney. i mean, me wrote the sunshine ordinance and wrote the charter

amendment that created the ethics commission. and, to heck, that was just the summer of 1993. i mean, he was responsible for much work, particularly in the area of ethics and elections. but also the government litigation and any number of other things. he was just a wonderful person. you know, can't say enough good things. i mean, the only half decent thing is that now there's somebody else for bud to chat with, but it's unfortunate for all of us and i just saw that with much sadness. i guess that i just gleaned from the previous caller that barbara taylor now as well? it just gets worse and worse. one of my favorite lines from when willie brown was mayor is at a press conference he would say, barbara, you must be completely misinformed and that usually meant that barbara was right on and knew exactly what

was going on with city hall or the departments or whatever. and, you know, i mean, anyway, i just continue to feel sad about all of these losses. thank you very much to all of you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments, david. >> is his two minutes up? >> clerk: no, he has 15 seconds. all right. operations, let's hear from the next caller, please. >> caller: hi, i am lawrence and i live in district 9. i am calling to bring attention to the negotiations of the police officer association contract. and if i known that i was going to go by order it would have been after the -- i would have tried to dial in sooner, because

that's hard to follow. but i'll echo a lot of the concerns that the contract extension and the renegotiation seems to be happening completely behind doors. this is an issue that impacts not only the entire city, but especially the black and brown citizens who are impacted by these policies. so i would just call on the board of supervisors that now is the time to be able to push back on the contracts, don't agree to the renegotiation and don't delay it for a few years when you're this working position. so, yeah, thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. we have 20 listeners and seven in the queue. operations, let's unmute the next caller. >> caller: mr. president and members of the board, i am hyde bagdasarian, and i would like to thank president yee for

introducing the resolution regarding the unlawful and unprovoked attacks on the nation. and supervisor safai for co-sponsoring this. while 2020 has been a very difficult year for all of us, but for the armenian nation in particular because more than a hundred years after the armenian genocide we're facing a threat. genocide watch issued a report a few days ago indicating that the armenian stages i stage nation n stages of nine and 10, meaning extermination and denial. the denial is going on for over a hundred years. it's revised because one of the precurrers of dehumanization has been happening for a long time. and this is a good time for me

to point out that this -- the intent is not to vilify the turkish nation nor the azerbaijany nation but to really call into question the practices of the two leaders, erdogan and they have stoked and fanned the flames to the point that we actually experience the prelude to the current hostilities that are occurring overseas in our own city through the course of three hate crimes committed at my daughter's school and the cultural center adjacent to our church on commonwealth avenue. we appreciate the support that's been demonstrated to our community through that. and we ask for your support on this particular resolution. so thank you for the attention that is being paid and i appreciate the time.

>> clerk: thank you for your comments. okay, operations, please unmute the next caller. welcome, caller. >> caller: yes. good evening. i did get home earlier than usual this time. this is barrett toronto, i am calling to alert you of the related action by the sfmta board -- not the board, excuse me, but jeff tumlin and his righthand woman kate torren that i sometimes call the donald trump of the taxi industry. i'm sorry to put it that way, but the thing is this she announced yesterday through an email that they want to restrict access to airport pick-ups to purchased medallion holders. they had threatened to do this previously, but why now? the medallions that are required

after 1978 and before 2010, are only one out of every six to nine cabs that leave the airport with a fare. and so because there were 49 foreclosures in the last three months, the credit union foreclosed on 49 medallions. and the question is whether restricting access to the airport to purchased medallions is the solution? it is not. it's the fact that business has slowed down at the airport and the number of vehicles that are returning from short fares that get fundable access, you know, has almost doubled since the beginning of the pandemic due to the fact that the nearby hotels don't run their shuttles very often, especially after 9:00 and 10:00 at night when people need

to go to nearby hotels to either pick up their cars or stay in the lodging there. so the thing is that this has become a serious situation. it doesn't take effect until december 1st. but we need some help to try and to get things to get more business at the airport, when the figures show not, versus trying to get some relief -- >> clerk: thank you. thank you for your comments. >> and madam clerk -- i do not want to be argumentive and i have known mr. toronto for many, many years. but i do take exception to his characterization of miss torrent. i want to just put that on the record. that was unfortunate and conduct unbecoming. >> president yee: thank you, supervisor peskin. >> clerk: thank you. we'll make a note of it that you put those comments on the record at public comment. at mr. toronto's public comment.

okay, operations, let's hear from the next caller, please. >> caller: hi, my name is edith and i live in district 11 and my mother and father are long time members. i demand that the board of supervisors reject the p.o.a. contracting renegotiation and call a public hearing to provide transparency into contract negotiations. since the george floyd uprising i have been disappointed in the board's unwillingness to stand up for public safety. the city budget came and went and you failed to take police off our street. you have passed a resolution for racial equality into our programs and services. many of you sign on to these with the resolution, the sfpd kills brown and brak black peop, and earlier this year they described the level of anti-black bias in sfpd as extreme. how can you pass this resolution or sponsor it while