>> assistant chief david lazar, chief of operations for san francisco police department and i like to welcome you on behalf of mayor london breed and chief of police bill scott to our quarterly officer of the month celebration. this has been such a beautiful venue to honor our officers for their work. i want to thank you mayor and chief for continuing these programs, so thank you very much. round of applause, yes. for our mayor and for our chief! [applause] i would like to acknowledge a lot of special guests that are here today. first, san francisco police command staff that are here. can i ask you to stand up if you are part of the command staff and give you a round of applause. thank you for your leadership. [applause] from the board of supervisors,

president aaron peskin, supervisor myrna melgar, supervisor rafael mandelman. thank you for being here. [applause] i would like to recognize our police commissioners, commissioner walker, commissioner yee and commissioner benedicto. thank you commissioners. [applause] i would like to also recognize the mayor's chief of staff, shawn elseburn and also i like to thank from the mayor's team, ivy lee and martha for making sure everything is perfect. [applause] thank you martha for getting us all organized. i see in the crowd as well, rodney fraung from the chamber of commerce, thank you rodney for all your support. what is exciting about this ceremony every quarter is the list of sponsors continues to grow and we cannot

have this event unless we have sponsors willing to step up and support us. first i like to start out with the bxp team. steve colvin, rod dale, of course our former chief of police greg sur and deputy chief john loftus. thank you for being here for your sporelt. also like to thank tracey the president of san francisco police officer association who is here today. round of applause for tracey. she always likes to stand in the back but definitely front and center. the entire list of sponsors. the [indiscernible] mccall catering, decker eelectric, [indiscernible] hok, metro service group. pag nini electric.

-bay area host committee. jma, parks hotel group, hilton hotel, jp morgan chase. in addition to that, some of the larger sponsors have boma, the hotel council, union square alliance, neighbors for better san francisco and of course the chamber of commerce so round of applause for all the sponsors that helped make this happen. [applause] this has been a remarkable 24 hours for the san francisco police department. i just want to share with you we started out 24 hours ago notifying a captain and new lieutenants and sergeants of promotions. daniel dudley is here today. starting-some were at the department of

emergency management as the mayor kicked us off for the unveiling of the new dist patch center. we are very grateful for dem and all the support for the officers in the field. and then after that, we are at headquarters honoring sexual assault victims by denim day. a great event with all the special victim investigators honoring them. couple hours later, we were honoring the professional staff. this is administrative staff, professional staff we had a chance to honor them. then, we took our photo for the 175 anniversary of the san francisco police department. that photo, will be a tremendous history piece as we look back years from now and see who was in the photo so thank you mayor breed and everyone who showed up for photo. now we end the night honoring our police officerss in san francisco so it has been a incredible day and grateful to be part of the department

and entire team. okay, with that we'll move right into the ceremony and we have three separate captains that are going to describe the heroic or great work of the officers, but before we do i will have there mayor and chief say a few words and we'll start with mayor london breed. mayor breed. [applause] >> thank you assistant chief lazar for recapping the last 24 hours with all the incredible activity that occurred for the san francisco police department. as was mentioned, i want to give another shout out to our former police chief, greg sur for bringing forth this incredible idea to honor our officers and all the incredible work they do for the city and county of san francisco, and bringing bxp along to be a sponsor as well, so thank you again

chief sur. [applause] assistant chief lazar mentioned we were just out in front of city hall taking a commemorative photo to recognize the 175 year history of the san francisco police department. when i looked around at the men and women of the department, there was something very different in the photo of today then the photo of 175 years ago. there were not only people of color in this photo today, there were women and in fact there were so many people leading this department that had a great opportunity to insure that the diversity of the department reflects the city that they serve. it is so great to be here today and to honor the men and women of this department. the people who put their lives on the line every single day and to say thank you. thank you for your work and

your service, and thank you for choosing to be a part of making san francisco safe. the thing that was not mentioned is what is happened recently that we should all be very proud of. the fact that this year-this past 2023 and continuing has marked one of the lowest crime rates that san francisco has seen in the past 10 years. not including the pandemic, and that is attributed in most part to the hard work of the men and women of the department, their investigations going above and beyond and doing all the amazing work they do to keep the people of san francisco safe and today you will hear about some of those stories. they may sound as though they are easy to do when you talk about them, but can you imagine the action that it takes? the intuitive nature they possess and use in order to have the

skillset necessary to combat a lot of challenges in san francisco. today we recognize their work and that they have gone above and beyond and we celebrate the department and the history that has been made in this department over the past 175 years. so, i'm excited to be here and excited to honor the officers and grateful to each and every one of you for what you do to may san francisco better and safer on a regular basis. thank you all so much. [applause] >> okay. thank you mayor breed. i now like to call up our chief of police, bill scott. [applause] >> thank you assistant chief lazar and thank you mayor breed. good afternoon everybody. first, i want to say hello and welcome

to the families here supporting these officers who will be awarded today with the officer of the month. it is really really gratifying to hear about your work, to see your work and to be here to give you a personal thank you for all the things you have done to get this award today. to the families, i just want to say just a few things and then i'll turn it back over to assistant chief lazar. those in the administrative positions, we live through the work of the officers on the street. we live through the work of the investigators on the streets and this isn't a easy job as we all know and you hear that said. there is a lot of ups and downs but the one thing that keeps us going is when we see the fruit of all the investments this city buts in its police department, work its way down to the people doing the work and we see it work the way it is supposed to work. we see it work right, and this

is the example of what it looks like when it works right. it is uplifting when i hear your stories and we read your reports and read your commendations and captain comps, that keeps this department going and what keeps us going, and don't stop doing what you are doing. we have momentum now, mayor mentioned about the crime statistics. things have turned around from a couple years ago when seems like everybody was against law enforcement and we know not everybody but it felt that way, and now we have tons of not just support, but vocal support, visible support, people are cheering us on and are that momentum and wind behind our sails propels us forward. i want to personally thank the officers officer vincent, officer daniel dudley, officer taylor, officer--and officer cameron. i remember your names.

and officer cameron stokes because when you hear the stories and the work they have done, it is not only heroic, but this is what we do. this is what the city is here for, the police department is here for, so thank you again and going to turn it back over to assistant chief lazar and the captain so they can read the commendations and you can hear about this heroic work, so thank you. [applause] >> okay, thank you chief scott. i now like to call up captain tom harvey commanding officer of mission statement. [applause] >> hello everybody. my name is captain harvey, mission station and tonight i have the pleasure

of presenting the following award recipients for both officer vincent and officer daniel dudley, mission station. i will be reviewing two incidents with everyone that involve both of these fine police officers. the first incident is regarding a crew of middle of the night garage door burglars had been hitting the west side of the city in the early weeks of january this year. the organized group case garages in the middle of the night while people slept and successful committing burglaries stealing bicycles and other items before escaping to a van. for clarification, the hot burglary describes a burglary where the suspects break in while the people are at home inside their house. due to the superb investigating

efforts, department wide e-mails and alerts kis tributed regarding the suspects believed to be involved. officers from mission station are soon enlisted in the operation to apprehend the offenders. after locating the suspect vehicle, a surveillance was conducted on the 1,000 block of clayton street in park district of san francisco. officer vincent learned the vehicle occupants were on foot and standing next to a open residential garage. officer working undercover began foot surveillance on the suspects. he watch as they use flashlights to peer in garages and able to communicate to the arrest team when this group successfully burglarized a garage stealing bikes, scooters, among other items. once the burglary had been

completed, officer advised the arrest team to move in and all 5 suspects were arrested and booked into custody and all stolen property returned. as a result of this, the string of burglaries that plagued the west side of the city was over, thanks to these two officers and their team, which is right over there. [applause] the second incident on february 9, investigation was underway to the where abouts of the suspicious vehicle which fled from mission station officers the night before. the vehicle occupant suspected of being involved with vice related crimes. as early as the very next morning the investigation lead to oakland california. in oakland, officer vincent and his partners who i will quickly acknowledge, officer dan dudley to left, officer glen griffon, officer

cody, officer--located the vehicle and observed the suspect as he entered a liquor store. the team had a preing plan to safely take the suspect into custody. officer was the first in. he was the first officer inside the liquor store and that is where he encountered the suspect who was 6 foot 4, 250 pounds and standing in a narrow isle. with the assistance of officer daniel dudley, officer moslang ordered the suspect to let go of the gun. officer had his hand inside the suspect pocket while the suspect was holding and grabbing to a gun and refused to let go. these two gentleman to my left with the assistance of their team wrestled with the suspect well over 2 minutes. it was a long physical struggle and as i said, the suspect was tall, he was large and strong. none the less, they persevere jd able to take the suspect safely into

custody after a very close call. the gun was recovered. the arrest was made and are this suspect was booked not only for the fire arm related charges and also the person h a burglary warrant out of palo alto, domestic violence and probation warrant out of contra costa county. congratulations to officer vincent and dan dudley, soon to be sergeant, daniel dudley. [applause]

[applause] >> okay, thank you captain harvey and congratulations to the officers. i would now like to call up captain luke martin, commanding officer of southern is station to make his presentation. [applause] >> alright. thank you everybody. good evening. i'm luke martin, commanding officer of southern station. i have the privilege to present this award to officer taylor, officer luc and like to go into a little about each officer before we get into the incident we are here to talk about. officer taylor has been in the department 6 years, total 8

years law enforcement. she works midnight shift for those that are in the police department that is like grave yards. she has been doing that the entire time by choice. she has seniority to work easier shifts but chooses to work the night shift. also a field training officer and i can probably talk to you about 3, 4 dozen different incident officer taylor is involved in. she is extremely hard working, amazing work ethic and generally does impeccable work. she is a joy to have as commanding officer. i sleep easier knowing she is out there tonight. officer luc did her probation at southern station and recently finished that and transferred to central station. our loss, their gain. very impressed with officer luc right away. she showed a real eagerness to get out there and learn about the job

and do police work. she showed a tremendous work ethic, very fearless out there and showing all the officers on our team she was out to do this job and do it the right way so hoping she transfers back to southern, but we'll see. hopefully chief can make it happen. the incident we are here to talk about, like i said there are many we could have reviewed, but this is a particular one it happened on thursday morning february 8 at about 1 a.m. in the morning. the officers were on patrol and one of the rougher neighborhood in the southern, which incompass 7th and mission, 8th and mission. we tend to have a lot of narcotics activity, a lot of violence in that area as it relates to narcotics and i asked the officers to do a lot of work out there and being the good officers they are, that is what they were doing. as they patrol they noticed

somebody riding their bike on the sidewalk. didn't seem to have much purpose just roaming around and they decided they needed to stop that person for that violation. officer taylor was driving the car and officer luc in the passenger seat. officer luc exits the car to stop the person and immediately the person drops the bike and takes running on foot. so, officer luc without hesitation is in a foot chase with the suspect not knowing what is going on but thinking there is probably more then just riding a bike on the sidewalk. being the veteran officer officer taylor is, she didn't bail out of her car too, she knew to stay in the car and keep the pursuit going but in the vehicle. lot harder to outrun a vehicle as you can imagine. so, as they continue the pursuit, the suspects runs up an alley where they lose sight of suspect for a short while. officer luc makes the turn to

the alley and the suspect is waiting for her. they order the suspect to the ground. he is refusing all lawful orders. in the mean time they call for backup. backup is coming from tenderloin and southern station officers, and they end up physically trying to take the suspect into custody. as they are doing it, the suspect is fighting and resisting but they are able to safely take the suspect into custody. they do a pat down search for weapon jz don't find any. they are very confused why the suspect might have been running, so as good officers they retrace their foot pursuit to see if the suspect tossed anything and sure enough, short ways away locate a 9mm hell cat fire arm that appears to be loaded. so, they are able to recover that and in order to really solidify this case for prosecution they start

canvasing the area for video surveillance and they locate a video that captures that suspect pursuit travels. sure enough, on video they see clearly the suspect with his hand dumping the fire arm on the street to avoid him actually being caught with that fire arm, so excellent work by the officers from start to finish in this case. that wasn't all actually. so, as they continue their arrest search of the suspect, they find a scale and several different types of narcotics, fentanyl, meth, marijuana i believe as well and enough for sales-possession for sale of narcotics so all in all an amazing case, one of many the officers do on a nightly basis. congratulations. thank you very much for all your hard

work. [applause] [applause] >> okay, thank you captain martin and congratulations to the officers.

i now like to call up, captain jason soyer, commanding officer for northern station for his presentation. [applause] >> good afternoon everyone. jason soyer, captain of northern station here with officer cameron stokes. where is your family at? alright. [applause] buckle up i will tell a story what a fantastic and heroic family member you have here. march 18, just over a month ago, just after 6:30 in the morning after her shift starting, officer stokes responding to call for service of a man asleep in his car as octaveia and lombard. a wellbeing check and that is all anybody knew. officer stokes responded by himself, made contact with the driver who was

asleep and keen sense of observation noticed a fire arm within reach on the floorboard of the car. realizing he did not have time to wait for backup, officer stokes quickly seized the fire arm in front of the suspect and able to secure the fire arm and ordther suspect out by himself without any use of force to get the suspect into custody. then the backup came. isn't that how it works? after the scene is rendered safe officer stokes decided to do investigation instead of leave it there. a search of the car revealed large quantities of crack cocaine, meth, mushrooms and american all packaged for resale. this is something that happened every day that the public thought was a wellbeing check, but because officer stokes doing what he was doing to be trained correctly was able to safely

take a situation far bigger then what people thought it was and able to defuse it into a arrest. needless to say, the gun was illegally in position, it was was a stolen fire arm. the car was not the suspect. everybody about it was wrong but this happens every day when a officer using proper training, safety techniques is able to do his job and i also want to point out, thank you for putting something like this together, because this is a arrest that happens virtually every day at northern station and most part doesn't get noticed. this the work the san francisco police officers do daily you don't hear about. it doesn't make the paper. as a quite professional does this work on a daily basis as other officerso extremely proud to work with officer stoke jz for your family members you have a great person here. we are happy to have him at northern. come get your award.

[applause] [applause] >> okay, one more large round of applause for all of today's honerees! [applause] okay. the ceremony may be over, but the celebration continues, so i like to say a couple things. first, we'll have mayor breed and chief scott along with the honorees and their captains proceed out to the photo area, and secondly, we hope you enjoy

the refreshments that have been provided. my gosh, mayor breed always has to remind me, i get a c plus overall. mayor breed, thanks for the reminder month after month. the honorees receive and would be remiss if i didn't tell you this, each receives a $500 gift certificate and they also receive a night at the hyatt regency at the embarcadero for their great work thanks to the sponsors and thank frz the remindser, mayor breed. [applause] yes! okay. thank you for that. now, if i may ask the mayor and the chief and the honorees to make their way up to the photograph area. stick around, say hello to everyone, enjoy the refreshments and have a wonderful evening.

thank you.

[music] since the opening on third and mission in 2010 the grove is a epicenter. tis is part of the community. we bring tourist, we bring convention ears and have a huge group of locers who live here. we are their living room and love to see them on a regular basis and seek newcomers to the city of san francisco and serve them a good dose of san francisco hospitality. we make everything in house from scratch every dape we

vahand carved [indiscernible] the chicken pot pie we serve probably a hundred thousand if not more. roasted chicken, prime rib, salad[indiscernible] coffee cake and [indiscernible] all the pies are fresh baked. the home made cookies are done, once, twice a day, depending how fast they go. we believe in goold old fashion home cooked food. we want to be a welcoming, warm hospitable place for everyone to come and hang out. respond time with friends and family, meet new people. have important conversation. relax and enjoy, rejuvenate, get restored, enjoy one another and the at mus sphere the growth. the grove is over 730 to 830, 7 days a week, breakfast, lunch

and dinner. . >> (music). >> the ferry building one of san francisco most famous that as many of 15 thousand commuters pass through that each gay. >> one of the things that one

has to keep in mind regarding san francisco is how young the city we are. and nothing is really happening here before the gold rush. there was a small spanish in the presiding and were couriers and fisherman that will come in to rest and repair their ships but at any given time three hundred people in san francisco. and then the gold rush happened. by 182948 individuals we are here to start a new life. >> by 1850 roughly 16 thousand ships in the bay and left town

in search of gold leaving their ships behind so they scraped and had the ships in the bay and corinne woods. with sand the way that san francisco was and when you look at a map of san francisco have a unique street grid and one of the thing is those streets started off in extremely long piers. but by 1875 they know they needed more so the ferry building was built and it was a long affair and the first cars turned around at the ferry building and picking up people and goods and then last night the street light cars the trams came to that area also. but by the late 1880s we needed

something better than the ferry building. a bond issue was passed for $600,000. to build a new ferry building i would say 800 thousand for a studio apartment in san francisco they thought that was a grand ferry building had a competition to hire an architecture and choose a young aspiring architect and in the long paris and san francisco had grand plans for this transit station. so he proposed the beautiful new building i wanted it wider, there is none tonight. than that actually is but the price of concrete quitclaim two how and was not completed and killed. but it opened a greater claim and became fully

operational before 1898 and first carriages and horses for the primary mode of transportation but market street was built up for serve tram lines and streetcars could go up to the door to embarcadero to hospitals and mission street up to nob hill and the fisherman's area. and then the earthquake hit in 190 six the ferry building collapsed the only thing had to be corrected once the facade of the tower. and 80 percent of the city would not survive the buildings collapsed the streets budges and the trams were running and buildings had

to highland during the fire after the actuate tried to stop the mask fire in the city so think of a dennis herrera devastation of a cable car they were a mess the streets were torn up and really, really wanted to have a popular sense they were on top of that but two weeks after the earthquake kind of rigged a way getting a streetcar to run not on the cable track ran electrical wires to get the streetcars to run and 2 was pretty controversial tram system wanted electrical cars but the earthquake gave them to chance to show how electrical cars and we're going to get on top this. >> take 10 years for the city

to rebuild. side ferry use was increasing for a international exhibition in 1950 and people didn't realize how much of a community center the ferry building was. it was the center for celebration. the upper level of ferry building was a gathering place. also whenever there was a war like the filipino war or world war two had a parade on market street and the ferry building would have banners and to give you an idea how central to the citywide that is what page brown wanted to to be a gathering place in that ferry building hay day the

busiest translation place in the world how people got around transit and the city is dependent on that in 1915 of an important year that was the year of our international exposition 18 million living in san francisco and that was supposedly to celebrate the open of panama differential but back in business after the earthquake and 22 different ferry boats to alamed and one had the and 80 trips a day a way of life and in 1918 san francisco was hit hard by the flu pandemic and city had mask mandates and anyone caught without a doubt a mask had a risk ever being arrested and san francisco was hit hard by the pandemic like other places and

rules about masks wearing and what we're supposed to be more than two people without our masks on i read was that on the ferry those guys wanted to smoke their pipes and taking off their masks and getting from trouble so two would be hauled away. >> the way the ferry building was originally built the lower level with the natural light was used for take it off lunge storage. the second floor was where passengers offloaded and all those people would spill out and central stairway of the building that is interesting point to talk about because such a large building one major stairway and we're talking about

over 40 thousand people one of the cost measures was not building a pedestrian bridge with the ferry building and the embarcadero on market street was actually added in and in 1918 but within 20 years to have san francisco bay the later shipbuilding port in the world and the pacific we need the iron that. as the ferry system was at the peak two bridges to reach san francisco. and automobiles were a popular item that people wanted to drive themselves around instead of the ferry as a result marin and other roots varnished. the dramatic draw in ferry usage was staggering who

was using the ferry that was a novelty rather than a transportation but the ferry line stopped one by one because everyone was getting cars and wanted to drive and cars were a big deal. take the care ferry and to san francisco and spend the day or for a saturday drive but really, really changed having the car ferry. >> when the bay bridge was built had a train that went along the lower level so that was a major stay and end up where our sales force transit center is now another way of getting into the city little by little the ferry stopped having a purpose. >> what happened in the 40 and 50's because of this downturn we

were trying to find a purpose a number of proposals for a world trade center and wanted to build it own the philly in a terrible idea objective never gotten down including one that had too tall towers a trade center in new york but a tower in between that was a part of ferry building and completely impractical. after the cars the tower administration wanted to keep americans deployed and have the infrastructure for the united states. so they had an intrastate free plan the plan for major freeway systems to go throughout san francisco. and so

the developers came up with the bay bridge and worked their way along embarcadero. the plans were to be very, very efficient for that through town he once the san francisco saw had human services agency happening 200 though people figure out city hall offender that the embarcadero free was dropped and we had the great free to no where. which cut us off from the ferry building and our store line and created in 1989 and gave us the opportunity to tear down the free. and that was the renaissance of ferry building. >> that land was developed for

a new ferry building and whom new embarcadero how to handle travel and needed a concept for the building didn't want- that was when a plan was developed for the liquor store. >> the san francisco ferry building has many that ups and downs and had a huge hay day dribbled adopt to almost nothing and after the earthquake had a shove of adrenaline to revise the waterfront and it moved around the bay and plans for more so think investment in the future and feel that by making a reliable ferry system once the ferry building will be there to

surface. >> >> you're watching san francisco rising with chris

manors. today's special guest is mary chu. >> hi. i'm chris manors, and you're rising on san francisco rising. the show that's focused on rebuilding, reimagining, and restarting our city. our guest today is mary chu, and she's here to talk with us about art and the san francisco art commission. well come, miss chu. >> thanks for having me. >> it's great to have you. let's talk about art in the city and how art installations are funded. >> the arts committee was funded in 1932 and support civic review, design investments and art galleries.

projects we have are funded by the city's art enrichment ordinance which provides 2% of construction costs for public art. >> so art is tied to construction. there's been a great deal in the southwest of the city. can you talk about some of the projects there? >> sure. our city has some exciting projected in the bayview-hunters point coming up. one artist created a photo collage. in the picture pavilion, one artist formed a collage of her one-year residency coming

together with residents, and anchoring the new center is a landmark bronze sculpture, inspired by traditional ivory coast currency which the artists significantly enlarges to mark that it's a predominantly african american community in bayview hunters point. >> are there any art installations around town that uses light as a medium? >> yes. the first is on van ness between o'farrell and geary. it's funded with the m.t.a.s van ness geary street project.

another project is for the central subway. it is one of ten artworks commissioned for the new line. it's over 650 feet long, consists of 550 l.e.d. panels between the powell street station and the union street station. it's called lucy in the sky, and the lights are patterned with unique sequences so that commuters can experience a unique pattern each time they pass through. >> perfect. what about the early day sculpture that was removed from the civic center? >> this is a question that cities have been grappling with nationwide. following the removal of early days in 2018, there was a toppling of statues in golden

gate park as well as the removal of the christopher columbus statue. we are partnering with the parks department as well as the community to engage with the public to develop guidelines to evaluate the existing monuments and memorials in the civic arts collection and evaluate the removal of a monument or statue but also installing new ones. >> finally, it seems like the weather might be nice this weekend. if i fancy taking a walk and seeing some outdoor art, where would you suggest i go? >> well, i would suggest the

embarcadero. this work was commissioned with funds from the fire station 35. this suggests the bow of a boat and the glass panel surrounding the structure depict the history of fireboats in the bay area. >> and where can i go from there? >> then, i would walk up to the justin herman plaza to check out the work of the art vendors. then check out the monuments like the mechanics monument. also, be sure to check out the poster series, installed in bus kiosks along market street, which features four artists each year. >> well, thank you. i appreciate you coming on the show, miss chu. thank you for your time today. >> thank you, chris. >> that's it for this episode.

we'll be back with another show

[♪♪♪] >> i just don't know that you can find a neighborhood in the city where you can hear music stands and take a ride on the low rider down the street. it is an experience that you can't have anywhere else in san francisco. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> district nine is a in the southeast portion of the city. we have four neighborhoods that i represent. st. mary's park has a completely unique architecture. very distinct feel, and it is a very close to holly park which is another beautiful park in san

francisco. the bernal heights district is unique in that we have the hell which has one of the best views in all of san francisco. there is a swinging hanging from a tree at the top. it is as if you are swinging over the entire city. there are two unique aspects. it is considered the fourth chinatown in san francisco. sixty% of the residents are of chinese ancestry. the second unique, and fun aspect about this area is it is the garden district. there is a lot of urban agriculture and it was where the city grew the majority of the flowers. not only for san francisco but for the region. and of course, it is the location in mclaren park which is the city's second biggest park after golden gate. many people don't know the neighborhood in the first place if they haven't been there. we call it the best neighborhood nobody has ever heard our. every neighborhood in district nine has a very special aspect.

where we are right now is the mission district. the mission district is a very special part of our city. you smell the tacos at the [speaking spanish] and they have the best latin pastries. they have these shortbread cookies with caramel in the middle. and then you walk further down and you have sunrise café. it is a place that you come for the incredible food, but also to learn about what is happening in the neighborhood and how you can help and support your community. >> twenty-fourth street is the birthplace of the movement. we have over 620 murals. it is the largest outdoor public gallery in the country and possibly the world. >> you can find so much political engagement park next to so much incredible art. it's another reason why we think this is a cultural district that we must preserve. [♪♪♪]

>> it was formed in 2014. we had been an organization that had been around for over 20 years. we worked a lot in the neighborhood around life issues. most recently, in 2012, there were issues around gentrification in the neighborhood. so the idea of forming the cultural district was to help preserve the history and the culture that is in this neighborhood for the future of families and generations. >> in the past decade, 8,000 latino residents in the mission district have been displaced from their community. we all know that the rising cost of living in san francisco has led to many people being displaced. lower and middle income all over the city. because it there is richness in this neighborhood that i also mentioned the fact it is flat and so accessible by trip public transportation, has, has made it very popular. >> it's a struggle for us right

now, you know, when you get a lot of development coming to an area, a lot of new people coming to the area with different sets of values and different culture. there is a lot of struggle between the existing community and the newness coming in. there are some things that we do to try to slow it down so it doesn't completely erase the communities. we try to have developments that is more in tune with the community and more equitable development in the area. >> you need to meet with and gain the support and find out the needs of the neighborhoods. the people on the businesses that came before you. you need to dialogue and show respect. and then figure out how to bring in the new, without displacing the old. [♪♪♪] >> i hope we can reset a lot of the mission that we have lost in the last 20 years. so we will be bringing in a lot of folks into the neighborhoods pick when we do that, there is a demand or, you know, certain

types of services that pertain more to the local community and working-class. >> back in the day, we looked at mission street, and now it does not look and feel anything like mission street. this is the last stand of the latino concentrated arts, culture and cuisine and people. we created a cultural district to do our best to conserve that feeling. that is what makes our city so cosmopolitan and diverse and makes us the envy of the world. we have these unique neighborhoods with so much cultural presence and learnings, that we want to preserve. [♪♪♪]

and do you think. it's going to be. it's going to are so exciting, the meeting will come to order. this is the april 29th, 2024 rules committee meeting, and i'm going to start over just in case the meeting will come to order. this is the april 29th, 2024 rules committee meeting. i'm supervisor hillary ronen, chair of the committee. i'm joined by committee vice chair shamann walton. and believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen, committee member, supervisor ahsha safaí is on time today. don't. that is just messing with you is fake news. don't say that into the record. our clerk is victor young and i would like to thank susie enos at sfgovtv for broadcasting this meeting. mr. clerk, do you have any announcements? yes. public

comment will be taken on each item on this agenda. when your item of interest comes up and public comment is called, please line up to speak alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. email them to myself. the rules committee clerk at victor argue young at sfgovtv. org if you submit public comment via email, it will be forwarded to the supervisor and included as part of the file. you may also submit written comment via us mail to our office at city hall one doctor carlton b goodlad place, room 244, san francisco, california, 94 102. please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today are expected to appear at the board of supervisors agenda on may 7th, 2024, unless otherwise stated. that completes my initial announcements. thank you so much. can you please read item number one? item number one is motion to approving rejecting the mayor's nomination for the appointment of lydia su. term

ending june 30th, 2026 to the planning commission. thank you so much. and miss zo is here. joining us. good morning. good morning. good morning. chair ronen, supervisor safaí and supervisor walton. first, i'd like to thank you for your continued support of my public service journey over the past decade. i'm a chinese american immigrant from hong kong, a native cantonese speaker. i live in san francisco more than half of my life. i'm raising my child here in the mission and we love our city. as an architect, a problem solver, and a mom, i continue to build bridges and get things done on the commissions and nonprofit boards that i served. most recently, my ten year serving on the sfmta board of directors. has been a very illuminating and humbling

experience. i'm very proud that i know how to drive our muni electric bus, but besides that, i have to emphasize the dire situations we're facing, the struggles we have on the streets are real. the fear of lack of public safety are real. people living at the last straw of their life before becoming homeless are super real. with all that said, i believe everyone deserves to feel safe. we deserve to have a sense of belonging and have a place to call home. simply put it this way, everyone deserves to have a roof over their heads when i become a planning commissioner, i will prioritize my focus on improving our housing governance and policies to address our immediate needs and adapt to our future population growth. i will champion transit oriented mixed

use housing development for affordable homes. i will embrace the significance of our community's history and equity. i could not think of any more suitable commissions to serve with my unique skill sets. as an architect, real estate, land use urban planner i have hands on experience in transportation, historic preservation, affordable housing, public art, and community outreach all together. i hope that with the support of the board of supervisors and the mayor's office, i am ready to get to work yesterday already. thank you for your leadership and consideration to my appointment. thank you. well, thank you so much for your willingness to serve and everything you've already done for the city, let alone your willingness to do even more. colleagues, do you have any questions? supervisor safaí no, i just want to say

i've had some good conversations with, commissioner over the last few years. and so i think it's nice when you have someone that brings a level of qualification that she has to the table, the work that she's done on at the historic preservation commission , being a licensed architect and planner and just, you know, being a mom, raising her kid in the city from all different perspectives, i think all of those things will add a significant, perspective of being an immigrant, being, bilingual, speaker. all of those things bring a unique perspective to the planning commission. i'm happy to hear you say that. you you're interested in transit oriented development and smart growth for our city. i think those are all really important factors. and so i look forward to supporting you and happy that you're going to be serving on the planning commission. thank you for your willingness to serve. thank you.

thank you. and we'll have more questions and comments after public comment. but right now i'm going to open this item up for public comment. thank you. thank you. yes. members of the public who wish to speak on this item should line up to speak at this time. each speaker will be allowed two minutes. there will be a soft chime when you have 30s left and a louder chime when your time has expired. we have, one person with accommodations online. hello caller. good morning. you may begin. can you hear me? yes, i can hear you. thank you. good morning, supervisors, chairman and supervisors. safaí and supervisor walton. my name is nancy, i'm here today in my personal capacity to speak in support of the nomination of

lydia fell, and her confirmation. i've had the pleasure of serving with, director. so that and the mta board of directors, for the duration of her term. and while i'm very sad to see her go, i think she is an ideal fit for the planning commission as she has laid out for you. she has a very unique skill set of understanding, historic preservation, but also in this time of the housing element and all the things that are before the planning commission, we need people who have smart transportation experience, and we will have had experience with mta as we tried to really fold in our transportation system with our housing. i'm thinking

specifically about the west side and all of the developments that are hopefully be occurring there. we need people who know the west side, the transportation challenges of the west side. and so i believe that, director chau has that the , very unique and appropriate skill set for the planning commission and is the person we need, to be our next planning commissioner. so i urge you to approve her nomination. thank you. thank you. are there any other speakers in the room who would like to make public comment on this matter? please approach the podium and line up at this time. good morning, honorable members of the committee, my name is doug chan,

just to refresh your memory, i've served on a variety of commissions over four decades. and it. this morning, it's particularly gratifying to speak in favor of a nominee who is so extraordinary, highly qualified, to perform, and to conduct the people's business at the city planning commission during my presidency of the chinese historical society of america, lydia sat on our building and grounds committee, and it is rare to have a nominee who has this combination of skills, both in terms of design, project management, a good feel for the economics, particularly for nonprofits in capital improvement projects. she also runs her own firm and i think has a great feel for the needs and concerns of small businesses. she's an extraordinarily well qualified

side, nominee who actually reflect the soundness of your process from the historic preservation commission, prior to that, on the art commission. now, currently serving as a member of the board of directors of the sfmta. so you are getting a multidisciplinary, candidate, perhaps more important, and that is many, san franciscans. all they ask of city commissioners is to be fair and impartial jurors. and you're getting someone who is well attuned to the collaborative process and should be able to accommodate all the concerns of those, persons and parties who appear before the commission and its quasi judicial capacity. you will see no finer candidate for this commission. and i'm proud to support your forwarding her nomination for confirmation by the full board. thank you. good

morning, commissioners. my name is rosa. i am a director of community planning and policy at chinatown community development center. and on behalf of ccdc, we're very honored to support lydia on her nomination for the planning commission. we are very excited to have someone who is so community minded and through her experience and being in multiple commissions and her work, we think she is the perfect fit for the planning commission, through my time working with her, she has constantly put the community first, making sure that the community is constantly being outreach to and communicated to for every single project that's being worked on. and if there were any situations that arise that had problems, she's constantly finding a solution with the city and with the community to come together and find a joint solution that works for everyone. i think that's very hard to come by, i think constantly, it's very hard to balance community and what the city needs. and she definitely

does that very, very well, and in my time of working with her a lot, she's definitely very community active with us about every single project she's done. and i think with her experience with working with the chinatown community and the city in general, she just has so many experience and knowledge that she can bring forward to the planning commission that we haven't seen in a very, very long time. and so we're very excited to see her join the planning commission, especially as an api woman on the planning commission again. so thank you very much. and thank you for supporting her on this nomination. morning, supervisors . you know, this is okay. i read it because it's kind of early for me, as you guys know, right way early. so i want to read this. so my name is stephen lee. i'm a small business owner and community leader in chinatown. i have known commissioner. so when i first started my own public service, in 2012, it's amazing

how many appointments and commissions and nonprofit boards she serves, i like to share a few things that i admire about commissioner. so first off, she's self-employed, single mom, small business owner, and a founder of her own architectural management firm. commissioner soul has a rich experience in design, urban planning and transportation. before opening her business, she worked at a large, at a large and oldest american architectural firm in the country and was the first aapi woman to be promoted as a technical associate. expanding her, engineering and design capabilities, and here's what i know commissioner soul believes in. she believes in housing for all, making neighborhood transit friendly, ways to fight climate change and historic preservation, and concerned

about public safety, she's also, improved living environments, cultural equities and families of business owners in the bay area. now that i share a working experience in the aapi community with commissioner soul before she was appointed to sfmta, we served together on. the portsmouth square garage board, where we actually worked on, less car break ins, financial, rebuilding and cleaning and beautification, also when she was on sfmta's or she is on the sfmta board, we worked on a lot of the miscommunications. okay. thank you. oh, please support commissioner soul. are there any additional speakers on this matter? there are no additional speakers. thank you. supervisor walton. thank you so much, chair

. thank you so much, chair. ronen. and again, just want to thank you, commissioner. so i remember when you first came to rules committee as a candidate to serve on the historic preservation commission. and i read about your qualifications, had a chance to talk to you. and like i said before, you were qualified then, and you're qualified now and just want to appreciate all the work that you've done for the city, serving on that commission and going on to mta board of directors, and now being willing to serve on the planning commission. it's a lot of work, working on the planning commission. but do look forward to working with you on making sure that our city is continue continuing to push towards equitable design and making sure that everyone can live here and benefit from san francisco. so just want to thank you for being willing to serve. thank you, supervisor safaí. thank you. thank you. it's wonderful to

hear some of your colleagues and other people in the community speak on your behalf. for all the tremendous work that you've done and the qualifications you bring. i just i would be remiss this morning, you know, given the city's mandate to do 82,000 units citywide and the steep climb that that is, you know, you're taking on this role, you're going to be one of the voices for how we lead and plan and achieve that goal. my question is, one of the things that the state came down and said is that there's a lot of internal barriers within the planning department. there's things that the planning department has imposed on itself . and project sponsors as an architect has gone through that process. i know you know it intimately, but there's things that we need to remove as part of the internal review process that will help streamline the development of housing, that will help us to achieve those goals if it's even achievable, 82,000 units over the next eight

years. and some of it is our own barriers, some of it's just the economy, right? the lending markets, the cost of construction. investors are not investing in. it's something that's not unique to san francisco, but i would like to hear you to speak a little bit about the internal barriers within the planning department that are self imposed, and what you might do to take on working to remove some of those to help streamline the development of housing and construction in the city. thank you for the question. supervisor ahsha safíi . and thank you for all the amazing, comments about, me taking on to this journey, speaking of, how do i go about looking at internal organizations, i do believe that i have a pretty good track record of building consensus and also understanding different divisions had and team. what what are they working on so hard of? and then what are the areas

where we can also streamline and , be able to more, be more efficient and cut down, continue to cut down more barriers. so i will look at the organizational, structures for the planning department. my understanding with my tenure there serving as a historic preservation commissioner, we, the planning department, had already reorganized itself three times. i think there might be a need to do more of this, and when i joined the planning commission, being able to see the entire department instead of just one division, and also there are a lot of inter-agency processes that we need to also tackle with. so it's not just within just the planning department, but it's all the other agencies that had, that had collaborations with to in order to get things done for example, is the mayor's office of disability, dbi and dpw and

sometimes it's puc. and then if we got fortunate enough that we will have to also talk to pg and e. so i will do all of that, and i will be able to pick up the phone and also ask with the support and help with all the amazing talent we have in the planning department and also, each of your supervisors districts, your amazing legislative a is also be able to really be helpful to, chime in to, to get a collective processes of understanding where are there a lot of issues. but then we need to distill down to what are the most critical culprit. and then we need to focus on, bringing them down. bring the barrier down. thank you, thank you. well, i am very excited to be supporting your nomination, and i just want to

express my gratitude to you for being willing to serve again in this new role. and with all your experience on so many different city commissions, is it? i think it'll it'll be such an asset to the planning department that you'll be able to understand the inner workings of how mta historic preservation, the arts commission work, and they all intersect with with your work on on the planning commission and the fact that your single mother living in district nine, you could not be a more perfect candidate for this supervisor. so it is my honor, to make a motion to remove the word rejecting from line three and from line 11 and move this to the full board with positive recommendation. yes. on the motion to amend and recommend, as amended. vice chair walton, i , walton i supervisor safaí safaí i chair ronan i ronan i the motion passes without

objection. thank you. thank you for your support. thank you so much. mr. clerk, can you please read item number two? item number two is ordinance amending the administrative code to allow city departments to enter into and amend agreements for construction goods and services and real property leases with government entities without complying with solicitation requirements that would otherwise apply and without adhering to provisions of the municipal code that impose obligations on contracting parties as a condition to agreements with the city. thank you. and super president peskin, would you like to make any comments? i want to thank you, madam chair, for scheduling this item and just briefly say that i think this responsibly removes some contracting barriers for agreements with other governmental entities. and while we have a host of provisions in a number of codes, that uses our

buying power to effectuate, public policy goals, this ordinance would, as it relates to contracts between us and other governmental entities, eliminate and otherwise waive those provisions, this would be a benefit to a host of departments and i was convinced after hearing a wide range of examples, from public health and the airport and the public utilities commission about missed opportunities and opportunities that take too long and are otherwise thwarted, that this was a long overdue piece of legislation, and where we could take advantage of, the expertise of the united states geological survey for various work or work with other airports. in other

cities that would be beneficial to our airport without, a set of bureaucratic hurdles, and with that, it is my pleasure to turn it over to jeremy spitz from the public utilities commission, who has a presentation. thank you. good morning, mr. smith. good morning, chair ronen. good morning, supervisor walton. and thank you, supervisor peskin, president peskin, for sponsoring this ordinance. we're all very excited about it, as you said, i'm jeremy spitz with the sfpuc presenting on behalf of several departments and the sponsor. so as you know, departments often enter into agreements with other government entities such as caltrans, ucsf, bart, the national park service, tsa, and on and on. as you can see on this slide, these agreements are generally for noncommercial purposes, such as mutual aid, regulatory requirements, or to support critical health or education services that only another government entity can provide. these other government entities are generally not

willing to abide by all of the city's contracting requirements, or have their own governing law in the subject matter department s are required to obtain several waivers for each of these agreements, each of which takes significant staff time and resources. so the ordinance before you today proposes changes to the administrative code, enabling city departments to contract with other government entities without having to adhere to typical solicitation requirements. it proposes to remove obligations typically imposed on contractors engaging with the city, aiming to streamline processes and remove barriers to agreements with other government bodies. this ordinance allows the city flexibility to enter into an agreement with another government entity using the other government entities terms, if needed, and the process would be significantly simplified and shortened. the city's regular internal procedures relating to contracting authorities, such as budgeting, delegation of authority and approval would still be in effect, and it does not alter charter section 9.118, so it would not change the

agreements that come to the board. just to give you a sense of the universe of agreements that we're talking about here, we worked with the city administrator's office to pull some data. there were about 540 intergovernmental contracts within the last five years by 29 departments. the median value of these contracts is $200,000. and the total of all of them was 2.3 million. so we're not talking about a huge chunk of anyone's budget. these are very narrow and specific agreements for specific services that only these other government entities can provide. and as you can see on this slide, the majority of these agreements over the last five years were with other cities and counties, all of which were in california or all of which were in california, and the majority of which are our neighbors in the bay area. the rest are state or federal agencies, educational institutions such as city college and ucsf, and regional entities like bart, the housing authority, the bay conservation and development commission, the transbay joint powers authority.

and to conclude, we're talking about a very small set of agreements here that would not otherwise be going to private contractors, the ordinance before you is intended to be a time saving, good government reform, and with that, i am here to answer any questions. i'm also joined by several colleagues from sfo, who are here to answer questions as well. thank you very much. fantastic. thank you so much, supervisor walton. thank you. chair. ronen, thank you so much for the presentation. and i do want to just appreciate the briefing that i did receive on this. i had concerns, until i fully understood, but i do just want to make sure and make clear that this doesn't let private contractors off the hook for any labor requirements or community benefits requirements that we have here in the city. thank you, supervisor, for the question through the chair. correct, these would not have any impact on any contracts with any private contractors. i don't think there's any more

questions. so thank you so much for your presentation. thank you very much. and we can now open this item up for public comment. yes members of the public who wish to speak on this item should speak at this time. each speaker will be allowed two minutes. are there any speakers for public comment on this matter? i do not see any speakers at this time seeing none. public comment is closed. i want to thank president peskin and the puc and all the city departments for bringing this forward. i am so in favor of removing bureaucracy when it no longer serves a meaningful purpose and i'm thrilled to join, this this measure as a co-sponsor. please and i think we need to do more of this type of work that, you know, we might have placed a extra bureaucracy on something at some point that served a purpose. but when our

departments are all coming to us , telling us that it does not serve a purpose anymore, then we need to save time and money and get rid of that bureaucracy. so i appreciate this legislation and, i'm happy to make a motion to send this item forward to the full board with positive recommendation. thank you, madam chair. yes. on that motion, vice chair walton i walton i supervisor safaí safaí i chair. ronen i ronen i that motion passes without objection. motion passes unanimously. thank you, president peskin. thank you. mr. clerk, can you please read item number three? item number three is an ordinance approving a surveillance technology policy for the san francisco municipal transportation agency. use of driver safety video analytics. thank you. and we have sohail

warsi here to present. good morning. hi. good morning everyone. my name is suhail warsi and i'll be presenting our video safety driver safety video analytics policy. so just to describe what the technology is, this technology uses the audio and the video, in our, vehicles, what it does is it just triggers a, the recording of the audio and the video whenever there is a predefined, events are triggered, for example, if a driver has a sharp turn, the g forces will be taken into account. and based on that, it will start the recording process. if there's a sudden stop, it will also record that because these are all the events that are already preprogramed in the system, if a driver is using the cell phone while they are also operating the vehicle, it will also record that information as well. so there are different triggers that that initiates, and then it records

that, this technology is currently is in place. and all of our rubber tire, we are in the process of developing an rfp to introduce the same technology in our lrvs as well. just to give you an example, this is the example. as you can see, that there are two cameras facing one, for the driver's side capturing, the driver and also the point of view of the driver. what driver sees as well from, front facing camera. this is, the report that we get in pdf format, that identifies the driver's name, the event number vehicle that the drivers were driving. what triggered that event, the behavior and then the our contractor puts their comments saying that this is what they think happened. and, sfmta's staff reviews that. and

based on that, make the decision that it is really happened or it is something that needs to be further investigated, the use case, again, it is there to identify the collusion dynamics, causation. and the other factor, investigate passenger fall event , exploring a potential safety improvement. also infrastructure because when the vehicle is just driving around our city, we also check to see if the trees are kind of blocking, any signage, for example, or anything that needs to be fixed. we also get that information as well, also review any customer complaints, as well in there, identify any operator training issues because again, all of this, the main purpose is to train the operator also at the same time commend them for their good behavior at the same. and also there's a opportunity for training also provide that as well. with regards to the life cycle of this technology, the collection

happens only when an event happens. this is all predefined event. like i said earlier, it will be the g-forces. for example, certain stop of the vehicle sharp turns, anything that you can think of, we have programed it there and it just triggers only for that. and this recording is only not more than 12 seconds, so it records, let me confirm that. i think it's, eight seconds before the event happens. and. the four seconds after that event happens. so the total of 12 seconds that it records. so it doesn't record anything beyond that. so it's not really quite surveillance technology. it's more of the kind of see where event happened and see how we can investigate and make things better for the future. so that is the collection process, and also when the events trigger with regards to sharing of the data, we have identified, staff member within the department that uses their unique password to log into the system and see that we

also do share this internally with the sfpd, if it is requested, city attorney's office and public defender. however, we do not share this outside of our city and county of san francisco unless there is a subpoena issued to us then within the range. if we have that record, then we do share that, retention, we keep all of the data for 365 days. and the pdf version that i showed earlier where it was showing all the driver's information, vehicle information, we keep that longer because not really quite pii, personal identifiable information is just that event happened and we are keeping that, to investigate and to any disciplinary action, for example, if we need to take so with regards to disposal of this data on the 366 day, we get rid of all the data. so we don't really keep that. and again we are talking about only the 12 seconds of data. not more than that. but we keep it for 365 but 366 day. we delete that, the

data is stored of course, in the local sd, drive and download it on the 24 hour basis from the vendor's cloud, we have, introduced this, technology went through the same, back in january of 2023. we got approval from them, on february 24, 2023. we also presented this policy to the committee on information technology on april 20th, 2023. and it was also recommended to bring it to the board here. with that, i have my colleagues as well to answer any questions that you may have about this technology. thank you so much, colleagues. any questions? no. is there i just have one question. is there any, anybody opposing this legislation at all that you know of, there was some, changes that were suggested by the pccep. it was more like we were using very generic or very kind of wide

term saying that we don't see that there will be any impact. and they say change it a little bit to say that potentially. so we just change those words. but other than that it was approved. okay, i think it's very thoughtfully done. and i just want to appreciate that it's potentially used to commend drivers who are particularly successful in, in a, in incidents and for those training purposes as well. i, i think that oftentimes we use all this surveillance technology only as, you know, something to reprimand workers. but i really, really appreciate the fact that you included also commending workers for the fabulous work they do every day. so i just wanted to appreciate that. thank you, and we can now open this item up for public comment. yes. members of the public who wish to speak on this item would speak at this time. each speaker will be allowed to allow two minutes. are there any are there any speakers on this matter? there

do not appear to be any public commenters on this matter. public comment is now closed, mr. clerk, i'd like to make a motion to send this item to the full board with positive recommendation. yes. on that motion, vice chair walton, i walton i supervisor safaí safaí i chair. ronen i ronen i the motion passes without objection. motion passes unanimously. thank you so much, mr. clerk. are there any other items on the agenda? there are no additional items on today's agenda. then the meeting is adjourned. thank you

[music] >> opening this space with my sister, and being able to continue the very deep literary

lineage that exist in the mission is part of the fabric of the neighborhood. this is neighborhood of poets and litary readings. you see the writers from the neighborhood, their books are here. paul flores books are here. --that is what we are doing, keeping the litary lineage alive and going, you know? [music] >> san francisco is actually the only place that i can do this. in its quite way, something i can actually do that is a benefit. sure, i like to open up a really cool well curateed spot. it would be beneficial but not

the same beneficial it is here. when i say young folks that remind me of us, when we were that young, and they come in here, they can relax. nobody is following them around like they are going to steal anything. that means they can be a little more free and little more of themselves and i can do some small thing that helps them do that and that is part of what lets me know i'm doing exactly what i want and need to do. [music] >> we have events here that focus on the deep neighborhood history here on the artists and writers. if you look now there is antany, his exhibit and focus

is on neighborhood people. artists muralist, the space was basically a gift given to us in a really weird way. we had to work our asses off for, but it was that opportunity for me that chance to be that link in the long literary chain of the neighborhood. it is a blessing to be here. [music] [music] >> san francisco is known as

yerba buena, good herb after a mint that used to grow here. at this time there were 3 settlements one was mission delores. one the presidio and one was yerba buena which was urban center. there were 800 people in 1848 it was small. a lot of historic buildings were here including pony express headquarters. wells fargo. hudson bay trading company and famous early settlers one of whom william leaderdorph who lived blocks from here a successful business person. african-american decent and the first million airin california. >> wilwoman was the founders of san francisco. here during the gold rush came in the early 1840s. he spent time stake himself as a

merchant seaman and a business person. his father and brother in new orleans. we know him for san francisco's history. establishing himself here arnold 18 twoochl he did one of many things the first to do in yerba buena. was not california yet and was not fully san francisco yet. >> because he was an american citizen but spoke spanish he was able to during the time when america was taking over california from mexico, there was annexations that happened and conflict emerging and war, of course. he was part of the peek deliberations and am bas doorship to create the state of california a vice council to mexico. mexico granted him citizenship. he loaned the government of san

francisco money. to funds some of the war efforts to establish the city itself and the state, of course. he established the first hotel here the person people turned to often to receive dignitaries or hold large gatherings established the first public school here and helped start the public school system. he piloted the first steam ship on the bay. a big event for san francisco and depict instead state seal the ship was the sitk a. there is a small 4 block long length of street, owned much of that runs essentially where the transamerica building is to it ends at california. i walk today before am a cute side street. at this point t is the center what was all his property.

he was the person entrusted to be the city's first treasurer. that is i big deal of itself to have that legacy part of an african-american the city's first banker. he was not only a forefather of the establishment of san francisco and california as a state but a leader in industry. he had a direct hahn in so many things that we look at in san francisco. part of our dna. you know you don't hear his anymore in the context of those. representation matters. you need to uplift this so people know him but people like him like me. like you. like anyone who looks like him to be, i can do this, too. to have the city's first banker and a street in the middle of financial district. that alone is powerful. [music](music).

>> happy 30th non-sfgovtv i'm rap and i want to take a moment to thank you, thank you to sfgovtv and congratulate the staff for reaching the milestone we're grateful that sfgovtv work with our commission over the years and provided us with a citywide platform that allows us to highlight and showcase all of the residents what they do you're watching san francisco rising with chris manners. special guest is david chu. hi

i'm chris manners and you're watching san francisco rising the show that's about restarting rebuilding and re imagining our city. i guess today is david chiu, the city attorney for the city and county of san francisco , and he's here today to talk to us about the opioid crisis, reproductive rights and the non citizen voting program. mr chu, welcome to the show. thanks for having me on happy to talk about whatever you want me to talk about, so can we start by explaining the difference between the city attorney's office and the district attorney's office? i think it could be slightly confused. that is a very common fusion with members of the public so um, if you get arrested in san francisco by the san francisco police department, all criminal matters are dealt with by the san francisco district attorney . we handle all civil matters on behalf of the city and county of san francisco. what that means is a number of things. we provide advice and counsel to all actors within city

government from our mayor. every member of the board of supervisors to the 100 plus departments, commissions boards that represent the city and county of san francisco. we also defend the city against thousands of lawsuits. so if you slip and fall in front of city hall if there's a bus accident if there is an incident involving the san francisco police department, we defend those matters. we also bring lawsuits on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, where most famous for litigating and obtaining the constitutional right to marry for lgbtq couples have sued gun manufacturers, payday lenders, oil companies, you name it, who are undercutting the rights of san franciscans and the city and county of san francisco. so now moving on to the opioid crisis. i understand you've had some success in court, um, dealing with manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies. could you elaborate a little bit on that for us, so the opioid industry

and by that i refer to the legal industry that prescribes pain pills. um over years. uh, deceived americans and resulted in literally thousands upon thousands of deaths and tragedies that we see on our streets every day when it comes to the addictions that folks are experiencing. many of the addictions really stemmed from what happened over a decade plus period where the prescription pain industry marketed prescription pills in ways that were false. we were one of thousands of jurisdictions around america that brought a lawsuit against the opioid industry. but we've had a particular set of successes that others have not. ah we initially brought a lawsuit a few years ago against every part of the opioid supply chain, and that included manufacturers, distributors and retailers, including pharmacies over the course of four plus years. a

number of these corporate defendants settled with us. we've as of this moment brought in over $120 million of cash and services. to the city to help address the root causes of what we're talking about. but a few months ago, we had a really historic verdict against the pharmacy, walgreens and their role walgreens was responsible for literally over 100 million pills, flooding the streets of san francisco over a period of years where they flouted federal law that require them to track where they're pills were going to. they had a what? what we refer to as a phil phil phil. pharmacy culture where folks would bring in their prescriptions, and the pharmacist would just fill them without checking why someone was coming in multiple times without checking why certain doctors were seen a 100 fold increase in the number of opioid prescriptions that they were prescribing. so we had a historic judgment against

walgreens recently, but it's been a very intense lawsuit. and we know that will never bring back the lives that we have lost to opioid addictions. but it's critical for us that we get the resources that we need. maybe one other thing i'll mention because it's often confusion. a large percentage of folks who are addicted to street level drugs say heroin or fentanyl started their addictions. with painkillers, opioid medications that were prescribed through doctors provided through pharmacies and so literally the suffering that we're seeing on our streets was caused by the opioid industry over many, many years and has created the significant crisis that we are dealing with right now. right right now moving on. i understand after the recent supreme court ruling, striking down robust as wade that you've put together an organization that's designed to help mm. provide free services to people who are both. seeking abortions

and providing them can you tell us about the organization? sure so, um, before the dobbs decision came down, but after we learned about the leak from the supreme court about the draft that suggested the decision would be as bad as it has turned out to be, um, i reached out to leadership from the bar association of san francisco because we knew that if that decision came down there would be tens of thousands of patients around the country as well as providers whose legal situation would be in jeopardy. women doctors, nurses who could be subjected to lawsuits who could be arrested who could be prosecuted, particularly in red states? 26 states where rights are being rolled back or in the process or have already been rolled back because of the dobbs decision. so we put out a call to lawyers all over the bay and frankly, all over the country, and as of this moment there have been over 70 law firms that have answered our call to be part of the legal alliance for

reproductive rights who have committed to reviewing cases and providing pro bono assistance to patients and providers who are at legal risk. we also are looking at potential cases that these lawyers can bring against various states. in these areas that are looking to deprive women and patients and providers of their of their rights. um it is a very dark time in america, and i'm really proud that that barrier attorneys, the legal community care have stepped up to answer the call. it's very important that's great. so now the non citizen voting program that was passed by voters just for school boards has faced them court challenges recently, but it was in place for the most recent election that we've had. how do you see that situation panning out? in fact, it's been in place for now. five school board elections. um so a little bit of background in our san francisco schools over one out of three kids. has a parent who

is a non citizen who doesn't have a say in the election of the policy makers that dictate the future of our san francisco public schools, and so over a number of years, there has been a movement to allow immigrant parents to vote in school board elections. few things i'll mention about that is our country has a very long history when it comes to allowing immigrants to vote. from 17 76 for 100 and 50 years until after world war. one immigrants were allowed to vote in most states in our country on the theory that we want to assimilate immigrants in american democratic values and institutions, and it wasn't until an anti immigrant backlash in world war one that that sort of ended. but in recent years, um cities across america have allowed this to happen. in fact, at this moment, believe there are over a dozen cities that have voted to allow non citizens to vote in a number of context. now, this is particularly important in our schools just given how challenge our schools

are, and given that we know that when we engage more parents in her school system, regardless of their citizenship it helps to lift up our schools for all parents. and so in 2016 the voters of san francisco past about measure that allowed this to happen. unfortunately earlier this year, there were conservative organizations that came to san francisco to bring a lawsuit to try to overturn this , and i should also mention it is obviously the perspective of our office and our city that this is constitutional. nothing in the constitution prohibits non citizens from voting. and in fact, there's an explicit provision in the constitution that allows chartered cities like san francisco when it comes to school board elections to be able to dictate the time and manner of those elections. and so, uh, we are involved in litigation on this issue. there was an initial ruling that was not good for us that essentially said at the trial court level. we shouldn't allow this. um we

appealed it up to the appellate level. the appellate court made an initial decision to allow this past november election to proceed as it has for the last previous four elections. we're going to be in front of that court soon. stay tuned. we'll see what happens. it was good to hear that the city was able to reach a settlement with the center for medicare and medicaid services are meant laguna honda could still operate. how did you manage to reach that agreement? it was not an easy conversation . just a little bit of background. so laguna honda has been an incredibly important institution in san francisco for 150 years, taking care of our most vulnerable patients are frail, very elderly patients, many of whom are at end of life. and a few years ago, there were some issues in that hospital. some violations of rules that we very much want to make sure don't get violated. there were folks that weren't using proper ppe, who are bringing cigarette lighters into the facility, who might have brought some

contraband into the facilities. we have zero tolerance for that and have made that very clear. we self reported some of these violations to the federal authorities. and unfortunately from our perspective, they took the very disproportionate step of ordering the closure. the permanent closure of lugano, honda. problematic on a number of reasons. first and foremost, there are just no skilled nursing facility beds not just in california but around the country. after their order came down. we literally were putting 1000 calls a day to skilled nursing facilities around california and around the country and could find nowhere to move the 700 patients that we had had in the gonna honda but just as disturbingly as we were forced to start moving some of these patients, a number of them died. there's a concept in medicine known as transfer trauma. when you move someone who is that frail and unfortunately, folks folks died and we were at a point where we were five weeks away from the

deadline for the federal government. that they had provided to us to close the facility. so uh and we have been trying for months to get the federal government to reconsider their action, so i was compelled to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the city and county of san francisco and very pleased and appreciate that we were able to come to a settlement whereby transfers will be delayed at least until next year. we're going to have at least a year of funding. to keep the facility open, and hopefully we can get back up on our feet and ensure that no future violations occur because this is an institution that has to stay open for the good of these patients. quite right, quite right. so finally, congratulations on winning an important public power service dispute with pg and e. um why is it important that the city's rights as a local power provider maintained well, so san francisco has been a local power provider for decades. we are fortunate to have access through our hedge hetchy hydroelectric

system to provide electricity to a number of providers, particularly public recipients of that. and unfortunately, pg any has used its monopoly when it comes to private electricity to try to stop that, and to block that, and from our perspective, they violated federal law in adding literally tens of millions of dollars of expenses to san francisco and institutions that we're trying to ensure um, public power infrastructure. put years of delays on our ability to do this, and so we had to bring a number of appeals in the federal commission. ah we were successful in those appeals, and there was a decision recently that basically held the pg and e could not use its monopoly to unfairly delay or add tens of millions of dollars of cost. to the city and county of san francisco, as we are trying to move forward with our vision of public power. clearly pgd has not been able to serve not just

san francisco but northern california. well we all know that with the wildfires with its bankruptcies, with all the issues that they've had, we think there is a different model to move forward on and we are grateful to the court. and providing a ruling that allows us to move forward. well thank you so much for coming on the show. i really appreciate the time you've given us here today. i appreciate and thanks for your thanks for your questions. thank you. well that's it. for this episode, we'll be back with another one shortly for sf gov t v. i'm chris manners. thanks for watching. yeah.