>> calling roll call. president collins, present. vice president shiota, present. commissioner beltran, present. commissioner schnair, here. commissioner shelby, present. we have quorum to for today's meeting.

for the record, director of cultural affairs ralph remington and sarah hollenbeck and [indiscernible] chief of staff alyssa ventry are in attendance. president collins. >> do we have agenda changes? >> no agenda changes. >> now for public meeting instructions. i like to welcome all persons interested in the meeting to attend in person city hall room 40 8. the meeting is airing live sfgovtv 2 and at&t universe channel 99. i want to remind of the policies and procedures for public meetings. we are bound to follow the structure of the agenda and adhere to best practice set out in the good government guide. at every meeting there is a opportunity for general public comwhere members may comment on any item pertaining to this body. public comment will be taken in

person with remote access provided to those who require an ada accommodation. respectfully we can scyou keep public comment on topic. each comment is limited to three minutes. please understand that the committee does not contribute dialogue towards public comments. each comment will be documented for public records. the ringing or use of cell phones, pagers and other-pagers [laughter] other sound producing devices are prohibited at the meeting. i'm pausing to make sure we have time to comply with that. the chair may order removal from the meeting room of any person responsible for ringing or use of cell phone, pager or other sound producing electronic device. as a courtesy on the 4th floor we have a women restroom located on the northeast side and the mens on the southeast side outside this

room and all gender restroom on the southwest side. in case of emergency, your nearest stair exit is the southeast corner on the forth floor right outside this door. there are stair exits located on each corner and recommended to pull the fire alarm. strobe lights flash and alarm goes off you must evacuate the building. i'll turn it over to commission secretary, for public comment instructions. >> for members of the public in person who wish to comment, once you are called on you will be asked to voice your comment at the podium. you see a blank public comment card located on the podium. you are recommended about not required to fill out the card. you will receive a 30 second

audible warning. when your time is up i will say your time is up. participants who wish to speak may listen for the next opportunity. persons who speak at today's meeting may supply a brief written summary to be included in the minutes if it is 150 words or less to our dash info at sfgov.org. may reject the summary if exceeds. persons unable to attend art commission meeting may submit correspondence in connection to an item. the secretary will post the documents adjacent to the agenda if one page in length. if longer, the arts commission will make documents available for public spection and copy. correspondence will not be read allowed during the meeting. names and addresses will be public. may be made anonymously.

if you need to request a reasonable accommodation under the ada or need to request language assistance, you must contact the commission secretary at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting at r-info@sfgov dot org. >> i like to start the meeting by reading our land acknowledgment statement. the san francisco art commission we acknowledge that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the ramaytush ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the ramaytush ohlone have never ceded, lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. as guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors and relatives of the ramaytush community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. as there

department dedicated to promoting diverse equitable arts environment in san francisco, we are committed to supporting the traditional and contemporary evolution of the american indian community. i would now like to call on item 2. item 2 is general public comment. this allows members of the public to comment on matters within the commission pure view and suggest agenda items for the commission consideration. is there any public comment on item 2?

>> for those in person proceed the podium. your time will start when you begin speaking. you will see a visual timer and 30 second warning before your time concludes. i request those in person. anyone who would like to comment on thecurrent agenda item? i see no request for public comment and public comment is closed. >> thank you. i now call item 3, which is our director's report. i am introducing the director of cultural affairs mr. ralph remington. >> thank you president collins, good afternoon commissioners. i hope you all had a wonderful of may so far. this month is shaping up to be a exciting time for the san francisco arts commission and we have a variety of new projects and opportunity to share. as i mentioned, full commission, 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of apa heritage celebration here in san francisco. the arts commission continues

to celebrate our aapi artists, grantees, artworks and commissioners recognizing the invaluable contribution of aapi artists that shaped san francisco art and cultural landscape. events are happening month long and can find the details at apasf.org. i like to share highlights on recent events this past month. on may 8 i attended a strange loop and on may 9, i attended sf jazz gala honoring patty austin. may 10 attended the copresentation by dancer group and dance theater and san francisco arts commission who we recently presented the peoples palace at san francisco city hall. the show was remarkable display of artistry with our very own

commissioner shelby. [applause] moving pieces for the performance. we are thrilled at the opportunity to support this special protection. i didn't want to through you off your game, so when i saw you, but i saw you on friday night and--i wanted to come over there. you were in your zone and try toog do your thing but it was wonderful. so, community investment updates. the community investments team has been diligently working on several key projects. roontly wrapped up the art vendor market manager services, rfp seeking qualified suppliers to provide proposals for on site market manager or management team for the art vendor market embarcadero plaza saturday. we are excited to see proposals

and will provide updates. congratulation in order for community investment team wrapping up work for 2024-2029 cultural service allocation plan or csap. hard work and dedication have been instrumental developing the comp rehensive plan and we look forward to their presentation later in this meeting. public art updates, public art initiatives continue to make significant strides. we are nearing the may 24 deadline for artist engineer perimeter panel rfq for 11 and natoma park project in collaboration with [indiscernible] entry gate along the 11th street frontage of the park provided unique opportunity for integrating permanent public artwork. we are also nearing the deadline of the fulton street plaza activation request for proposals. the san francisco art

commission invites artists and artist teams residing in the united states submit qualification with series of regular and predictable youth focused activation. will project will cullminate in performance or event 2024 or 2025. the deadline is may 31. see our website for more information about these upcoming opportunities. also pleased to announce the opening of panorama park, home to point of infinity. [indiscernible] master piece by japanese artist, which took place on may 11 located 99 signal road yerba buena island. this is open to the public and encourage everyone to visit and experience the work of art mpt it is a master piece and magnificent

point of view for san franciscans and anybody coming to the area to visit. they won't get that vantage point anywhere else, so it is particularly spectacular. our gallery programs continue to thrive with the recent opening reception for practice of local knowledge on may 16. by our very own director of galleries and public program. the exhibition works the market of kimberley [indiscernible] miguel [indiscernible] trina michelle romison. the exhibition delves to movement and memory exploring personal and ancestral migration experience through various medians including video, present making, photography, texiles and performance. congratulations to care olina on her first curateed gallery show. i like to thank executive

director jorge rivas for partnering on the exhibition and planned public programs. we invite to visit the san francisco arts commission main gallery running through august 17, 2024. in addition, we continue to showcase a public voice on the ground floor in north light court of city hall through september 27, 2024. this exhibition in partnership with the mission cultural center for latino arts chronicle the history of political and community activism in san francisco through posters produced by mission graphica [indiscernible] issued a call for artist for sx f galleries and rec and park. 24 indian basin artist. invite artist to submit qualification for indian basin artist residency.

this rfq aims to identify two san francisco based artists to research and engage with the waterfront park, hunter point boulevard and [indiscernible] as well as the communities in the bayview hunter point naerbd neighborhood. the artist will use research development work. online information friday may 24 at 12 p.m. and the deadline for applications is friday may 31. see the arts commission web seat for more information. budget update. we received initial budget instructions from budget supervisor connie chan on wednesday june 12 through friday june 14 budget and appropriation committee will hear the first round of departmental presentations.

on thursday june 20 and friday june 21 hold the second round of departmental hearings with focus on recommendation for budget and legislative analyst. june 26, 2024 will be the final day of budget deliberations at the budget and appropriation committee and we will report back to the commission at the budget deliberation unfold. commission updates, last week president collins appointed abey schnair to share of the civic design review commission. thank commissioner schnair for taking the role and congratulate leading the first meeting this past monday. [applause] and with that, that concludes the director's report for the may 22 executive committee meeting and i would be happy to take questions you may have. thank you. >> any questions or comments on the director's report? commissioner schnair. >> i just wanted to mention-[indiscernible] this is

his first commission in the united states. internationally known amazing artists. very excitedf is got the first one here. and it is amazing and the park is amazing. the views are incredible, so--and everything going on in treasure island now, you can really start to see it coming together. it is very exciting. >> commissioner beltran. >> couple things. musical performances actually and that is that, first of all, i wasn't aware that was his public art sculpture commission so it is a privilege to have in san francisco. >> in the united states. >> right. and i was privileged to be able be there in october when he and his team first came and i learned from trish frankal that he has long had just this

complete love of the city of san francisco, and thatser is one reason why he pushed forward for the sculpture to be made even through covid and when it had major deficits. it cost all most twice as much as predicted because it took 5 years to go up. he actually covered all the extra cost, because he was so-he was so, um-san francisco is so beloved to him and he wanted to see it happen and wanted to see it happen in san francisco and the most--literally the moment that i most remember which i'll remember all my life is, after the small reception celebrating the ribbon cutting he prepared a performance where we played a karaoke version of sitting on the dock of the bay referring to the san francisco bay and sang himself to it and had made his own words and

i was like, jaw-dropped. this is true devotion to our city, so it was so lovely. the other one other comment i also was so excited and blown away by the people's palace performance by the dance company and i walked in a friend and there were all these people in front of me and watching the dancers and listening to music and said what score is this, who is playing this? i have to figure who they are playing because it is so beautiful and i walked up and i said wait a minute, it is live music and i looked to the right and i'm wait a minute, it is commissioner shellby. [laughter] now i know where to get the score. >> i like to comment on. i will say it sets a precedent for what public art on treasure island

will be all about. i too was caught in the smell of marcus music that married with the chorography and execution of joanna highgood and her remarkable dancers and performers. the fear i had in looking at the dancers on the ledge invoked something that was both terrifying and fascinating at the same time, but to hear marcus compositions that were a lifting up and-beautiful.

to move past your fear. the three of them as clab raerts to know this is generous living within our community and so, the three of them and also for our director of cultural affairs, to really see the brilliance of what this commission commissioned. it was a high point in actually in my artistic experience and marcus, i am eternally grateful for the aferial nature of your music and how uplifting it was at a time when we need that type of--would you just comment, please? this is within the director's report. >> no problem. first of all, thank you all. thank you everyone who came. i will have to give the love of this project to joanna haygood. her vision. i had no idea what was playing

untle we moved into the space. the only thing i knew was to think like her, be site spesk specific with the instrumentation and why we used acoustics, a harp and flute, the trumpet with a lot of mutes and acoustic base, but her vision of decolonizing this place, visually, artisticly. she is one of the highest level artist not just in the bay area but internationally during the artistic renaissance we are have. i'm proud she is a artist we can call our own. she won a legacy award last year, and so i just felt very lucky and blessed to be part of the project and be able under her leadership and her vision and i hope we can continue to

empower artists like her to do wildly imaginative and sometimes risky work that nobody else would try. i dont know anybody who tries something like that and yeah, my daughter went and my daughter is a dancer. she dances with--she is like, i was scared the whole time. [laughter] >> you took our fear away. >> thank you. >> i think it was like to piggy back on what you were saying, it showed the power of black joy and redemption. it also showed the oppression of the black people and how black people are not honored in this society, but left

us with redemptive hope and that there is a possibility of joy within the madness and the music was key to understanding that and of course, the brilliant joanna highgood and milldred howard, their works are extraordinary. i also want to thank [indiscernible] fernandez for offering that-the slot so we could present and copresent in that she gave up one of her slots for next year in city hall so that we could present them this year and but for that, we wouldn't have been able to do it. i want to big shout out to carolina for that. >> thank you. is there further commission comment? seeing none, is there any public comment on the director's report? >> for those in person please proceed to the public comment podium

and fill out the public comment card. we are on item 3. your time begins start when you begin speaking. you see a visual timer and receive a 30 second warning before time concludes. is there anyone who would like to comment on the current agenda item? i see no request for public comment. public comment is now closed. >> thank you. i call agenda item 4, which is the san francisco symphony agreement. discussion and possible action to authorize the director of cultural affairs pursuant to the charter section 16.1061 and enter into agreement with the san francisco symphony to support one free outdoor concert and 12 live concerts in davies symphony hall during each of the symphony's 23-24 and 24-25 seasons for an estimated total

of 8 million, 900 thousand dollar and total amount not to exceed 9 million, 500 thousand dollar. i am now calling the deputy director of finance and administration, sarah hollenbeck to present the item. thank you. >> good afternoon commissioners. sarah hollenbeck, deputy director finance and administration. thank you for considering this item. as noted in the motion, this is being proposed pursuant to charter section 16.1061, which this is a annual contract. as you will see in this instance, we have reverted back or proposing i should say to revurt back to a two year contract and that is primarily just to be more efficient in this

process and not have to bring this to you each year and that is the reason that the amount that you see before you in the motion are stated as estimates and have a not to exceed, because the estimates of property tax revenue and assessed value, which is what the basis of the determination is pursuant to the charter has still not yet been settled for-for fiscal 25. so, we have the estimates and that is the reason for that language that you see before you. otherwise, the agreement is essentially as you have seen previously and i would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> thank you very much. are there any commissioner comments or discussion? >> i is a question. how long is this charter? is it indefinite, last forever? >> yes.

it is provision of the charter that reads, the board of supervisors shall annually appropriate to the arts commission the revenue from tax of 1/8 of 1 cent for 100 dollars taxable assessed value. that is in place until someone revises the charter by vote i guess is the way-the [multiple speakers] >> did the discussion up come up because that was created in 1930 or something or before there was all the other organizations we have now, right? is that correct? >> commissioner shelby, yes, that is correct, and so it is all the provisions in the charter are only open to change by ballot referendum and so, when you see some ballot

measures that come up that decide they want to change the charter, like prop b was one of them, that is when that comes about. people can discuss it, but until somebody brings forward a ballot measure and it is supported by citizen group or back by the mayor, that is how it gets to the ballot itself. >> by history i remember this. i just referred to it it was 1978 a substantial charter revision process was undertaken and i recall individuals came together and they had to qualify to be a part that charter revision process that went through some matter of months or years of thought, so if we think about that, that was 40 years ago, right? 40 something--40 years ago, and it had

not been revised in substantial form since inception in the 1930:it is something that happens rarely and it is an immense process. are there any other commissioner questions or comments from sarah hollenbeck's presentation? >> commissioner schnair here. i just-i totally understand. this is the total amount that i understand the variance, i get that, but that's for what's already happened this season, which is just about finished and next season? >> that's right. >> okay. >> correct. >> just want to make sure i was reading it correctly. >> there is a little bit of discrepancy between the symphony's season and our fiscal year, so the dates you get a little out of alignment. >> i see no further

commissioner discussion or comments. is there any public comment on item number 4? >> move for a motion first, please. >> may i have a motion to approve the allocation and to direct the director of cultural affairs to enter into an agreement with the san francisco symphony? >> commissioner beltran, so moved. >> second. >> now may i have public comment on item 4? >> for those in person proceed to the public comment podium and fill out the public comment information card. we are on item 4. your time starts when you begin speaking. you will see a visual timer and receive a 30 second warning before your time concludes. is there anyone who would like to comment on the current agenda item? >> hello everyone. hello commissioners. marny cook with the san

francisco symphony and just are wanted to come and say thank you so much for the continued partnership and we are very much looking forward welcoming guests of the arts commission this weekend and in a couple weeks time with collaboration with ballet and stern grove so very precative and appreciate your consideration of this motion. >> is therefurther public comment? >> i see no rest for public comment. public comment is now closed. >> may i now call the item, please? all those in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? motion moves unanimously. [applause] >> now calling item 5. item 5 is update on cultural sunch service allocation plan for

2024-2029. introducing the deputy director of programs, lex leifheit to present the culture service allocation plan for 2024-2029. >> good afternoon commissioners. lex leifheit deputy director of programs here today to share the draft updated community services allocation plan for the arts impact endowment, which is an investment of hotel tax funds, legislatively mandated in the arts community to be a portion of the arts commission grant making that range from around 2.1 to $2.8 million annually over the next 5 years. as you know, the san francisco arts commission engaged ems planning and research to evaluate the arts impact endowment investment over the past 5 year, engage stakeholders and

recommend framework and are evaluation tool for future investments. with support from the steering committee, ams facilitating robust in-person and online engagement--whoops and online engagement approximately 820 people that included stakeholder interviews, youth and naerbd workshops in chinatown, bayview hunter point, the mission district and city wide virtual workshop with institute on disability. the online survey these founds consistent needs related to keeping art ests in san francisco by funding cultural production, the connections to the communities who nurture them, the organizations and spaces vital to support the conceiving rehearseing and presenting their work.

moving on to guiding principals, guiding principals emerge d. incorporate racial social justice as primary lens for all program design. maintain flexibility necessary to be responsive to needs in the arts community. prioritize multi-year support so grantees can predict and plan for their future. maintain accountability through transparent and regular reporting. on to recommendations. the service allocation plan recommends 3 funding channels to enact change through these investments. sorry about that. three channels. sustaining ongoing initiatives,

resilience and growth and new creative opportunities. beginning with investments, sustaining ongoing initiatives, this includes support for existing creative programs and work who are a threat of destabilization due to inflation, other cost increases, decreases and investments. shifting priorities. this may be general operating support. it may be multi-year grants that provide a base of support to help organizations to predict and plan. resilience and growth may include funding for specific projects and activities such at support for training that help art and culture worker obtain quality jobs and career paths. overhead cost and other capacity building activities.

new creative opportunities, is responsive to the fact many artists and organizations do not lack or sorry, do not necessarily have equitable access to start up funds for new creative work, so this would may include seed funding for one time or pilot projects and support for new programs, new artworks and other creative initiatives that need resources to get off the ground. projects that extend the reach and deepen impact of organizations and artists. once the cultural service allocation plan is approved, ams recommends ongoing evaluation around the distribution, allocation and the awarding of funds, and there is a recommendation to steadily measure and increase the number of bipoc individuals participating in workshops and technical assistance

opportunities. once this plan is approved, the community investment's team will move forward with the development of grant opportunities and guidelines, hopefully in the summer with fall release. i should absolutely thank debbie ing on the community investment's team who has played a key role in organizing this plan and the connections between grants for the arts, members of the arts commission, community stakeholders, and our own staff. and also denise pate, who is the director of community investments and many other members of the team played a active role. thanks for listening. we welcome your questions and feedback. >> discussion on this agenda item number 5? there was a-sorry, commissioner shelby. >> there is something i was thinking about as far as encouraging

partnerships as being part that whole -being part of the plan. is that something that is discussed or is that been realized in a certain way? like partnerships with organizations, artists working together, organizations working together, those type of things? >> i am not sure-i don't recall it coming up as a priority, but it is very interesting idea and something that the team has and probably will discuss in program design is the idea of how to demonstrate that those investments-sometimes there's not everyone can get matching funds in the same way with small and mid-size organizations but partnership can come, resources can come in many forms.

the arts commission previously had a program called, arts in community with partnership many years ago. we could absolutely take a look at that and we'll look at the case studies, the ams provided so i'll make sure within the case studies we look at partnership and pay attention to what the requirements are. when you say partnership, if i may, do you have something specific in mind in terms of what type of resources or what would-- >> i always liked the way the creative work fund. they encourage artists to work with other artists organizations to work together for resource efficiency and it was stressed when times were down, like 2008 i think it was. i just wanted to put it in the mix. i know a lot of work has gotten

to get to here, so not trying to increase the work, this is something you can always kind of encourage that. >> now is the time to bring it up so thank you very much. >> commissioner shelby, and thanks lex for this. i think that as we are going into strategic planning process as we continue down that road, that's also a opportunity to weigh in about kind of maybe future directions that the agency might want to take in regards to the community partnership, stakeholder partnership. keep in mind too, the thing that rise to the top are the things that typically, the community stakeholders want to happen for the next 5 years. sometimes those things are things we might want and sometimes it is things we didn't think of, so--but commissioners will whether all have their opportunity to weigh in and state what you like to see based on

how you surveyed the community at that point. >> in the sense, we could not have seen a better partnership and collaboration then what you just did. >> yeah, exactly. >> commissioner shiota. i want to thank you for the work because i know that it took a lot of data went into the backside of what happened before and then going forward, and yeah, i'll be interested in the rfp process to see how that manifests to get to the desired outcome and allocation that was kind of identified, so thank you again for the work. >> thank you. >> commissioner schnair. >> thank you. also, curious, does any of this go to help smaller groups in terms of capital initiatives and things they might need or getting space s, that type

of stuff? >> good question. so, within the second bucket that is resilience and growth, resilience really speaks to different forms of capital and potential expenses there be ing space, being specific costs. sustaining ongoing initiatives, in that you really have your working capital, just the day to day grease in the system that is absolutely required in addition to project specific funds for organizations to be efficient with their time andt noconstantly having to balance their check books. >> going along with those ideas and also what commissioner shelby was talking about, the idea of perhaps encouraging some different

organizations working together, but also to share spaces that works for them in terms of what they're creating. that type--i think this intersection of the arts, which we saw with the people's palace is just a perfect example of just getting all the different parts of the arts together and i would love to see that aspect really--and it is in here. i love to see it come out forcefully. >> thank you. >> commissioner shiotto. >> one more question because yfs looking at the different allocation year to year. fy2021, and just like the different--in 23, there is a lot more given to space and space needs and 24 was little arts education, all those things. how are you going to allocate the percentages for the next 5 years, what is that process like?

>> great question. so, as i hear it-in the past 5 years there were percentage allocation based on the community engagement process and how will we address that moving forward. so, one of the findings as we look back and evaluate as a team, the success and efficiency and success is having very specific prescribed percentages for buckets including the buckets that worked for the last 5 years. at times result in a mismatch between the needs in the arts community and the dollars we committed to putting out. moving forward, what ams is recommending after all this engagement is that we have a minimum of 10 percent to each of the buckets that the community has said, this is our

priority approach, but we not be tied to 38 percent that we are always committing to some level investment, but that it may ebb and flow over each year. they are also recommending accountability around the percent of program funds that we put out the door every year to make sure that we're doing the important job of deploying these grants and resources into the community. >> commissioner beltran. >> yes. first of all, lex, huge gratitude for this. this is amazing. i mean, we don't have the report in front of us, but i have been looking at it online and just the incredible work that went into this and collaboration and corralling of all this information and data to come up with this great document for moving forward. so, great job. really amazing.

we are very fortunate to have you. >> every time someone says that i have to look back and acknowledge molly [indiscernible] alyssa, sandra, [indiscernible] because this was a huge team effort. >> i would like to comment that, i received the 80 page report. it is it is remarkable and something we should be deeply proud of. the level of engagement and also the differentiation where we were 5 years ago in relationship where we are today and it really--it paints a history of this pandemic period and post-pandemic period, so i'm encouraging as soon as possible for the report to get to the commission and also the way that you have presented it here with these slides, i would encourage that perhaps they go out with the materials,

so that the discussion is informed, because we want to act on this, we will be timely and we want to also appreciate the level of work that's gone in this so we can absorb it and do our job to complete this task at the commission level. we are all reading it now on the little thing. it is also a 80 document to present it out which is a voluminous task so thank you in advance getting it to us as soon as possible and we encourage the commissioners if you could as you distribute it to really read it thoroughly and absorb it, because this is the opportunity for us to learn the deal that we will be living with for the next 5 years. are there any other comments from the commission? seeing none, is there public comment on this report? >> there is no public comment.

public comment is closed. >> thank you. now we'll move to item 6. the cultural center grants. i call item 6, sub-etum 1 to approve the cultural center fiscal 2024-25 grant amount not to exceed $925.892 inclusive of $139.500 previously approved by resolution 0105-24-009, to the african american art and culture complex to support the operation, maintenance, and programming of the city-owned community cultural centers to assure that these culturalsenters remain open and accessible and remain vital to cont contributors to the cultural life of the city and

authorize the director of cultural affairs to enter to grant agreement not to exceed $925.892 at this time. i am introducing deputy director of programs, lex leifheit to present on this item. >> thank you president collins. good afternoon commissioners. lex leifheit deputy director of programs. we have several items related to the annual oprating agreements of the cultural centers today. as you know, through legislation a portion of the hotel tax is helps assure the city and county owned community cultural centers remain open accessible and vital contributors to the cultural life of the city and county. this item today is a projection that is conservative and based on the

hotel tax projection, which as you know continued to change. it is the same level of funding that we made at the start of last year. what you are probably aware of is that last year the award made to the cultural centers were maintained to maintain services and resources for communities who depend on them, even though the hotel tax decreased several times. this level of investment is subject to change should the hotel fluctuate a lot, however it was arrived at with denise pate, director of community investment with director remington and sarah hollenbeck as a level of funding we believe we can commit to

help the organizations many are relatively small and need to be paid at the time they begin services at the start of fiscal year and also they need to predict and plan through the year. happy to answer any questions. >> any commissioner comments or discussion? commissioner schnair. >> thank you. i'm curious, this is something that i wondered about for several years. i know way back we talked about the idea of seeing some of these cultural centers having their own board and raising their own funds. i'm curious where that has all gone to at this point? >> so, the centers particularly do have their own boards and they have

various funding streams. they are really different. each center unique with a unique model delivering service in the public whether large emursive events or dance classes or youth programs or a lot of festival activity during a given month, and there could-we will continue to look within our grant making at an appropriate level of support for capacity building and technical assistance. one thing we are anticipating this year is that, due to the new legislation around non profit performance measures with the city and county, we will be receiving direction or may receive direction from the controller's office that will impact how we structure all our grants, and in

consideration that, we are remaining relatively steady and supportive waiting for-just to be in alignment. we always hear from our grantees, city deerment departments should talk to each other and work with one another to make things as easy as possible. and be in partnership with community. >> they are not restrictive from raising their own funds because they have their own board they can get $200 million from google. they can do whatever they want to do, so they are not-we are not fiscal agents for them. they are their own self--standing organizations. >> i understand that. my question was more a matter of where have things gotten in terms of their getting their own funds and you answered most that so thank you. >> further comments? seeing none, motion to approve this item 6?

subitem 1. >> so moved. >> is there a second? >> second, commissioner shelby. >> public comment on item 6, item 1? >> there is no public present to comment. public comment is closed. >> i now like to call the motion, all in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? motion carries unanimously. thank you. i now call item number 6, subitem 2. discussion and possible action to approve the cultural center fiscal year 2024-2025 grant amount not to exceed $470,027 to the bayview opera house (bvoh) to support the operation, maintenance, and programming of city-owned community cultural centers to assure that these cultural centers remain open and accessible and remain vital contributors to the cultural life of the city and to authorize the director of cultural affairs to enter into a grant agreement not to exceed $470,027 at this time. i am now

calling --deputy director lex leifheit to present on this item. >> of course. thank you president collins. deputy director program lex leifheit. i just introduced the reasoning behind this grant agreement by speaking to all the cultural centers and african american arts and cultural complex so i have no further information as it relates to these trailing cultural center agreement, but happy to answer any questions. >> thank you.

any commission discussion? commissioner shiota. >> no. >> may i ask for a motion now to approve agenda item 6, subitem 2? >> so move, commissioner beltran. >> second? >> second, sheota. >> i ask for public comment on item 6.2. >> there is no public present to comment. public comment is now closed. >> i now ask for a final motion. all in favor say aye. >> aye. >> opposed? motion passes unanimously. thank you. i now call item number 6, sub-item 3, which is discussion and possible action to approve the cultural center fiscal year 2024-2025 grant amount not

to exceed $759,164 to the mission cultural center for latino arts (mccla) to support the operation, maintenance, and programming of city-owned community cultural centers to assure that these cultural centers remain open and accessible and remain vital contributors to the cultural life of the city and to authorize the director of cultural affairs to enter into a grant agreement not to exceed $759,164 at this time. i now call on deputy director lex leifheit to present this item. >> thank you president collins. deputy director programs lex leifheit and i have no further comment related to recommendation for the cultural centers. >> thank you. any commissioner discussion? commissioner sheota. >> thank you so much. quick question because this is a-i know that this is the annual kind of

oprating budget for these cultural centers and this in particular i know there is work to be done on space and there was different allocations and buckets for like, space looking for alternative space, things like that, so in that case, i know that the timeline is pushed, but would this space--if they were not in the space because of the work being done, this would continue their programming in alternate spaces, is that correct? >> that is correct. we have been supporting the board and are staff of mission cultural center for latino arts in the planning and programming and working closely with department of public works. i need to acknowledge the capital program manager lisa chen here with us today and the current timeline for that project is to break ground in

potentially around the fall of 2025, and however, we are-should they decide they need to relocate before the end of the fiscal year, our city attorney advised within the language of investment that insure the cultural centers and folks programming them remain vital, accessible vital contributors but many expenses would be eligible. >> thank you. >> any further commission comments or discussion? may qu ask for a motion? >> so moved, commissioner beltran. >> second? >> second, commissioner schnair. >> now public comment on this item 6.3? >> there is no public present to comment. public comment is closed. >> thank you. now call for the final motion. all in favor, aye. >> aye.

>> opposed? motion passes unanimously. i now call item number 6. sub-item 3. >> number 4. >> now we'll get to 4. discussion and possible action to approve the cultural center fiscal year 2024-2025 grant amount not to exceed $864,822 to somarts to support the operation, maintenance, and programming of city-owned community cultural centers to assure that these cultural centers remain open and accessible and remain vital contributors to the cultural life of the city; and to authorize the director of cultural affairs to enter into a grant agreement not to exceed $864,822 at this time. i'm calling on deputy director

lex leifheit to present this item. subitem number 4. >> thank you president collins. deputy director programs lex leifheit. no additional comment. >> thank you. are there commission comments or discussion on this item? had seeing none, may i have a motion? >> so move, commissioner shelby. >> second, commissioner beltran. >> thank you. any public comment on this item number 6.4? >> there is no public present. public comment is closed. >> thank you. i will call the motion. all in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? motion carries unanimously. i now call item number 6, sub-item 5. discussion and possible action to approve the cultural center fiscal year 2024-2025 grant amount not to exceed

$149,880 to somarts with sub-grantee the american indian cultural center of san francisco to support the operation, maintenance, and programming of city-owned community cultural centers to assure that these cultural centers remain open and accessible and remain vital contributors to the cultural life of the city; and to authorize the director of cultural affairs to enter into a grant agreement not to exceed $149,880 at this time, pending the resolution of city supplier compliance requirements. may i have deputy director lex leifheit to present? >> thank you president collins, deputy director programs lex leifheit. so, this item and the next two recommendations for grants are for the virtual cultural center and

must be awarded a grant as a subgrantee of a operator of a physical cultural center. this is advice of counsel due to the language in the charter, the code, the legislative language. so, in this case, you see that the purpose remains the same to assure that the cultural centers remain open and vital contributors to the cultural life of the city, and that for each of these grants, really it goes for all of these cultural center grants that, we must meet the city supplier requirements and requirements of the controller in order to get into a grant agreement following this recommendation of funding. >> is there any commissioner discussion or comment? may i have a motion to-- >> so moved, commissioner beltran.

>> second, commissioner schnair. >> thank you. i am asking for any public comment on item 6, sub-item 5. >> there is no public present to comment. public comment is now closed. >> thank you. may i call for the motion, all in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? motion carries unanimously. this insures that it is on the screen and what is here is coordinated, because sometimes i get ahead of myself or way behind, so thank you. this is item number 6. sub-item 6. this is cultural center grant for asian pacific islander center. discussion and possible action to approve the cultural center fiscal year 2024-2025 grant amount not to exceed

$149,880 to somarts with sub-grantee asian pacific islander cultural center to support the operation, maintenance, and programming of city-owned community cultural centers to assure that these cultural centers remain open and accessible and remain vital contributors to the cultural life of the city; and to authorize the director of cultural affairs to enter into a grant agreement not to exceed $149,880 at this time. i am now calling deputy director lex leifheit to present on this item. >> thank you president collins. deputy director lex leifheit, no further comment on this item, which is an award recommendation for asian pacific islander cultural center. >> thank you. any commissioner discussion or comment? seeing none, may i ask for a motion to this effect? >> so move. >> second. commissioner shelby. >> now may i ask for public

comment, 6.6? >> there is no public present to comment. public comment is now closed. >> thank you. i now call the item, all those in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? motion passes unanimously. i now call item number 6, subitem 7. this is the cultural center grants for qcc, the center for lesbian gay bisexual transgender art & culture to support the operation, maintenance, and programming of city-owned community cultural centers to assure that these cultural centers remain open and accessible and remain vital contributors to the cultural life of the city; and to authorize the director of cultural affairs to enter into a grant agreement not to exceed $149,880 at this time. i am now calling

on deputy director lex leifheit to present this item, 6, sub-item 7. >> thank you president collins. thanks for reviewing all 7 in succession. no further comment. >> thank you. is there any commissioner discussion or comment on this item? - >> i want to make a quick comment with gratitude and admiration for the long time director of somarts [indiscernible] brought the organization into major exposure for what it does and brilliant in the programming. >> here, here to that. are there any other commissioner discussion or comments on this item number 6, sub-item 7?

seeing none, may i have a motion to that-- >> so move, commissioner shelby. >> second, commissioner beltran. >> is there any public comment on item 6, subitem 7? >> there is no publicprint present to comment. public comment is now closed. >> i now call for the motion. all in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? motion passes unanimously. take a deep breath everybody. [applause] a lot of work. now may i call agenda item 7, which is the cultural center lease and operating agreements. discussion and possible motions. we have discussion and

possible action to amend the lease and operating agreements with the african american art and culture complex, the bayview opera house, inc., mission cultural center for latino arts, and somarts cultural center, to extend the renewal term for an additional 3-year period and to authorize the director of cultural affairs to enter lease and operating amendments with each organization listed above. such amendments would allow the current lease and operating agreements to automatically renew for three additional one-year renewal terms to june 30, 2029. i am introducing deputy director of programs lex leifheit to present on the item, please. >> thank you president collins. lex leifheit, deputy director of programs, san francisco arts commission. as you all know, we have at least two types of agreements annually with the operators of our city cultural centers. one is grant agreement for the programming and services that are delivered at the centers and support accessibility and vitality of

those centers. the second type of agreement is the lease and oprating agreement and that is a written agreement that relates to the space itself. this item came about at the request of the staff and community and board engaged with mission cultural center for latino arts as they plan for a temporary relocation and seeking continuity and we--when we engage with them we have responded by with the understanding that having the same lease term for all the centers really helps with communication around the agreements and negotiation, and so we are proposing to extend all lease terms from ending june 30, 2026 to ending june 30, 2029.

i will add that, within this, each lease agreement requires an active grant agreement, so if something were to change with the delivery of programs at a center, the grant agreement is a really key important document. this will provide organizations that are having renovations some continuity. it could provide continuity useful to fund raising for people to understand and are support return to the buildings and i'm happy to answer any other questions you may have. >> thank you very much. is there comment or discussion? commissioner beltran. >> thank you president collins. i want to make a note i see this as really excellent progress in terms of a timeline that accommodates the aggregations of all the

cultural centers in terms of city support, but also city reporting requirement s. i want to throw out when i was the interim executive director of the arts commission one real problem happening, at that point we were requiring updates on all the-by the directors of all the cultural centers every two months and it was just ridiculous because there was so much-and it because of reporting requirements for the city, but because it was so much stress in the staff taking away from essentially just running the organizations to fulfilling all these reporting requirements that we modified that, so it wouldn't be so onerous and i think for the same reasons this allows those organizations to have the right balance of their obligation to the city for reporting, as well as for continuity in the funding sources and also not having this huge burden of having that uncertainty happen every year.

>> thank you. any other comments or discussion? commissioner schnair. >> thank you. i couldn't agree more, because this is something that we have seen through the years and this idea of doing it for the three additional years allows them as you said, to be able to work through the renovation and capital improvements and help with the fundraising and it makes so much sense, so i applaud the thinkingism it is going to help everybody hugely and thank you. >> any further commission discussion? may i ask for a motion? >> so moved, commissioner beltran. >> second, commissioner schnair. >> any public discussion on this item 7? >> there is no public present to comment, public comment is now closed. >> may i now call this motion? all in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? motion passes unanimously.

i am now moving to agenda item number 8. this is our racial equity update and i'm introducing the senior racial equity engagement analyst, sandra to present on this item. >> good afternoon commissioners. nice to see you all. good afternoon. thank you. okay. happy to be here to share these updates with you all. i saw you last month as well, but i can come back every month. so, this month we recently submitted our racial equity action plan progrtss report to the office of racial equity for the city, so just a bit of refresher, as per the city wide mandate or obligations is to create a racial equity action plan and through that we also are supposed to submit a

progress report which focus on annual highlights of the work. their reporting is a simplified process because they ask all the city departments to do so i'll share brief slides we had submitted earlier this month, i think just last week. so, what this focuses on is what we worked on last year and what our priorities for upcoming year. so, this is just condensed version of what we are working on and what was implemented. we are looking at these are hiring and recruitment highlights as well as organizational cultural of inclusion and belonging. so, also another reminder, with the current racial equity action plan for the city we are still focusing on internal matters, so it is the workforce so why it is focused on things like, hiring and

recruitment, retention, organizational cultural and also working with the commission. so, the highlights that we had in recent or last year is we were able to refine our job vacancy outreach process. it is also a good thing that the city has gone into a new system for applications, so we are currently using smart recruiters and that allows us to pull the demographic data earlier and now as dhr gets used to it we are also learning how to utilize those tools so we can use it for hiring. when it comes to the outreach process, and this is also something we can probably ask for you all of you all in the future of potential suggestions of the kinds of arts associations, of communities of color, community of disability so thinking who are the

people that don't usually get the job announcements. we have been creating this list since 2020 and it has been fruitful. i did learn just recently that some alumni organizations, there is ways to get around that of actually finding alumni from the schools to post on alumni networks. i just learned that so think of your al ma mater in the future. the next thing is including a racial equity question for all interviewsism we have been doing this and also dhr has caught up as well and they actually have a significant list that they use as well in terms of the kinds of racial equity questions that should be used, so this is city wide but at the arts commission had a number of questions we ask at different stages of the interview process. that really is asking about people's relationship to communities and

understanding of racial equity and how it will be used in the office. and lastly, for hiring recruitment, which is more about the workforce is, really thinking about standardizing or we have a standardized performance and appraisal process and what in the past what that has been used is checking off your work plan and what not, but we also are looking at checking in more often with staff and also thinking about any racial equity opportunities or ideas whether that is training or anything that staff themselves can identify in what they want to do. and lastly, for organizational culture of inclusion and belonging, we did establish a racial equity team within the office, which helps me tremendously. these are people from the different programs within the division who are our liaisons to the program to understand what is happening with racial equity and share communications more easily throughout the

staff. and so, i facilitate this group, we meet monthly and we are working on des eginated sections of the racial equity plan and understanding if there is anything we should focus on and setting priorities that way. so, what we are looking at for the future, for this coming fiscal year is, community engagement. so, as i said, the current phase of the racial equity action plan is internal, but because the city is delayed in the racial equity action plan, if you think you do a action plan for three years. that is not a lot when you are addressing systemic racism that is institutional and running the government for a while. how are you going to do a initial problem solving in three years, so it is being extended, but what we are also noticing is that, we can't just focus on the racial equity happening

internally when we are all doing external things, obviously. working with community-in community engagement, so this is a major priority. this is just preempativity going into phase 2, so phase 2 we discuss with racial equity and trying to what community engagement will look like for the city so we are prompting what the things we need to learn in the arts commission. part of this for us is really identifying communities of under-represented as working artists so looking who we award money to, identifying promising practice and setting goals with who we plan to work with to help increase application, award rates, just outreach in general, and so we are looking at particular communities priority communities,b and geographic areas that could help us with coordinated outreach, and

lastly, we are consolidating this is a dream and it will come true is to really consolidate all the list and i no i mentioned this before, but because we have been doing this so long, we need to put together the effort and the actual contact information of who we are working with, because we also noticed we all work with the same people in different ways, so this would be really important to address. so, that's a major thing that we'll be coming up soon. and then lastly, this is also inspired by the last meeting as well of really thinking about some of the internal measures of-in the last racial equity climate survey and president collins you mentioned how we mention 3 out of 4 staff members utilize a racial equity tool and we want to make 4 out of 4. maybe we can do 85 percent right now, because i am not that good at

math, but any increase is fine. in the next fiscal year to address this we'll conduct internal analysis of tools and frameworks the staff use and that is using the annual survey to ask what they use. i am also connected to a lot of racial equity practitioners in the arts, both locally and nationally, so we are also trying to see what are we doing or what is standard practices we can try to involve and integrate into our current work. this is also identifying potential staff training and to integrate like these key racial equity frameworks and particular when it comes to the government and the art sector. part of this is also awareness and communication within staff, so that we have a page that we use in the office.

it is like a shared page. we call it share point. i think you may or may not have access to it with your e-mails, but basically it is a space where we can share some materials. we want to be able to use that more for communication sake, both internally so that staff are also aware of potential opportunities for training. i as well as the racial equity team will be accountable to providing these resources and just getting everyone on the same page how we alert together and will use shared tools to move as one when it comes to racial equity. and what i have left is, the actual timeline. so, so far we have submitted the progress report by the end of the summer we will have a current assessment of where we are at for the inplan and as mentioned in the second

quarter of 2024, the phase 2 for racial equity action plan will be in development and in conversation with office of racial equity. and that's it. thank you. >> thank you for that report. i was commenting, this is one of the reports that i really love to see how it is unfolding. from where we started, we were quick off the mark and we are really staying on top of it. the question i was to ask in this climate that much of what we are doing is under examination, often the remedies for-any remedy is based on what is the gap between this and that. in our keeping of baseline of where we are, say it is hundred percent

inequitable, and we are trying to get to hundred percent equity, that means the subcategories equals that have to be in frameworks of understanding. if we were moving on gender, we would say if 90 percent of hirerees are male-[indiscernible] how do we keep track of the baselines, so that those are accountable and also defendbable in various frameworks of examination, public policy? >> that's very important. that is data. so, for quantitative data, when i started in 2020 at that point we did look at what data we did have at that time. we have a lot of data at the arts commission, however, since then

we realized even previously, because i was reporting data upon request to things like, the new cultural districts of asking about grants and different things to particular geographic areas and also to racial demographic categories, that it was--our data was not clean. that's the bottom line. the data was not clean, so we didn't have really a baseline prior to that. there is information that we had, but it takes a lot more work and probably data scientist to come out with a good one. since 2021, we did establish a standard demographics that we now use for both applicants, grantees, panelists that are used across the board. so, we have that since 2021. we need to do a larger review of it, but what's been hopeful is that we now have a new grants management

system for community investments, and we are learning how to best utilize that so that the baseline--we can actually establish a baseline. i hope this is something that could also be-hrf that will come out of the strategic plan because it is larger thing we like to actually identify the different kind of metrics we have that we can compare, so that is what we are hoping for. but also, not to complicate things, but the office of racial equity is confirming a new set of data demographic for race data points and so we use most of the ones they are currently suggesting, but i think we are trying to clean it up as a city too. as we learn and come to a point that of establishing baselines, establishing what weulse want to do, because that's the only way we can measure it.

i wish we could measure in happiness and feelings so qualitatively we could do that, in particular focus groups, but it is one thing-i do think not to put that down, but qualitative is also important because we are able to identify the sentiment in the communities, particularly in our partner organizations that really help us with the way we are doing work, but we would love to during the strategic plan or in conversations if you have ideas of like establishing metrics and baselines, i'm happy to take note that. >> i will say that, correct me if i'm wrong, but the csap now, the csap last one did not have racial equity as one of the tenants, right? i'm seeing yes. that is huge shift, right? and it opens a universe of opportunities, because now if we look at the progress and history of

all this, this is a fundamental change in a important framework for achieving our values and goals, so i want to congratulate you for really bringing this to this level now that it becomes a way of culture how we will be doing business going forward. >> just a comment to that. i do want to give credit for the initial csap. there was a conversation about racial equity in the arts and it was very much exploratory, so there were a lot of artists of color organizing around it as well and the difference with this csap is it is viewed as a cross-cutting issue, instead of before the conversation was it being like, acknowledged and in arts and culture? that's very different, so i know there was some support of trying to make it fit, but in terms of something

cross-cutting, that is the direction it needs to be at, because you will not have one or grant categories that ignore it and don't consider equity. >> thank you. any other comments from the commission? i'm seeing none. there is no action we are taking, but we ask for public comment on this, is that correct? thank you. >> there is no public present to comment. public comment is now closed. >> public comment may be closed, but our appreciation is very high. [applause] i now call item number 9, this is new business and announcements. this allows the commissioners to introduce new items for consideration to report on art activities and make announcements. am i seeing any? commissioner beltran. >> thank you president collins. i just want to announce that the annual design conference for san francisco, which is being produced by san francisco design week starts on

june 1 and just look it up [indiscernible] it is really when all the design community of the bay area present the presentations, host studio visits, it is a very exciting time for that field. particularly because there is a lot of ground-breaking design in the bay area. my project with san francisco university, which is the sustainable material library is going to be giving a talk and presentation on june 4, so really proud of my students who will be doing that. and then i'm also working on community art projects with east palo alto epicenter an amazing arts design education center just opened in the east palo alto and they are presenting a public art utility project opening day as well.

>> commissioner shiota. >> no. >> commissioner shelby. >> yes. couple things for those who like the blues and swing, also known as jazz variety. three things coming up. i always feel like a lazy artist next to you. all over the nation and world. may 30 through june 1, i'm also the artistic or curator for the half moon bay wine and jazz festival may 30 to june 1. there is one day i want to highlight because it is specific to san francisco. may 30 we are doing a harlem of the west presentation with musicians. just go to half moon bay wine and jazz festival website. you can get more information, but we'll bring the history to life. we will have the photo part

that-part of all that. then on june 4th, i will be interviewing terence blanchard at sf jazz discussing their upcoming season. their new season, the new residential art directors and this is kind of interesting because this will be the first time that terence put his stamp on sf jazz and their future direction. it is really exciting. i will say it will look a lot different, but it will be expansive and just terence is a incredible artists. he is connected with everybody so you will see a lot that coming through the center over-from here until-as long as he's there. that is june 4, sf jazz. and then heelsburg jazz, june

15-23 is summer festival. please go to the website if interested. talk to me. i'll hook you up. [indiscernible] i will hook you up in the right way. [laughter] >> no conflect of interest or ethic issues. but, yes. i'll tell you where the good gigs are. [indiscernible] josh redman. my band is playing with [indiscernible] lisa fisher. [indiscernible] a lot of groups, so go to the website and let me know if you see something that is interesting. just wanted to talk about those three things. >> commissioner beltran. >> thank you so much president collins. commissioner shelby, i want to offer congratulations, the heeldsburg jazz festival, brilliant when they made you the director of the festival

and that is a incredsable line up. we were talking about the symphony earlier and i want to put out a tip that expanding their programming, the san francisco symphony is now featuring partnering with famous artist and hosting concerts for the next year, and one of them is one of my favorites, john legend, so he will be playing with the symphony in july and encourage you all to get your tickets before it sells out. >> any further items for discussion? is there any public comment on this agenda item number 9, new business and announcements? >> there is no publicprint present to comment. public comment is closed. >> i now call item 10. this meeting is adjourned. [meeting adjourned]

[music] >> my name is lana.

i am part owner of the excelsior coffee. my roll with excelsior coffee is pretty much the [indiscernible] i do a lot of the back-end operating procedures and a lot of customer front facing, a lot of customer outreach, naerbd outreach, but for the most part the coffee is it driving force of the community. i have been here in the excelsior district for 11 years. the idea behind excelsior coffee spouted 6 years ago out of the need for community space and coffee. excelsior coffee to me is a cornerstone of the neighborhood. next to this iconic mural on excelsior along with the legacy businesses. we decided that this corner of san francisco on the southeast side of the mission is the place we like to

be. i know you see a lot of eththetics of motorcycles behind us. a lot of people ask, what's up with the motorcycles behind you? motorcycle and classic cars are a big yite of our upbringing so the idea was to connect to this neighborhood from classic cars to low riders to motorcycles and my husband is is a high school teacher that teaches automotives and history. we love the history of motorcycle engineer and design. for us it was more like a talking point and connection. honoring that and that is also the driving force between who we are and the make-up. i think what separates from other coffee shops is that, we are serving a community that has been here for a decade before us, and i think

it is really special that there is a vortex of non english speaking communities here. between my husband and i, we represent many cultures. i'm [indiscernible] he is black, his mexican and through our cultures is how we connect with people in the excelsior. to speak their languages, and i think honoring our culture background through coffee and pastry. excelsior coffee, we are at 4495 mission street on mission and excelsior in the excelsior district. call excelsior coffee in your face excelsior. we are open 7:30 to 4 p.m. for now. [laughter]

>> i don't think you need to be an expert to look around and see the increasing frequency of fires throughout california. they are continuing at an ever-increasing rate every summer, and as we all know, the drought continues and huge shortages of water right now. i don't think you have to be an expert to see the impact. when people create greenhouse gases, we are doing so by different activities like burning fossil fuels and letting off carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and we also do this with food waste. when we waste solid food and leave it in the landfill, it puts methane gas into the atmosphere and that accelerates the rate at which we are warming our planet and makes all the effects of climate change worse. the good news is there are a lot of things that you can be doing, particularly composting and the added benefit is when the

compost is actually applied to the soil, it has the ability to reverse climate change by pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and into the soil and the t radios. and there is huge amount of science that is breaking right now around that. >> in the early 90s, san francisco hired some engineers to analyze the material san francisco was sending to landfill. they did a waste characterization study, and that showed that most of the material san francisco was sending to landfill could be composted. it was things like food scraps, coffee grounds and egg shells and sticks and leaves from gardening. together re-ecology in san francisco started this curbside composting program and we were the first city in the country to collect food scraps separately from other trash and turn them

into compost. it turns out it was one of the best things we ever did. it kept 2.5 million tons of material out of the landfill, produced a beautiful nutrient rich compost that has gone on to hundreds of farms, orchards and vineyards. so in that way you can manage your food scraps and produce far less methane. that is part of the solution. that gives people hope that we're doing something to slow down climate change. >> i have been into organic farming my whole life. when we started planting trees, it was natural to have compost from re-ecology. compost is how i work and the soil biology or the microbes feed the plant and our job as regenerative farmers is to feed the microbes with compost and they will feed the plant. it is very much like in business where you say take care of your employees and your employees

will take carolinas of your customers. the same thing. take care of the soil microbes and soil life and that will feed and take care of the plants. >> they love compost because it is a nutrient rich soil amendment. it is food for the soil. that is photosynthesis. pulling carbon from the atmosphere. pushing it back into the soil where it belongs. and the roots exude carbon into the soil. you are helping turn a farm into a carbon sink. it is an international model. delegations from 135 countries have come to study this program. and it actually helped inspire a new law in california, senate bill 1383. which requires cities in california to reduce the amount of compostable materials they send to landfills by 75% by 2025. and san francisco helped inspire this and this is a nation-leading policy. >> because we have such an

immature relationship with nature and the natural cycles and the carbon cycles, government does have to step in and protect the commons, which is soil, ocean, foryes, sir, and so forth. -- forest, and so fors. we know that our largest corporations are a significant percentage of carbon emission, and that the corporate community has significant role to play in reducing carbon emissions. unfortunately, we have no idea and no requirement that they disclose anything about the carbon footprint, the core operation and sp360 stands for the basic notion that large corporations should be transparent about the carbon footprint. it makes all the sense in the world and very common sense but is controversial. any time you are proposing a policy that is going to make real change and that will change behavior because we know that when corporations have to disclose and be transparent and

have that kind of accountability, there is going to be opposition. >> we have to provide technical assistance to comply with the state legislation sb1383 which requires them to have a food donation program. we keep the edible food local. and we are not composting it because we don't want to compost edible food. we want that food to get eaten within san francisco and feed folks in need. it is very unique in san francisco we have such a broad and expansive education program for the city. but also that we have partners in government and nonprofit that are dedicated to this work. at san francisco unified school district, we have a sustainability office and educators throughout the science department that are building it into the curriculum. making it easy for teachers to teach about this. we work together to build a pipeline for students so that

when they are really young in pre-k, they are just learning about the awe and wonder and beauty of nature and they are connecting to animals and things they would naturally find love and affinity towards. as they get older, concepts that keep them engaged like society and people and economics. >> california is experiencing many years of drought. dry periods. that is really hard on farms and is really challenging. compost helps farms get through these difficult times. how is that? compost is a natural sponge that attracts and retains water. and so when we put compost around the roots of plants, it holds any moisture there from rainfall or irrigation. it helps farms make that corner and that helps them grow for food. you can grow 30% more food in times of drought in you farm naturally with compost. farms and cities in california are very hip now to this fact

that creating compost, providing compost to farms helps communities survive and get through those dry periods. >> here is the thing. soil health, climate health, human health, one conversation. if we grow our food differently, we can capture all that excess carbon in the atmosphere and store it in unlimited quantities in the soil, that will create nutrient dense foods that will take care of most of our civilized diseases. so it's one conversation. people have to understand that they are nature. they can't separate. we started prowling the high plains in the 1870s and by the 1930s, 60 year, we turned it into a dust bowl. that is what ignorance looks like when you don't pay attention to nature. nature bats last. so people have to wake up. wake up. compost. >> it is really easy to get

frustrated because we have this belief that you have to be completely sustainable 24/7 in all aspects of your life. it is not about being perfect. it is about making a change here, a change there in your life. maybe saying, you know what? i don't have to drive to that particular place today. today i am going to take the bus or i'm going to walk. it is about having us is stainable in mind. that is -- it is about having sustainability in mind. that is how we move the dial. you don't have to be perfect all the time. >> san francisco has been and will continue to be one of the greener cities because there are communities who care about protecting a special ecosystem and habitat. thinking about the history of the ohlone and the native and indigenous people who are stewards of this land from that history to now with the ambitious climate action plan we just passed and the goals we have, i think we have a dedicated group of people who see the importance of this

place. and who put effort into building an infrastructure that actually makes it possible. >> we have a long history starting with the gold rush and the anti-war activism and that is also part of the environmental movement in the 60s and 70s. and of course, earth day in 1970 which is huge. and i feel very privileged to work for the city because we are on such a forefront of environmental issues, and we get calls from all over the world really to get information. how do cities create waste programs like they do in san francisco. we are looking into the few which you are and we want innovation. we want solutions.

>>ime i half chinese and half thai and born in thailand. this is his majesty, a picture of my late king. his majesty, he pass away in 2016. the reason why i still have his portrait is to remind me of the amazing thing he has done for thailand. how he ruled the country with love and lead with passion. his legacy and philosophy in life is one i want to live by. when i moved to america, i became exposed to many more cultures.

something else--[indiscernible] with chinese thai. i enjoy making connections with other people. happy aapi heritage month, san francisco. asian pride. >> we think over 50 thousand permanent residents in san francisco eligible for citizenship by lack information and resources so really the project is not about citizenship but really academy our immigrant community. >> making sure they're a part of what we do in san francisco the san francisco pathway to citizenship initiative a unique part of just between the city and then our 5 local foundations and community safe organizations and it really is an effort to

get as many of the legal permanent residents in the san francisco since 2013 we started reaching the san francisco bay area residents and 10 thousand people into through 22 working groups and actually completed 5 thousand applications for citizenship our cause the real low income to moderate income resident in san francisco and the bayview sometimes the workshops are said attend by poem if san mateo and from sacking. >> we think over restraining order thousand legal permanent residents in san francisco that are eligible for citizenship but totally lack information and they don't have trained professionals culturally appropriate with an audience

you're working with one time of providing services with pro bono lawyers and trained professionals to find out whether your eligible the first station and go through a purview list of questions to see if they have met the 56 year residents arrangement or they're a u.s. citizenship they once they get through the screening they go to legal communication to see lawyers to check am i eligible to be a citizen we send them to station 3 that's when they sit down with experienced advertising to fill out the 4 hundred naturalization form and then to final review and at the

end he helps them with the check out station and send them a packet to fill and wait a month to 6 weeks to be invited in for an oral examine and if they pass two or three a months maximum get sworn in and become a citizen every single working groups we have a learning how to vote i mean there are tons of community resources we go for citizenship prep classes and have agencies it stays on site and this is filing out forms for people that are eligible so not just about your 22 page form but other community services and benefits there's an economic and safety public benefit if we nationalize

all people to be a citizen with the network no objection over $3 million in income for those but more importantly the city saves money $86 million by reducing the benefit costs. >> thank you. >> i've been here a loventh i already feel like an american citizen not felt it motorbike that needs to happen for good. >> one day - i pledge

allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, for liberty and justice for all. >> you're welcome. >> (singing). >> (clapping.) >> introduce the san francisco field officer director ribbon that will mirror the oath raise your hand and repeat the oath i hereby declare on oath repeating. >> citizens cry when they become citizenship to study this difficult examine and after two

trials they come back i'm an american now we're proud of that purpose of evasion so help me god please help me welcome seven hundred and 50 americans. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> she wants to be part of the country and vote so much puppy. >> you know excited and as i said it is a long process i think that needs to be finally recognized to be integrated that is basically, the type of that i see myself being part of. >> out of everybody on tv and

the news he felt that is necessary to be part of community in that way i can do so many things but my voice wouldn't count as it counts now. >> it's everybody i hoped for a bunch of opportunities demographics and as you can see yourself there's a good life for everyone. >> that's why. >> you have people from all the walks that life and they're standing in water 8 hours to be an american citizen and

contribute to the city and that's really what makes this worthwhile. >> ♪♪ ♪♪

>> can we have roll call, please. >> president paulson, here. rivera, here. ajami, here. stacey, here. you have a quorum. >> thank you. i would like to note the san francisco public utilities commission acknowledge it owns i stewards of the lands located within the historic -mission san jose band of al mead ow county. also recognizes every citizen residing within the greater bay area has and continues to benefit from the use and occupation of the oholone tribes aboriginal lands since before and after the san francisco public utility founding. it is important we recognize the history in the tribal lands