matters to help the commission resolve controversies in their lives. carol will be able to hear cases involving police officers. she brings knowledge of how city commissions work, which will enhance effectiveness. finally, i understand if there is a time commitment, requiring weekly meetings. carol will put her best effort into this challenging position. i am confident she will. i am a native san franciscan who served as a rabbi nearly 40 years and several years on the human rights commission. as one who has deep respect for

our city and its future, i strongly recommend carol kingsley for the position. she will serve with wisdom and integrity. supervisor campos: thank you very much. would you like to add anything else? >> as her son, i know that as she takes on this commitment, she will be an incredible contribution and be very dedicated. supervisor campos: where are you going to college? >> tulane. supervisor campos: great school, great city. thank you very much. next speaker, please. good morning. >> members of the commission, supervisor mar, supervisor campos, and supervisor alioto- pier, my name is barry sherman.

i am a native san franciscan and have been a resident of district 2 for 27 years. thank you for allowing me the opportunity to express my support for the appointment of carol kingsley to serve on the san francisco police commission. i first met carol kingsley in 1981, where she and my wife were receiving their j.d. degrees. she met and married jack berman, a successful attorney. due to the tragic death of her husband, carol became a single mother when her son was 18

months old. she carefully reorganized her life to balance work with the responsibility of raising her son. in 1999, carol began what continues to be a successful mediation practice. carol and zack have become part of our extended family and i have had the opportunity to observe the way where carol nurtured and molded her son, also participating in civic responsibilities and activities. she has twice served as chairperson of the san francisco ethics commission, and is a founding member of the legal community against violence. zack is a talented musician

and avid cyclist who will commence his pre-med career at tulane university this fall. serving on the polcice commission requires time, listening, analysis, sound judgment and reasoning, as well as the ability to articulate thoughts and ideas to individuals and the public. carol kingsley possesses these skills. when she takes on something, she makes sure she is informed and understands the issue before making a decision or judgment. her integrity is beyond -- [buzzer] without question, mayor newsom could not have found a better person to serve on the police

commission. the people of san francsico will be fortunate to have carol kingsley. i urge the committee to support her appointment. may i read a short letter from my wife in support of ms. kingsley? supervisor campos: any objection? go ahead. >> to members of the rules committee, the honorable david campos, alioto-pier, mar -- as a resident of district 2, a business owner and attorney, i unequivocally recommend carol kingsley to the police commission. i have known her since graduation from law school in 1981.

carol is intelligent, a skilled analyst with good judgment and unwavering principles. she is tenacious and has a wonderful sense of humor. her commitment to whatever she tackles will make a difference to the police commission. i urge your support of carol kingsley to the appointment of police commission. supervisor campos: thank you very much. next spa-- speaker, please. >> good morning. my name is amy uruhara, and i am a long-time resident of san francisco. i have lived here since 1982 and have loved the city as long as i

can remember. i live in the haight asbury district and am a member of the civil service commission, an attorney, and friend of carol kingsley. i urge you to appoint her to the commission. her professional skills and integrity will be a commitment to the public good,ép and public service. she and i met through the woman lawyer's alliance, an organization created to provide free legal services and resources to the community. both of us, along with many other bay area alumni are -- have created a sisterhood.

we are now judges, business owners, professors, and community activists. while the alliance is no longer in existance, the legacy lives on. the alliance was responsible for establishing 3.15 of the san francisco code, which created the child care fund to increase the availability of child care for low and moderate-income households. the woman lawyer's alliance spearheaded two reading rooms at the hall of justice and superior court to serve criminal defendants and parties to action, so this is something as lawyers we wanted to serve

working families, and also the promotion of women of color to the bench along with other policies. carol's commitment is reflected also on her service at the ethics commission and in her work against gun violence. she was able to transform her personal tragedy to affect change in reducing gun violence not only in this city but through a national model assisting state and local government throughout the country. san francisco deserves the best in public service, and i know you already know she would be an outstanding member of the commission, so i urge you to support her.

>> next speaker, please. >> good morning. i am an attorney who has been working in san francisco for 20 years and tried to raise kids here, and i have had the privilege of working with jack berman and carol and been one of the co-founders of the advocacy center. you could not find anyone more qualified based on experience, but given my unique experience with carol and given the fact that for the first 10 years of my career i represented plaintiffs in misconduct cases, i asked what carol brings to

the board, her strengths in dealing with complicated questions. the first is to socrates, she understands going into the issue, but knows she knows nothing. she wants to learn. she is not coming in with the notion she has all the answers, and as commissioner, i believe that is a requirement. the other is she knows that if there is a complicated question, there is a simple answer that is wrong. she will be dealing with how to interface local sanctuary laws with requirements.

these are not easy issues, and carol knows, and she is willing to learn from the community to get a right answer. i have never met a person in my life with as much integrity as carol, and part of integrity is trying to get to the right answer with the right input from people. as an individual who lives in the city and is concerned about public safety, i couldn't think of another police commissioner. as a lawyer who has represented individuals on the wrong end of police abuse, i couldn't think of a better police commissioner. you need to confirm her. supervisor campos: thank you.

>> my name is juliet and i am the director of a national law center founded in the wake of the 101 california incident in 1993. i learned carol's husband was one of 8 shot in the massacre and that carol had responded by becoming a passionate advocate for gun control legislation. carol's skill as a lawyer and mediator, together with her calm and thoughtful temperment, make her ideal. she is smart, hardworking, conscientious, and conducts herself with integrity. it is a them that shows we have the same response to carol.

she is all too aware of the public safety needs of san franciscans and the value of a strong law enforcement community. she will be an outstanding addition, and i urge you to support her appointment. supervisor campos: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> i have been a resident of san francisco more than 30 years. i work in the financial district, and my wife runs a small business. i have known carol since shortly after her husband was shot and killed in the 101 california street massacre.

carol also happens to live just down the street from me, and we have both been involved in the forest hills homeowner association. carol's legal community has completed a significant update of our bylaws with regard to collection procedures and other matters. most of my contact with carol has been through our service on the board of the legal community against violence. i have served on the board since 2003 and am familiar. the recognition of the subject of this hearing, i should mention that lcav has designed a number of initiatives intended to support police. bans on assault weapons, 50-

caliber bullets and cop-killer bullets. stamping firearms and ammunition to help identify people responsible for drive-by shootings and other acts of violence. carol has made tremendous contributions to our organization by virtue of her dedication and professional skills. she specializes in mediation and conflict resolution. i have seen her in action, steering toward a reasonable consensus, but i have also seen her before her own views in a reasonable and forceful manner. i enthusiastically endorsed a nomination for the police commission. thank you very much. -- i enthusiastically endorse

her nomination for the police commission. thank you very much. >> good morning. my name is isabella grant. i m eight retired judges and served on the ethics commission with carol back in 1997-1998. i came to san francisco in 1953. i have had a very interesting time and the commission. i was a chairman for two terms. one of the things we did that we are proud of is making efforts to have hearings on public financing, which we did, we reported to the board of supervisors, put it on the

ballot and passed. carol has helped with the ethics commission, and she will make a wonderful police commissioner. thank you. supervisor campos: public comment is closed. supervisor alioto-pier. supervisor alioto-pier: i have some comments. clearly you are well-loved. [laughter] we obviously see all of the appointments that the mayor sends to us and in my opuinion they are good, but i don't usually get excited about anybod. -- anybody. when we got your application, i thought not only are we lucky to have someone so qualified,

but we have a mediator. i thought, how appropriate, and what a fabulous appointment. sio i am here today to support you. i wish you well. it is an interesting time out there right now for the police commission. chicago just passed a remarkable gun measure that got tossed out by the supreme court, and we have a lot of opportunities in front of us right now. it would be interesting to here. as police commissioner, you have tailored responsibility, but board members are always looking for ideas, and your experience

in your personal and professional life -- and the fact you sat on the ethics commission was also interesting. i would be interseted to hear what you see on the ethics commission today as opposed to back then, but i would welcome any ideas you have as to how to make san francisco a better place. the thing surrounding child care and women, one of my best friends sits on the bench right now and has twins and i remember her saying i can't believe you can manage it all, and i said you are on the bench and you just had twins. what are you talking about? that is perspective we need to have more, members who

understand the issues for men and for women. you know, women -- i won't go there, but i think it is a needed trait, so i am happy and thrilled to see you here and i would likewith this nomination. chairman campos: may we have a motion? supervisor mar, any other comments? let me simply add before we actually act on the motion that i have a special affinity for what happens on the police commission, having served as a member of the commission. and even though from time to time we have disagreed with appointments or nominations that the mayor has made on a number of bodies, i was very pleased and very happy to see this nomination because of the experience and the background that this individual brings. and i do think that she will be a great addition to the commission. we may not end up agreeing 100% of the time, but that's not

really the task of whether or not someone will be an excellent police commissioner. i do think that you have all the qualities you want -- the judgment, the experience, the fairness. i won't hold against you the fact that you moved out of my neighborhood, but that's fine. i look forward to working with you. i would simply ask that you try to use the resources that you have here in city hall because more often than not we are going to be on the same page. so i am very happy and proud to support the motion. so if we can take that without objection. [gavel] thank you very much. congratulations. and thinke all the speaker who's came -- thank you to all the speakers who came out on this item. thank you. madam clerk, if you can please call item 4. >> item 4, hearing to consider

the proposed initiative ordinance, "ordinance amending the of is 16 police code by adding section 168 to promote civil sidewalks." chairman campos: great. thank you very much. this is an item that has been introduced by mayor gavin newsome. and under the law we are required to have a hearing on it. is there someone from the mayor or the police department who is here to present on this item? [no audio] ok. well, this is an item that at least was introduced as a legislation. it's referred to in a number of ways. in this case it's identified as civil sidewalks.

others call it sit-lie. clearly this has something that has received a lot of attention in the last few months. i do think it's unfortunate that there is no one here from the mayor's office to present this item given that the mayor is the one who will be putting this item on the ballot. there are two things i will say about this item. one, i recognize that there are concerns that a number of individuals throughout the city, but especially in the neighborhood have expressed and that it is those concerns that are the impetus for this legislation. the need to do something. do we have here mr. king? so we do have someone from the mayor's office.

>> yes, i do i'm a little out of breath from running over from the last building. chairman campos: items are called out of order all the time, so. >> so, some folks may wonder why we're here on this issue since it has been heard before. i'll briefly explain. back in 2007 voters passed proposition c which amended our charter to require public notice of items before they were placed on the ballot so that nothing would be placed there at the last minute. this hearing serves as notice that this item will be on the ballot in november. it's not an action item. in short, just to review because we have discussed this before. the goal of the order instance

to promote sidewalks that are safe and clear, lying down and sitting down. not the customary use of public sidewalks. right now there's no law that squarely addresses the issue of a person who decides to lie down on a sidewalk for hours at a time. since we've discussed this at length, i don't really have anything to add to the record. chairman campos: mr. king, thank you for coming to the meeting. as you indicated, there has been a hearing on this item before. and one quick question that comes up with respect to that item. during first hearing a number of questions came up, including the very basic question that the mayor's office was not able to articulate the conduct that it was actually trying to prohibit. and it was surprising and quite disappointing to us that

following that hearing the second time -- at the second hearing, there was no precedence on the part of the mayor's office which was not our understanding of how we would proceed given that a number of questions came up that were not answered. so i'm wondering if given that you have had a lot more time to think about this, if can you now, a few weeks later, identify after all the very basic conduct that it is you're trying to go after. >> as i mentioned a moment ago there's no law that squarely addresses the issue of someone who lies down on a sidewalk. it's not a conventional or customary use of a sidewalk. we've been over this before. you and i have discussed it in

your office. it's been explained by the city attorney. it's been explained by the district attorney and me. i don't think we're going to reach a greater understanding here today. and just for the record, that was the third hearing that you spoke about just a moment ago that we did attend. so for the record, this has been before the board now on three separate occasions in 2010. for a total of over 12 hours of discussion and hearings. i did articulate the issues at length, the constitutional issues, the cost issues. you've heard from me in writing. you've heard from me in person. you have the legislation before you. which speaks for itself on its face. you've heard from the police. you've heard from the city attorney and a confidential

memo to the supervisors and to the mayor. you've heard from the mayor of a city that has its ordinance in place already and testified to its utility there. you've heard from the sheriff, the district attorney. the controller has yet to weigh in. but i expect when he does, he will note that there is no substantial cost, if any, to implementing this which is great in these budget times in a week when we've seen 80 layoffs of police officers in oakland and are facing a substantial budget deficit next year and for god knows how many years to come. so i should also note that supervisor alioto-pier, you've heard from her as a sponsor. you've heard from members of the public in letters and in public comment, articulating their frustration with the deficiencies in existing law. and you've heard from state courts and federal courts as well. soit