department to hold the public work on this. thank you. >> i have been involved in numerous community open space and planning issues. we need to be environmentally healthy as well as economically healthy as a city. i'm concerned this legislation would move us away from that balance. while i do echo some of the comments earlier that the ceqa process -- the whole planning process, for that matter -- merits some streamlining. i'm concerned what this will streamline is a path to exemptions on a much more frequent basis. please reject it or take it back for further review. thank you. supervisor maxwell: all right, any further public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. we will continue this item for at least a month, and you will have an opportunity at that time for more public comment, and,

supervisor chiu, do you have closing comments? supervisor chiu: obviously, there are many members of the community, including members of this board, that are still trying to understand the changes that were made. ms. rodgers just laid out the 11 changes that were made, and i would love to see that in a document that needs to be disseminated to the public. the suggestion of having more public comment on this makes sense. there was work done before the commission, but now that it is you before the board, the importance of that i think cannot be underestimated, so i look forward to working with supervisor alioto-pier's office and planning. the concerns that were raised i think are well founded, and we have to figure out how not to throw the baby out with the bathwater as we try to figure out a way to improve the legislation without gutting would have been important

protections for the community. >> on behalf of supervisor alioto-pier, i want to thank members of the public and commit the our city is available. i think a continued sometime in october to a date certain would be great. we look forward to working with everybody to approve this between now and then. supervisor maxwell: thank you. why don't we look at the calendar? we have a holiday coming up on october 11. >> october 18 and october 26 will be the third and fourth. supervisor maxwell: why don't we set october 25? we will continue this item until october 25. all right, items 6. >> item 6, ordinance amending

the health code to set nutritional standards for restaurant food sold accompanied by toys or other youth-focused incentive items. supervisor mar: thank you. there are two parents who are also community leaders that have to leave soon, and i want to ask that if they are in the overflow room, to come forward. both are with the bayview hunters point food guardians. if they could come forward, and if there are many children and teachers that i know that are here, i think they should come forward as well because i hope they could be at the top of the agenda, so i'm going to do my best to thank everyone for coming forward to testify today on our healthy meal child of the city ordinance in san francisco, and you can probably see that i

am someone that consumes fast food. the taco bell/kfc at 6th and geary probably knows me by name because in there all the time. i do want to say that this ordinance is really about the most important thing that i do as a supervisor. there's nothing more important than the help of our children, and that motivates me to create with supervisors chiu and campos this ordinance. the epidemic of obesity in this country is making people sick, particularly our children, and it is like staggering rates. toys like shrek, captain america, spongebob are toys i found in my daughter's toy chest, and she let me bring them

here, but these are used as incentives to entice children to mills that are way too high in fat and calories. our ordinance is a very modest effort to support our parents in san francisco, teachers, and kids efforts to choose more nutritious options for their children by timed toy giveaways to healthier meals. i just also wanted to say that my daughter also helped me redecorate a happy meal box. the tag on this is, "happy meals helps kids." my daughter put a couple of things on here that i thought were very creative. one of the mansion's diabetes, which i will talk about in the second. another talks about a healthy food, and this definitely has the parent seal of approval. i, as one parent, give it back -- give it that.

i am somebody that's in modest portions buys happy meals for my daughter, but even she is becoming more aware of the obesity epidemic. i want to say also that i want to thank my friend and colleague from the santa clara county board of supervisors and all the parents and health advocates in santa clara county for their good work just south of us, but our measure will impact many more restaurants and businesses and will have an impact on creating a healthier choices in the industry and san francisco. i would also like to thank our department for their tremendous work. i see our deputy director that has been so supportive in developing legislation went to national standards. i also wanted to say that our measure is very modest. it provides that in order to

attach an incentive item like a toy or one of these things, the meals must contain fruits and vegetables, not exceed 600 calendars, and not have measures excessive in fat and sugar. very basic nutritional standards if you want to give a toy or incentive item. there is nothing more important than the health of our children. i also wanted to give a personal point of view because i think i am most effective when i speak from my heart. i told a number of parents earlier that i am not exaggerating when i say childhood obesity is an epidemic, and it is also a life or death situation. i see rolling of eyes by some of the fast food representatives here, but i will just take it is an epidemic, and to me, it is life or death. i walk my kids to school today. i made her a healthy meal. i bike with her on sundays, and

i'm very lucky i made a healthy lunch for her to date to know that she will know more about helping launches in her life, but i know that hundreds of thousands of kids in san francisco, oakland, and richmond do not have that same kind of access, and many children live in what our first lady calls food deserts' -- areas that do not have access to healthy food environments. that is why parents and community-faced officials are organizing for what i would call an emerging food justice movement for better choices and to hold fast food accountable as well. i see our modest healthy meal child obesity ordinance as just one step as part of a broader effort to create those environments and to educate our young people. food environments today are in equitable, and as some of the speakers will show, african- americans are three times more likely to be obese, and latinos

are twice as likely to be obese as the average, and i often give the data to show that i am not exaggerating as well back the obesity epidemic has led to one in four adults today who are obese, and some studies say it is more like one in three, and the prevalence for obesity in children my daughter's age have quadrupled since 1979, since the advent of the kid's meal with the toy attached to it. it is largely, again, because of the marketing and the lack of access for many kids to lack of options. other studies show very clearly a causal connection between the proximity to a fast-food restaurant and the level of obesity, especially in a low- income community. again, nothing is more important than the health of our children. other studies i have seen that i think are extremely legitimate,

and we will hear anducsf and the center for childhood obesity at yale and a number of experts from health advocacy organizations later that it is life or death because 8 to 10 years of your life are chopped off by obesity in this country. it is similar to tobacco-related health, and i will just say that obese and overweight and kids with diabetes live eight to 10 years less than those that do not have those same problems. the last point i will make before hopefully hearing from our department of public health officials in how we created basic nutritional standards for what we are proposing to come up over half of the u.s. population today is overweight. some studies say it is 68%, so that is 2/3 or more of people in the u.s., and it is expanding with the quadrupling of my kid was the age group of obie's

kids, and the life span is eight to 10 years shorter again than the average life span of a non- obese person. again, it is a life or death issue. one thing i have noticed in the last couple weeks -- and i have been meeting with officials in the fast-food industry, but i have noticed full-page advertisements down, push polling, probably $30,000 or more, to spread a certain message to voters. i have also seen bogus parent- created web sites and youtube videos by toy marketers that i have seen sprout up, not coincidentally, i think, but it is a $5.5 billion industry of toys with fast-food meals and $1.2 billion -- 1.2 billion meals in 2009, so again, it is

a $5.5 billion industry we are talking about. that is why hundreds of thousands of dollars of new york lawyers, lobbyists, and the kind of media barrage we are seeing to mislead and spin the issues, but i will repeat that this is an issue of equity and social justice for our community. it is totally in the spirit of the first lady and other efforts of grassroots activism to create healthier choices for our neighborhoods. my last point our that the u.s. surgeon general also is focusing on reducing the child obesity crisis in our country, and he is raising concerns that high blood pressure and wheat-related conditions like type ii diabetes, which has -- as a practicing physician he says he used to see only in adults, but he is seeing more and more in children, and if the childhood

obesity epidemic remains unchecked, he says it will condemn many of our kids to shorter lives as well as the emotional and financial burdens off for health. that is why i say there's nothing more important than our children. this is a modest effort that will help create healthier choices for our children and families. to wrap up, i wanted to say that this legislation encourages the restaurants in san francisco, including fast food restaurants that offer on healthier meals, to offer healthier options with incentive toys. the examples i have up here are based on the joy that my daughter has had in dragging me to mcdonald's and burger king, talk about, and kfc, but i am

someone who is a consumer, but i think the least that the industry can do is create healthier standards that need basic nutritional standards for our kids. it is about the future of our children and our community posey held as well. i just wanted to thank you for coming out, and i look forward to the discussion today. before we call up the deputy director of our department of public health, supervisor maxwell, can we call a couple of parents that need to leave and open up for public comment right now? many parents that have come out or children not want to speak on the issue. i know there are a number of them. -- children that want to speak on the issue. thank you so much for waiting. i know you have to leave very soon.

i mentioned i mentionedjameela -- i mentioned earlier that jameela from the food guardians had to leave. >> i live in san francisco, and i work in the bayview and hunters point district. i urge you to support the healthy foods incentive, and here are my reasons why -- research analyzing children's meals at major restaurant chains found that many that exceed the recommended calorie intake in the study came with toys. this is very difficult for me as a mother of four. every day when passing by my dolls, -- passing by mcdonald's, we have to throw something over my daughter's eyes. she sees the sun coming gets

excited, and throws a tantrum. this is overwhelming and time consuming and traumatizing for my daughter. she already has a chronic illness -- asthma. she is at risk for type ii diabetes. this is traumatizing, and she wants that way, and the toy that comes in that unhealthy happy meal becomes a price for the community as a whole. diabetes can result in a loss of 10 or 15 years of life, as stated by the centers of disease control and prevention. overall, the problem has a domino effect, and it takes a toll on the parents with the nonstop in emergency business, and affecting their everyday life and well-being. it is the responsibility of the community to make a voice to speak against the health disparities in the community. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you so

much. ms. marshall. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is jessica marshall. i am a food guardian. i am here to urge you to support the healthy food initiative ordinance. as a food guardian, we encourage healthy eating lifestyles and work on food dressing. our communities are suffering from obesity, diabetes, anemia like myself, and other diet- related issues that keep me and my community at risk of having poor health and lower quality of life. fast food ads are aimed at our children all day. someone should be responsible for making a healthier option available for the kids. i would like the choice to come with a healthy meal to encourage healthy eating habits for our children so that children can

make better choices as they grow on what they choose to eat. please support this order is for our children -- support this ordinance for our children to leave more active, better lives. mar --supervisor mar: were there any other parents here that have to leave? i want to continue to say that i have given out four minor amendments in language, and at the end, my hope is that we continue this for one week so we can have even more input from the industry, but also from neighborhoods and health advocate. the minor amendments i will just read into the record are -- what is we have removed all references to a single food items so it is focused on the meal itself. before i get to these young food

guardians and their teacher, the second amendment is in line with the usda standards, but also influenced by the institutes of medicine recommendation, but we have decreased the number or the amount of vegetables from 3/4 of a cup of vegetables to the usda requirement, i believe, of 0.5 cups of vegetables. that is on page eight, line three. the third is because vegetables may not typically be served at breakfast -- and i know that is a high of one for me and my kids -- we added the language that it could be 0.5 cups of fruit or vegetables, so it could be either/or fruits or vegetables at breakfast time. the fourth amendment is a minor one, and i thank the industry for adding that one, that we add the will to grain requirement, a suggestion that our department

of health officials were in agreement with, so even making it a healthier, happier effort and meal. we have a number of young voices that are here, and we also have their brave teacher, eileen woods. what i was most impressed with are the young people and how bright and intelligent, and they are the new leaders of the future. ms. woods, could i just ask for you to comment? >> i have been a parent for over two decades and a teacher for nearly three, four children in grades preschool through high school. there's a lot of truth to the saying you are what you eat. if we care about children and their education, we should care about what they put into their bodies.

i have seen firsthand house to the behavior, energy, and attitudes decline after eating fast-food meals. they do not function well in the classroom or a playground after such a meal. after such a mill, students are lethargic and apathetic or high wire and disrupted from the sugar. children are bombarded with messages about healthy food from the time they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night, so much of it is centered on toy giveaways. we have had to un-teach the healthy eating get -- the on healthy eating habits of our students that have become hooked on junk food. combining an unhealthy food with a toy reward undermines the efforts of educators to teach children healthier eating habits for healthier lifestyles. i taught one african-american seventh-grade girl already of these by age 12 who was enticed by the affordability, convenience, and 20 reward

offered by mcdonald's. if she was not absent from school with a stomach ache, she was late with her egg mcmuffin, looking forward to her mcdonald's dinner. she slept during class. the price seems right for a toy and a quick meal until the cost of her health became like that in theory disadvantaged by poverty, she and her mother were easy prey for the fast-food industry. there is no such thing as a free meal. while you may not pay a lot of the counter, you pay in health- related diseases symptomatic of a fast-food diet. this girl with tremendous potential may never realize the. i am here with my students who came to show their concern about this important social justice children's health issue. supervisor mar: thank you so much. i really appreciate all the children here as well. >> they're just here to remind

us that it is their bodies, and it is our future. supervisor mar: thank you. there is another group of mothers and parents that are here that say they have to leave. i think they are in the overflow room as well. [reading names] a number of them are from the women's collective of la raza central. hillary ronan is from supervisor david campos' office. thank you very much, gracias,

for being here. >> [speaking spanish] >> i have worked for over 20 years in the community. i think this legislation is very important, especially for black teen mothers. i work with latino mothers and families to get home and are very tired and purchase fast food. >> [speaking spanish]

>> as immigrant families with little time, we run to the first food that we can find, and often times, this food is fast food. we are finding our children are every day more and more obese. we support this legislation that is co-bonds of by supervisors mar, chiu and campos so that our children have access to a healthier foods. >> gracias. supervisor mar: thank you. >> thank you. >> [speaking spanish]

>> i am a member of the women's collective. i want to thank supervisors mar, chiu, and campos for

sponsoring the legislation. i am obese, and i do not want my children to come obese. i want our children to have access to salads instead of hamburgers, to fruit, to milk. we oftentimes have only access to fast foods, and especially foods that offer toys because these are the type of toys we are able to afford for our children, but we want these toys to come with healthy foods. supervisor mar: thank you. >> [speaking spanish]

>> hello, thank you. i urge you to support this legislation, especially for people like me, single mothers. we want options. we often have no choice but to feed our children mcdonald's and burger king. we want there to be healthy food options at these places. we want more nutritious food. it is not that we do not want to cook in our homes, but oftentimes, we are working so hard and so late that we have no

choice but to get fast food. we see that our children are getting fatter, and at the same time, they are also anemic, so we are hoping there is change, that we add more nutritious options. >> [speaking spanish] >> thank you so much for taking and caring about our children. thank you also to