for your kind diligence and effort in trying to establish meaningful regulations for the medical marijuana community, as well as the greater community at large. second, happy halloween. i came to rest today to reflect the fact that not only am i if- annise de -- am i a fashionista, but i am a patient also. we are put under a lot of stress for what we do. any help is much appreciated. the movement began here, so i feel is up to us to lead the way, to make sure that what we do here is meaningful, because the whole nation is watching what we do. again, i would thank you. i know that your powers are limited, that you cannot rein in the federal government. and until the patient's join together with the class-action lawsuit against the federal government, i do not really

think that things are going to change. thank you. [applause] supervisor avalos: thank you very much. next speaker, please. if there are no other speakers -- anyone else who wants to speak, please come forward. thank you. >> good morning. i am a patient advocate. i am also a part of the 99%. my comment is that directly to the federal government. we have a lot of low-income disabled veteran patients that are going without, and we stand here today to make sure that does not continue. i have been sleeping at occupysf for the last couple of days, and i see patients literally hurting because there is no safe access. we need the safe access. this is not a drug. this is not a prescription. this is life-saving medicine.

we needed to get to the patients in the people who desperately needed. thank you for your support and your help, but we need to do a lot more. it takes all of the san francisco. it does not just take the advocates to stand up for the people. it is all of san francisco. all of san francisco is here. listen to us. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. i have a couple more cards. you want to use the one to your right. you can use the microphone to your right, because that was not on. >> hello. first, i want to thank all you supervisors for helping us. it is just wrong for the federal government to table people's votes and just throw it away, disregarded. we voted for prop 215. we won.

we should not be having this problem with the federal government and nobody else. i want to thank you all for your support. keep our madison. thank you very much. [applause] >> hello. my name is theresa. i am a healer in an illegal -- legal secretary peter i am a member of the access of love. i used to buy my medical marijuana illegally. it was a lot more money. i was pretty scared. when i finally got my doctor's prescription, i had a big sigh of relief. i am looking for the federal is. they're looking for us. we're looking for them. i want to know why we're having to be so afraid in this city peter i am scared. it is stressful. business owners that the can of this dispensaries are under a lot of stress. you guys do not realize what they are taking on for us. so any harm that comes to any

dispensaries in this town, like in divinity tree, there are supporters. they're the ones that are giving us the madison. i would like to grow it myself. can someone help me do that? i have got my landlord on my back. i need that for my dispensary. and i do not get my medication, i am concerned. i will fight the federal government. i have learned from the leaders in the cannabis committee not to start here in city government. i got recorded on the radio saying not only is this a local city issue, a state issue, but ultimately the federal government is the pressing cannabis. we need to address the federal government. who is going to help us? [applause] supervisor avalos: next speaker, please. >> i am and medical patient peter i am speaking for people that cannot speak english or the american language.

we need that medical marijuana. i am a patient. thank you. gracias. [applause] >> good morning peter i am from divinities tree. it is so encouraging to hear the patience speak. i want to remind you folks -- thank you very much for considering this resolution. no, i view this as an attack on landlords and agents and an attack on the board. i think the board came up with great rules and regulations for dispensaries, and is really a model. that was in 2005. i hope you will stand up to the department of justice. i think it is another tired attack on san francisco values. thank you. [applause] supervisor avalos: thank you very much.

next speaker, please. >> hello. i am a patient advocate. i would like to say thank you for your time, first of all. second, i would like to say that safe access is no access if you cannot properly medicaid without the federal peppermint cracking down on the dispensaries, collectives, and co-ops, and people with low incomes and disability. please, doj, stand down. i urge you. people in high places, please protect medical cannabis. thank you very much. [applause] supervisor avalos: thank you. if there are no other members of the public who would like to comment -- anyone else, please

come forward. >> how low. i just wanted to quickly say that i mirror the sentiment of my colleagues. thank you. supervisor avalos: ok. seen no other member of the public who would like to comment on item number one, we will close public comment. supervisor campos, any other comments? ok. this is before us. can we move it forward with recommendations and take that without objection? this will be moving forward as a committee report to tomorrows full board meeting. very good. thank you very much. [applause] madam clerk, please call item number two. >> item two, resolution supporting the occupy wall street protest movement and urging major lead to a poll people's right to peaceful assembly and collaborate with occupysf to ensure the safety of

the protesters, their supporters, and a greater public and the city and county of san francisco. supervisor avalos: very good. thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, i want to thank you for your co-sponsorship for this resolution. supervisor campos, supervisor mar, supervisor chu, mirkarimi, kim, and supervisor winner. i am sorry. not the right one. scratch that. supervisor campos, supervisor kim, and supervisor mar. i wanted to buy for that co- sponsorship of this resolution does two things. it expresses support for the occupy wall street movement. it is something that i am wholeheartedly behind, especially in the expression of great frustration and concern about our economic system that for decades has been favoring

the 1% over the greater 99%. wheezy tax breaks and major corporations and businesses that do not pay their fair share in taxes. meanwhile, taxes are increased for every date people. we're losing our services that make our society much more meaningful. health care, education, affordable housing, and we need to speak with a greater voice about changing our economic system that can really benefit the many and not just the few. i have been very inspired by the expression of solidarity all around the world for the occupy wall street movement and the occupations happening all across this country, not just here in the bay area. this past month, i have been asked to intervene on a couple

of occasions for supporting the occupiey san francisco occupatin at 101 market street and at the plaza. the first time i was asked to intervene was on october 5. i got a phone call at about 11:30 p.m. at night. there was concern that the san francisco police department was going to come and remove people's belongings from the occupation on 101 market street. i have talked to the officer in charge. i also call the police chief. the police chief told me he would get back to me before any action was taken and then proceeded to ask the officers who were on duty, about 40 or 50 of them, to put on their helmets and take their batons and march in formation to work towards separating belongings from the actual protesters who were part of the occupysf movement.

i was alarmed about that. i expressed concern. to the chief of police that if he were to take action, the conflict of removing people's belongings could lead to violent confrontation, and wanted to avoid that. i also expressed concern that if we were to try and stop that the occupation from happening, we would see more people taking part in that. we saw that happen in oakland just last week when the oakland police department had moved against the occupation in oakland and led to huge by a confrontation were the police department was using tear gas and possibly other very dangerous tools to remove people from the occupation and also the

streets of oakland. that was a very costly response, and i believe that now we see oakland, after all this huge, you know, pressure -- and force from the police department, we see that the occupation in oakland is continuing. it is stronger and larger than it was before. i expressed that concern to our police chief in san francisco. i support the movement. it is not like it is necessarily a bad thing. but we have to figure out as a city how we're going to accommodate and work with and cooperate with this movement that is not just based here in san francisco but is based around the country and also at around the world. last wednesday night, october 26, and thursday morning, we had the occupation in justin herman plaza about 1000-strong. we had members of the board,

department heads, and many people in the city heard indications that the police was going to take action with forced to root move people from the plaza, citing concerns about sanitation and public safety and health concerns. and i saw that if there was going to be movement a police force to dislodge or attempt to dislodge the occupation, either when the occupation was standing together in a peaceful demonstration that it could lead to people getting hurt, could lead to the violence that could harm them. police officers would certainly our people and the public or part of the occupation movement. i also felt that is not the way that san francisco should be responding. san francisco, which has a huge history of free expression and free speech, just like around the bay area and berkeley as well. we have a city that has been demonstrating for years the ability to promote free speech.

a police force, moving with force against the occupation would be something that would be very harmful to overall -- our image of san francisco, as well as the inhabitants of the city. i have seen very mixed messages come out of the administration. that night, they said we had all indication there was use of force to dislodge us. the next day we hear, no, it was not about the police department moving against the occupation. it was only a training exercise. i do not believe -- no one gives any credibility to that expression that this was only a training exercise last wednesday and thursday night. we had real indication that forceful action was being considered, and we need better leadership than that. we need clear indication that as the occupation is here for the moment and here for a while, we have to be about to work in a flexible and open way with our

departments, cooperating with the people in the occupation to ensure safety and a healthy community that is there. so this resolution is calling upon that. and we will look at the comments -- we actually have supervisor mar who would like to express some comments and supervisor campos as well. supervisor mar: first, i want to thank supervisor avalos for his leadership and all the activists that have been part of occupysf and oakland as well. i apologize that i will have to leave in about 10 minutes to get to another meeting that was previously scheduled. i wanted to a knowledge that, like supervisor of a less and supervisor campos and supervisor jane kim, i have also been part of solidarity efforts in building support for the occupation. i have seen a transformation of the movements in the short four weeks that has been truly impressive from the website that is occupysf.com or you can

actually donate contributions to the organization to other efforts of solidarity from labor organizations. i do see others here that have been a part of this, giving support to the movement. it has also been significant that when supervisors campos, at the lows, kim, chu, and others were out with many of you in the audience that wednesday morning, we saw the growth of thousands of people there until 4:00 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. in the morning. being part of the general assembly, i have also seen incredible democracy. i think a lot of the slogans that this is what democracy looks like you do not really understand it until you're there participating in people's democracy of the occupied movements. i also want to say that i am impressed that in the meeting, a number of us were with a number of the leaders of occupysf,

labor, social justice, and clergy associations last thursday with the mayor's office, and there has been increasing communication with the choosing of even liaisons' with different organizations. that is a big step forward. there is better communication so we can stop a crackdown. at the resolutions like this are important symbolically. i hope we can pass this quickly and organize our communities. when supervisor at a los and i were at ocean beach in my district on saturday with thousands of people spelling out the 1%, there were many families from richmond and sunset. adding to read autonomous activities like that get more people involved. or when supervisor avalos, jane can, and i were in chinatown with hundreds of families which marched with the occupy chinatown action to join in solidarity with occupysf, that was an amazing ever to be more inclusive of the broadening movement as well. my hope is that this resolution, along with organizing our communities, helps to prevent a

crackdown, improves communication with nearly, the police chief, and other department heads, and we keep moving forward with what is on the occupysf website. do not believe the hype with the mainstream media and to get the messages coming out of the movement. i am proud to be a co-sponsor and support the efforts of supervisor avalos as well. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. i want to thank supervisor avalos for his leadership on this very important issue, not just recently back from the very beginning of this movement. i also wanted in my colleagues who came out to stand with occupysf. let me make a couple of points that i think need to be made. first of all, i know that a big issue that has been raised by both major quan and mayor lee has been the issue of tents and

how we do not want to set a precedent for tensts going up at occupysf. the reality is that a precedent for that happening has already been established. in -- from 1985 to 1995, the san francisco vigil did precisely what occupysf is going to do right now. in protest of the federal government inaction with respect to the aids epidemic, a number of sentences against camp out in front of the federal building, and not only did they have tenst, the head cards, mattresses, and furniture, and they were allowed to peacefully assemble, not just for a little bit, but there were actually there for 10 years. so that precedent is there. san francisco has a long history of respecting the right

of people to peacefully assemble, and i think that consistent with that history and that precedent, that we should allow occupysf to continue to do what they are doing, which quite frankly is something that in the end is not only good for all of our citizens, but is to get for the city and county of san francisco, which says part of the 1990's and has suffered tremendously from actions taking place on wall street. the second point, and let me say before i make this point that i appreciate the fact that there's more dialogue, and i encourage that the dialogue continues. but where i fundamentally disagree with the approach that has been taken by mayor quan and mayor lee, and it is interesting that the two mayors have taken similar positions is this notion that somehow it is ok for us to spend the very limited resources we have on police action. even though in san francisco we have not had an air raid, we had

a large number of police officers and mass that evening when the rate was expected. i can tell you that i wonder how much money was spent on overtime. i wonder how much money went into that. because as the supervisor for district 9, i know many places in my district that need more attention from the city. i would rather have our limited resources be spent on those neighborhoods, on those districts. i think that we have to be very wise about how we spend their resources, and i hope that we do not have a situation again where you have major quan and mayor lee essentially, i think, wasting resources that i think could be better spent elsewhere, at a time when every san franciscan need as much help as they can get to with that, thank you again for your resolution, and i hope this passes. supervisor avalos: thank you, supervisor campos.

i appreciate your comments about the cost to the city. with oakland, there are probably lawsuits that the city might be on the hook for as well. it is very costly, and we need to think about it in a wise way, how we will work with the occupation in a way that is going to be supportive and not blow out our budget and prevent us to carry out the other meaningful services that we have to carry out as a city and county. supervisor mar is going to be leaving. he is going to be replaced by supervisor jane kim. we're waiting for supervisor kim to come. we're going to open it up for public comment. in the meantime, supervisor mar will be replaced by supervisor kim. hopefully we do not have to break the meeting. benigno if you have to leave before and we will call a short recess. we will open it up for public comment.

i will call forward some cards. parted my voice, it is really shot right now. please come forward as your name is heard. gus feldman, rachel black, and we're now joined by supervisor jane kim. thank you, supervisor mar. supervisor jane kim is an official member of this committee now and will be able to vote on this measure. you want to use the microphone just to your right. there you go. one second. robert benson, michael goldman, adam varanofsky, and sean siemens. >> 32 job description supported by one operation -- [unintelligible]

operation batman and robin. nasa, fbi, cdc division of bomb squad, a k-9 units, poet, writer, songwriter, photographer, linguistic, counterinsurgency, hacker, consumers -- computer specialist, mother, musician, a comedian, a criminal specialist, spy, and former, officials, mathematician, a chemist, a key artists, stenographer, interior decorator, web designer, scientist, project on the batman and robin. bomb squad oversight committee, panel review, a private researcher, the analyst, engineer, actors, inventors, drivers, a retired police, chemist, teachers, contractors,

assassins, phone operators, computer specialists, security personnel, gamers, hackers, military personnel, spies, construction workers, network specialist, a student trainer's, attorneys, team leaders, supervisors, hot line, software specialist. [unintelligible] paid vacation two times a year. pensions. [bell rings] thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning, everybody. my name is gus, with local 10-1. i would like to start by thanking supervisors kim, supervisor avalos, supervisor mar, and supervisor campos for presenting us with this resolution today. i think it is clear what this resolution does. it calls on the other supervisors in the interim mayor to really assess how is that they want to interact with the

occupysf protests. supervisor avalos made a good point that no amount of tear gas, rubber bullets, stun grenades is going to displace us. as we saw in oakland when the police, the oakland police department, with the assistance of other law enforcement agencies, responded with that sort of force. all it is was invigorate in interest the protests. now protesters are there back in stronger numbers. if the concerns and objectives of the interim mayor and the other supervisors are, in fact, to address concerns of public health, to address concerns a public safety, the only way that it will be effectively achieve this through this resolution. it calls upon communicating directly on building up lines of communication between department heads, agency heads, and the protesters themselves. i think that we all feel confident that if those

conversations happen, we can see real, tangible solutions to address the concerns that make this. and to ensure the public safety is upheld and that the protesters have a free and safe space within which to practice their first amendment rights. i want to thank you also much. i want to say that we stand in strong support of this resolution. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. i have a few more cards. rachel, robert -- i read these already. please come forward. >> hello. my name is michael goldman. if not speaking on behalf of anybody but myself, and it is in terms of what i think is going on here could i am a member of occupysf. i have been occupying for a little while now. i think it is important to note that, first of all, the rights of occupation, the right of every human being to occupied

the earth is automatic, and the right of assembly is fundamental. we do not have constitutions and laws other than by virtue of the fact that people assembled and put those things together. when people assembled, that needs to be very much respected, and there's not a curfew at 10:00 p.m. or anytime for the people to assemble. it is a right that exist 24 hours a day, seven days a week. and the people in this movement are assembled 24 hours a day. some people might be sitting down, some lying down at any given time but it is one of my refund check away from having an assembly. that is always on going. it is wrong for the police or the public departments in this city to distract -- disrupted public as a book about the space that used to be a park is now an assembly space. in the case of 1939, the supreme court said that the parks and

the roads, whether public or private, have been helped by it memorial to these places for public assembly. when the public is assembled, that simply has to be respected. it does not mean we do not need to work together to create a situation that is healthy and safe for everyone. [bell rings] we need to do that. we need to get everybody on the same page, but not in a way where we're dictated with park codes and things that are not relevant to the public assembly space. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> hello. i have been in camp at occupysf since september 17, the constitution day. we have gone through a lot of ups and downs since then and have been raided by the police twice. i want to thank the supporters of this resolution, especially the seven public officials and major candidates that came out when the