year from full to provisional. these extreme delays can prevent family members from reaching closure in the loss of their loved ones and can delay their ability to resolve issues with insurance and retirement funds. i have actually heard from a couple of constituents who have been waiting in this backlog for news of the official death certificates of loved ones and i can't imagine how much anguish this could cause a family. therefore, i am calling for a hearing to review the backlog in the medical examiner's office, their staffing levels, and what steps can be taken to expedite the resolution of these pending cases. that's my item for submission. >> thank you, supervisor avalos. supervisor breed. >> thank you. i have a few in memoriams that i want to submit today. one is very personal to me. [speaker not understood] who sadly was killed on december

1st. some of you might have read the story in the paper about the playstation 4 and the situation surrounding that. but this kid was an amazing young man. he participated in programs at the african-american art and culture complex. he was always my helper. he was always -- he he always listened. he was always the one to get some of the younger kids to behave ~ and he comes from an amazing family. mom, dad, brother, sister, and folks in the community loved him. so, what happened to [speaker not understood], he he was one of the kids that when you think about -- when i think about a lot of the kids that i've worked with over the years, he was the kid that i was never

worried about because i always felt he would be okay. and to have something like this happen to someone like ikenna is one of the saddest things that anyone could ever experience. ikenna is a kid that was going places. he wanted to be his own businessman. i actually just saw him halloween. he told me he would be scheduling an appointment and he would be wearing the appropriate clothes to come to city hall to meet with me because he was studying business at santa monica college in los angeles. and what this situation suggests to me is that as hard as we all work to make sure that there are great programs in the city, as hard as we work

to make sure that kids like ikenna have opportunities, there are other kids that are being neglected. there are other kids that need those same opportunities. there are other kids who are not growing up in an environment where they're learning what it means to be compassionate towards other people. there are other kids that, sadly, are capable of killing kid like ikenna. and we just have a lot of work to do. i'm sad that the circumstances in this case have happened in this way, and i just wanted to express that this makes me want to work harder and fight harder now more than ever because of

this particular loss. this is a great human being and he he will be dearly missed. he he died at the age of 22, and my heart and thoughts are with his family. another in memoriam is for mr. melvyn holmes. i actually attended junior high with his daughter, and he was a great person. he loved his kids. he had two daughters, kenya and sarana, and he had reminded me of a story of i guess his daughter told him about how i took up for her at ben franklin because she came in seventh grade and not sixth grade with the rest of us. but she was quiet, she kept to herself, but she had a beautiful smile and she was always really sweet. and she's still a great person and her dad was a great person. it was clear that he was a

great person because he had great kids and he was a loving, caring person who actually spent 39 years working for the city at the department of human services. mr. holmes had a collection of over 365 art pieces, of over 100 different african-american artists, including some of my favorites. [speaker not understood] and [speaker not understood] and sergeant johnson. and not only did he collect this amazing art, he shared it with museums. he shared it with the african-american art and culture complex. although we could barely afford the insurance to exhibit the work. he was just such a giving person, such an amazing person. he he passed away in his home in alamo square not too far from the african-american art ask culture complex, where he he was married and raised his

two daughters and he will be truly missed ~. the last in memoriam which -- thank you, supervisor mar, for mentioning nelson mandela. i was, of course, going to ask that the entire board and it's appropriate that the entire board join in together to remember mr. mandela. and i know that there had been mention that there would be a service tomorrow at 8:00 a.m., a public service. this is a -- my first activism in school was at galileo high school was everything was malcolm x. everything was [speaker not understood] power. during a time of public enemy and apartheid and all of these incredible things happening, they were the first opportunity i had to learn about what was going on in south africa, what

was going on with people like mandela, our history at martin luther king and malcolm x and what it meant to be african-american and what it meant to not only study african-americans in our public schools, but what it meant to understand what happens globally in the world. we at galileo high school had some amazing teachers who basically deviated from the curriculum to teach us about mandela and to teach us about apartheid. and i made it my personal mission to make sure that my grandmother didn't purchase those products or we didn't -- she has this old broken down car, but i said, we can't go to shell because, you know, of all the places that supported a divided government in south africa were not thing that i wanted to support because of the challenges that the people faced there. and to have him released from

jail in my lifetime and then a few years later when i was in college, when we were fighting proposition 209, to have him become the first african president, words cannot express the joy and excitement we had at u.c. davis celebrating and, again, recommiting ourselves to be fighters and to do more. this was a person who chose to be better, chose to be a real leader, what it means to be a real leader. not hold a grudge, not dwell on the fact that he had been held in prison for over 27 years, and to come out with this spirit of love and forgiveness, and just to -- he was the example of what i strive to be as a legislator, as what i

strive to be as a person. and, yes, he he will be missed and he was just -- really to have him alive during my time on this earth, to be able to know that he fought for something greater than himself and succeeded in that battle just is truly amazing. the fact that so many leaders, so many leaders from all over the world were together, leaders that have fought against one another over the years, but they came together for an occasion to celebrate such a great man, it's clear that his spirit lives on. and i wanted to read a specific quote from mandela and there are so many great quotes, but this one struck me as what was

really clear about his nature. "no one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or had i background, or his religion. people must learn to hate. and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." and when i think about this, i think about how we all have got to be the change that we want to see in this world regardless of our differences, regardless of our battles, regardless of our frustrations. we all can do better. we all can do better by making sure that we are an example of loving one another and being better human beings towards our fellow human beings in this world. and, so, i'm not perfect, but i strive to be better as a result of people like nelson mandela who i know we all loved and

respected for his leadership. and he will be truly missed. on a more exciting note, i know this is a -- i think sometimes we talk about death and it's a sad occasion. in the case of ikenna it can be a sad and hurtful occasion. but it can also be a cause for celebration. i stayed up late into the hours watching the celebration for nelson mandela and you have people dancing and celebrating and excited and strangers who, they didn't know one another and they're dancing together and hanging out. kirk franklin talked about his performance on cnn today. he talked about how his son was not familiar with all that this

man had done, and he feels that his responsibility is to teach him. our responsibility is to teach the next generation so that it's never forgotten. and it should be a happy occasion of celebration, of coming together. and i'm really excited about the celebration tomorrow because i think it's going to be an incredible celebration with a renewed commitment in our values to make san francisco the best place it can possibly be. and speaking of this, i got [speaker not understood], congratulations to galileo high school [speaker not understood] after thattion turkey day. [laughter] >> 34 to 40. these are the kids that i fight for. these are the -- this is the future of san francisco. it's the future of our country. we have to continue to support our young people, continue to encourage them, continue to

think about what happens to the environment and all of these other things as we make policies here in the city and county of san francisco. so, thank you all for indulging me. the rest i submit. >> thank you, supervisor breed. all of these item will be appropriately referred. mr. president, that concludes roll call for introduction. >> thank you, colleagues, why don't we now go to general public comment. madam clerk. >> at this time the public may comment generally on item of [speaker not understood] including item on the adoption without reference to committee calendar. please note that public comment is not allowed on those items which have already been subject to public comment by a board committee. please direct your remarks to the board as a whole and not to individual supervisors and not to the audience. if you would like a document to be displayed on the overhead projector please clearly state such and then remove the document when the screen should return to live coverage of the meeting. >> i want to apologize. i was just alerted by my colleagues we still had a couple of legislative item that we canted to complete before public comment in part because

we had some city staffers who have been waiting patiently all afternoon. and, so, if folks want to stay in the line that you're in, you're more than welcome to do that or you can take a seat for the moment just so we can finish up one or i guess two legislative items that are related that supervisor avalos has in front of us. so, supervisor avalos, if we could recall items 34 and 35. >> 34 and 35. >> thank you, thank you, president chiu, and for folks who stood up waiting to talk in public comment, i apologize. we did have this item queued up to go after roll call introductionses, these two items. colleagues, san francisco is facing a housing and eviction crisis. many of us have been to events trying to prevent evictions, to marches in the streets. we've actually been called upon by some of our constituents actually to declare a state of emergency in san francisco for [speaker not understood]. colleagues, these two item that we have before us today present

us with two very strong tools to protect existing rent control, affordable housing stock from real estate speculation, real estate speculation that is playing havoc with our community. i want to thank co-sponsors for these two ordinances, supervisor mar and supervisor campos. i also want to thank my staff, jeremy pollack for his work on this for many, many months and would especially like to thank sophie hayward who is here awaiting patiently, perhaps if she is called upon to explain some of the parts of these two key legislation. i want to thank her for her great work and the work of the planning department in bringing these two item forward. they have kind of been under the radar these past few months as there have been a lot of deliberations around evictions in san francisco and the crisis that many san franciscans are facing. originally these two pieces of legislation or one penasquitos east of legislation, but we split them into two ordinances,

sustained alone, although work in very similar ways. the first one which you are calling residential dmc for short, will reduce the elimination of housing from demolitions, mergers and conversions. in effect, this ordinance will guide the planning department to favor rent controlled apartment housing as a value in our general plan and discourage demolitions, mergers and conversions where they would eliminate rent controlled units and affordable housing. the legislation also works to disincentive eyes or discourage no fault evictions ~ including ellis act evictions by disallowing mergers for 10 years after a no fault eviction for evictions that have occurred after currently october 24, 2013, but i hear that tate might change to today. the other piece of legislation deals with alterations for nonconforming housing units. these are legally existing units that are nonconforming because of code swollening laws. currently because the alterations of these units are

prohibited but their removal is aloud, the current code incentivizes [speaker not understood] ~ with conforming units to create larger less affordable unit and taking housing stock off the market. this allows for alterations these nonconforming units so that the city can continue to ensure levels of affordable rent control housing stock. the ordinance includes safeguards to ensure that allowing alteration to these units won't have unintended could betionvctiontionv questionctiontionves that will reduce affordability or encourage displacement of tenants. this ordinance like the residential dmc also disincentive eyeses evictions by allowing mergers for 10 years to buildings where there have been no fault evictions after october 24th. with today's housing crisis, colleagues, these types of tools are necessary to protecting existing tenants from future evictions and preserve rent controlled and affordable housing, a vieal part of our housing stock. i would be honored to have your support.

there are also some amendments that i have -- am ready to propose based on yesterday's hearing and a report that came from stakeholders, both from tenants, apartment owners and property owner stakeholders. yesterday supervisor wiener raised, some of my colleagues as well. yesterday supervisor wiener raised concerns about the specific case of temporary evictions and what happens if actual temporary eviction [speaker not understood] refuse he to sign a declaration saying they were offered the opportunity to reoccupy the unit. to address this, i am offering an amendment to say that in this case the property owner can submit a declaration to the rent board certifying that the rent board attempted to notify the ten apt of their temporary address. this amendment would apply to both the residential dnc and the nonconforming uses ordinances.

i have a copy of that amendment before you and would like mr. givner who worked on this language to explain and read into the record as is necessary. mr. givner. >> deputy city attorney jon givner. the amendment that supervisor avalos is referring to is on page 16 line 22 or begins on page 16 line 22 of the residential dnc ordinance, and very similar provision but begins on page 4 line 10 of the nonconforming uses ordinance. we would recommend a few little tweak to some of the language that was adopted in committee to make it more clear. and in committee there was a discussion yesterday of how to handle a situation where a tenant was evicted under one of

the no-fault temporary eviction provisions of the rent ordinance and then chose -- the tenant chose not to reoccupy the unit. the intent of the committee and supervisor avalos, i believe, is to exclude from the prohibition landlords who were in that situation or property owners in that situation. and the question that the committee what discussing was how exactly should we -- how can a property owner prove that a tenant voluntarily chose not to reoccupy. ultimately, supervisor avalos's amendment would provide that data that either the tenant has reoccupied or the tenant voluntarily chose not to reoccupy and the owner can prove that by submitting a statement of declaration either from the owner or the tenant

establishing that either the owner or the rent board provided notice to the tenant offering the opportunity to reoccupy. and if i may after that long introduction, i'd like to read the language into the record because we haven't circulated a signed copy. >> president chiu? >> supervisor mar. >> supervisor avalos mentioned issue of the effective day potentially being october 24th, but december 10th, 2013. >> i did mention that, but i know that that's going to be a concern [speaker not understood] that i'm okay with. so, i'm willing to do that after the amendments are made. thank you. >> i'll read these with the october 24th date and the understanding that the board may additionally amend to change that day. ~ date. from the nonconforming uses ordinance, no alterations or reconstruction shall be permitted for any dwelling unit

where a tenant was served with a notice of eviction pursuant to san francisco administrative code sections 37.9 a8 through 37.9 a8 14 after october 24, 2013. and within 10 years prior to the filing, prior to filing an application to enlarge, alter, reconstruct such dwelling or other housing unit. provided that this restriction shall not prohibit any enlargements, alterations or reconstruction if an eviction has taken place under section 37.9a 11 or 37.9a 14. the applicant -- i'm sorry. and the applicant has certified to the planning commission that the original tenant reoccupied the unit after the temporary eviction or has submitted to the planning commission a declaration from the landlord or the tenant certifying that the property owner or the rent board notified the ten apt of

the tenant's right to reoccupy the [speaker not understood] and that the tenant chose not to reoccupy it. >> great, thank you. we also have another issue that was raised yesterday concerning residential hotels and we wanted to add some clarifying language about the intent of the legislation and where residential hotels are covered. so, i'll be adding an amendment to clarify this language. a residential dnc ordinance, residential dnc ordinance adz not apply to residential hotel. demolition conversion of residential hotel is already governed by admin code chapter 41. this amendment is in two places in the residential dnc ordinance. the first reference is at page 7 line 13. it reads residential conversion, the new residential conversion shall mean that

removal of cooking facilities in residential unit or change of the occupancy as defined and regulated by the building code or the change of use as defined and regulated by the planning code of any residential use or live/work unit to a unit residential and we're taking out the next line which reads, this definition shall not apply to conversions of residential hotels as defined and regulated in chapter 41 of the san francisco administrative code. the change of occupancy from a dwelling unit group housing or sro to student housing is also considered a conversion of a residential unit, notwithstanding the foregoing change of use or occupancy of dual unit group housing or sro to student housing is not considered a conversion of a residential unit if the dwelling unit group housing or sro will be student housing owned, operated or otherwise controlled by a not for profit post secondary educational institution. and the next reference and the

dnc ordinance is on page 10 line 13, much shorter. section 12, residential units shall mean the legal conforming or we're taking out the language that says nonconforming residential conforming or nonconforming dwelling unit as defined in planning code section 102.7 or illegal nonconforming live/work unit as defined in planning code section 102.13, or group housing, we're adding this language, or group housing as in planning code section 209.2a, b, and c, provided, however, this definition shall not include a residential unit in a residential hotel as defined and regulated by chapter 41 of the san francisco administrative code. that is the last amendment that i'm adding to the dnc residential legislation. thank you. >> supervisor avalos has made the motions to amend including what was described by mr. givner, and that's seconded by supervisor campos. one question to supervisor

avalos. i know he you submitted to us for the temporary evictions point both amendments to the residential dnc and nonconforming uses. i heard mr. givner read the nonconforming uses piece, but is the language you have or residential dnc, is that also -- [speaker not understood]. >> if i may, the document that was circulated, the language doesn't quite match up. so, i believe the amendment to adopt the changes that i have suggested parallel language in both ordinances. >> that's what i want to make clear. >> so that the nonconforming language, the very bottom of that section, will be the language that will be incorporated into the residential dnc section of that piece of legislation. thank you. >> okay. questions about the amendment. supervisor yee. okay, colleagues, can we take the amendments -- >> mr. president, i didn't

catch the second. there was a motion made by -- >> by supervisor campos. so, colleagues, can we take the amendment to amend without objection? without objection, that shall be the case. [gavel] >> and further discussion, supervisor yee. >> thank you, president chiu. i want to, first of all, -- i want to thank supervisor avalos for bringing this issue to us. in regards to the [speaker not understood] piece of it. and i feel fairly comfortable with that piece. what i'm not comfortable with is the owner occupying -- owner eviction piece. and i just haven't -- nobody

has been able to explain to me what is -- what piece of this is speculation to me. i'm not getting it. and how it hurts tenants. maybe i should have asked this before coming here today, but i wasn't -- it felt like the explanation is that there is an owner move in. the owner may want to, i guess create one unit out of two. and i'm thinking to myself, okay, is this really speculation or not? because if i were an owner, for instance, and went into to sell the place, it seems like the owner would probably be better off not creating a larger unit,

but actually selling the building with several units if they want to do the type of tic [speaker not understood]. i'm not too sure who i'm supposed to ask on this, if there is any explanation on this. >> well, if i may respond. >> supervisor avalos. >> we [speaker not understood] cover evictions as well. if there is a merger of a building, even for an omi eviction, we are taking rental property off the market, [speaker not understood], most often the case it's rent controlled. it's also a place where r an eviction happens. we want to look at how we can best of all preserve housing and tenants from being evicted in the city. there have been certain cases of omi evictions that have resulted in large amounts of you being displaced.

i want to make sure we can disincentive eyes that as much as possible. >> okay, i'm not clear. so, i would love to support the other piece, but i can't support it with this piece because it's just not making sense to me. >> supervisor farrell. >> thank you, president chiu. colleagues, after some discussion, would like to with respect to supervisor avalos's amendments and the retroactivity date to october 24th, make a motion to move that forward to today's date. so, for those two item that were read into the record, mr. givner, if that's something