there's longer term plans for that, kind of fun, bed and breakfast, where you could adopt the animal for a night. so, anyways, i'm also active -- an active volunteer in a number of animal organizations, one being the underground kitty railway which is a really cool program where cats can be taken from kill shelters anywhere in the state and then they are basically shipped or taken to the forever home possibly in some other state. and also we use that to reconnect veterans with their pets or find homes for vet pets while they're away and then they're reconnected with them when they come back. i do volunteer at the san francisco spca and you can definitely see my face every christmas at a macy's windows trying to find homes for dogs and cats. so, i think hopefully this shows you that i have a strong

interest in the welfare of animals. and i have listened to and read the minutes of the commission meetings and there are a number of issues -- well, the majority of the issues that are currently happening with this commission are of interest to me. and i'm hoping that if i'm selected, my service on this commission will make me a stronger advocate for animals. i'm hoping to build alliances in it connection with this community to have a future stream of animals come our way and [speaker not understood] more effective rescues. i believe these experiences [speaker not understood] make me an asset to the city as a commission member and i appreciate your consideration on this matter. >> okay, thank you. supervisor tang? no questions. thank you. >> okay. >> next applicant, james yorck.

>> james yorck. [speaker not understood] 19th century, karl marx, he he said through conflict there is growth. and i've been going to the commission for the last four years and i have been kind of a thorn in their side. i used to own a pet store and i think it's always good to add a different dimension. unfortunately nowadays the commission is all nonprofit and it just [speaker not understood] same old stuff. i would like to be on the commission to help it go forward and help do sane and

rational thing. personally, i'd love to see in the commission push for veterinarians to publish -- you go to a veterinarian and your pets die. they should be published online to the person, which isn't done nowadays. your doctor does thing the veterinarian doesn't. i'm sad supervisor campos isn't here. two years ago i was here and enteredctionv ~ supervisor elsbernd gave me a rousing support and mr. campos brought up what he had heard was that i had been investigated for animal cruelty. and there was also an animal control officer here who verified it. i went down that day to the animal control and i talked to vicki [speaker not understood] and they looked at my record

and there is nothing unwarranted in my record. yes, i got complaints like every pet store, but i was never investigated for animal cruelty. >> you mentioned you wanted to put things -- how else would you like to see things move forward? >> working with pet stores is much better. san francisco has this long tradition of working only through, through nonprofits. we gave a suggestion for pet store gave a suggestion to acc to, to use pet stores, and they are using one, pet express, and that could be expanded. there is not a great number --

there is a large number, but not an unbearable number of unwanted pets in the city. it is always a problem, but the spca is bringing in from the central valley about 2,500 dogs and cats. so, it's now -- we could expand the number if we used stores as adoption centers, too. okay. >> okay, thank you. the next applicant would be davi lang. >> good afternoon, supervisors tang and yee. thank you for this opportunity to present to you my background and qualifications for a seat

on the animal welfare commission. my name is davi lang. i am 27 years old. i am a san francisco native born and raised and currently living in mission bay. i am of mixed descent. my mother immigrated to san francisco from cambodia in 1980 and my father from new york. i went to [speaker not understood] high school and then u.c. berkeley where i first discovered my passion for animal welfare. this began when i was asked to sign a petition to get prop 2 on the ballot in 2008. i spent a semester in washington, d.c. and while interning in nancy flowtion i's office i also interned at the humane society of the united states farm animal welfare division. interning for both congress and hsus inspired me to write my senior thesis at cal on the deterioration of [speaker not understood] over the past 40 years and its connection to factory farms and animal welfare. then after graduating from cali spent a year working for the peta foundation also known as the foundation to support

animal protection an affiliate for the people of for the ethical treatment of animals. [speaker not understood] i learned to recognize the various signs of animal abuse such as neglect, dehydration and animal siting. in the evenings after work and on weekends i spent most of the time with other peta employees and volunteers educating the public on various animal welfare issues. during the cold months in d.c. i spent weekend volunteering for the animal project in norfolk, virginia where peta's headquarters is located. we he drove around in impoverished areas where animals live outdoors [speaker not understood]. we delivered straw bedding to dogs chained in backyard or fenced in small enclosureses. we educated their guardians on how to properly care for their dogs, encouraging them to bring their dogs inside especially during winter and summer. we spoke to them about making sure their dogs had fresh clean water at all times and

encouraged them to sign up for peta's free spay and neuter vaccination program. we also rescued abused animal. one of the things i learned working for and volunteering is how to effectively communicate people and open eyes to the importance of animal welfare. one rainy day [speaker not understood] we encountered a sweet pit bull changed to a pe toshibation a dog house with a heavy chain probably weighing 25 pounds. i was able to convince his reluctant guardian to replace the heavy rusted chain with a lightweight tether allowing the dog to move more frequently. after 10 minutes of conversation i convinced the same guardian to surrender his old blind and deaf dog to deliver his house to give him a warm dry house to sleep away his pain and memory. [speaker not understood] i moved back to san francisco, i only pep a year in d.c. and decided to volunteer for animal care and control as a dog walker. during the 6 to 7 month period i came to the shelter several days a week.

sometimes 3 to 4, sometimes 5 hours a day to make sure the dogs were walked, socialized and felt loved while they were waiting sometimes months for their forever families to find them. i made sure to walk and spend time with dog who were overlooked [speaker not understood]. but when i wasn't there, i knew they were in safe hands at animal care and control. i chose to volunteer there because it is our city and county shelter agency that take in all animals no matter their condition, personality, adoptability, and as long as animal care and control is around, i know that our city's animals are well taken care of and always have a place to go. and i know that animal care and control always set up and care for those forgotten animal. if i am appointed this is what i will continue to support animal care and control. and finally in semi graduated from a masters program at usf, continuing my public service education and career and for my thesis i analyzed the impact of mandatory spay and neuter laws

on the unwanted dog population as well as the government-run animal shelters in various cities across the u.s. i chose to study this issue after supervisors tang and wiener called a hearing on the [speaker not understood] which is over worked, under staffed and underfunded [speaker not understood]. i wanted to examine what could be done to relieve some of the burden on our city and county animal shelter. please seriously consider me for the commission. i would really like to work with this group of compassionate people and help out in whatever way i can. i want to engage the younger audience and i hope to relieve some of the burdens on animal care and can control. i still have a lot to learn, but thank you for your time and attention and i'm open to any questions. >> okay. supervisor tang. >> sure. i actually don't have any questions but really just feel impressed by your interest and your educational background and what you have done in terms of volunteer time. i've actually personally got to witness davi's volunteerism and, again, your commitment to really animal welfare and safety. so, i actually just want to

thank you and for stepping up and applying for this and i'm surprised that you haven't been on it already. so, thank you for sharing all of your background information with us today. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> next applicant is amy fuller on the list. i understand she won't -- she wouldn't be able to come. she had a prior engagement. she just sent a statement that i looked at. the next person would be annemarie fortier. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is annemarie fortier. i currently serve on the commission as secretary, which i have done for a year. i've been on the commission two years. this is my first opportunity for reappointment.

over the course of the two years, i have learned a lot and i was just telling my colleague on the commission that it feels that i am only now able to understand fully what the commission is capable of and maybe where it might take me and i might take it. my background is i've lived in san francisco since 1995 in district 2. i have been a guardian of dogs of since 1997. currently a parent. my interest in animal has always been strong, but has slightly changed over the years with my involvement obviously with my children and interaction with the parks around our area. and where before maybe my interest was mostly focused on how we treat animals with dog bites and pets, as a parent i

see how important it is to make sure that our public, especially our children, are educated about how to interact safely and respectfully with pets and wildlife in our city. and on the commission we have had speaker come and educate us and reach out to the community on ways to protect some of those animals, not feeding wildlife, et cetera. so, i appreciate your time and your consideration and i would love to continue serving our city, our animals, and our citizens on this board. >> okay. supervisor tang? >> so, since you are up for reappointment, are there things that you've seen that you would like to do differently on the commission, things that can be improved, just to get a better sense of what are some of the additional goal that you have if you are reappointment? >> excuse me. like i said, it feels that in two years i am only now

understanding how -- how the commission works and what opportunities lie ahead. i think for myself thing that i would like to see and work on, perhaps bring in front of the commission is more ways to reach our community. work on outreach. we post the minutes of course, and we post the agendas. attendance is usually quite low. maybe there are other ways we can reach out to san franciscans about what's happening on the commission and what we're doing for our animals. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> next one is shari o'neal. >> good afternoon. my name is dr. shari o'neal. i am a resident of san francisco for the last 12 years.

i live and work in the sunset district. i am currently practicing veterinarian. i practice -- excuse me -- small animal medicine since 1999. in addition to my veterinary degree, i also have a master's degree he in public health and i'm board certified in preventive medicine. i've served on the commission for one term already so this will be my first opportunity as a reappointment. i have a special interest in disaster preparedness, particularly with the overlap of public health interest and animal interest in a disaster situation. i've worked with animal care control on volunteer training for [speaker not understood] animal response team volunteers. i also am the secretary of the san francisco veterinary medical association and on a state level i serve on the disaster preparedness committee for the california veterinary medical association.

>> okay. supervisor tang? >> great to see district 4 as well thank you for your service through the avenues pet hospital as well. again, i'm just going to ask some of the same questions especially for the people being reappointed. potentially get a better sense of some things that you've learned from your time serving as a commissioner and what would -- any specific goals or things that you'd like to zim proved or to be worked on. >> i would agree with commissioner fortier, it take a bit of time to understand how the process works. i've never been on a commission before. i agree that public outreach seems like an important topic we should address as far as more turnout and more involvement from the public. i also agree with one of the previous candidates about supporting our municipal shelter and animal care control has a lot of responsibilities

and pretty limited resource in which to work with. so, a number of our topics have come up is related to that. so, certainly there is more work to be done there. my personal interest is public health and disaster preparedness and certainly i think living in san francisco is an important topic as well. >> okay, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thats was the last one. so, i have a few cards for public comments. as i call your name, please come on up. >> [speaker not understood], [speaker not understood], and chris [speaker not understood]. good afternoon again, supervisors. my name is [speaker not understood]. i'm a resident of district 6 and i consider myself very active. i'm in the community, but i'm learning something new about the animal control and welfare. one thing i was worried about

was when the gentleman, mr. yorck was talking about nonprofits, i was wondering was it ever run by nonprofits because it was it was, it would be a big problem to me because i know the nonprofits in my neighborhood can be kind of pushy and getting things they want done and not what the actual community wants done. but i ask if you would consider appointing ms. lang, annemarie, and shari o'neill and nanci haines to the commission. one thing i liked about what ms. haines was saying about with the cultural competency, because every neighborhood and every culture, we have a rich history of different cultures in san francisco and one thing that we have to reach out to is the different cultures of the city. so that everyone can be respected. thank you.

rule committee, hi. ♪ i hope you're an animal commission appointments turnout right and i hope that big moon is big and bright and you keep the animals alive i'd like to see them dancing animal in the moonlight dancing in the animal moonlight and the city is -- it's gonna turnout right it's a fine and supernatural animal sight holy animals dancing in the moonlight and i hope these commission appointments turn outright and they don't -- [speaker not understood] so they don't bark and they don't bite and they keep the animal alive and i hope the city really thrives dancing in the moonlight

all the animals and they're gonna be bright fine and natural animal sight all the animals are going to be happy tonight ♪ (applause) >> chris? and then there's dayna [speaker not understood]. that's a hard act to follow, but i'm [speaker not understood] i'm on the sunshine ordinance as a citizen. i'm also nanci haines' fiance. like to disclose that. but if you were to select her for this commission, i think you'd find a fearless and tireless fighter, advocate for animal. i've often walked in and seen her on the internet or on facebook in tears. in fact, we had to ration her to 10 minutes a day on those

sites. we all know what we're talking about. i think she didn't really tell you a little bit about how active she is in following legislation and looking at animal rights and that whole landscape is changing right now. there are interesting caseses on the east coast that we're following closely. i'm also a co-founder of rider ranch rescue. we hold happy hours where we raise money for it with our friends. and i think one of the thing i'm hearing is attendance is a key issue at this commission. i think it's good to get? ~ some fresh blood in, some people in our age group perhaps and to drive people to come and listen to the commission and get more involved and educate that way. new media and social media to do that. that's something nanci is very adept at. she's a yoga techer which she didn't tell you, and a wine broker. she has some good kills and

building consensus and crowds and driving people. she's definitely a connector. i think she would do well. i think for the long term also this would be a great opportunity for her and us to get connected to the infrastructure of the city to make some good alliances and friendships to set up rider ranch as a really effective shelter for animal in need down the road, to understand how it all works and develop friends in the city who could then refer these animals needs to us down the road when we have our physical brick and mortar presence. it would be a very good, a very he good opportunity. and we would certainly welcome your consideration and consider her very strongly for this position. thank you very much. >> dana? hello, i'd like to talk on

behalf of davi lang. davi lang is a wonderful, wonderful person in spirit and helpful. she has helped me on several writing projects. she'd be a perfect member of any team and as an individual she's smart. she cares greatly and takes a real interest in a variety of topics and we are both long-term vegans. thank you. >> is there a steven knight or kite? thank you for letting me speak today. i was just hoping to speak in favor of davi lang. i've known her for sometime now. she's a truly amazing candidate. i have to give my highest recommendation and hope you take that in consideration. thank you so much. >> okay.

any other public comments? hi, my name is sally stevens. i am currently on the commission and serve as chair. i'm speaking as an individual. i just want to say that i've worked for the last two years with annemarie fortier and dr. o'neill. people don't realize we have no budget, we have no staff, so, it really is a volunteer-run organization or commission and both of these individuals have stepped up and have helped with when we're writing letters or doing -- annemarie actually volunteered to be secretary. huge in our commission, but i just wanted to say that they have really stepped up and have been active participants in the commission. and i would urge you as an individual to support the reappointment. thank you. >> okay. peter, peter stevens?

if there are any other individual that want to make public comments, just line up. how's it going, supervisors? my name is peter. i've worked with davi six months now and she's wonderful. i mean, i was going to speak more about her, but i think her experience speaks for itself. so, i don't know, please appoint her. [laughter] >> any other public comments? seeing none, public comment is now closed. [gavel] >> supervisor tang, do you have any thoughts? >> sure. so, i just want to again thank all of the applicants who replied. i know that we all share probably a passion for animals, but all of you who replied are taking it to the next step. so, i want to thank you for that. so, at this time we do have four seats and 7 applicants. and i am ready to reappoint annemarie fortier to seat 1. shari, dr. shari o'neill for seat 7. again, really impressed for ms.

davi lang for seat 3. in terms of seat 2, i'm opening to hearing from my colleague. between nanci haines and amy van nest, both of them i think bring unique backgrounds. i really liked hearing how amy had, had experience witnessing animal abuse in her previous job and also nancy in terms of her volunteer experience and what she and her fiance are trying to do in terms of starting up a new organization as well. so, in terms of seats 1, 3 and 7, those would be my recommendations, and i'd like to hear from my colleague about seat 2. >> okay, thank you. it's always tough when you have more applicants than seats and obviously each person that what here today is very passionate about this role. and i would have actually -- the person that didn't show up also, amy fuller, just looking

at her background, she would have made a very com petitive choice also. but because there are people here that for me are more than qualified, i would have to choose from the people that actually were able to come today. i like all of them. the person that floats up a little bit to the top for me is nanci haines. so, that would be my choice for seat number 2. and i agree with you with the other three. so, would you like to make a motion for -- >> sure. so, just make a motion formally for annemarie fortier for seat 1. that is a reappointment. dr. shari o'neill for seat 7 also a reappointment. davi lang for seat 2 and nanci haines for seat 2. >> okay -- >> i'm sorry, i apologize, davi lane for seat 3 and nanci

haines for seat 2. >> seeing no objection the motion passes. [gavel] >> congratulations. and for those that were not appointed, please try again. there's always seats opening up. okay, thank you very much. madam clerk, item number 3? >> item number 3 is a hearing to consider appointing two members, terms ending april 27, 2015, and nine members, terms ending april 27, 2016, to the sunshine ordinance. there are 11 vacant seats and 13 applicants. >> okay, 11 seats and 13 applicants.

so, let me call the applicants in the order of the agenda. mark rumold. >> hello, thank you all for having me today and considering my application. they say brevity is the soul of wit, so, i'll try to keep this short. my name is mark rumold. i'm a [speaker not understood] frontier foundation. my work -- well, if you are unfamiliar with dss, we are san francisco-based nonprofit. we do work to ensure that our civil liberties and our rights and privacy and free speech are protected in the digital age.

i, as part of that, the work that i do involves a significant amount of freedom of information act litigation. i litigate cases at the federal level and i'm involved in cases at the state level concerning access to public records. so, as part of that work, i'm very familiar with the -- i'm very familiar with the process of requesting and receiving documents. i'm also familiar with the obstacles that, that requesters can face and that the agencies can face in responding to requesters. so, i'm hopeful to apply my experience on the task force to help make san francisco an open and more efficient government. >> okay. supervisor tang?