my parents adopted san francisco as a place of residence 60 years ago and have owned a home nearly 0 of those years and a san francisco business at one time for over 40 years. ~ 60 they have lived in the city and had faith in the city the way it has been run. they love the city immensely. we look to you, board members, to make the correct decision. in supporting -- in not supporting and closure of the sale of the home a decision in the best interest of our aging san franciscans. >> thank you, ma'am. next speaker. (applause) first i want to recognize the elders who came here today. (applause) knock-knock -- >> who is there? eve. >> eve who? eviction.

imagine a person at a door is your mother or your father or your brother or your sister or your uncle. knock, knock, who's there? equals death. listen to your heart beat now for a couple seconds. just listen. this is life we're talking about. >> thank you very much. next speaker. thank you, chaplain. next speaker. (applause) i have an overhead, please.

>> the other way around. first i want to thank you supervisors for having this hearing so that the community can have its say. my name is irene hilton and i am a single mother of a 94-year old [speaker not understood] residing at university mound ladies home. i'm here because [speaker not understood] already spoken to the trauma that's going to happen to the seniors if they're forced to move. i want to spend a few moments talk about the trauma for our caregivers. [speaker not understood]. we found we were unable to take care of them. as a single child, i'm one of those people [speaker not

understood] about the trauma again we have to go through the same process. i have a bunch of notes. i need to throw it away. what i really want to say is i worked for 25 years in a community health center. our whole model is predicated on the majority of [speaker not understood] coming from patient subsidized by either federal, state, or private grants. why this home can't continue to operate under the same model is beyond me. we have not been given a lot of information by the trustees or by [speaker not understood]. one of the thing we learned is it is a $400,000 deficit. pretty much for the last 20, 30 years. you know that as supervisors and funders and foundations and government people, that's a drop in the bucket. we have to be able to figure out a way to resolve this. where are we going to be? where are we all going to spend

our senior [inaudible]? once you move these lots, they'll be gone forever and will we ever find another building in san francisco? please, let's do the right thing. thank you. (applause) >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. supervisors, my name is dorothy [speaker not understood]. i've been a volunteer at the home for two years visiting residents and leading craft class and singa longses. i walk into the home and residents say, where have you been? and i was there the day before. i visited one of my favorite residents last night. she has a ten-year old [speaker not understood] on reality. spends a lot of time sitting alone. she spoke to me at length last night. she believes she was at her mother's home. her five sons were outside playing and her father was tinkering. she was there taking care of her elderly mother.

she believed her mother lives there and is actually her roommate. at the home. to take her from her home and her roommate would cause her to draw back into life into darkness where none of us could pull her back like i could. it is a travesty we can't give her the world she created for the rest of her life and keep her happy. university mound is not just a facility. it is a community of people who care. i urge you to support university mound ladies home in its continued operation because if any of you have met the ladies, you'd love them at first sight. and i want to see them keep their home. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. (applause)

supervisors, my name is anna stratton. my mother celebrates her 87th birthday today. my mother said to her when i told her about the closure, people need to fight. get them together to fight to keep this facility open. we are a family here. she joined the community of university mound october 2013. she has made friends there. she wants to stay. she thinks that everyone is moving together as a group, not separately. she doesn't understand that we cannot -- we pay out of pocket. we cannot afford to keep her in san francisco. we have secured a location for her in hayward. her friends, they will not be able to come to visit. she volunteered in san francisco for over 35 years of her life. she lived in bernal heights since 1957.

her friends get rides from their own grown children to see my mother or take the bus. we chose university mound, the portola district, because it neighbors bernal heights close. people can see her. our concern is when she is in hayward, no one will see her. and i feel she's just going to feel isolated and alone. thing will be different for her. my concern is when we transferred her to university mound, she will not eat for 7 days. there is a concern she wasn't going to pull through. that's a concern again. and my mother wants to live the rest of her life in san francisco. supervisors, i am asking that we not turn our backs on the most vulnerable, the frail members of our community, our

elders. there is one quote -- >> go ahead and finish. go ahead. okay, just one quick quote that i read. the parents of baby boomers are not asking for anything. most would choose independence over reliance on others, but the reward of baby boomers spending time with their parents will last a lifetime. >> may i ask what's your mother's name? [speaker not understood]. >> happy birthday. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. (applause) supervisors, my name is christine [speaker not understood] and i represent age song living. age song is an assisted living operator community in hayes valley. many residents are here today in support and also oakland. age song has been working for the last year to keep university mound open and serving residents of modest means. those efforts have been focused

on continuing the operation at the facility under the current ownership until last week. age song has a right of first refusal to purchase this property. and as of last tuesday university mound board has recognized that right. that's great news. we have 15 business days to [speaker not understood] together. that's the time period that the board has given us. and age song intend today do exactly that. they intended to put a deal together to purchase the facility, to continue to operate it as a assisted living facility, continuing to serve residents of modest means. they have -- they proposed a model for the continued operation under the current ownership they believed would work. the board rejected that model. they are now moving forward with that model with a different investor group and hope to put a deal together to

save the community. and age song vehemently opposes the closure for all the reasons you do. and it is hopeful that they through their efforts and through some partnerships can keep it open. >> can i ask you a quick question? yes. >> thank you. it's your plan to evict, if you were to take over the facility, to evict anyone? no. >> okay, great. thank you. next speaker. (applause) i'm christina flores from age song living on behalf of dr. [speaker not understood] who had to leave. thank you. ~ mr. campos. [speaker not understood] and i want to express that we are open still through the plan, christine our attorney, just stated, and i did not plan to speak. i'm sorry, i'm not prepared,

but [speaker not understood] had to step out. we are open to other alternatives as you had mentioned earlier, partnering with the city would be one. we are open to discussions with john stutlander, a wonderful colleague of mine for years. our goal is to offer our combined 40 plus years of expertise in running residential care communities for the elderly in the for profit and non-for-profit world. we have offered business models. we have shared those business models with you, mr. campos, with the board, john himself helped us develop a model for university mound that we believe is sustainable. there are multiple options for university mound. all of those options include keeping the current residents there. i'm a former board member.

i came in with this board in 2008. there are viable options. we love the elders. we learn from the elders. it's a continual quality improvement model and will be for years to come if given the opportunity. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. (applause) hi, supervisors. i'm really nervous. i came here on behalf of my friend sandra parker whose mother is at university mound. sandra is new here. she really fights goliath, she's wonderful. i want to say three things. i wanted to say that for me, and i hope for all of us, the elderly are giants. they're a little bent now, but we stand on their shoulders, and we look and we see our history through their eyes. secondly, i want to say that the board of trustees seems so

untrustworthy to me an outsider that they cannot put something together for these people. they're the most vulnerable among us and i really think they should. and thirdly, i want to say i feel so good coming here. i feel such love. i feel there is love in this room from the family members, but also from the supervisors who are helping us to talk about it because, you know, no man is an island. we're all people and i thank you for that. take care. >> thank you. (applause) >> is there any other member of the public who has not spoken who would like to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. i'd like to just -- i know that we have another item and there are many people who have been waiting for that item as well. but i want to call back mr. stead lander from the board of directors of university mound.

you heard the testimony. you know that the city is going to do everything we can to block you from closing this facility. that means suing you, we will do that. if that means rezoning this area, we will do that. and who knows what else, you know. but every single option that's available, i know that i'm 100% commit ~ commit today pursuing that option. so, i want to give you the opportunity to do the right thing here. as i understand it, people are supposed to vacate this property by july 31st. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> are you prepared in light of everything you have heard to call that deadline null and void? or are you still going to go forward with that? ~ deadline?

>> we have stated repeatedly to people that is our deadline, that we're not going to evict anybody on july 31st. >> once again, are you prepared to rescind the evictions that you have issued these folks? >> no, we're not prepared to rescind evictions. >> thank you. okay. colleagues, i want to give you an opportunity to say something, but i want to just be very clear. i do want to continue this item to the call of the chair because between now and july 31st i think that we need to do everything we possibly can to stop this closure and i want the families to know that you have my commitment and i'm only one of 11 members of the board, but you have my commitment that i'm going to fight to do everything i possibly can till hell freezes over to make sure we stop the closure of this facility. and i was hoping that the board

of directors of university mound would have better sense after everything that's been said, but, you know, maybe this wouldn't be happening i guess if that had been the case to begin with. so, if the city has to fight to make it happen, the city will fight to make it happen and i certainly will do everything i can to make it happen. and i want to thank the mayor's office. i want to thank all the city agencies that have been involved. but i think that we are on alert to take action because i think that we're not just fighting to keep a building, to keep a home, to keep a community open. i actually think that this fight ultimately is about who we are as a city. it's really about the soul of san francisco, how we lost our soul as a city that we're letting dozens of seniors who have given their lives and served the city be thrown out

on the street like that. i don't think that san francisco has lost its soul and we have a few days to make sure that we stop this injustice from happening. so, with that i'll turn it over to you, colleague. >> thank you, supervisor campos. (applause) >> and i wanted to just acknowledge that i'll be there with you until hell freezes over as well to help make sure that we rescind the evictions -- (applause) >> i wanted first to thank the mayor's office, department of aging and development services, department of public health staff for everything you've done as well to try to help these older folks. as someone said, our elders are giants and i totally agree with that and we have to do everything we can to have a heart. and to mr. brinkman and mr.

said lander, i want to thank them for being here and ask you also to have a heart. my mom is 90 years old. if she were evicted from her home, i can't imagine the amount of fear, anger, confusion and pain that she would be through. and i wanted to thank [speaker not understood] sandoval and other in the community here to explain how the children have grown up with the seniors in their neighborhood and the craft sales and the part of the community that by evicting and closing you're ripping away and ripping apart. and i know that there are options and i would just ask you to not put profit above people's needs. and lastly i'll just say that we have some residents here for the next hearing that remember the international hotel, largely a senior complex in chinatown, manila opportunity. ~ town. and when 40 or more years ago

that place was evicted through law enforcement evicting seniors and older china folk, that many of them dispersed and never came back for 40 year. i'm glad that it's been rebuilt, but i think it's one of those examples, if you evict these giants, as some called them, it's ripping apart away of our neighborhood and our communities. and i just ask you to look into your hearts not to do this and to really take up the offers by the city and supervisor campos as well. but i wanted to thank everyone for the great testimony, especially those not only the caregivers and but especially the community members that see our giants as part of our neighborhoods and our communities as well. >> thank you, supervisor mar. supervisor yee. >> thank you, chair campos. (applause) >> if you don't turn the temperature up in this room, hell will freeze over. [laughter] >> thanks for coming and

testifying to the public and also to our officials in san francisco. you know, an issue there to me, i lost both my parents and my aunt who i grew up with in my household. i saw what the transitions did to them in terms of having to move from one place to another, in particular, my aunt who passed away in the last -- moving two years where i saw her having to move from a nursing home in san francisco to eventually move over to san mateo county. she was always confused and it was -- that was part of a piece of why she probably left us a little sooner than she had, had she could have stayed in san francisco.

i think supervisor campos, in terms of some of the suggestions and how we would stave off this attempt to evict the seniors are good suggestions and we will look into the legality of what we can do as a city, and i think we'll be right there supporting those efforts. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. (applause) >> well, we want to move on to the next item. but i'd like, if i can get a motion to continue this item to the call of the chair, and i would simply let everyone know that given the impending deadline, that there might be the need for a special meeting, special emergency meeting of this committee and emergency action of the board. so, stay tuned. so, if we can get that motion. motion by supervisor yee. if we can take that without objection. [gavel] >> and, again, thank you to all the families and everyone that

came out. why don't we take a quick one-minute break so that we can let people out and then we'll start the hearing on the next. thanks. [pause]

>> great, thank you everyone, we're back from our prior meeting. if you can call item number 2, mr. clerk. >> item number 2 is a hearing on the wage theft task force final report in order to discuss the task force recommendationses, as well whether various city departments mentioned in the report plan to implement those recommendations. >> thank you very much. this is a hearing request that i've introduced and i want to

thank my co-sponsor supervisor mar, and i want to thank everyone who has been waiting patiently. [speaker not understood]. as we know, san franciscos has led the nation in raising the standard around labor protections to make sure that we have safe and dignified workplace environmenttionv throughout the city. and while the majority of businesses do honor these high standards for their employees, a small number of businesses are still getting away with breaking the law and are failing to compensate workers for what they are owed. wage theft in san francisco not only harms workers and their families, but it creates an uneven playing field for law abiding businesses and it actually undermines our local economy by reducing both consumption and tax revenues. with the help of the progressive workers alliance in 2012, supervisor mar and i call for the establishment of the

wage theft task force to study the issue of wage theft in san francisco and generate recommendations for addressing and preventing it here in the city. over the course of a year, the task force convened city departments and stakeholders from the business and labor community to assess the prevalence of wage theft and the enforcement challenges that are facing workers, investigators and employers throughout the city. among the key recommendations the task force proposes an increase to the resources available to the office of labor standards enforcement, which is an important part of any strategy to truly eradicate wage theft. during the recent budget add back process, supervisor jane kim, supervisor eric mar and i with the strong support of the community were able to secure an additional 170,000 per year to expand the staffing and enforcement capacity of the erloc. in addition recommend,s of the task force include the

recommendation of the permanent task force to facilitate greater collaboration and coordination among city departments as well as the exploration and mechanisms for monitoring business compliance. as we prepare to rate the city's minimum wage, hopefully after a successful ballot measure this november, it is critical that we continue to prioritize our enforcement strategies to uphold our wage laws. rates and minimum wage without raising the capacity of city agencies and others to eradicate wage theft would be an incomplete victory for workers in san francisco. in addition to fully implementing the task force's recommendations, we need to explore other tools to hold [speaker not understood] employers accountable and to ensure the basic rights of workers are protected. as an example, allowing more employees to file a wage lien for unpaid wages is a type of enforcement strategy that we think should be considered in order to empower working people in san francisco to more

forcefully challenge incidents of wage theft. i want to thank the wage theft task force that has put a lot of energy and effort into putting together the recommendations and i look to our -- look forward to our discussion today. today's hearing and our continued efforts are on the issue hopefully will bring more added attention to this important issue, help identify future employment -- enforcement strategies, raise awareness, continue to engage city departments and highlight stories for workers who are successful in their challenges to wage theft. in a few moments we will be hearing from the -- hearing about the final report from the task force's co-chairs, charlotte noss, workplace justice and donald levitt, head of rloc. additionally we'll hear from the district attorney's office, the city attorney's office, and the department of public health around the work of our city agencies in fighting wage theft.

before we begin, i'd like to ask supervisor mar if he has any comments. >> i just wanted to thank the progressive workers alliance, the office of labor centers enforcement, donald levitt, and the members of the task force. thanks so much to supervisor campos for -- and his staff for the leadership. i think the wage theft task force is really unique because it's made up of workers, organizationses alongside city departments, and better coordination as supervisor campos and had i staff put together i think was a key goal. i think we're not calling out most businesses because most businesses are good businesses, but there are a few bad apples that i know that our staff from ofle and other enforcement agencies have gone after over the years. but i just wanted to thank the progressive workers alliance for not only the groundbreaking 2011 law, but also the establishment of this grassroots and city departmental task force. and i'm looking forward to the

recommendations from the task force. i just wanted to say that wage theft is a civil rights issue. it's an economic justice issue and i'm very, very proud to have stood side by side with the progressive workers alliance and other community groups to make sure that san francisco stand tall in projecting low wage justice for everyone. >> thank you, supervisor. i don't think we have any other comments from the committee. why don't we hear now from the co-chairs of the task force, charlotte noss and donald levitt. and, again, thank you for your incredible, incredible work. ~ knauss >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm donna levitt, and this is co-chair charlotte knauss, and we will be bo