support this, not just with your personal support, but also financial support. i believe when this project is done no one is going to regret the open space and park we're going to see. i know all of us, as we support this project, we are also equally committed to making sure that future projects get done,that, again, can help us recognize the beauty and wonderful community spaces that we have in our city. with that, thanks to all the hard work and i hope we're able to get this done today. >> thank you. supervisor campos. >> thank you. i'll briefly say i'm very excited to be a supporter and cosponsor of this project. when i heard about it from supervisor farrell and starting hearing about the level of this community and making this happen, i was really impressed and really think that this project presents an example for

other parts of the city for how communities can come together to push for something like this. i think that supervisor kim is right in terms of the importance looking doing that is the fact that i think that they tried to spread the period of time as long as possible to make sure that the impact on the fund was as minimal as possible and i think it's greatly appreciated and i can't wait for it to be completed. so thank you to the community and supervisor farrell, congratulations. >> supervisor yee. >> thank you. when supervisor farrell discussed this project with me and my first reaction was of course. it's within of these projects where it seems like i have a

lot of history in san francisco so [inaudible] and so forth. like supervisor breed, going to school at galileo and knowing how limited our fuel is at galileo, any open space for the students there would be appreciated. it even goes beyond that. i actually spent the summer in one of these summer jobs working for the department of works , i guess. and around the reservoir with the amount of weeds and bushes and everything else -- it's nicer now than when i was growing up when it was almost totally jungle there. my summer job was to clear the jungle and spent quite a few weeks doing that. and i always thought, wouldn't it be great if we had a park up here? and that was my thought at the time at 17 years old and here

it is where supervisor farrell has sort of taken the lead on that. before i actually committed to it i looked at what he was talking about in terms of the finances and looked at the open space funding and to see -- to make sure this project, as valuable as it is, doesn't deplete completely the open space funding because like supervisor kim and like supervisor campos, when they mention equity is important to me growing up in china town and being in the open space committee in chinatown and fighting for those couple of square feet of open space over 120 -- 20 years to get it and i understand how difficult it is. i'm glad, supervisor farrell, this you put this project together. i'm glad that you were very

sensitive in terms of not depleting the open space funding so that as we move forward in the future that places like district 3 can have access to funding to provide more open space for their residents. thank you very much. >> supervisor wiener. >> thank you mr. president. so i'll join in thanking supervisor farrell and also all the folks in the community as well as rec and park staff who have worked for many years to move this forward, but also i think we need to make sure to thank the voters of san francisco for creating the open space fund and having the foresight to say it's a very small portion of property taxes should be set aside for open space work, and particularly for the acquisition of open space and when you look at what we've been able to do, it's

pretty amazing and we're going to have abeven better park system than we already have. i want to say that having gone through this process with town square, and thank you for supporting that project, which is almost fully funded through non city dollars right now in terms of the creation of the park, but having gone through that process, it was always my understanding that the plans for [inaudible] which had growing quite large if we hasn't acquired anything for a while was going to be town square, francisco reservoir, the inne and i think we're all -- i know i'm very committed as i know supervisor kim is and you all are to make sure we get more open space in district 6 and i'm sure we'll be able to identify a wonderful site for the community there. it's a very citywide effort

because these parks because -- i still have people that will tell me that delores park is just a neighborhood park. but these are parks that are enjoyed and used by not just the entire city, but in a lot of instances, the entire region and i know francisco reservoir will fall into that category. it's going to be amazing. i want to thank everybody who made this happen. it's an exciting day. >> i will be brief, colleagues. i want to thank ern thank everyone for their comments. we were able to negotiate with being thought about right now by a rec and park department for acquisition can get completed. a lot of talk with supervisor kim and i appreciate those comments around district 6 open

space. you have my commitment to work on that together. i think this is something we need to do across every single neighborhood of our city and even with these acquisitions that are currently being planned, including what we just planned with 900 innes, we're going to have $38 million left in this open space fund so plenty of opportunities, but something we need to be very proactive about. i think to a comment about the ability to be privately fund raise it's a very valid comment. one thing we talked about, i think this process is starting to bring new people into the fold of being philanthropic with the rec and park department and opening eyes about how transformative a project can be for a neighborhood. i think that's, to me, what is really exciting about this project is a lot more people coming into the fold to really think about what we could do in terms of our parks and

leveraging some of our private citizens, philanthropic abilities. lastly i'll say it's not just three years we've been working on it. this has been in working for decades within the neighborhood so i don't want to dismiss that be at all. this has been a reservoir sitting dormant for over 60 years and being talked about for decades across the neighborhood and city and today we have a chance to change direction of the francisco reservoir forever. again colleagues, hope to have your support. >> thank you. with that, let's take a role call vote. >> supervisor kim i, mar i, tang i, wiener i, yee i, breed i, campos i, chiu i, cohen i,

farrell i. there are 10 is. >> the resolution is adopted. [applause] and with that, let's go to item 35. >> item 35 is a motion to order submission to the voters 2014 an ordinance amendsing the business and tax regulations code by adding a new article 8 to fund food and health programs. >> supervisor mar. >> thank you. thank you so much colleagues. i know this has been an effort and years in the making. this san francisco tax is about the health of our families, communities and neighborhoods. i think the opposition that's already emerged, big soda xhaens, the american beverage association and others creating

astroturf to mislead voters, i'll ask you don't be fooled. this is a reasonable common sense measure that will help, if passed, provide tremendous health benefits to those who need it the most. that's why i and supervisor wiener, cohen, campos, president chiu and supervisor avalos have all worked together for over a year, but that's on top of the many years of work by health that have laid the ground work for where we're at today. we began work not only when we looked at health experts from bay view and hunters point and mission district and chinatown, but also our community coalition advised us to make clear that this is a major priority. diabetes, obesity, liver damage, metabolic syndrome, tooth and dental decay are

hurting many of our san francisco communities and the root causes are several, but we know that the lack of healthy options and healthy alternatives to sodas, energy drinks and sports drinks are really an important issue, but the tactics of the big soda corporations and others that are saturating our communities with advertising and marketing are one of the big problems. i think we mentioned earlier that my daughter is a teenager. the classmates of her generation, 1/3 of them currently are obese, but if we do nothing today, 1/3 of these children today will develop type two diabetes in their lifetime, that's one in three of this generation. that's not right and it's a national problem, but a local problem here. we know that for african americans and latinos, about half will develop type two

diabetes. we have to do something about it and this is a common sense approach that is one step forward. to learn more about the epidemic, we asked the budget office to study the impact of harmful drinks in san francisco and only looking at sugary drinks alone, they estimate it costs san francisco citizens between 48 and $61 million every year. we as colleagues on the budget committee and others agreed we need to take action. together with our grass roots very broad and deep community coalition we've developed what we believe to be a very reasonable soda tax that will reduce consumption. now or chief economist for the city says it could reduce it to as much as 30 to 40%, that's reducing the consumption of harmful beverages in our city

and it would raise by accepted 2 pennies per houns, about a quarter per can of coke, would generate potentially $50 million a year that would be directed to our communities. also, i should say that the taxes on drinks with added sugar, caloric sweeteners is a tax on distributors, not on small businesses so the types of drinks not included are 100% fruit or vegetable juice, milk substitutes like soy and rice milk, baby formulas, meds cal foods and diet drinks. the reduction in consumption will be from 18 to 40% and the proceeds will prodominantly serve the needs of low income san francisco citizens, but it

is for the health benefit of all. the revenue up to 50 million will be spent on ending hunger, increasing nutrition education and physical fitness activities throughout our city, 25% for community food and health access, health water bottle filling stations, oral and dental health, another 25% for community and physical activity. 40% to the san francisco unified school district, school lunches and breakfast, nutrition education, physical education and sports programs; and 10% for community based health and education programs. all of the funding, every single penny will be guided by an accountable community and professional members on a steering committee as well. in conclusion, shape up sf and grass roots community activists say there are three prongs in

strategies to counter unhealthy foods and drinks. one is education that this soda tax will help to fund. the other is reducing the consumption of harmful beverages and foods, which this soda tax will help to reduce by significant amount. and lastly, it's about increasing access to water and alternative to sodas and harmful drinks and i think this soda tax achieves all three of those prongs, but it's one part of a broader effort in our city to encourage healthier eating and drinking in our city. it's a combined imfasz increasing access to healthy foods and drinks and promoting physical activities that makes this such a strong proposal for our city. we could become the first city of any city in this country to pass a tax like this for the health of our children. lastly, i wanted to thank for all the work to develop this

proposal, not only supervisor wiener, cohen and avalos, but especially jeff from supervisor's wiener's office, mr. chan from cohen's office, who have put tremendous hours with our broad coalition as well and many others as well for working with us. i think we're going to win in san francisco as this goes through the ballot in november because of our strong grass roots coalition where parents, many from the ptas that have supported it on a citywide level. many youth activists are learning about health equity and organizing in our communities. many doctors, nurses, pediatricians and health researchers are really a part of our grass roots effort, teachers and nurses and professors and many others in labor as well. so with that, i would like to ask for your strong support as we let this go guard to the voters on the ballot for november. thank you.

>> supervisor wiener. >> this is a long time coming for november as we become the first place in the u.s. to adopt a soda tax to begin to seriously address the serious health problems that these drinks are causing and to seriously invest in our city's nutrition and physical health and so forth. you know, there are times when we, as, like, the leaders have an idea an proposal and you go out to the community and say what do you think and try to build support, and that's one way that we do legislation. there are other situations where the exact reverse happens where you have an idea that's been building in the community for years and years and the community comes to elected

leaders and say please help us move this forward and that's what's happened here. it's been such an honor to work with our broad community coalition, the entire healthcare community, our broad parent community, our parks community, so many labor unions and to work with my colleagues, supervisor mar and cohen in particular, to really help move this coalition forward. this is long overdue. these drinks are helping to fuel the explosion of type two diabetes in our country, our city. it is not acceptable that children are being diagnosed as prediabetic and we need to take this step to help address and improve the health of our city. this measure, we're going to hear all sorts of misinformation as we have over the last year from the beverage industry and we just have to

make sure that we are telling the truth because when the facts on are your side and you get those facts across you will win. we already have a broad grass roots campaign and we are going to have a healthier city as a result. i want to thank everyone that's helped get us to this point and ask for you support. >> supervisor cohen. >> good afternoon everyone, again, i want to associate myself with many of the comments you heard earlier today about this forward thinking i them ing item that we've heard about today. one thing that's consistent is we have the ability and momentum to bring about change and from my perspective this is

a crucial piece of policy because it's really dealing with an issue that has had an adverse affect on the african american, latino and pacific islander community to the point where it's killing us. and i believe whole heartily this is a life and death issue and we cannot wait longer. bullets are not the only thing that are killing african american males. we also have sugary beverages that are also killing meme and we can't continue our communities to continue to suffer from the health problems, particularly from these diseases that are a ttributed to the sugary beverages. some very striking and startling statistics that are out there when we talk about the health disparities within our ethnic communities. 50% of african american youth will contract type two diabetes

in their lifetime. i would be remiss if i were to sit back and allow this to happen stepping up and putting forth a measure that could change this trajectory. neerply one in four youth will have previous years of service diabetes. i mean, we've had hours of hearings and we reviewed numerous amounts of statistics about cost, about where and how the large soda industry spends their money, who they're targeting. the overwhelming data that supports the health disparities that i know and see everyday. so i hope to have your support today as we we continue to bring this measure to the ballot this november. thank you. >> supervisor kim. >> thank you.

this initiative has really been a policy struggle for me since i was introduced a couple of months ago. i want to start off by saying that i absolutely support the intent of the legislation. i do believe that sugary beverages have severe health impact on our communities and disproportionate impact on low income communities and communities of color. i think there are severe costs of unhealthy eating and behavior that doesn't have consequences to our budget and healthcare system, but to the lives of real people, children and seniors. second, i really appreciate how the tax is going to be utilized if this is passed by voters. i absolutely agree with what we would spend this revenue on and that they absolutely combat the

negative outcomes of sugary beverages. rec centers, all these things will help make our city healthier, particularly for our young people. i think the question for me has really been about the means. is taxation to get to the outcome we'd like to see and parallel it with other taxes i've seen. i've been very conflicted about whether i've supported them in the past and i know that when we had a state tax on cigarettes a little over ten years ago that i actually did not support that at that time and the reason being was that the tax was flat, it is regressive, it unfairly burdens low income consumers. while i want people to smoke less, i'm not sure that is the medium through which i'd like to get people to smoke less. if it was a tax that purely

impacted the i think i would feel very differently about this, but we know there's nothing that will prevent beverage companies from passing this tax on. i think also that, you know, education is actually the best means by which we can combat the impact of sugary beverages especially amongst young people. i notice add d a huge because it was cheaper and more affordable, never got any comments or feedback, and by the time i left i was getting requests from young people to buy more healthy things and i think that was clearly not led by a tax, but because there was better education in our public system and r about what was good for our body. it certainly has convinced me to make changes in my diet.

but ultimately, i can't support this today. my issues around it really are around the means by which we're trying to get to the outcome we all believe in. i think a regressive tax, a flat tax is not the way to go. instead of taxing the things we don't want to see, we should be subsidizing the food we want people to be eating. i have a lot of concern about residents on fixed income. what is the alternative? i know that water comes up a lot, but i think that if we don't have a subsidized alternative that we are placed this burden unfairly on certain groups of folks. it is a really tough decision for me today. i'm glad that this will be going to the voters. i know there'll be six votes to place this before the voters today. i thought about voting for it to showcase that i think voters should decide on this tax measure, but ultimately i just don't agree with the way we're

going about approaching the final outcome. i want to recognize the incredible work that cohen and wiener have done. there are folks in every district supporting the soda tax measure. i know the tenderloin food justice commission has been very active on this and i want to appreciate their lobbying and advocacy on this and my no vote doesn't reflect the hard work that's gone into this. someone told me a very interesting fact yesterday was that evictions went down when they introduced the closing the loophole to [inaudible] didn't make it fwartd, but the one thing i have to say is that if nothing else i think that placing this on the ball let will push a conversation on sugary beverages and its impacts and i think that's an education campaign. i'm glad this conversation is happening.

the education i think is absolutely the right way to get people to consume less sugary beverages. i'm just not sure i support a flat tax, a regressive flat tax to make that happen. >> supervisor yee. >> thank you. i guess i'm going to have very similar remarks as supervisor kim. i appreciate the authors of this ordinance that's moving forward today. there's no argument in my mind that there's a health problem, not only in san francisco, but throughout the world and part of the health problem is about how much consumption of sugar we're having. the issues i'm having with this, and it is a tough decision for me because there's some -- a lot of merit within the ordinance itself. and these are issues that i

personally have been trying to address in running organizations for our very young children, zero to 5, and part of what we always try to do in this organization is how do you education parents around this issue and how do we get support to get these parents around these issues about -- because the first thing you see -- i see a lot of parents, they don't even understand the connection between sugar and the health issues and they're at the age of infancy instantly having baby bottles not with milk, but with sugar water. and so the thing that we try to do was to not just with the kids we were serving, but to whole parenting so that parents

from certain neighborhoods and communities and so forth, can actually get the same information that other neighborhoods may be getting. the -- for me the crucial piece for combatting this whole issue with diabetes and so forth is about education. i also have some issues about the regressive flat tax piece of this, because i know which communities going to really hurt. and then -- you have that issue of health and also the -- i also have the concern that i like to focus my energy and many other ballot initiatives that's going to be on the november ballot and they're

actually as important when it comes to transportation and when it comes to minimum wages and so forth. at the same time, here's what i'm urging -- i mean, my no vote on this is not to say the concept's wrong and my no vote is about whether this is my pry oi for at this point and whether this is the way to go. education -- i mean, i've urged for many, many years and decades a go to say to the department of public health in san francisco, where's the funding to help education parents on this. so regardless of the outcome of this ordinance, it's real important for this chamber -- members of this chamber to urge the mayor and others to support more resources going into the education piece of this. so thank you very much. >> supervisor mar. >> yeah, let me just -- i'm a little bit flabbergasted right no