>> could you speak into the other mic? >> supervisors, madam chair, thank you. the san francisco african american chamber of commerce, acknowledges that the passed six months has the potential or had the potential of being a major, game changer, right here in the city and county of san francisco. we have seen major team effort, major team effort. to rectify the disparities and the inequities and the disrespect and the discrimination and the jobs and contracting and the segregation and housing and the oppression by the police and the see agencies, and to a major extent to look at the benign neglect

by the san francisco board of supervisors over the past years. the buck stops here. we are in the legislative chambers. the buck stops right here. now i thank you for allowing me to present today and we have great plans, and we have been working very hard in the past six months. and the proof will be in the taste of the implementation and we do have the plans. and in the city, we and the economic prosperity, there is the accountability for all of the citizens. and the reason why we are here today is the african american community has been a lost tribe. last week i was in chicago for the conference of the national black chamber of commerce, and the government, of illinois came in and he announced that 30 percent, 30 percent of the

state of illinois, went to some of the business and went through the minorities as black folks. and the next day, the mayor of chicago came in, and he announced, that he would set a goal of 50 percent, in his city. for the minority participation, and the minority business and participation. and i ask you to the chicago and veteran and san francisco. for all of the frustration, and we said, look, if we can't participate in this economy, then we are going to ask our organizations across this

country, and the other organizations don't come to san francisco because they do not deserve your business. the private sector is not much better, we have been, the african american community in san francisco, has been designated as the highest predatory loan community in the united states. and with this, the san francisco chamber has filed before the federal reserve board, several times, because we had that. but the big deal is, we have to have, we have to do something, to change this. and the board of supervisors have tackled many, many problems. and many problems. but over the years. the board has not tackled this out migration and this discrimination, against the african americans and i am so pleased to be standing here

today and because we have a beginning. but just as the governor of illinois said, you cannot have capitolism without capitol. and i am saying, that we need, we need one half of one percent of this hotel tax as an enormous amount, with over 50 million increase this is one half and, one and a half percent is a mere three or four million, that is not much to put in to invest in the black community. particularly when you consider that the exploitation of the black community is million and millions over time. and so we are asking for not a hand out, but a hand up to address these unequities of the past. we can't do it with dust.

the buck stops here and that is why we are here asking you and thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. jordan. >> so, to close, supervisors, and i know that supervisor breed asked us if we could just articulate some of the key working group accomplishments thus far, and so this is why i come up and this is the high level, overview of what we have done and, what we have done so far and, say that the local council partnership, again, it is hard to over state that i am sorry that alfonzo and mike are not here, they are probably at levi stadium or something, is going on. and the partnership has been incredible with them and the hotel council and the pipeline that president chiu sort of highlighted there with kevin has been critical and the

neighborhood specific marketing strategy, these are things that have already launched with sf travel and the contract monitoring division has a dedicated personnel to expand the opportunity for the contractors and the department of public works has increased their market lbe set aside a program and actually doubled it to expand the opportunity, and moscone has expanded the program and pipeline and so this is really the framework for something very, very successful. in terms of what we wanted to leave you with, suggestion and recommendations and we know that those of us who deal with the equity world, we understand the fatigue and we want to thank you the supervisors and we want to thank you for your continued attention to this issue as mr. jordan mentioned, we think that we could utilize an equity lens as we look at the transient tax goes forward and we are in conversations with the mayor's office of how

we can think about a budget that was just signed, and where those dollars are going and how we are really looking at our budget through a racial equity lens and we think that there can be dedicated resource and many of these things are cost neutral to expand the type of partnerships, and it takes time and resources to share information, on a legislative approach, and we think that the small business growth is critical and that there is an opportunity to think about the entrepreneur, and i know that there may be public comment about that and the sf travel which is really the supervisors created for the expansion, has really expanded, the tourism growth in the city of fung and we think that they have the models are really successful and of course, the third rail is proposition 209 and we think that the supervisors could really take a look at that in this climate now in san francisco that we could revisit and how we think about race and set aside from the city and of course, your continued leadership on the data gat

gathering and it is difficult to get the numbers and who is hire and getting contracts and we think that the continued diligence will be helpful and, just as it is reflected by our board to continue to highlight, the cross race and the fillmore and for example in the bay view to deal with this disproportionalty issue. >> i have a couple of questions, for sf travel. >> thank you. >> and if i could ask a couple of questions. >> sure. >> mr. miller, you made some recommendations to i guess, members of the board, supervisors, and i was wondering if you have utilized the resources that exist within the mayor's office, we are the legislative body, we are the policy makers and i get that and we take the leadership roles on trying to bring these kinds of things to the attention and try to resolve them, and with the legislative

fixes, but ultimately the mayor has hundreds of staff people and the mayor has access to individuals who could potentially assist with some of these roles including data gathering, and including, preparing legislation to be introduced to the board of spufrps and putting dollars behind it since he primarily controls the budget and although that we approved the budget and so i am just wondering all of these things that are brought to our attention and also, where is the mayors, and the leader on this particular issue, and what has been done, to try and begin the process, besides the work that you all have done in this working group and, what is being done with the mayor's office and with his various departments, and that have responsibilities, for this to actually help move forward changes, so that we can begin the process of actually implementing some of these great suggestions. >> fantastic. >> thank you. >> it is a tremendous question.

and each of these items are already in process, with the mayor's office. and so, on the leadership, point, with the chief data officer that the board of supervisors created we are in working group, process to try to figure out that we make sure that we get the data and utilize her position to understand what is happening. and the city services auditor who i know that we have met. >> and so, one of the suggestions that you made was that you needed data. but it sounds like that is something that is already happening so that is something that we can almost skafp off of our list in terms of a recommendation of what we can do? >> i wouldn't take it off the list, just because the way that the mayor's office thinks about this problem it is so big and complex is that we need a partnership with the board of supervisors and data gathering and getting the right data is a long process. and they hold it in different ways and so anymore information and i have been authorized to work with the different department heads on all of these different issues but maybe the best next step is six

months and report back on what am i doing with the mayor's office doing on each of these issues and in some ways i want to put it before you as a collaboration and a partnership. and i wouldn't take it off the list, because it is not done, but the chief data officer and i are in conversations about this. >> so i guess, that what i need to know, is that you are saying, data gathering. what are you asking to us do for data gathering, because i am not a data expert, i have three aids, limited staff, and so, my staff out to gather data. i am trying to understand a position that was established to assist with data collection, what else do you, like i want to know, what is being asked of members of the board of supervisors based on what we are capable of doing what is realistic that we get to a point where there is actual result and it sounds like some of these things are already moving forward and i am trying to make sure that i understand what the ask is, because i want the follow up to happen. and i want the results to

happen. i am not certain that data gathering is under or needs to be a partnership, it is just you need to, let me know what we, or what you are asking us to do as it results to the data gathering. >> in some ways, the ironic item three that proceeded us is about using the city services unit to better monitor the department and that is an example where they will come before you and work with the city services audit or, and through a racial equity lens and so that the collaboration is more of a philosophical collaboration to continue to emphasize that the racial equity is important, to the supervisors just as it is important to the mayor so as we make these asks that we have the board of purposes partnership to look through the occupancy tactic to understand how that is impacting our communities, >> so what i would want to know is how or what is the mayor's role and ultimately, you know,

they controlled the ability to effectively assist in delivering what is being requested, although we have the power too, in order to up port, in the past legislation and help to hold the hearings and help to hold these departments accountable, and i guess, knowing exactly what departments you are working with, and what are they providing and how are they supporting what changes need to be made and how do we hold them accountable, and i am holding it more for the specifics and not necessarily the bigger picture, but, i guess that we will get to that over the course of the conversation, i know that supervisor cohen has been more active and has taken the leadership in this whole issue in the first place, but i still don't necessarily see other than holding this hearing, what i can do as a member of the board of supervisors, to help push legislation, to help push support, or to help make the necessary changes in order for it to be successful. so that is what i am looking for.

what i want to get out of the hearing today. >> the last two items, at the end of october i am due to present the interdepartment report on what the different departments that i am working with will do for the agenda and that is something that i would like to work privately or publicly with your office to get your views on if we are on the right track. not a legislative but a leadership oversight because you are in the issues as well. but the second thing that is more concrete is the issue, and we are late in the process to think about these things, but the working group has looked very intentionally at the transient tax and the ways that you might link it to the revenue generating activities for these franchised communities and this is something that the supervisors and the partnership, >> and that will be explored and developed. >> correct. >> thank you.

>> i think that we are all looking for things that we can do and obviously the mayor's office proposes a budget and while this year in the budget that we just passed we were able to implement, and effect 20 million dollars of the budget that is 20 million out of 8.6, billion, and so, the mayor essentially effectively his decisions which we agreeded on, dictated 99.8 percent of that budget and, so, certainly this has to be a multty branch conversation and what we do to move forward and i do hope that we don't have to wait a full year and that there are conversation tas we could have now, and i have been apprised of these ideas, around it, and i think that it is an interesting idea and we have seen them work in a number of different contexts and not just in technology and but in healthcare and fashion, and if the idea that we can think about this in the tourism

context, and i am interested to get if it. and i want to make a couple of comments, urged the legislative item that you have, you talk about revisiting proposition 209, and let me say a few things about that. i think that many of us, and i would say that it was a travesty and set back on the supervisor's perspective by decades. and as i mentioned before i worked for an organization, that is frankly california we lost in 1996 we lost at a state level and i think that there is no one in this room that does not understand that this is not something that we can impact. and we have to go back to the voters and reverse this on a state wide level and that being said, i think that there are things that we can focus on here, and what we do in staoet and adapted the local contracting rules after proposition 209 to be in compliance with now the state law, and to impact or local

business enterprises and i think that there are some and i include myself among them that think that our local rules need to be changed because we have not made the headway that we have asked for and in fact, i am working with our city administrator, kelley as well as many divorce businesses including the businesses from the african american chamber to consider the reforms so that we can figure out how to get more of the city dollars to the local and diverse and i think that is a conversation that we need to push and let the colleagues know that we are working on a draft that will be involved in the conversation in the coming months about this, and also want to mention, around cross neighborhood tourism opportunities is again, how do we, geographically go from the job standpoint, link the north east neighborhoods with other neighborhoods in the city? whether they have be in the south east, and supervisor cohen's district or in supervisor breed's district, or others, and i will just mention another project that i am

working on that i do hope that we can get the city wide support on is the idea of extending the central subway not just to end in china town but to extend to fisherman's wharf of connecting the bay view to 16 million tourisms and the fisherman's wharf area and that is where we will see synergy and how it will be easy to get the folks in and around the city and i want to thank the colleagues to supporting the grant in that and i think that the longer term that is a conversation that i would like to see because if we can do that, that really opens up the entire bay area, but particularly our neighborhoods that have not had us easy access to all of those tourism dollars that are dumped into the north east and figure out how to get nem to the parts of the city. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> okay. >> i just want to speak to a couple of points. the level of organization that it took to get to where we are

today we were not able to get it done before the budget cycle and we are aggressive because we recognize that there are some recommendations that do have and do require a budgetary act. and mr. jordan, alluded to many of them in his remarks. and i am hopeful, that next budget season, we will be able to have a little bit more of a con size and thoughtful budgetary session that we can advocate and allocate dollars. from a budget or a policy perspective and the number one budget that this body produces, is the budget, itself. so, as a representative of the mayor's office we certainly have talked about this, and about the commitment and we also acknowledged that there have been several reports made about the status of the african community here in san francisco. and the way that i see it is that we have already identified the problems, now it is about figuring out the ways ta implement many of these recommendations that have come

forth from documents such as the unfinished agenda, and there is very little that has changed from the 80s from the late 90s and to where we are here today and so from my perspective and i am going to go out on the limit and thank supervisor breed and i are pretty much on the same page and that we see our role as implementing, pushing forward these recommendations, and the this particular sector, is just a sector that was part of the recommendation that just happened to be moved first, and to be moving forward. from a state wide perspective in terms of repealing or reorganizing 209 i am happy to continue to have that conversation, but i think that what we need are quick winds and successes here on the ground and so i have a couple of questions that i want to put forward to first, to sf travel. and john, as you come up to the microphone, thank you, mr. miller. >> thank you. >> my specific question to you, is how, how are african

american businesses highlighted? and advertised in comparison, to the other similarity, situated businesses? >> and well, with the question and i don't have the exact numbers, but what i need to do, and is that the san francisco travel association is a mutual benefit association. and what that means, is that we in order for us to be able to highlight or to promote them and they have to be a member and that is the requirement under the irs laws and so we cannot be stow a benefit to someone who is not a member in order to combat, and to be getting reaive is that we do have a member of what we call the partnership grant. and that came to a scholarship in which we go out to the neighborhoods there are ten a year and really what this has allowed us to basically get the free membership and we have a mentor, both in these, and the

staff member of this association, and someone who is already a member. to help and sort of like, and the results and that will be, and nothing happens. we have one of those, and here today, and archbishop op king from his church. and we have john, coal train from the church and also the co-chair of our work group, committee, but that, okay, any way that is... and we have done that and we do, if there is a city designated cultural facility such as the one that supervisor breed used to head up, we can put those on and there are certain historical sites that we could use as well. and they are best, and that church is just one example of something that we can promote and so that is what our effort that is trying to pursue and perfecting the tourism to the

neighborhoods and we cannot promote it in is of itself, we can create the finishing designation and working with the fillmore leadership, business that we would love to and work with the merchant's association there, and we are working with the merchant's associations in a number of different areas, to help, create them and to show them how to promote the neighborhood as a whole and what were some of the efforts that we are trying to pursue. >> all right. are you able to give me some i guess, i guess, so you ultimately you are saying that you have to be a member of the organization, and the next question is what kind of recruitment or advertisement or how do you let people know that hey, the membership organizations please, come and join us. >> we go into, well, first of all when we hear of the leads, and we have a whole staff, that basically is paid to do that and they go and reach out to any business that they see that

falls within their area. so, it bohooves them to reach out and on top of that, now, we do, again, look to the leadership of each neighborhood and so your neighborhood merchant associations and so we go out into those, neighborhoods and in the twofold, and again, how the working with them to help to create their neighborhood as a destination but then, also, in that, to let them know about the benefits that they can receive, by being a member of san francisco, travel association. >> got it. >> so up until recently, we have connected you to the merchant of the bay view merchant's association that is what i know? >> i am sorry, up until recently, you have been connected. >> exactly. >> so let me say this because

you alluded to having the staff and i assume that you have had the staff and i will just want to express my concern that you have had the staff and there is no relationship prior to this movement, to establish that relationship. and so i am asking you, as the head of the or the head. >> yeah. >> and to, really pay attention, and to really for the public, strong now and the public record but we are going to be looking to you to make sure that we are forging those relationships and more importantly once they are established to nurture them and take care of them and there is a lot of effort and so you can consider me a partner and i am happy to extend my hand to help. continue to force it, and partnership, and to a leadership that is part of the merchant's association. and we need to make sure that a lot of our businesses are part of the sf travel, and they are a member and so that we can begin to promote and push this forward. i have a question, also, what percentage of sf travel, comes

from public dollars? >> (inaudible). >> so just, so that i am clear, the city and county of san francisco does not fund. >> we dpo not receive any from the tax, and we do have, the tourism and improvement district, that is similar to a cbd or a bib and so it is assessed on a self-assessment, that is voted on by the hotel community. and they contribute to san francisco travel, but we do not receive any or we do have a contract, that those goes out to bid with san francisco international airport, and that is a contractual agreement, to help promote san francisco international airport to the rest of the world and get a lift from the international destinations. and that is the only city dollars that we will receive. >> and so, really my final statement that i want to impress upon you is that when you are creating your marketing materials and you are talking

we need to make sure that it is ethickly diverse, that every ethnicity is represented in the picture or the statement, and i am not sure how your materials are all assembled but that is really critical and one of the ways that i think would also be helpful is there is diversity brought on your staff and i don't know that your staff. speaking out of turn, i want to say that i am happy to help you, identify talented members, particularly in the african american community in a position should become available when you have someone on the staff you have a different lens and you have a different voice that you are speaking through. and staff meetings. and internal discussions that may be missed and you as a man of color, can certainly and i can identify what i am trying to articulate here. >> i am a gay man of color. >> so, speaking of that, i do have one more thing about the

sf, a specific section that calls ought for gay travel, do you think that it would be designated sections for the other protected classes. >> that i think is a great question and we are pursuing it and in addition, so the diversity advisory council that we discussed that is one step, but also we have seven areas of focus in our marketing. and one of, and it is the destination as a whole, and the foodies, and the assisting the abilities and the different ways of attracting them and there is the lgbt and also, now, we are evolving and with one of our new, focus areas, directly in those 7 is the diversity and so that will be part of the charge and the mission, and so, that is what our goal is, with both them and also with the guidance of the diversity advisory council. >> thank you very much and i appreciate your time. >> before we step forward.

>> sorry. >> i wanted a little bit more funding about the funding, you do not receive any grants or any funding for sf travel? >> outside of what i mentioned, the contract with sfo, no, all tf comes from the tid. >> okay. >> and the membership dues. >> okay, and no grants, and no any of that, and funding? >> well, we do have a staff member, that is funded by it is sort of the issue for us and she reports to kerri at the grants for the arts and so she is a partner. but, >> she respects to sf travel. >> well, she works with us, in partnership with us and so there is that relationship, with her, that salary, is and she report to kerri, at the grants for the arts. >> okay. >> and we do not. >> and you are saying that there is ne, i just wanted to make sure that it is clear that there is some in the public

dollars, and sf travel. >> if you, and that would be the one that i, and i apologize, and i have forgotten about that and there are no program mat dollars. >> can you explain the airport. >> there is a contract that the airport sends out to rfp that goes to help to promote the san francisco, international airport to the rest of the world and may need the goal of that, is to, help, give lift, for the air service from the international destinations in san francisco and in the national airport and we the san francisco travel fund a number of offices and 12 or 13 countries throughout the world. and where we promote, and with those relationships anfo