this year, a firefighter driving drunk and fled the scene of an accident. and the head of homeland security hit a car while driving his department vehicle off duty in sonoma. the assistant chief continued following him and he turned on his flashing light and drove past a stop sign. this is the person that is leading the department terrorism and coordination and grant similar to the one received for the fireboat. as the budget legislative analyst pointed out, most like any other department, the fire department lacks succession plan and five 5-year strategic plan or fleet replacement. seeing as a form are fire commissioner i continue to advocate for with noah veil. one firefighter told me that the department's plan is to

react react react. moral is clearly down throughout the entire department. i know this because i hear from members day in and day out. we get their text message and their letters and phone calls and the complaints are not about pay or work conditions. firefighters and paramedics work hard, they are paid well and by and large they like what they do. the complaint of the department of not giving them the tools they need to do their job. they are tired of standing by a patient for 45 minutes wait ong an ambulance that is not available and tired of going to work in the morning knowing it's going to happen again the next day. all of these issues, as bad as they are are the pretext, the lenses of which i ask you to look at the real crisis. the fire department and medical emergency services, constitutes over 70 percent

of the calls going to the department. i held a hearing at the government audio committee on january 23, budget analyst reported when the department literally does not have an ambulance available to send to an emergency increased over 500 percent since 2008. in 2013 the department averaged eight times each day when it did not have an ambulance to send to someone in need and the department is well below it's mandated call response rate under it's own exclusive operating area with the state. this was in january. in february, i introduced and the board passed a motion for the budget and legislative analyst to conduct a follow up audit. specifically about the fire department's allocation of resources in management and ems system, throughout the spring i continued to speak here and to the presentes about the problems in the

fire department because it's a public safety issue and it's important that we as a body address it. on march first the chronicle ran a story then the san francisco mercury news and then the chronicle again. i held a hearing at the go committee on june 12th to hear on the audit and on june 13, the chronicle ran another story "san francisco lacks to meet it's 911 needs" these stories are on and on. has all this attention compelled the department to improve? has the leadership recognized the urgency the situation that we are facing. on saturday august 30, the san francisco fire department had

to ask an ambulance company to step in to respond to these emergencies. the department dismisses this as something that doesn't happen very often. except it happened again on thursday and sunday. if this is happening on an average sunday, what happens in the event of an earthquake or any other catastrophic event that might happen in san francisco? there were 374 occasions where it took more than 20 minutes for ambulance to arrive last month alone. 374 times. i hear horrible reports, an 87-year-old man with a broken hip and cracked skull who had to wait 45 minutes for an ambulance and died two days later. a man in north beach with a finger cutoff sitting waiting 38 minutes for an ambulance, firefighters performing active cpr for 30 minutes waiting

arrest -- an ambulance . 15 minutes waiting for a collapsed person during mass. the department and medic to follow, they have no backup, no ambulance to help them if they are injured or the folks they may carry out of a fire. patience -- patients are being transported on the back of police cars. this is an on going public safety. a public health hazard that is only growing worse and worse. our medics are running ragged handling call volumes that exceed all industrial standards or other city's practices. they are being mandated to work over time day after day. there is no training time for medics or emt's because they are waiting for calls. you

can assure that they need more ambulances and approval for more money. this is the most egregious factor of all. we already did. let me read the june audit. the fact that board of supervisors appropriated the funds requested by the san francisco fire department to authorize 16 ambulances in the fire department's budget for fiscal year 2012-2013, fiscal year 2013 and 22 013-2014 and fiscal year 2014-2015 budget. not one ambulance has been purchased to date. as a result the san francisco fire department takes the existing aging ambulances out of service regularly for repairs, reducing the number of units available to respond to calls chltd -- we gave them the money for ambulances and in the face of this crisis they haven't bothered to use

it. since i spoke about the ems crisis last week, i'm told that the direction group under the mayor's office started to address the problems. yesterday i was for the first time invited to participate in the working group which i will gradually begin doing immediately. i am told so far the plan includes the 30 -day mutual cooperating contract with the ambulance provider essentially a month long version of the department issued a couple weeks ago. no. 2, the efforts to administer evaluation calls when police are summoned and frequent callers of ems use at the shelters and no. 3, the possibility of more ems hiring. i'm glad that something may improve, but why did it have to take this long and go this far? why was the public safety jeopardize before the department took notice?

why is this just happening now after i took the matter to the mayor last week. what has been going on for the last six months 6 months for the last year, for the last two 2 years. that's the situation has even come this far as a reflection of failed leadership and a failed system. as a member of the board, we do not have the authority to hire or fire the chief. in fact section.2.114 of the city charter prevents us from doing so and i don't in entered the intend to do so. but i will bring this to light and have the voters have a chance at the ballot. today i will ask the city attorney to ensure our ems crisis is revolved and we do

not allow this to happen again. in the coming weeks i will meet with the members of the authority to define what a medical standard for authority should be for industrialized care for people. this standard could be on the average response time and the number of medics to follow calls or those with 10 -minute wait and/or number of ambulances medics needed to serve the city safely. whatever the matrix, the ballot measure will require the fire department to meet this minimal level of service. in 2005, proposition f proposed that the city and the department maintain a minimum staffing level of service for fire suppression. the voters of san francisco approved this.

ems is 70 percent of the call volume of the fire department. doesn't it seem logical that we create a minimum standard for ems like we have for fire suppression. the people of san francisco pay the fire chief over $300,000 a year. i think we are entitle to expect a minimum level of safety. this is urged and promise with success that has not been kept. the fire department has neither. the ballot will improve or move on and improve public safety for everyone in san francisco. colleagues, i have one other item and in memoriam. this is in memoriam for lawrence edward shelton

senior, he was born in alabama october 1941. he was raised and educated in alabama until age of 13. lawrence moved to west virginia to live with his father. a coal miner. he moved to west virginia where he became close to his future wife annette williams. lawrence and annette became high school sweet hearts and began an adjourn journey that will last 67 years. in columbus i ohio she became a member of the local afcio and then lawrence and his family moved to san francisco where he continued his work with labor groups. lawrence is remembered by all for his smile, his love of

conversation and his commitment to seeing the good of all people above all. he was a free spirit and a great soul. lawrence is is survived by his wife dr. annette shelton who is here today and one of his daughters is here today. they have four children together, eight grandchildren and countless other family members and friends who greatly inspired his strength of will and free spirit. i would like to acknowledge dr. shelter who is a strong community advocate, one that is continued to fight for the rights of people all over and continues to remain faithful to her church family. i see the rest of your family made it here. my colleagues and i extend our heartfelt condolences to you at your time of loss. our community will remember mr. shelton for years to come. thank you for being here and

today we are honored to adjourn this board meeting in his memory. so thank you for being here. thank you. the rest i submit. >>president david chiu: colleagues i would like to go to our 2:30 special order. let's proceed to supervisor campos. >>supervisor david campos: thank you very much mr. president. it is my honor to recognize a number of children who came out to our budget and finance committee a few days back to discuss the very important subject of the plight of 10s of thousands of children that have been fleeing central america to this country seeking refuge from our nation. i do want to note that the

translation devices that have been made available are not working properly so for many of them it's very hard to understand what's happening. so that's probably something to look into for the board. but, we will talk about the specifics of the item when we get back to that item as the meeting progresses. but i want to take this opportunity to recognize the children and we are talking about children who came to our hearing to testify about their experiences. i know for my own experience that crossing the border as a child undocumented is a horrific experience. i had the benefit of doing it with a parent that these are

kids that did it on their own without a parent with them it just makes the idea of what they went through just impossible to imagine. and, we as adults, we can talk until we are blue in the face about the challenges that these kids are facing, but ultimately it is these kids that are the only ones who can articulate what they have gone through, what they have to face and that they had the courage to come to a building like this one to testify is testament to the fact that these are very special kids and government has failed them in their native countries and that they would have the trust to come before a government body like this one is

something that i'm very appreciative of and so i want to take this opportunity not only as a supervisors but as a resident of the so the thank them for having the courage to share their experience with us because in sharing their experience not only are they helping themselves, but they are helping 10s of thousands of kids going through a similar experience. i will say this in spanish. [ spanish in spanish]

>> if they can please come up to the podium when i call their name. william garcia, walter garcia, brian suchey, natalie i

oyoa, louis conejo, stephanie paola moreno, calvera reyes. [ applause ] >> i know a couple of them are going to say a few words.

>> [ spanish speaker ] good afternoon, my name is natalie and i am here to thank you all today.

>> i'm here to thank you all for being here with me and the children here and many more children and for giving us the opportunity to have attorneys that we need so we can stay here longer. [ applause ] >> children have something to offer you all just like you have something important to offer us. we are grateful

that we are not going to be deported back to our country that we fled to come here. thank you. [ applause ] [ spanish speaker ] hello, my name is fatima. i'm from el salvador. i want to say thank you because you are helping us find attorneys. when here we are children, the people who need them the most. thank you. [ applause ]

>> hi, my name is louis and i'm from el salvador. and i just want asylum and i want to thank pangia for providing me an attorney free of charge. i wish there were more free attorneys for the children to be with their parents and

their brothers and sisters like me. thank you. [ applause ] [ spanish speaker ] good morning, my name isselsa. i'm five 5 years old. i'm here to thank you and i hope that you vote for us and with us. we are defenseless

and we hope you help us have an opportunity. thank you. [ applause ] [ spanish speaker ] thank you. hello, my name is brian and i'm here to thank you for the money that you are providing us for attorneys. you are giving us an opportunity to be here and to be something and someone in life. thank you.

[ spanish speaker ] good afternoon, my name is walter. thank you for the money you are donating to help us have attorneys. we feel much more supported and strengthened now that you have done that, thank you. [ applause ] [ spanish speaker ] good afternoon, my name is

marilyn. and i won my asylum and i feel so much more at peace and happy. my dream is that all the children can be like me at peace and happy. thank you for the support you are providing to all the other children, thank you. [ applause ]

[ applause ]

>>president david chiu: back to roll call. madam clerk. city clerk: supervisor campos is on the roll for new business. >>supervisor david campos: thank you very much. i have one item, i have a couple of items. the first is substitute legislation that i'm introducing with respect to the issue of buy that would regulate tenant by outs in san francisco where it's the tenant vacating the unit. this is that something that happens outside of the process in the eviction law. we know the report issued by the

budget legislative analyst that it is estimated that for every ellis act eviction there may be as many as 7 by outs that happen. they found that the number of clients seeking advice on buy outs from 2009-2013. from 76 clients to 175 clients. the legislation that i introduced does a number of things including increasing the fairness of to buy outs to provide tennants a statement of their rights to buy out process and frequency of buy outs to understand this in san francisco and no longer an