this is an introduction that was written by i believe bobby coleman wrote a draft for it and joseph smook who have had long-time relationship with the tenants union. last week we lost a beloved friend, an inspirational organizer of the city's tenants when ted gulacson passed unexpectedly. ted is survived by his sister sandra gul acson gaol by, stepdaughter, nieces and nephews and former partner sheila and dog who ted took in when he wandered up to his door. originally from massachusetts ted moved to san francisco in the 1908s and started working for the tenants union in 1988. for 26 years ted gul acson led the san francisco tenants union and was a key figure ~ in the city's tenant movement creating a successful legacy of accomplishments.

a word of ted's passing became public as one of ted's passing became public ~ friends shared grief, memories and inspiration. and there has been a common theme in all of their reflections. ted was a fearless and powerful activist who never hesitated to draw a line in the sand and stick to his principles. he was someone who both led militant and direct action in the streets and also actively participated in crafting and moving legislation at city hall and at the ballot box. he was also very good at helping to build coalitionses. despite his political four and his prowess, he was one of the most down to earth approachable humble people there was and was one of those rare advocates that did not leave a trail of enemies in his wake. ted was a tireless champion for tenants, poor people, and the working class in the face of victory and defeat, and he was a source of strength for many

others to keep fighting. one of the strongest recurring images people have -- seem to have of ted was a positive attitude, approaching our common struggles with a smile. he fathered a passion and a love for san francisco and the people who live here. thousands of tenants are still in their homes because of ted. as we express our sadness over his passing and the changing city, had i work has also provided us with hope. his organizing work of the tenants union ha created a strong independent of well trained collective. thanks to ted's mentor ship, there are many more activists to carry on his legacy to be as independent, positive, and as brave as he what. to keep a fighter, to keep fighting to make fundamental justice a reality. and during that fight and journey we must remember to enjoy our lives as he did, loving the giants, riding his

bike everywhere, loving falcor and eating all the doughnuts and chocolates on our way. ted gul acson, present e. ~ >> thank you, supervisor. >> i welcome other colleagues who wanted to make comments to do so now during my intro. >> supervisor campos. >> i, when i heard about what happened to ted, i think my reaction was like a reaction of just about everyone that i've spoken to about this. i just could not believe it. i think that there are things about a place and there are things and people about san francisco that without those things and without those people, you can't imagine a place being the place that it is.

and i think that of the many individuals that i have gotten to know over the years and that i have interacted with, not only as a supervisor, but even before that, ted is one of those icon i can people that you simply do not think and cannot think and imagine san francisco without him. and, so, i don't know, to be honest, how you think of san francisco without ted gul acson being a part of it. but i guess the thing that i can say is that i guess in a way he will always be, he will always be a part of san francisco. and i cannot for the life of me think about any issue involving tenants and housing without thinking about what ted gul acson thinks, and you have to catch yourself because you

always think of calling ted and asking ted about some issue. and i think it's only fitting that today as we're honoring his life that we had a piece of legislation that he, that he came up with, that he helped us draft that we worked on. a natural thing about ted above everything else, he was so understated. he what so humble, but ultimately he was about the work. and, so, i think that the only thing that i think i can do to honor him and to honor what he was about is to simply continue to do the work.

ted gul acson, present e. >> thank you, supervisor campos. supervisor kim. >> over the last couple of years we've lost many who have been organizers and leaders for our city. there are a couple that rise above that are clearly giants here in san francisco, and giants are individuals that have a commitment so unquestioned, you never wonder if they're going to be there tomorrow. in fact, i never, ever thought about a day in san francisco without ted gul acson. it wasn't until i got the news that i realize that i actually took that for granted. i never thought that there would be a movement without ted and i never thought there would be a san francisco without ted. and even when, you know, because there are so many of us, even when we argue and disagree, there is so much respect and love that we all have for one another because we

know where each other's hearts and our commitments lie. and the loss of these giants each time is incredibly heart breaking whether the passing of [speaker not understood], ted gul acson joins this group of san francisco icons whose commitment and heart was never questioned. but i have to say i feel so incredibly fortunate as someone who what younger here in san francisco, that we all got to spend time with all of these amazing individuals and that we have this generation. and i will call them elders. we have this generation of elders who are so intelligent, whose knowledge of the history of san francisco is unmatched, who are scrappy, creative, know the planning code inside and out, know every arbitrary and esoteric part of san

francisco's administrative code and they continue to lead and advise and guide this movement and so many of us that want to continue that work either as organizers, as activists or a policy makers, and they are a rock, so stable, that are just there every day. and i hope, i hope that in our generation that we have the same individuals that will be that way. because the generation before us really rejected everything, promotion, money, other cities. there could have been so many thing, but they always stayed every day to continue this work and they never ever tire of it. but most of all, i know that ted ha mentored so many people in this movement and there are so few individuals that lead without taking up space. often to be a leader, you talk a lot and you express a lot of your opinions and you make it really well known, and you take up a lot of space.

and ted, ted what a leader without doing that. and i'm really, really going to miss him both as a role model for so many and leadership and mentorship. and as supervisor david campos eloquently said the only way to honor ted is to dedicate our work to you and to commit to continuing it with the same fervor that you did. rest in peace, present e, ted gul acson. >> thank you, supervisor kim. supervisor mar. >> thank you. i wanted to thank supervisor avalos for reading that great statement and the tenants union for also posting on the website remembering ted gul acson, an open letter from the san francisco tenants union, ted gul acson university of activists. i'll remember ted's, what i call grassroots humility, very similar to bill furrow, erica,

jesse, and many others that have passed fairly recently [speaker not understood]. i always will remember how ted was very clear for movements to know your enemy and to identify them or it, but also not to be afraid to develop tactical alliance at times and to build a movement from those alliances. condolances to sheila sexton and the family [speaker not understood] and everyone around ted that helped make him what a great person he was. i really hate how the mainstream press has characterized the progressive movement and ted's work and i would hope that people build the university of activists and broader alliance with other organizations as well. i know theretion' a lot of folks from ace that are here today and home defenders, but i think of the tradition of fighters for our neighborhoods and communities ted gul acson

stands above us all in many ways. i like how he never sugar coated things in his language and knowing him for decade in the work that he's done, he never got enough acknowledgment i think of what he built over time. but my hope is that we continue after november 4th to really acknowledge him in the best possible way. and i wanted to say that in the tenants union statement they say here's what we encouraged to best honor ted. his family will leave a memorial after the election which we hope you all attend and for now over the next two weeks we will stay focused on winning prop g and our other campaigns as was ted's wish. i'm not advocating for political stuff right now. mr. givner, i'm reading from

the tenants union website. while maintaining with full vigor our daily counseling services and political advocacy for tenants, we can then celebrate ted's life with the greatest pride and his family will soon be announcing the details of the public memorial service. please save a prospective date of sunday november 16, subject to change. the tenants union will also be hosting open houses and mobilization so please stay tuned for those announcements. with the closure of the san francisco bay guardian newspaper, we know it's crucial to keep our electoral practiceses and political activities strong, independent, honest and reliable. please rest assured that we are all fully prepared for that, too. thank you. ~ well. >> thank you, supervisor mar. president chiu. >> thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, thank you for your beautiful word about ted gul acson. there is so much that can be said about ted ~. he was one of the very first

progressive activists that i met in our city probably about 15 years ago and he was someone who i know taught all of us, mentored many of us. and i learned a lot about leadership from ted's style. we have a lot of a naziing and brilliant leaders in our city and i think i might say many of them frustrate us every day. we agree with them, but they might drive us nuts. ted was not one of them. he was an unbelievably kind, gentle and decent soul. and in a city political environmental, he exemplified humility, humbleness. he was gentle while he was fierce. and i think it's really hard to imagine the tenants world and progressive politics in san francisco without ted gul acson. and i know many of us, we are

celebrating our giants this month. but i think we also know that we are all mourning for and celebrating a true giant for tenants and for san francisco who is an incredible champion for san franciscans. so, ted gul acson, rest in peace. and, colleague, i ask that we adjourn on behalf of the full board for ted gul acson, if we could do that without objection. [gavel] >> supervisor yee? >> just really quickly. my colleagues on the board, i probably knew him the lease ~ least. that's why i was hesitant to say anything. for the short time i knew him, i admire his style. i didn't always agree with everything, but one thing i have to say about him is that -- and i can't say this about too many people -- he's one that

when you ask for things, it's what i call authentic ask for authentic lead, and that's what i think of him as. thank you. >> thank you very much, supervisor yee. we'll move on to supervisor breed. >> thank you. colleagues, today i have just one item. i'm introducing a resolution asking my colleagues to support the rank and file member -- men and women of the san francisco fire department. as i've discussed many times in these chambers including with the mayor, we are in the mid of an ambulance crisis in our city that is jeopardizing public safety. the fire department is out of

compliance with its own state mandated exclusive operating area. response time in july and august were 50% longer than its own standards call for. we are still on a daily basis forcing people in emergency situations to wait because the fire department literally does not have an ambulance available to send to them. all of this is happening in spite of the fact that the fire department's budget has increased by over $63 million. that's 22.4% in the last five years, and the board ha approved funding for 16 new ambulances which the department still has not purchased. and i know that the mayor's response to my question today said that they have been purchased and they are on the way, but in fact not a payment has been issued and a purchase order is still pending. this is why on september 22nd

the united employee groups of san francisco's fire department, including those representing the asian, black, hispanic, lgbt and female firefighters and paramedics, unanimously voted to express a crises of confidence in the fire department leadership and urged the mayor to immediately relieve the chief -- relieve the fire chief. and it is why on october 1st the fire chief's association, those chiefs whom the current chief have given the promotions to announced that it stood with the you nightved employee group, echoing their crises of competence specifically calling for the replacement of their current chief. colin powell said it best about leadership. the day soldiers stop bringing you their problem is the day you have stopped leading they have. they have either lost confidence that you

but for whatever reason the owner of these two hotels, chesapeake lodging trust, is refusing to grant these workers the fair treatment even though it is very much the norm in san francisco's hotel industry. ~ ~ in june of this year, some workers anna flores, edwin lopez, both long term la meridian san francisco workers, as well as representatives of the workers committee actually went to chicago and spoke to the chairman of the chesapeake lodging trust. they presented him with a public petition that what signed by the majority of the

coworkers asking chesapeake to honor their request for a fair process. because the request for card check knewtrithv seems to be falling on deaf ears, these workers are at a dead end. so, i am proud today to introduce a resolution that actually supports the workers in the very difficult step that they have taken where they have actually called for the boycotting of their own hotels, even though that means they're going to lo tips, hours, and other personal sacrifices that they're going to have to make. but they have reached a point where they have no other option. my resolution supports that call for a boycott and it says the following.

that it states that the board of supervisors, that we express our full support for the worker demand, a fair process to decide for them self-whether or not to unionize. that we the board of supervisors call upon customers of la meridia and the hyatt fisherman's wharf going forward to respect the workers' call for a boycott of these two properties ~. that the board of supervisors calls on all departments and employees of the city and county of san francisco to boycott the services provided by la meridan and the hyatt fisherman's wharf and the board of supervisors calls on s.f. travel to advise and alert incoming tourists and conventioneer of the boycott of la meridan and hyatt fisherman's wharf. they cannot get away with treating workers, probably in most parts of the country, and they are certainly not going to

get away with treating workers this way in san francisco. the rest i submit. (applause) >> thank you, supervisor campos. president chiu. >> thank you. colleagues, i first want to start by joining supervisor kim in the in memoriam for cecilia limb. as she mentioned, our city, we had gone for ~ almost four years without a domestic violence homicide and in the last few months we have had four. and if you read the account of what happened to ms. lam, there are many aspects of it that sound eerily like what happened to claire joyce [speaker not understood] ~ some 14 years ago tomorrow. i think, colleagues, we all know that am i tempango's death is what spurred our city to move forward on so many ~ new policies when it comes to domestic violence. but i do hope that with ms. lam's tragedy we will continue to renew ourselves to this work. colleagues, i have two items

related to the environmental that i'm introducing today. first, i'm introducing legislation to keep unwanted, unused drugs out of our public waterways and off our streets. improper drug disposal ha been a real dangerous environmental and public health and public safety issue. we all know expired medication lying around the house can end up in the hands of children, accidentally ingested by seniors or pets, or used in suicides. the more accidental drug overdoses he that occur every year from prescription medications from heroin and cocaine combined. while wastewater treatments have been effective at removing solids and harmful bacteria, they are not designed to filter pharmaceutical chemicals. and medicineses that are flushed down the drain or the toilet that or that leach from landfills in our waterways cause irreversible dabbling to our ecosystem and our bay. to our colleagues who were around in 2010, you may

remember we first considered an ordinance in this area ~. but when our colleagues in alameda county were sued by the pharmaceutical industry for similar ordinance, san francisco decided to put our efforts on hold. in the meantime, san francisco's department of the environment launched our city's voluntary drug take back program. and i worked with the department of the environment and the pharmaceutical industry to secure funding for the pilot program. but unfortunately over the last 2-1/2 years, over 40% of our small pilot program has been funded by the industry. this program has been remarkably successful literally taking 18 tons of unwanted drugs off the streets and out of the sewer of our city. we are here and i'm actually introducing this today because two weeks ago the 9th circuit court of appeals upheld alameda's ordinance affirming the ability of local governments to acquire medicine manufacturers to provide for the collection and disposal of medicine. this ruling gives our city the

ability to take our pilot program, make it permanent and expand it to meet our real needs. the ordinance would require drug producers to participate in the product search of program to collect, handle and dispose of unwanted drugs. it would require drug producer to pay all administrative costs and fees, require them to adequately promote their stewardship plans, and also require that the drugs collected be dispoed at a permanent hazardous waste site. at this moment there are only 13 independent drugstores that have sites in the city and we hope that the over 100 pharmacies in san francisco and wherever you buy medication you should be able to dispose of expired medication. i look forward to having a conversation about this ordinance. i am also introducing an ordinance today to move san francisco's leadership forward in the area of solar. in 2008 san francisco launched go solar s.f. we received $65 million of

private investment, the headquartering of major solar leaders in our city, and over 120 jobs for low-income diverse residents who otherwise have faced employment barriers. our city has seen firsthand the benefits of solar energy, keeping housing affordable, increasing property values, creating jobs and promoting environmental justice. the question today is how we expand this and sustain our efforts as we aspire to reach a greenhouse gas free electrical system by 2030. my resolution lays out a vision for 2020, what we look forward to is a solo vision 2020, a road map of how we get there with three components. first, to pro poe the permanent funding of our go solar incentive program, after the previous program expires in 2018. second, the solar vision establishes a 50 megawatt solar panel goal for our city with at least two megawatts for tenant

occupied residences every year. third, the resolution supports a requirement that the roofs of new developments be sustainable. that solar panels and rooftop gardens be installed on all-new construction or substantial retrofits where feasible and for the department of the environment to convene [speaker not understood]. solar vision 2020 will help san francisco uphold our city's reputation as a leader in the solar movement and i want to take a moment and thank the san francisco department of the environment, its executive director debby raphael, its commission president josh arce as well as leader from the solar industry jeannine coter from [speaker not understood]. i want to thank representatives from labor from the nonprofit community as well as advocates for our solar community here in san francisco. the last item i have i'm introducing a resolution, unfortunately to again condemn antiarab and antimuslim bus advertisements. you may remember two years ago

there was a series of these bus advertisements that were placed on our buses and this board condemned those advertisements. we then saw a round of anti-israel bus advertisement and i know a majority of this body condemned those ads as well. unfortunate tali this past week there was another round and i ask that, colleagues, we reiterate our condemnation of these anti-arab and antimu limb bus advertisements and stand with our san francisco muslim and arab communities. the rest of my item i will submit ~. >> thank you, mr. president. that concludes roll call for the introduction of new business. >> why don't we now go to general public comment. >> at this time the public may comment generally for up to two minutes on item within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board including the policy discussion between the mayor and the board, item on the adoption without reference to committee calendar, and the closed session the subject matter of item 30. please note public comment is not allowed on items which have already been subject to public comment at a board committee.

direct your remarks to the board as a whole, not to individual supervisors nor to the audience. and if you would like a document to be displayed on the overhead projector, please clearly state such and remove the document when you'd like the screen to return to live coverage of the meeting. >> let's hear from our first speaker. good evening, supervisors. i'm peter wolf, executive director of library users association. the loss of ted gul acson, as all of you who spoke about it mentioned is a very sad and very serious loss. and i'm glad to say that i can agree with all the word of all the supervisors who spoke about him. i always thought that part of his charm was his modesty and he was typically known as the secretary or some such lesser position at the tenants union. i haven't been mentioned specifically as an item, but we also have lost the san francisco bay guardian, which put out is