special interests and that's how i feel i've developed that sensitivity to the neighborhoods, neighborhood groups and their understanding i think can be most important and the thing is that i use my years and listen to them. i look at everybody in san francisco as a customer i'm in the hotel business and they are all customers. they all deserve to be heard, their needs to be met and that's how i approached the redevelopment agency. how do we satisfy everybody's needs and how do we get those needs met while not having car crashes between various groups. very difficult. >> thank you. my next question is regarding medical cannabis dispensaries. there have been a few that have come to the board of appeals for an ultimate determination by the board of appeals about their permitting and there is

also an issue in san francisco where the way the legislation that cited how mcd's could be permitted in the city has created zones that, you know, parts of the city called the green zone where mcd's seem to congregate or can only congregate and other parts of the city where they aren't. so we're seeing there's access in some parts of the city and there's clustering where that access is available and the clustering also has some neighborhood impacts. and there's parts of the city where there isn't any access or limited access, you know, to no access at all to medical cannabis and just wondering what your thoughts are about what role you would play and what would be the major considerations on how you would consider mcd issues coming

before the board of appeals. >> ultimately marijuana is going to be legalized in this country. it's silly that it hasn't been. it becomes a neighborhood issue. to listen to the thoughts of all neighbors and find balance if their feeling is that cannabis dispensaries are too nearby schools or too nearby playgrounds they would expose children improperly or inappropriately to what they feel is a danger then that needs to be heard. it's a balance. that i think was what the challenge of permit appeals or the challenge of the redevelopment agency was the same, finding that balance within the neighborhood so the constituencies can be comfortable with whatever progress is made in their community. it's a question of balance. >> it's something we've looked at in terms of trying to change the rules around the green zones. i think we're looking

for certainly there will be changes, hopefully, but what's also happening is where we do have green zones the impacts can be great with the concentration of mcd's in one area. in my area i have two on one block and two more trying to get in. it's important to see how we can thread the needle on the mcd issue but there is a need to actually change the rules that would kind of not -- ensure that we aren't seeing some neighborhoods being places where they concentrate and looking at other places around the city. so hopefully that will be something that if you are on the board of appeals that you can play a rise role in assisting with. >> do the best i can. >> my last question is regarding the time when you are on the redevelopment commission

and at that time there was a contract to do some environmental work with arc ecology that was doing work around the conversion of the shipyard. and, you know, i believe that arc ecology in their assessment had come up with opinions or analysis that was critical of some of the things that were going forward and then later the contract was terminated and i'm wondering -- and to me arc ecology can play that role of the neighborhood, you know, serving a voice. the people there have relationships and have been involved in the community for a number of years. what's your recollection about why that, how that -- was there a correlation between criticism of what was going forward and

their contract or --. >> my recollection on that is that arc ecology was engaged to do a study as a neutral third party on whatever the issue was, and i can't remember those specific issues. and they made their study and they offered that study as a neutral third party. and then, as i recall, they went from neutral third party to advocate, which kind of muddied the waters instead of maintaining the neutrality that a consultant is engaged to do. i'm a consultant. in my work i provide an opinion acting as a neutral third party trying to find the good news and the bad news for my clients.

and i would find it inappropriate if after rendering an opinion for my client to show up at a public hearing and suddenly blast that client for inappropriate doings or taking a position. so i think that was kind of the rub in that consideration. >> so --. >> not that their position wasn't right not that their position was wrong, but i think that was the kha lefrpk, how does a neutral become an advocate. >> and you feel they crossed the line. >> it was the belief of the commission that that may have occurred and that it was klal challenging for us to

understand their position. >> okay. thank you. i do not have any other questions. i do want to thank you for putting yourself forward to serve on the board of appeals, which is a body that consumes a lot of work. so i appreciate that. >> i have good training on redevelopment. thank you. >> so this item we can open up for public comment. any member of the public who would like to comment please come forward. and seeing none we'll close public comment. and colleagues this item is live before us. >> great, i'd like to make a motion to move mr. swig forward with a positive recommendation. >> the motion needs to be amended, either remove -- reject or aproofrpb. >> i'd like to make a motion to approve mr. swig for the board of appeals. >> amend the motion first. >> i will amend the motion. i'd like to amend the previous motion, withdraw it -- amend it and i'd like to amend it to say to approve rick swig.

>> seconded. >> seconded by supervisor tang and we'll take that without objection. our next item, please. >> item no. 4, hearing to consider appointing three members terms ending (inaudible) to the citizens general obligation bond oversight committee. there are three seats and four applicants. >> okay, very good. we have three seats, four applicants, and let's bring people up in the order that they are on the list. first up, mr. townsend. >> good morning and thank you for your time. my career has been the intersection between technology, invocation and public finance. i grew up in a working-class neighborhood, i was on free lunch, neither of

my parents went to college, i lucked out, i went to a very good high school, tested into the magnet school went to a very good college. i spent my early career working to fight human trafficking, did a lot of work with community groups, worked with political figures, trained law enforcement, got two laws passed in the state of rhode island and in the capacity of that got interested in providing services to the people i was trying to help. i worked at a consulting firm that worked to address those very topics. so i worked on fixing it systems at the police department. i worked on child protection systems in new york city. i worked on performance management systems in memphis

and chicago, and from that work i got recruited by cory booker to come be his head of innovation, head of technology in the city of newark and i engaged with communities throughout newark on a wide range of topics and there i got really interested in finance empowerment, financial access, financial literacy, much of the work that the treasurer does here. and i actually came out to san francisco and i found a company that's dedicated to working on financial access and changing the cost structures of the financial system and the reason i'm applying for this committee is it has two pretty big responsibilities, one is about bond oversight, it's also the citizen's audit review committee and those two things one really around finance, the other around benchmarking improving city services, those are sort of at the intersection of the things i worked on and

things i care about. my hope is that i can work with the committee to try to do more to reach out to the communities, things you represent in the rest of the city. i think it's a topic that can appear to be really boring but is super important. so, yeah, that's it. >> thank you. just looking at your experience, what you describe right now it's actually very impressive given your age as well. so, you know, thank you for your interest in serving. i don't have any questions. supervisor cohen? >> yes, thank you. how long have you been in san francisco? >> a little -- two years and four months. >> a little over two years. can you tell me when the c block was established and for what reason? >> there's two different moments that the committee was given some territory, one for the o bond oversight, which i

think was 2001-2002 and the second time was for the citizens audit review committee, which i think was 2004-2005. they were both initiatives. i believe, i apologize that i'm not an expert on the history, there was some concern about a particular bond issuance that happened in the late 1990's and the committee was formed out of response to that but you should correct me if i'm wrong. >> can you give me one of the bonds that --. >> yeah so there's 13 bonds that the community oversights. the oldest one is a 1997 seismic safety bond, the most recent is a 2011 safety, road safety and transportation bond, i believe. between those 13 there's two hospital bonds, there's two or three neighborhood and parks bonds. i can get you a list if you'd

like. >> no, i have the list, i'm testing you. thank you. >> there's also 12 other like small reauthorization bonds, there's 25 in total they look over, but there's 13 primary ones that were on balance. >> thank you. he clearly did his homework. thank you very much, mr. townsend. i think you might know more than some of us, actually. i do want to ask this of all the candidates who are up here, we have 4 candidates but only 3 seats. you obviously know that goboc is a oversight committee but what do you think is the role of people serving on this committee and if you have any specific things you want to change or things you think are done well on the committee. >> i think the committee potentially has fallen into

being as boring as the things they oversight. i think the reality is these bonds are really tangible things, i was talk to go supervisor cohen there are playgrounds and hospitals and there are roads and road safety and improving the earthquake -- being ready for an earthquake. so i think that these are real amazing important tangible things and that the truth of what the community should do it is not just provide oversight but also communicate to the public as best as possible the sort of what these bonds are being used for, how they are a positive good so when political leaders like yourselves want to work to have new large capital projects and issue new bonds that the public is sort of comfortable in the potential safety of those bonds. on the other side of the committee, the audit-view part, i think they really haven't done much and they could do a lot more. city services and

the efficiency of those services, particularly when that part of the committee was authorized it talks a lot about benchmarking and sort of trying to help the comp troweler or controller, excuse me, figure out if the city services are comparably run to other services across the country and i think they have not really done that to date and i think that that could be something that also again could underscore for community members, community groups, political leaders like yourself, like true value and capability of the city to provide important services. >> thank you. we'll go to our next applicant, brenda cleave mcnulty >> chairman avalos, vice chairperson tang and supervisor cohen, thank you for the opportunity to address the rules committee to express my

application to the assistant general obligation bond oversight committee. i have been a resident, a happy resident, of san francisco by 20 years and by choice. i am a retired banker and i have a professional career over 40 years of private banking, wealth management and general business management. in addition i bring to the table a cultural diversity from my professional and life experiences. my husband and i have to be residents of san francisco in our retirement years. our two adult sons and their fiancee's live in san francisco. my family is what decided me to serve by using my business skills. i have a vested interest in enhancing my city government. i cannot think of a better reason to serve. i understand the general obligation bonds process through my years at wr grace

working for the treasurer. i studied and analyzed general obligation bonds including city bonds. i am therefore profish not only in the verbage of general obligation bonds, but the role they play in the fiscal relgt of the city and county of san francisco. i also understand the oversight process relevant to this committee from my auditing days and my general management days at wells fargo and other financial institutions. i have been responsible for many initiatives wherein a review in accounting are strictly adhered to. i present these professional services as the anchor of my professional

qualifications to serve on this committee. i have been an active member of the community since moving here from 1966 from hong kong focusing on the asian american community. i have served and continue to serve in leadership positions in asian focused nonprofits and i am happy to discuss them further. last but not least, i also understand that this was my first appointment to city government. i am all too aware that i have a lot to learn. what i can testify to you today is that i am a quick study. if appointed, i pledge to you and the people of san francisco that i will carry out the duties of the committee with diligence, with integrity and with a gratitude for the opportunity to serve. thank you for your attention, i am happy to entertain any questions. >> thank you very much. supervisor tang. >> just the same question that i'm asking of all kapbd dates, really just what do you see as the importance specifically of the go bond oversight

committee, any goals you hope to change or approve if you are appointed. clearly you sound like someone who has a lot of experience in finance, i probably want to look over my finances but in terms of goboc any goals that you have that you would like to achieve there. >> as far as the actual objectives of the committee itself, i think the oversight, the auditing type role of this committee is extremely important, not so much as the (inaudible) requirements of the city itself, i think it is important when the city goes out again to raise money with general obligation bonds. they want to make sure this process whereby we raise money for certain projects they are efficiently executed as per the bond provisions. so i do see that this committee has an

important, how should i say it, oversight, not just so much for the immediate job function itself, but to make sure that we get to know that we have clean records where every single obligation bond and the ultimate conclusion of the projects under the bond. so i tend to see it as more of an immediate function which may seem boring to some people, but at the end of the day what we promise the bond holders that we would do, we need to be able to execute it in the manner as prescribed. so these are some of the perhaps strategic goals i hope to bring to the committee. >> thank you. i appreciate that. i think through our city bonds we actually have a really great track record so the oversight committee has done a great job with that and that does have an impact

prospectively how voters consider general obligation bonds. that hasn't always been so in the past, the community college district as well so i do appreciate a response to that question. supervisor cohen. >> thank you very much. oversight is certainly one aspect of this body. can you describe to me your understanding of the second and important function of this body? >> the oversight actually is important and the other function is really to create an awareness of the undertakings of what the underlying department is doing and hopefully, you know, as a conduit that the public is made aware of that we have fulfilled our duties. >> okay actually, the other hatch -- half of the function of this body is to provide

oversight and responsibility providing oversight for the city services auditor as well as oversight and input in the city's whistle blower program. >> that reminds -- that cleared the bell, the whistle blower program. >> thank you. >> okay, thank you very much. i do appreciate your putting yourself out for this committee and our next applicant is for seat 2, michael seville >> thank you, supervisors, michael seville, i come before you today seeking reappointment to seat 2, which is a labor seat, on the commission. my time on the commission has been very eye-opening. i was surprised by that because i've been involved with city government as a labor

representative for over 10 years now in various capacities. i cannot think of a more important committee for a citizen of san francisco such as myself and as a labor representative to be on because of the importance of all three functions, i'm glad supervisor cohen raised the whistle blower program because that's something i think is very important. i think it's something that the committee has taken a very hard look at and tried to improve the experience of whistle blowers. i think the overall function of the committee is to ensure good government and that's from the bond program, i think my predecessors and the elected officials of this town have done a good job in improving the way that bonds are issued and handled in san francisco starting in the late 90's with some of the difficulties with laguna honda and some of the parks bonds that came through. i think we've done a good job seeking information and really holding departments

accountable, including dpw, who has a lot of the project management functions for our large bonds. if you look at the bonds coming through for conclusion, such as san francisco general hospital, i recently did a tour of that facility, a spectacular facility, a real model for other municipalities in the bay area, they seek to emulate that, the new police headquarters that opened up out in at&t park, beautiful building, well constructed , the integration with the fire department there. i think it was a seamless project and both of those projects on time, on scope, on budget. one of the big things i tried to do as a member of the committee is to improve moving forward. we've done a good job, i think we can do better, maybe going to some of the questions supervisor tang has asked, one of the major things we're embarking on now is really trying to create a uniform reporting model for the agencies that come before us in terms of budget. what are the,

you know, are you on scope, how is the contingency fund being tapped into and why, a change order is a major issue that can lead to well-developed and well-proposed projects getting derailed and we saw some of that with some of the former bonds. i think we've done a much better job on communicating with the departments. i represent currently i'm on the liaison for the eser bonds and also the parks bonds. i think both are doing well. and i really, you know, try to sit down with the project manager and the finance manager of each department to talk about where are you now, are you where you thought you would be in terms of your timeline and how do we get to the end and bring it on scope on time and on budget? with the auditing i think we've been working well with the done troweler and peg stevenson who runs that shop.

i think there's always things we can do but we've engaged with miss stevenson over the course of the last couple meetings trying to improve that function, it's a very vital function of the city, and whistle blower, we've done some work on surveying of whistle blowers trying to get to the root of their experience, bringing forward difficult sensitive information in an nonmuss way to help improve city functions. i'm proud of all the work we've done, i don't think it's a boring committee, i think it's an important committee and with your approval i'd love to continue working on all the projects we are. >> colleagues any questions? no? we'll go on to our next applicant who is deanje bookter. >> good morning, supervisors, and it is still morning. i want to say thank you to michael for his comments. i go

by dj, dj brookter, i am director of community development on the bayview and i have been so for the last 5 years. as deputy director i work closely with our controller and i bring fiduciary responsibility as well as transparency to our organization. also i'm very very active in my fraternity where i also look over fiduciary responsibilities and transparency and this actually wouldn't be my first time in terms of being appointed to a body here at the city of san francisco, i was appointed to the work force investment community advisory committee which i can stand before you today and i'm proud to say i never once missed a meeting and continue to do so. but today, you know, we're here talking about the goboc and i think one of the things supervisor cohen alluded to was proposition f in 2002 and proposition c in 2003. i think

since 1999 there's been well over 200 funded projects through obligation bonds and the body itself is to provide oversight for ensuring bond revenues and the way they are expended and provided information for the folks in the community which i'm very huge on. i got the opportunity not long ago to look at some of the written statements that wasish shid in 2014 by the members including michael himself and i think this goes to supervisor tang's question in terms of what it is i look forward to. i definitely look forward to working with the other 8 members but there's two things they picked up on in this report in 2014 and that was future maintenance costs as well as transparency and those are two things that weigh heavy for me being here in the city and county of san francisco. there's two things i want to point out, if you sit down and look at the goboc mission i

think this epitomizes where i'm here today. their mission is to ensure efficient effective and accountable government. the vision is to strive to be a model for good government and make the city a better place. at the end of the day that's what i'm here to do. thank you for your time. >> thank you. just -- so currently you don't serve in any government bodies or commissions? >> currently no, that's right, supervisor. >> thank you. just your experience through young community developers and seeing the pipeline of folks getting work, our go projects, how has that worked from your perspective. >> i think it's worked very well. i want to make sure at young community developers we're currently partners with am cal who is working on block

49 at the shipyard. i think right now they are about 47 percent local hire in bayview which needs to be higher, but because we are aligned with them and were able to look at that transparency we're able to address that. >> how much of your experience do you feel that looking at issues like local hire plays a role in the oversight committee discussions or deliberations? >> i think it's huge. just being a part of development as a whole, as michael stated the goboc has done an amazing job with making sure jobs or these projects are being started and done and completed actually on time, which you know is huge in development in terms of the amount of time it takes for some of these projects to get done. but the goboc does a phenomenal job of that. >> any comments or questions? okay, we can put this item up for public comment.