goorndz thank you very much on behalf of the city of san francisco . >> good morning, today is march 12, 2015. welcome to the rules committee of the san francisco board of supervisors. my name is john avalos, chair of the committee. joined to my

right by vice chair katy tang and will be joined shortly by supervisor malia cohen. >> please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices. speaker cards and all documents to be included in the file should be given to the clerk. >> okay very good. thank you. we have several appointments up for us today and let's go on to our first one. item no. 1. >> item no. 1 is a hearing to consider appointing two members terms ending november 16, 20016, to the bicycle advisory committee. there are two seats and two applicants. >> very good, we can go straight ahead to presentations. i know the district 11 seat applicant, casey allen, will not be here, but i believe mr. mark brand is here. please come forward.

>> good morning, supervisors. by the way, i have worked with casey allen and i think he's really great committee member. i've been on the bicycle advisory committee for a few years now and i consider it a great honor. i have been a bicycle mechanic for many years i've worked also in the transportation industry doing shipping, so i think i understand some of the issues that we get involved, that are involved in transportation in the city. i've been working on (inaudible) street initiative and i worked with, i was a participant in the think bike workshop workshop *}of 2011 where we had

experts from the netherlands work with us. i have worked with folks through the san francisco bike coalition on access for bicycles on the train and specifically caltrain. i have authored and sponsored a resolution which was passed unanimously, i brought a copy of it if you don't have a copy already, but for what it's worth, my dad was a manager of car economics for the southern pacific railroad so i drove the train as a kid while growing up in palo alto and i'm grateful to have been able to meet people like ellen fletcher who has a bike avenue named after her in palo alto. when i worked on bike access a few years ago i was able to work

with ellen and it was great to meet up with her because she was a great mentor when i was a kid. i hope i can continue on. thank you very much. >> thank you for your presentation. just cure yis how the advisory committee might weigh in on future policy or any programming related to the cycling in the city is that something that has been --. >> we do work on the bike plan. this is the 2008 bike plan and we were involved in it. there's acknowledgement of committee members in here on the front. so the city comes and tells us what the intentions are and we make comments so we have been able to move the needle a little bit and that's rewarding. >> just to talk about things we're doing in district 11, there's mcclaren park and we also have a new program called

bc del pueblo which is a bike build program for people of color in district 11 and that has a lot of focus on dwirls as well. it might be good to participate in if you ever have a freeway sunday to come out, i think the next one is going to be coming up soon, you can contact my office if you are interested in it. >> that would be great. mcclaren park is a great resource for the city. >> thank you. the district 11 seat is, casey allen is not able to be here today. he's been on the cac for a number of years and i worked closely with him on policy and he's been a grit go-between for my office and the bikish shies with the city and i would like to continue his seat with his participation. so we can open up this item up for public comment. any member of the public who would like to comment on item no. 1, please come forward and seeing none, we'll close public comment and

can we have a motion on these seats? >> sure through the chair, happy to support the district 3 and district 11 nominees. i would like to send forward mike brant for seat 3 and casey allen for district 11. >> seconded by supervisor cohen and we will take that without objection and we can go on to our next item. >> item no. 2 is a hearing to consider appointing one member term ending december 31, 2015, to the sro task force. there is one seat and one applicant. >> okay, if we could have the applicant please come forward. >> hi, good morning. my name is jamino dolio and i was managing a human trachking

collaborative here in the bayary. before i joined the mission collaborative i was able to work with housing in different types of housing issues. majority of the clients that i worked with also lived in sro hotels. the capacity that i worked with them was more advocating for more rights for them in a more, as related to healing and res store tif justice for the survivors of human trafficking. as the program manager of the sro collaborative a collaborative between the mission neighborhood resource center as well as women's community clinic i am able to be in constant contact with the tenants throughout the mission's sro hotels. our vision and mission is to protect the sro housing stock, improve the living conditions, and to fight for housing justice. i am in constant

contact with the tenants through our walk-in hours and also in our tenant meetings. our events or the actions that we organize. the collaboratives have bi-weekly meetings with the partner agencies and use the meetings to bring forward solutions for issues that are basically being brought to us by the sro tenants. we have assisted a tenant with a variety of services from legal to social, medical and mental health. and i'm fully capable of representing the mission sro community with the approach that will be expressing the community concerns and reporting back to the community to better represent them. >> great, thank you. colleagues, any comments or questions? supervisor tang. >> just in general, what are some of the issues you see pressing in the sro community, i think you touched upon but any specific goal you might have if you are appointed. >> yes, of course. right now

we are seeing an increase of vacancies at the hotels. there is some speculation it might be the land lords are waiting for the prices to go up so they can then rent those units for a higher price. so a project that we are working on is to have an sro census with the community. we would basically speak with our goal is to interview 100 tenants at the sro's in the mission because there is about 52sro's in the mission right now. having some data because to have tenants come in and reporting that there are vacancies there, a tremendous amount of vacancies, we are seeing women put on the streets instead of the hotels, the women's community clinic, they do the condom ladies every tuesday, monday and wednesday evening to share crime reduction materials at the hotels and they report to us they are seeing an increase of women in the street instead of the hotels and the same with males as well. so what we want

to do is basically do a questionnaire with them to assess what's going on, why are the vacancies and also to see if we can speak with managers as well to have like a better understanding of and have some data so when we are representing them we have numbers, we have more concrete statistics. also we are seeing increase of fires in the mission and we are seeing an increase of actually hotel owners refusing to allow the mission sro collaborative in the hotel to provide fire prevention workshops. i guess because the mission sro collaborative has represented their tenants against them in different lawsuits for making the repairs, harassment, retaliation, code violations. they have recrated a resistance to us so that is something i would like to work on, our main pab goal is to create a safe living space for everyone

involved, but they also need to be accountable for having the appropriate measures to keep the tenants safe and just help the tenants have a plan in case of fire, in case of a disaster. those are very important things and in the past two months we had two big fires in the mission we had one on the 22nd, another on the 24th, so it really worries me that, you know, some hotels we were able to work with them, with the assistance of tpi and they allowed the lieutenant to go give the tenants the training but they wouldn't allow us. we know we might need to be flexible in order to work with not only the land lords but the managers and the tenants and have a good environment for everyone. but that's another project that i really want to work on. >> thank you. what do you see as how functional all the departments that are involved with sro task force, how that is working out, especially with dbi and calling on enforcement

and do you feel that sro task force has been able to really ensure that there's really strong response from the city or do you think there's gaps that need to be filled that, a ways to go that need to be make improvements there? what's been your experience? >> i have been exposed to the sro task force since september of last year. i don't know if it would be fair for me to give an assessment. what i can say from my experience is definitely there is some gaps, but dbi, rosemary, the coordinator at dbi, is trying to address issues. we are trying to create a topic in the task force to talk about what are different issues coming up in the sro's, we have managers, we have tenants, it's a diverse group and i think they are handling very well trying to get folks to work. but i think i would like to see a little

more commitment from the folks representing the sro landlords. >> thank you. just lastly, you know, you were at the dolores (inaudible) task force collaborative. how is your work cits-wide, your working with other groups, sro families and chinatown. >> the community services have a contract with the chinese be community development center to work at the sro families united collaborative. we are working together with them not only to provide services for the families in the mission but also to help them locating affordable housing through different campaigns. we just need a questionnaire census, the same thing that i want to do for all the tenants in the mission, we just did one just for the families and in the mission alone we had counted about 45 families and we were able to complete a census with 35. that was because we were not allowed in

some hotels so we had to just do a head count. but the whole collaborative i think was over 550 families living throughout the sro's in san francisco. >> right. >> we also have partnered with the central city collaborative to work on the pet campaign, right now we are trying to see if we can do something about enforcement as well as through the mailbox campaign where all their options that we can -- so we have been working, we understand that we cannot work isolated just in the mission but that's something that we have to collaborate with tenderloin, with central city, with chinatown, you know, that you have a comprehensive city response. >> great, just what i wanted to hear. last year i took a tour of the grand central. eric mar and i went through --. >> oh, the great southerner? >> it's on mission and just north of 16th. >> yeah the grand southerner.

>> yeah, quite an eye-opener. thank you for wanting to serve on the task force, i think your experience is really great to be on there and look forward to your serving there. supervisor cohen. >> you tell me, how many sro's are in san francisco? >> we have, when we had the fires back in the late 80's, early 90's, we had over, like 500 sro's. >> how many currently do we have now that's operational? >> in san francisco i would say about 500, a little over 500. but the number used to be higher before all the fires happened in san francisco. that's how the collaboratives started working together was to combat fire and like they basically were able to pass the sprinkler ordinance, the workshop prevention as well. but in the mission we have 52

overall. i can also like go back and give you the exact number from dbi because we do have the listing, but i'd say it is safe to say 500, maybe a little over. >> so there are 52 in the mission. >> yes. >> do you know how many are in the tenderloin? >> no, i don't. >> thank you. that's it. thank you very much. >> so we can open up this item for public comment. any member of the public who would like to comment and seeing none i will close public comment. colleagues, i really feel we have a very strong applicant here with really want to encourage that we commit to bringing her on. >> sure, i'd like to make a motion. >> motion by supervisor cohen. >> i'll make a motion to pass on jadma for seat no. 5 to the sro task force with a positive recommendation. >> seconded by supervisor tang and we will take that without objection. thank you. committee report, right?

okay. >> item no. 3 is a mope to approve or reject president london breed's recommendation to the board of appeals. >> great, okay, mr. swede is here, welcome. >> good morning, supervisors. >> good morning. usually we ask for people to come and give like a two to three-minute introduction, interest in the board of appeals, your experience. >> my pleasure. my name is rick swig, i was born in san francisco and i probably will rest in peace here as well. in my 64 years i've seen the city evolve significantly and change. i have a family that's been here since 1945 and dedicated to

community service and in that tradition i have followed. my professional career is in the hotel business i have operated a small business, there are two of us, for 35 years advising in the hotel sector. and i have sat on most of the boards or led most of the boards with regard to convention and visiting bureaus and also was a founder of the san francisco tourism improvement district. which provides funding for marketing the convention and visitor bureau, sf travel, and took that burden off the city of san francisco. i have served on the san francisco rehabilitation agency commission and ultimately what just sunseted wasment -- was

president of my commission, raised my sensitivity to the importance of our neighborhoods, the importance of our communities and the citizens who live in those communities and having no redevelopment commission to serve on any more i was thrilled when president breed asked me if i would be able to serve on permit appeals which extends that experience which i gained on the redevelopment agency commission and hopefully i can apply the same standards in the new position. >> very good, thank you. supervisor cohen. >> good morning to you. quick question for you, it's pretty simple, maybe you can explain to me your understanding of how the board of appeals works. >> sure. it's described as a quasi judicial board. it's the point of last resolution,

whether the permit be -- well, i can use the example of the last meeting, which i did not attend but watched on tv a gentleman with a hot dog cart who was seeking a final permit to operate his small business to the family that wanted to expand their 400-square foot cottage and make it a little larger so they could raise their family. it could include large buildings, it could include (inaudible) it could include anybody seeking a permit whether it's a conflict that hasn't been resolved at other levels. >> what kind of permits are people seeking? >> the openings of their business, the permit to build. >> that's it for me, thank you. >> supervisor tang. >> thank you, mr. swig, for being here as well. you know, we obviously see that you are

very involved in the community and san francisco and you and your family contribute a lot there and just wanted to get from you what draws you to the board of appeals and what you look forward to if you are appointed to this committee. >> it's the ability to give back, provide community service. i do this, this is what i do. john martin, the airport director, called me several months ago and asked me if i would volunteer to assist him at the airport pro bono to advise him on the new development of the hotel there. that's what i do. i said yes. this is an opportunity be for me having grown up in this city, to give back and apply expertise that i may have gathered along the way or wisdom to preserve our community, preserve our diversity, preserve the integrity of what we would like san francisco to be. since i was born and raised here i cherish the opportunity of

living in the city and want to see it move forward constructively. >> thank you. a few questions from me. i've been kind of concerned about the composition currently of the board of appeals. it seems to be groups that have less than a clear connection to neighborhood groups and there have been neighborhood issues that come up that i don't think have gotten a clear determination from the board of appeals. recently there was a 2-2 vote on trees and we're actually going to have having -- there's a lot of tree people here today, the board of appeals was hung up on whether to have preserve healthy large ficus trees that were facing removal with a development because the board of appeals

hung up on 2-2 those trees were removed. there was also another companion vote there as well that was about replacing those trees with, you know, large trees as well that would be there in place and again the board of appeals hung up on there 2-2, which meant that smaller trees were going to be coming in to replace the large trees that had been taken out. and trees are a pretty big issue in san francisco. it seems like we're seeing a lot of them removed and not taken out and not trying to develop a canopy the way we need to. just wondering what your experience has been looking at really closely neighborhood issues that come forward, how, the neighborhood organizations you are part of what are your feelings about how we preserve our trees in the city and how that issue is related to our canopy will be considered by you on the board of appeals.

>> i watched that debate on television. i got an amazing education on trees and roots and various sizing, what box you put in what box you don't, and i looked at myself in my mind's eye when they were discussing it and tried to figure out how i would position myself on that tree issue and i can't tell you which way i would vote because i didn't read the documentation before it was heard. but i was sensitive to that. my sensitivity to neighborhood, i'm not on any neighborhood groups. i live in the marina, i not on any neighborhood groups in the marina. my sensitivity to neighborhoods really came in redevelopment agency. we spent a lot of time focusing especially on, in supervisor cohen's district on bayview hunters point and the significant issues on housing,

significant issues on transportation, significant issues on how bayview hunters point was going to go after the naval shipyard and candlestick park went away. within that experience i had the opportunity of interfacing with countless neighborhood groups with 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