we get-make ourselves so we get it here in the neighborhood. they have shown such patience through construction, welcomeedtuse the neighborhood so i beg just a little more patience as we get used to being here. we have a new home to best serve our community because it is all about the people here in san francisco. this building means that no matter what, your police department no matter what, your police department will be able to respond and provide assistance to him too, as needed which is what the san francisco police department is all about. it is about helping people every time all the time regardless. so, with that, believe it or not i think we are done.

>> alright, good morning, everyone, thank you so much for your patience, we're just going to get started and i know our chair is on his way, i'm katy tang, the chair of this committee, we are at the

thursday april 23, 2015 rules committee meet, and we have jim smith and jessie larson, so madam clerk, do you have announcements? >> please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices. items acted upon today will appear on the may 5th board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. >> thank you, so again, i really want to thank you all, i know you're very busy, we want to at least get rolling ahead with our rules committee meeting, so madam clerk f we could call item number 1. >> it is the motion approving or the rejecting of the major's appointment of debbie mesloh, term ending november 189, 2018 to the commission on the status of women. >> if we could have ms. mesloh come forward.er >> good morning, vicewoman tang and supervisor cohen, i wanted to talk to you about my

qualification, i'm happy to be plaids orn this committee for the status of women commission, [inaudible], a little bit about my background and what i would like to do on the commission, i moved to san francisco in 1997, i don't have the privilege of being a native but it is my chosen home as an adult, i took a vacation here, i don't know why anybody would want to live anywhere else and i still feel like that to this day. i worked on one of my passions which is women in leadership, i'm from the women's political committee, iem former board meeting of the chapter of noral, others saturday in andreas kitchen and we created an idea of a merge and i know there's several graduate ts of that problem. i had the honor to elect our first female d.a. in san francisco and our first female

ag when we first elected my boss camela harris, the time i served at the d.a. aos office with her, we worked on legislation that would codify human traffic ining the california penal code, it had to be prosecuted as [inaudible] for proper data collection, still leads to funding and restitution for victims. we also worked very hard to change the semantics around teenage prostitution to exploited youth and we increased the prison time for the johns, i served on president obama's staff in 2008 and traveler around the knotty *f ri from 18 months going from battle ground to battle ground to ensure his election. i've worked at the gap, a company as we know is founded

here in san francisco, was co-founded by a women, was the first retailer to raise the minimum wage, so i'm delighted to join the regional family in this capacity, i had the opportunity to sit down with the regional director emily morasi earlier this week on how my experiences can contribute to the commission and i had my opportunity to serve on my first commission yesterday which i enjoyed. i believe i can help the commission bridge policies and programs that we want fo see with the private sector in san francisco, now having been at the gap for the past four years and having served the rest of my career in public service, i would like to see our private sector engage more with the xhiltion and with this body as well and the supervisors to increase their engagement. at gap, i think we have some opportunity to talk about the equal pay ordinance and task force which i know the equal bay advisory board that met for the first time last week, i

hope we can learn some key learnings there. my years nr the d.a.'s office educated me with domestic violence, first responder, the appropriate data collection and i would like to work with the members of the supervisors e on these. vice chair tang, i know you've been a champion of antihuman trafficker work, i appreciated your time, we talked about that this morning, imd like to continue working on that with combating that massage parlours and supervisor cohen, i know you worked closely with the commission to have on-site staffing with antiviolence, so i would like to continue working with you on that work, i like to work with close collaboration with you, i know this is the strongest

commission of status of women in the country and i hope to secure your support. >> thank you for your thorough presentation. do we have questions or comments from committee? >> good morning, everyone, ms. maz lowe, it's nice to see you, i wanted to hear a little bit about your vision, clearly you run down of your experience and you have assets to bring to the commission, i wanted to hear your vision in moving forward, what you would like to see or what you would like to accomplish. >> looker at the event that we're going the have in october that the mayor is holding, i'm pleased he's doing that, i attended for many years the conference ms. shriver held in california, i would like to see the private sector engagement with that event and with other policies much more engaged. i think the gender of quality principle work that the commission is doing is something i can bring leadership on including more of our retail companies and our

tech companies. supervisor tang and i had an opportunity to talk this morning that often it's not easy for the private sector company tos know how to plug in and to help but i think they there will be much more of an opportunity for partnership and i think that's where i can really hopefully add some leadership to that. >> is there any other work outside of partnering with the private sector and bringing them in you've done a tremendous amount of work in on the ground in ethnic and low-income community, i don't know of any work that you haven't done. >> thank you, supervisor. >> i would like to hear maybe some policy ideas that you might have that you could champion with your fellow commissioners. >> well, supervisor tang and i had a chance to talk this morning one about a potential mentor ship program that we could laufrnl with the private

side, i'm looking to leverage our resource of library in doing that. we also talked about the potential of a november ballot initiative on a paid family leave and that's something i would like to continue working with her on and other supervisors as well and looking if we can leverage the private side to do that. >> thank you, no further questions. >> thank you. and i do apologize to my colleagues and the public as they were waiting, we were late, i was trying to jump start our bike share program and we got into endless debate, so i thank you for start thing meeting without me and ms. mesloh, we spoke this morning on the phone and i'm glad we're face to face here today. i want to thank you for accepting the nomination for the status of women from the mayor's office and we spoke and

i feel very comfortable with your interests, what you bring to the commission and i would love to support you coming through. >> thank you, chairman, i appreciated your time this morning as well and look forward to continuing our conversation, thank you. >> we can open up this item for public comment, i have a couple of wards and if you could come. >> [inaudible] once upon the principle of myself, of being a good [inaudible] to all people, rest upon the [inaudible] only knowing how to be vesting upon the [inaudible] excellence, only knowing how to be firm can one bring instillers of good standing, and good stand of students can be in one be in

good security, can one be a vision of wisdom, only into knowing or being within good reasoning, wisdom can have good [inaudible] to having [inaudible] and any matter, to have [inaudible] progress, including such before and -- a nation, [inaudible]. (indiscernible). >> thank you, i have a couple of cards and if you could come in the order na your names are called. (calling speaker names).

>> and anyone who would like to comment. >> good morning, supervisor, i'm so happy to stand in front of you as a san franciscan, as a proud nem -- feminist, as a prom, as a proud activist, in celebration of debbie mesloh, her appointment to this commission is so important, i've known debbie for close to ten years and i know first hand and i've seen directly her incredible activism, her bringing dignity, responsiveness, programs to communities, to women and all communities who need it the most. you've heard her qualifications already, she's a woman for all seasons, she has stood with us when we created the first charter high school for men and women, she stood with us with we started our restorative

justice program for incarcerated men and social justice, we have everything to gain as san franciscans, as women in the overall community so i stand here with great happiness and celebration for this appointment as we have everything to gain. thank you. >> good morning, chairman avalos, supervisor tang and supervisor cohen, i'm here in strong support of debbie mesloh, i've known her for 14 years and i've worked both at the d.a.'s office here and at the ag's office statewide, two piece, she's been a critical advocate for women in gh*es i can violence cases as well as part of the coalition than d.a. harris did with human trafficker, so, she'd be a great advocate, i think the partnership between the status of women and the public safety system of san francisco is one

where we need to continue to collaborate and making sure we're serving women and girls, as a mother of three girls in san francisco, i know supervisor tang and supervisor cohen, we've been lucky to have powerful leaders with women and power and my girls have benefited and have been before the commission on the status of women, it's an important commission, not just for women but for girl, debbie is someone bho sees the magic in girl, the potential and is capable of delivering a much more ek wit nl world, their work is important and debbie mesloh will be a huge asset, so i hope that you would support her. thank you very much. >> next speaker. >> good morning, avalos, vice chair tang, supervisor cohen, i stand before you in strong support as debbie mesloh on the

commission of the status of women, she brings a deep knowledge about the city having served in the district attorney's office but also at the state level, having worked for the attorney general and then also having worked at the federal level. that's the kind of experience that we could benefit from on the commission and oftentimes, we work in silos, the private sector here and the public sector over here and i think debbie has a lot to contribute in terms of increasing our reach into the private sector. we realized several years ago that three out of four women work in the private sector, not the public sector and that we needed to do some work helping our sisters in the private sector, so i'm looking for strong leadership from debbie mesloh on our commission. thank you very much. >> thank you. if there are no other members of the public to comment, we'll close public comment on this item. and supervisor tang?

>> thank you, i couldn't think of a better person to have been nominated for this position, and so i'm really excited to see the work that will come out of ms. mesloh if she's appointed this commission, so i would like to make a motion to approve the mayor's appointment of debbie mesloh on the commission on the status of women. >> and i would like to second that motion. >> i will be gladly supporting the motion and colleague, we can take that without objection, this will be a committee report. >> we need to amend the motion first to strike the rejecting. >> alright, so i will just amend my motion to say i would like to amend the motion to approve the mayor's appointment of debbie mesloh to the commission on the status of women and as amended forward it to the full board as a committee report. >> seconded by supervisor cohen, we'll take that without objection. >> thank you. next item, please.

>> item number 2 is a hearing to consider appointing one member, for a one year term yet to be determined to the energy efficiency coordinating committee. there is one seat and one applicant. >> is mr. diaz here. >> good morning, chair avalos, and committee member, my name is antonio diaz, i'm here regarding my application to be applied to the energy efficiency coordinating committee. i work at [inaudible] people ork sneezing to demand environmental and economic rights, an organization which next year will be organizing for environmental justice here in san francisco primarily in the distributes, i've been the organizations director since 19ed 98 our organization was involved closely with supervisor mar in initially formulating the establishment of this committee.

i i think part of the reason we were engaged in those efforts is that as we all know, as san francisco continues to be a leader in environmentalism, as san francisco has aggressive goals to achieve 100% zero waste by 2020, to lessen its carbon footprint in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emission, etc., etc., we need to make sure the city also pays attention to how low-income community, communities of color, environmental justice communities also benefit from these efforts in terms of jobs,? terms of lower energy bills, in terms of co-benefits in terms of reduction of pollutants in our neighborhoods. i would say that would be the core component of my work over the 25 some years that i have worked on environmental justice issues, that is to not only address the environmental injustices our neighborhoods first, getting rid of the bad but help ensure that we create

healthy, thrive communities for all bringing in the good. i believe the work that this energy efficiency coordinating committee will do will help move that forward. i thank you for considering my application to this committee, seat 2, and i ask you for your support for full consideration of the board. >> thank you very much, no questions from myself or the committee. we'll open this up for any members of the public. >> employment, application, jobs [inaudible] that too, separation of right, county jail, three years, again, [inaudible]. (indiscernible). >> my wife, how will she feel, how can she stay alone at night by herself?

[inaudible]. i mean, it should be corrections with philosophy, science, mission, meditation, recreation, good part in [inaudible] which is truly necessary. 100 years old, that [inaudible]. >> thank you very much. if there are no other members of the public to comment, we will close public comment. colleague, i realize if we approve mr. diaz, we need to have a residency waiver and i'm in fully supportive of that, mr. diaz has been working for many, many years, he's been working since 1998 and has a great deal of expertise in this field and would be a benefit to

the energy efficiency committee. >> i'm fine with that decision as well, so then i would like to first request the residency waiver and then move to appoint antonio diaz's seat 2 of the energy efficiency energy committee and send that on to the full board as a report. >> it's seconded by supervisor cohen and we'll take that colleagues without objection. next item, please. >> item number 3 is a hearing to consider appointing one member, ternl ending january 31, 018 to the mental health board, there's one seat and two applicants. >> and i have in my notes that this is going to be continue today the next meeting? >> or did you want to continue it to the call of the chair? >> do we have any applicants here? there's one here today? >> i don't believe so. >> okay, so then let's continue to the call of the chair. we'll have to have public comment first on this item. public comment is open for item

number 3, it's about the appointment for the mental health board. >> the wisdom for all officials, the first government officials. (indiscernible). >> thank you for your relatively appropriate comments. we will continue this item if we could have a motion to continue? >> so moved. >> okay, and we'll take that without objection. thank you. next item, please. >> item number 4 is a hear tog consider appointing one member, term ending january 31, 2016 to the veterans affairs commission. there's one seat and six applicants. >> very good, thank you, and we have one seat to fill with six applicants and this is actually a really good time to hear what

people's concerns and issues and what their goals are for the veterans affairs commission and we'll start off with mr. caldera. >> good morning, chair avalos and vice chair tang and supervisor cohen, my name is john caldera and today's my birthday, today i'm 51 years old. i love san francisco and i lived here for more than half of my life and in that service, i've been committed to our veterans of san francisco. for the last 16 years, i've been a member of the american legion and served two terms of the veterans affair commissions. wi first joined in 2007, i found the commission to be very much of a gold old boy network and i was met with quite a great deal of resistance and in 2008, a document was introduced to attack me personally and

that document was submitted to the board of supervisors but it was fraudulent in the fact that the author of that document introduced paragraphs that were not known to be seen -- the veterans affairs commissioners did not see that, that's when i went back to the commission the very next month and told them this, you've been played, and that is why that letter has had no action taken whatsoever, that letter died when it was confronted as being falsified. as a gala teen know man who has served the city for many years, i have taken by swings and arrows and there are people who will take their shots at me and add to that this long brown hair, there are people that will see me as a threat or a challenge, i think that is my strength as coming to this commission and the fact that this commission needs more diversity than ever before. you have more straight white men on this commission than in the last ten years. this commission does not have an african american male on

this commission. we live in the the city that asks does blaok lives matter, currently the commission does not have a latino on this commission. i'm looking at three diverse committee members on this committee. i bring you my offer of service to this commission as a voice that is needed. and one other concern is i was accused of threatening the mayor and i don't know where that came from because i have a great deal of respect for the mayor and i've never threatened the mayor and i want to publicly say that, i don't know why that was even introduced last time but i certainly would like to hear why that was introduced but i have never threatened our mayor. i've been in company with him on many occasions and i have a great deal of respect for him so, that came totally out of the blue for me. >> thank you. we just heard you about a month

ago as well when you were here, so i think it's still pretty fresh with us as well. >> thank you, i would just like to add finally, one of the things that i find very surprising which was never mentioned before is the fact that you've received a letter or a certificate of honor on behalf of our president of the board of supervisors, that was never mentioned, you received a letter of support pr the san francisco veterans for peace, that was never mentioned and i believe just recently, you received a alerted on behalf of the membership of the harvey mills democratic lgbt club and i want to make sure that was mentioned on record. for those of us on the lgbt community, we are standing within hollow ground and i know i don't need you to remind you that the last person that was assassinated in these chambers was harvey mills, on the statute that's in this

building, if you look and look to the extreme right corner tha, has a shinier gloss, that's because those of us that believe in civil right and is those of us that believe in the work that harvey mills did touch that in reverence and touch it when we have business to conduct inside city hall, so thank you very much for your consideration. >> thank you, and i wish you a happy birthday as well. next applicant is aiyana var gas. >> she withdrew her application as well as matthew gabe. >> sam pandey? >> his testimony is pretty fresh with us, he presented testimony last night. and is mr. joiner here? >> he won't be attending. >> okay. mr. koppel?

>> good morning, supervisors, it's a pleasure for me to submit my application to serve my fellow veterans and i want to begin with a story of my past, present and future in what i advocate and bring to this position. at the age of 4, my father died, i was in an orphanage, my mother found job training and we were reunited. k-7 were spent in the ferman

gardens housing projects of detroit, michigan. i wasn't supposed to graduate from high school, i had below a c average but i was socially passed. [inaudible] if a disability and [inaudible] cause in joining the army, i could have claimed a stuttering problem and walked away easily but i felt i wanted to serve my country. for me, it was the most transformational experience in my life. the one thing i received 8 weeks of in-patient treatment at walter reid army medical center for stuttering.

i had never been with a group of stutterers before, we used to joke about, we're going to get out of the army and become disjock kis. i didn't know that i would later earn my living lecturing to university students around the world, so for that and many other things that i gained during my military services, i'm deeply grateful. in my career, i overcame one of my disabilities, present ones, learning disabilities, after having been rejected to go to the school of my choice, michigan state university, i got that letter that says you have not yet demonstrated the ability to succeed in our program. i came back and earned a