(gavel) >> good morning and welcome to the regularly scheduled meeting of the government audit and oversight committee, june 16. my name is aaron peskin, i am the chair of the committee. our clerk is a wonderful erica majors. c >> items acted today will appear on the june agenda of the board of supervisors meeting.

of supervisors meeting. >> first item. hearing on san francisco's efforts to protect janitors, particularly immigrant women janitors, from physical and economic exploitation, sexual harassment, and >> president breed the floor is yours. >> supervisor breed: thank you all for joining us this morning. i to give a special shout out to olga miranda and members of the local 87 here today. i called for this meeting to evaluate what san francisco is doing to protect janitor service industry workers particularly immigrant workers. these are some of the most vulnerable and i should add tireless workers here in the county. many are women and many are subject to sexual harassment and expectation in the job.

at home they face a rising pressures of displacement and addiction. --- the housing crisis is difficult to clearly to immigrant workers. the economic boom in the city has listed many in the tech sector the janitors who clean those offices are often struggling to survive here. this is a labor issue, an economic issue and most importantly a moral issue. --- we must do more to help janitors and ensure that they are secure and have access to affordable places. i have asked the office of economic workforce to evaluate the status of senator women. specifically what i am looking for is an

overview of janitorial contracts, practices and structure. looking for data on hiring, policies in place to protect janitorial workforce particularly female workers who may face harassment and or trafficking. what city agencies are doing to protect janitor workers and investigate possible harassment, trafficking, wage theft and other abuses. --- i think we can all be more informed about this too-often overlooked sector. local 87 representing 4000 workers is preparing for new contracts. we

must fight janitor writes. we need strong protection in contrast to pull janitors out of poverty and into affordable healthcare and home. --- we are standing up for women immigrants and for those who work so hard every day to keep san francisco clean. i want to thank olga, president of local 87, secretary and treasurer of san francisco labor council. ashel safari (sounds like), local 87, james martin, and city staff here today. let's go with lisa pagan,

director of policy and planning. >> good morning chair peskin, supervisors breed and yee. the office of economic development that is the important role of the janitorial sector within our economy. we have a program at city college run by self-help for the elderly. additionally we placed janitorial workers into local jobs through our first source, job referral and placment and workforce placement. --- through the month of march we have placed 109 residents.

we conducted a formal outreach to this building owners, commercial real estate brokers and janitorial companies to better understand contracting practices going on right now within commercial buildings. --- owd look into how private sector companies and tech companies negotiate their leases and janitorial service contracts. additionally, what we found -- janitorial contracts are almost exclusively between the building owners or its designees and a third-party cleaning service. office tenants or office building managers pull janitorial services into master leases in most cases for the entire building. that covers janitorial service. --- based on the informal service we conducted it appears that the historical master lease model still dominates and the janitorial sector within

commercial office buildings. the information that was provided to us by brokers anecdotally pointed to a movement of master leases from the full-service model to an industrial growth model. the industrial growth modeln charges less fees directly for their proportional share of the cost of tendency for their energy, janitorial and common area maintenance cost. --- additionally the anecdotal movement of master leases to an industrial growth model provides only limited opportunity for increased less ee over the janitorial contract. an individual businesses not have a significant impact over the owner contractor relationship unless there is concern about the quality of the maintenance. common concerns the tenant may

have include perhaps quality of service or higher than expected escalation costs. for example notably because property management companies often work for the building owner who faces pressure to offer better rates they generally award contracts to the lowest bidder. --- anecdotally we have been told that the process that happens for janitorial contracts which pressures janitorial contractors to bid lower and that has consequences on wages which i will get into. --- city workforce are challenging janitorial service providers even in the midst of this economic boom. we have an expansion of the hospitality industry for example under housekeeping services in all hotels. hotels typically higher cleaning positions as full-time,

permanent position within the hotel. these positions typically are not contracted through another company. often hotels are subject to negotiated agreements with the union. --- additionally most tenants do not get involved in other types of office buildings. most tenants do not get involved with administering their own cleaning services. typically it is governed in their lease by the property manager. --- so the janitorial services sector does face workforce challenges. actually the demand for janitorial services has increased because of the amount of business happening in san francisco. while new office building construction and new businesses create more opportunities, the second does face challenges in terms of wage stagnation and labor shortages. ---

janitorial wages have been in relative stagnation for the past 10 years. less workers are going to enter this profession because there are other professions at page similar wages. additionally it is hard to find employees to fill graveyard shifts which often the janitorial sector has to work in. there are often other higher paying jobs in other sectors of the economy with easier worklife balance or more access to dayton transportation because transportation as we know is often an issue at nighttime.--- the outside growth in san francisco metropolitan area, wages have not increased.

i want to show you some numbers. --- the janitorial wages have been relatively stagnant sector employment growth outpaces area averages. outside growth in the san francisco metropolitan statistical area janitorial services have not been able to go up in wages to the extent necessary or competitive with the rest of the economy. janitorial employment in san francisco rose 14.2% since 2005 with average wages increasing 18% over the same time period. while positive the average wages in federal poverty line also rose 28.1% and 25.3% respectively over the same period. this is attributable to the

low-bid nature and the process for janitorial contracts. --- is important to note that since most janitorial are part-time, the cost-of-living right now is outpacing wage growth in this sector. since 2005, the hours of work for the average editorial worker to reach the federal poverty line for a family of four, increased by 81 to 1,569 hours, and increase equivalent to two full-time working weeks. --- what this table is showing us if the average hourly wages. 2006, 2007, 2015 -- over 10 years wages have gone up and employment has gone up but when we compare it -- excuse me -- if you look at the federal

poverty line that has also gone out and total employment in the country has gone up 9.7% and the average hourly wage has gone up 28.1% but average wage in the janitorial sector has only gone up 18.1%. that's the issue with the wage. --- with that said, our programs in oawd focus on the training and placement portion of the janitorial sector. and that's all i have to present today. if you have any questions i will be happy to answer about what we found. >> supervisor peskin: is ms. miranda here? i do not see olga. >> supervisor breed: we have two more presentations.

ms. kindal (sounds like), the women's policy director of the department of the commission on the status of women. >> good morning i am (unintelligible). i'm going to talk a little bit about the most extreme forms of expectation that might happen in janitorial services which is human trafficking. the mayor's task force on human trafficking is an organization made up of -- agencies trying

to improve the city's response to human trafficking. --- so we don't have great data about this because data on human trafficking in general is pretty unreliable because it is such a hidden population. however we do know from one study in san diego the look particularly at undocumented immigrants from mexico who were working as janitors, 36% of them experience trafficking and the janitorial industry experienced more violations than other industries in this population of migrant workers so that is happening in san diego. we can think that it may also be happening here in san francisco. --- we started to publish a report where we collect data from different agencies on the human trafficking cases that they are seeing in san francisco for the report that we are about to issue for 2015 there were two cases identified

in janitorial services out of the total of 65 cases. --- that was evident in public ad campaign that we ran in january to take advantage of the influx of visitors that we had around super bowl 50. we had some space donated, public toilets and visible locations on the embarcadero, fisherman's wharf, cable-cart turn-around, i was targeting around trafficking that might be happening in janitorial services. --- the ads combined with facebook and in google got a total of 20 million impressions so the message was definitely out there.

--- again, we don't really have great data on how prevalent trafficking and exploitation is in janitorial industry but we have some background information. we know that women make up 51% of people who work in grounds cleaning and san francisco; people of color 85% of those employees and asian women a quarter. one in five women will be raped during the lifetime and 12% are assaulted at work and 60% do not report that to the police which is so important that we have good workplace policies of people know where they can report it so they can at least get protection from their employer. --- we saw the --

female workers are particularly vulnerable because they work at night, alone, and often there are no witnesses. often they are from and immigrant population they may not be aware of their workplace rights. they may be immigrants fearful of complaining because of the immigration consequences particularly if they are undocumented. --- in terms of recommendations of how we can provide stronger support, working in teams would be really helpful so people are not isolated. increasing awareness is an issue, making sure that employees are giving information about their rights in english and in the language they speak.

the training is given to staff and managers about sexual harassment. --- when we reached out to prepare for the hearing we reached out to the federal eeoc which handles sexual harassment complaint in their work but they have no data on this, not because they think it's not happening but because people are so vulnerable and afraid they are not getting the reporting process. we need to make sure people are aware of their rights and know how to report the matter. --- obviously strengthening worker ties to community organization or unions. like mujer activa. so thorganizations that elevate

so they can protect their own rights.--- supervisor -- has created a task force to look at sexual assault on campuses. i'm happy to answer any questions. >> supervisor breed: i have one question. i know that you have specific recommendations for employees. how does that translate to contractors? >> i think making sure that the contractors are getting trained in their obligations. and making sure that they are providing that training to the people who work for them. >> supervisor breed: but it is not necessarily mandatory. >> well, there is mandatory sexual assault training that is required in california every

two years. but making sure that's available in languages that people speak would be important. that could be a requirement that building owners try to make sure that if they are contracting with clean service that they have those good policies in place. >> supervisor breed: for example in most cases oftentimes you have companies that contract with the janitorial service and how -- i guess what i'm looking for is a way to require the dots be connected so that they are held accountable to providing this training. and there is an expectation of the contractor by the employer that -- or the person who is contracting with the company -- that this is what they expect because of the challenges around this industry. >> right. so building owners could create standards that they want the companies that they are contracting with. >> supervisor breed:

they are not required to right now. >> no. >> supervisor breed: even though they might be required of the company by state law they are not required to make sure that there is emphasis placed as it relates to contracting with any of these companies. >> right. >> supervisor breed: got it. >> chair peskin: relative to the two cases you identify of trafficking they became the subject of a criminal prosecution? >> the way we get the data is aggregated by different agencies. those identified by community-based organizations. i don't believe that they were the subject of a criminal investigation. >> chair peskin: why not? >> we don't get information on an individual case. i can't say why that was the case. there are people who often don't want to have a criminal

investigation for a number of reasons but i cannot say if that was the case. >> chair peskin: in the liability whether it is civil or criminal goes to the contractor? >> the liability would be with the person employing the person doing the trafficking. i don't practice these cases so i can't say there might be some -- if the building owner new that a contractor was engaging in problematic behavior there might be some third-party viability. i don't work those cases. >> supervisor breed: olga miranda is here, president of local 87 and the secretary-treasurer of the (unintelligible) council. would you like to come forward? >> good morning ms. miranda.

>> good morning. i want to start out by thanking both of you, supervisor breed, for bringing this to the table. we are 43 days before our contract expires. there is no better time to discuss what is happening in our industry respectfully. the report that you were given identified some of what we face on a daily basis, the women in our industry face. --- this is also a little bit more about how the city is changing and how it is evolving and how the tech industry is affecting how we do our work and under what conditions. i was commenting to one of our board members, patricia hernandez, it's not just working in teams, women should work in teams.

there also has to be a bigger commitment on behalf of contractors and building owners to seek more women forpersons that would be leads on the job. --- right now we are about 20 years behind as far as where contractor should be in recruiting and training women for these higher-paying positions. the majority of our industry only reflects men as leads into buildings. this is an endeavor the building owners and management associations have responsibility to be able to have this happen within their buildings. --- rape on the night shift is unfortunate. in other industries this is rarely talked about. in our industry it is commonplace, not just by their

coworkers but also by tenants themselves. it could be an attorney, software developer who just happens to be there at two o'clock in the morning. these advances are not something that our sisters in the union are asking for or within the industry. this is something that there is so much lack of training. as far as the training that the sister mentioned earlier, including the safety meetings, a lot of contractors are not offering trainings in their respective languages. --- because the companies don't act immediately there is this culture that has been created by a lot of contractors and saying, well you know, it he said, she said. you can't wipe that and sweep it under the rug and say that did not happen.

a lot of the women in our industry are under attack. we feel that the tenant that we are working under and the owners whose buildings they belong to are not taking enough responsibility to say this is a crisis within the culture of our industry. --- for as many grievances as we have filed, as many investigations that we are part of, not enough is being said. i appreciate this hearing taking place today. --- most of the workers are immigrant workers. chinese. we have a lot of syrian and muslim workers now. we have a lot of young parent but for us the biggest issue is not just that we are fighting for our economic survival within the context of our contracts. but right now we also have an industry like the tech industry that is also encroaching on the jobs that we

are trying to keep. --- what i mean by that is that they are bringing in their own janitorial services and paying a lot less than what our union janitor would be paid. most of the jobs being displaced are affecting women. allow the sisters within our union happen to be single mothers. we are not just trying to battle trying to keep a place to live, stay within san francisco but also battling the tenant trying to encroach on our jobs. --- i feel that this hearing is going to shed a lot of light on the conditions that our janitors are working under but also how it is affecting the culture and the workforce in san francisco in the private sector. and what is being allowed by tenants and management and the contractors and building owners who have a lot of say in how they want their buildings to be cleaned. should

also have a say in how women are treated on the job which is absolutely, significantly, and fundamentally -- and knowing that women working in our industry will have the same protection as an office worker, being a secretary, an executive assistant in a multimillion dollar corporation whose trash would take out whose bathrooms were clean but we do it with a lot of dignity. --- every day our members' dignity is being chipped at, they're being devalued as human beings. i appreciate your taking the time today to shed light on this. the commission on women should have somebody they could really dedicate time on women who have been attacked on the job. women who have been approached

without any advances that they were asking for. but right now the commission on women as just too much on their lap that there's not enough staff. we need more staff on the commission women to be able to take on this task. that is our big ask. --- our second ask is that the industry that we so much celebrate in san francisco, that is bringing jobs, it's not opening the doors to the children of our janitors. this nest that was created, the opportunities for new jobs, are not homegrown. they are not being recruited from kids at mission high school, not from kids in the baby district or chinatown. we are not just janitors. the job is not who we are. is a job we do with a lot of dignity. ---

with that also comes a responsibility for businesses in san francisco to make sure that these opportunities are being open to everyone. --- we look forward to the rest of this hearing and what this hearing is going to bring about but our biggest ask is that a staff person is dedicated on the condition of women to be able to look into the numbers. it's really embarrassing that the federal government can't provide these numbers. it's not just fear. they get swept under the rug literally by how women can come forward and not be chastised or shamed by what has happened to them. but assisted and empowered on what the process should be in really should be conveyed. --- we hope that throughout this hearing you can hear more of about not just filling owners and contractors but how they will be held accountable and how they are recruiting more women in leadership roles within the company.

if there is such a thing that can be done at city hall. --- again i want to thank you for having this hearing. thank you so much. >> chair peskin: ms. miranda, relative to the contract that you said will expire in 43 days, that is a master contract? >> we have numerous contract that we have filled however we have businesses like square that is undermining our contracts. they are firing union janitors and bringing in their own. we have just been able to recover 8 out of 13 jobs that we had at square. this is an ongoing fight. we are seeing it everywhere. (unintelligible) took over almost 1,000,000 square feet, 1455, 555, 575 market, 1 million square feet. in all of those jobs they want to bring their own janitors and buildings that union janitors

were cleaning. --- there has to be responsibility. they cannot discriminate a jobs have been offered to families in san francisco to survive now with the wages that we have. our contract when it expires -- we are looking at whether these tech company continued to encroach on our jobs -- we are looking at a potential strike and i don't say that lightly. we are fighting for our survival and we hope that in this hearing more like can be shed on the issues that we face on a daily basis. two of our janitors at neiman marcus, we call it needless markups -- two were set on fire by the vacuum cleaners.

our contractors have a big move on being efficient by having janitors use backpack vacuums. if they are not graded every two years i janitors a literally set on fire. no report was allowed to be given. two were set on fire. one suffered burns on the side of her back. the other was being of the take it off. but part of her hair was set on fire, in the store, while clients were shopping. nobody came to her rescue. it's embarrasing. people don't think we exit. ---

we hope that this enlightens folks that are not in our sector and don't understand what our janitors face on a daily basis. we hope that there is more responsible in the on behalf of the tech industry, owners and contractors. thank you. >> supervisor breed: thank you ms. miranda for being here today. we have two more presentations and then we will open it up to comment. pat mulligan who's a new director of standards enforcement. >> thank you supervisors pesking and breed. we have five slides. we'll review the labor laws that would directly impact workers in san francisco. the first is specific to the prevailing wage established in san francisco. i believe this is unique to san francisco. it does not apply to the

department of industrial relations of the state. is the status of the office of labor standards enforcement following collective-bargaining agreements by local 87, and approval of the board of supervisors annually. --- pervading wage rate has a $15.81 to $20.90. based on seniority. they will be receiving the top scale. in addition there is a health benefit, a flat rate for workers employed more than 90 hours a month, $1,333.85. --- in addition to the san francisco custodial prevailing wage that would be specific to custodians working for contractors on city properties or under city contracts.

they would be bound by that prevailing wage. --- for custodial workers that may not have the benefit of collective-bargaining agreement they would be bound by the san francisco minimum wage. it's currently $12.25, as of july 1st, it will increase to $13 an hour. also they will be bound by the paid sick leave ordinance approved in 2007, one hour accrued for ever 30 hours up to 30 hours. --- additional protections would be the health care security ordinance adopted in 2007. expenditures of $1.68 per hour or $2.53 per hour for larger employees, and that would be dedicated health benefit that can be applied to health insurance or be put into a

separate fund that is available to workers for healthcare expenses. --- also they will be bound for the family down workplace ordinance adopted in 2013, the right to request flexible schedule, important for single parents. --- (unintelligible) ordinance for business of 20 or more, adopted in 2014, inquiries about arrest history. --- next (unintelligible) applies to large chain businesses, extends new rights to janitorial and security contractors so there is a subcontractor provision. most of the laws apply directly to employers. this law also applies to the principal employer that would be subcontracting for custodial services. it requires predictable

scheduling; offers additional hours for part-time employees and equal treatment for part-time employees. --- and then regarding the caseload for the office of labor standards enforcement specifically to janitorial services. we investigated 41 cases, recovered (unintelligible). --- for incident say the thing with gender inequality or racial inequality we will be referring individuals locally to the human rights commission order the state department of fair employment or federally to the equal opportunity

office. >> thank you for being here. >> chair peskin: i wanted to call you dennis. >> supervisor breed: i see nikki callahan in the audience (sounds like). i think you will do the presentation. >> (off mic) >> supervisor breed: thank you. >> good morning chair pesking, president breed. thank u so much for the opportunity to present here this morning. i want to acknowledge -- human resources director nikki callahan as you mentioned and also our eeo director linda simon. and dante king (sounds like) who will be developing the training program i'm going to talk about is here with us this morning as well. >> could you identify yourself for the record?

>> susan gard (unintelligible) with the human resources department. --- it is hard and set the information that we hear. it is sad that some of these issues apply to city employees. as you know, the hr's equal employment opportunity division investigates promptly and thoroughly any claims of discrimination, harassment retaliation, from city employees. it is often the first step of what may be a more systemic issue. issues of been brought forward by president breed is an area of concern after several troubling eeo complaints detailing women custodians in temporary positions with the city and often working at night in isolation as

described reported inappropriate workplace behavior by her coworkers and supervisors. --- is troubling to hear what has been described by other presenters. many circumstances apply to city employees. in fact two of the folks who had in appropriate behavior happened to them did not file a criminal complaint. it is something that happens even in situations where people are protected by union contracts and policies that the city has to protect its employees. --- so, what we have done is really focus on developing solutions. of course we consulted with the department on the status of women on what might be effective in terms of solving some of these problems. we reached out to city departments who have significant numbers of custodians to request

funding for the development of the training program. --- if the program is funded it will focus specifically on the provisions of discrimination, harassment energization. a big focus will be informing employees of their rights and supervisors of their obligations. in addition to the training on sexual harassment require post it every two years. we want to help the students understand what they can do and where they can go for help. the training design includes workplace posters, includes in person training in english, spanish and cantonese to begin with. it includes workplace posters that we would leave in break rooms as well as reminding employers of the resources.

>> chair peskin: spanish? >> spanish. >> chair peskin: no arabic? >> is something we can consider. for city employees those are the three i would use that we want to start with. we don't have the resources to go out and train every single department in every shift; we want to train the department who have a lot of custodial staff and make sure that they have the resources and the understanding of what is available. we want to make sure that employees know where to go if something happens and they know what their rights are. they know they are protected and have a simple way to reach us. we do not want to give them five different resources. we want to save your having an issue call this one number

and we will figure out what needs to happen in terms of investigation and response to the situation. >> chair peskin: out of our 30,000 city employees how may are custodial staff? >> 1500, but we can say that we have several departments with large concentrations like the airport, the public health department,school district. >> chair peskin: those are not members of local 87. >> no, their members of local 1021. represents public employees. --- allowing employees access up to their rights, not directing

them to a bunch of different places to go for help and again in multiple images. we expect the cost of the program to be about $75,000 for a trainer who will develop the materials and who would also train the trainers. and the implementation timeline would be approximately six months. --- sm -- as san francisco's largest employer, your support with the encouragement of the departments would have those large concentrations of janitorial staff to help fund the program. it would be greatly appreciated. i can answer any questions you may have. >> supervisor breed:

i have a question for ms. kendall on the commission on the status of women. there was mention of additional support from the commission to potentially help facilitate some level of oversight with a proposed plan around some of the issues involving sexual exploitation. so, was there a dollar amount attached to either a new position or a training position or anything enhanced? >> yeah, and you position would be about $150,000 to do policy work on sexual assault including sexual assault in the workplace for vulnerable populations. >> supervisor breed: would this be specifically for janitors? >> that will be broader; it will be to look at sexual assault in the same apprehensive way we look at family violence and human trafficking. it would include the issues raised by the janitors is one

piece of the work but it would go beyond that. >> supervisor breed: so you have a plan for comprehensive approach. >> if we get the staffing, yes. we do not currently have the capacity to do that. >> chair peskin: president breed, is there anyone here from the building owners and managers association? >> supervisor breed: i don't have anyone on my list. no. all right. --- with that, mr. chair, can we open it up to public comment. >> chair peskin: i don't have any speaker cards. we would love to hear from you. i think we have a number of folks so we will limit public testimony to two minutes a person. if you want to line up to your left, my right. for first speaker please. --- we will do a little bit of

housekeeping, can we do a motion to excuse vice chairman supervisor yee? so moved. that will be the order. >> buenos dias. mi nombres soy patricia hernandez. (translator) i have been a senator for 25 years. (correction) i have been a janitor for 25 years. i have had many bad experiences. when i stared supervisors would try to take advantate of me. because i did not do what they

wanted me to do there was a lot of retaliation. i'm asking for today is that this hearing is going to shed light on what we are going through. that someone be hired so that they can attend these cases that we are having. and as mentioned previously we would like to have better opportunities. as i said, i have more than 25 years as a janitor and i never had the opportunity. to become a lead or foreperson. we have always had in every

building men, men, men. i feel that as women we should have equal rights. thank you for your attention. if anybody has a question, i will gladly answer them. >> chair peskin: thank you for your testimony. are there any other speakers? if so please come forward. sir, would like to testify? >> my name is (unintelligible) and i work at neiman marcus. we have all been cut down from full-time to part-time.

the ones left have to take up all the work that is left behind which would be almost every floor. --- we have had things happen like one of my coworkers had a vacuum caught on fire on her. she was told you don't have to report it. and if you do report it, you will get in trouble for burning the vacuum itself. we will like to see if you can help us out to try to get this in order so we don't have to suffer anything like this in our coworkers don't have to go through this. --- now, we all make a living. unfortunately we don't live in the city anymore so we have to commute in. so 20 hours a week does not help us out anymore. i would like for you guys to consider as an consider

everything that we are going through. i would appreciate it a lot. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you sir. next speaker please. if there are no members of the public on this item -- >> buenos dias. good morning. good morning. i'm alta gracia de leon. we are here because we are at 1235 mission -- since 1991.

and we have been told by the company, american empire, that on the 30th of june is the last day of work. because the city is taking our jobs. we do not know if the city will hire us to continue in those jobs. or what is going to happen to us. we asked that if there is anything that you could do for us it would be helpful. so that the city can either

hire us or tell us what is happening. --- we're five janitors and we all have families, and our bills and responsibilities. and we have obligations. thank you. >> chair peskin: what's the story with 1235 mission mr. updike, from the department of real estate? >> chair pesking -- happy to address this issue. quite frankly it was a premature notice provided by the private property manager for 1231 mission, the property

owned by the san francisco unified school district, least long-term by the city for used as an hsa location. we are in discussions with hsa to transfer the cost of the work to a city forced the deposition has not been made yet. arrangements are still underway. i will be happy to work with a vendor to make sure that we have an approach it transition time for this. i totally understand the concern and the short notice. i think we can address this very quickly. >> chair peskin: thank you mr. updike and ms. miranda. you will have a sidebar conversation in the hallway. --- are there any other members would like to testify on item number 1? seeing none, i will close of the comment. (gavel) i want to thank supervisor

breed for calling this hearing. the issues around weight stagnation in the city which is going through an unprecedented economic boom, we should share the prosperity all the way around. if you wanted an example of income inequality this is exhibit a. there are individuals who are making millions of dollars; the pay for janitors is rising by a fraction. that is unconscionable. --- in addition to that the specific workplace issues -- and i heard kqad piece last year -- are not acceptable anywhere and particularly not in san francisco. i think there's probably a whole range of ways in addition to training, in addition to city staffing and oversight that these can be addressed whether it's

having additional staff so that staff can look out for one another, set staffing levels if you will weather at the dawn of the 21st-century with some amount of technology like radios authentication devices that individuals can be fitted with so they can contact someone at two in the morning so there can be an instant response. --- we need to get our arms around the process with local 87. i want to thank supervisor breed for bringing this item to the board. >> chair peskin: (applause) >> supervisor breed: i find interesting in this presentation when i was the executive director of a

nonprofit, at the time we do not even have a budget of a million for a space that was about 34,000 sq. ft. the folks who were janitors in the facility in 2002 were making over $20 an hour, with full benefits. this was at a nonprofit organization that i was the director for because i felt it was important to make sure that we paid a fair wage and provided care benefits. we were not a multimillion dollar company; we were providing services through the arts to the community and as a nonprofit at a time that could provide decent wages and benefits we should be looking at what we are paying people who are taking care of building and facilities all over the city. ---

it is really sad that in this day and age when you look at the difference of what the chart showed us, 2002 to now, you don't see that much of a difference. it is difficult to survive on such a low wage especially here in the city and county of san francisco along with some of the challenges that continue to persist in this industry especially for women. --- we know that there are issues with an income gap in general when it comes to women in our country. and clearly, this is no difference which is why it is important that we do what we can from the city perspective to try to make sure that we make it clear to companies all over the city that we are paying close attention to how they treat their employees. we are paying close attention to wages and benefits and we

want to make sure that there isn't a disconnect between contractors and the employees that they're working with. --- for example one of the things that i found quite disturbing is the fact that there clearly is state law that requires that we provide specific sexual harassment training and other things of that nature. but why is there this challenge especially amongst women, especially a disconnect among contractors who hire these companies and expect these companies to work within their company. where is the accountability there to be sure that people working for them are safe and protected? i definitely want us as a city to work with the commission on the status of women and dhr to try and come up with solutions as we talk about this year's budget. --- we need to look at how we can

add additional layers of support, how we can increase the capacity in order to really develop the right oversight for some of the challenges that continue to persist. i think that each of the departments for your presentation will want to work to try to solve these issues. it's not something that has an issue that started overnight; it takes all of us coming together and communicating in this forum and also privately in order to solve some of our most pressing issues and i want to thank olga miranda for bringing this issue to my attention, and helping us to shine a light on oftentimes a population that doesn't get the respect and support that they need.

this is the perfect platform to begin the discussion. thank you so much and we will continue this dialogue to solve a lot of issues that continue to persist in this industry. thank you. (applause) >> chair peskin: madam clerk, please read the next item. supervisor breed, would you like to continue this item at the call of the chair or file it? >> supervisor breed: let's continue this item at the call of the chair. >> chair peskin: >> chair peskin: please read item 2. ordinance amending the environment code to prohibit the sale of food service ware and other specified products including packing materials that are made from polystyrene foam or that are non-recyclable and non-compostable; setting an operative date of january 1, 2017; and affirming the planning departmentâ™s determination under the california environmental quality act.

>> thank you for your patience. three days before we celebrate our 47th birthday, i was proud to introduce the strongest environmental protection legislation. after months of work in collaboration with environmentalists, businesses and the department of environment i introduce this ordinance to ban the sale of styrofoam cups, clam shells, meat trays and other food including packing peanuts which are usually fun to play with when you're a kid the terrible for the environment. --- styrofoam coolers, chest coolers, beach products and other products. for items packed in san francisco. --- styrofoam beach is a brand name

for (unintelligible). we are surrounded by water on three sides; we have the responsible elite to protect ourselves from pollutants like polystyrene foam. it essentially never decomposes; eat is a significant source of litter in our streets and parks, on its way to the bay and ocean. --- polystyrene is the most egregious. it breaks down into smaller pieces that sea birds and other wildlife mistake for fishes. styrene is linked to cancer

and developmental-linked disorders. the science is clear. this material is an environmental and public health pollutant and we have to reduce its use. more than 100 us cities have ordinances restricting polystyrene food packaging material. many local businesses and national corporations have successfully replaced polystyrene in their product and packaging. we in san francisco have actually prohibited serving food and polystyrene since 2007 in legislation passed by supervisor peskin, cosponsoring this legislation. this ordinance is almost 100% compliance rate. --- my legislation propose that the next step. the 2006 law

addresses the immediate polystyrene containers; now we are working to stop the broader use of polystyrene foam and its presence in our lives. other jurisdictions like seattle and palo alto have already taken steps. --- there are successful replacement in the market. with that in mind but together the toughest polystyrene law in the country including new uses that have never been regulated in other cities. with this legislation we will replace hazardous products with combustible recyclable ones. we will continue our work towards zero waste. will protect the public health and natural beauty of our waterways and wildlife. --- i want to thank russell long from (unintelligible) here today.

marianne gordon who is also here today. save the bay, the department of the environment and their great leader debbie rafael (sounds like), jack (unintelligible) and guillermo rodrigues. (unintelligible). the california grocer's association, walgreens and other companies that helped us refine the legislation and our city attorney tom owen. --- this is landmark environmental legislation. we want to bring everybody together to make this happen. the legislation is carefully crafted to help businesses comply and accommodate those businesses who can't yet apply. we provided a waiver provision for individual cases and categorical cases where there is no feasible alternative to polystyrene yet. --- the department of environment

has already drafted a waiver to accommodate pharmacies and drug companies that ship cold medicines. we have grocers facing out polysterene me meat trays, this is why the small business commission endorsed the legislation last month and the chamber of commerce also endorsed the legislation this month. --- does business leaders join environmental leaders like save the bay, sustainable sf and (unintelligible), which is unanimously supported the legislation as well. our shared goal is clear: stop the environmental harm. polystyrene packing its use for a week or two; food ware even shorter. and then we tossed the item and the styrofoam lasts another

100 years or so in our landfills or ocean. the city is committed to stop sending anything to the landfill over a decade ago and the only way to achieve it is to confront trotters like (correction) products like this.we ask you to join me in supporting this legislation. ---i do also have a few small amendments -- did i get a chance to distribute? i have a few small amendments. i want to explain those amendments. --- first we are revising the findings to clarify a couple of points and incorporate recent significant studies in

state environmental decisions. we also want to clarify that the registered trademark from dow chemical is not the same as (unintelligible) and providing a slightly longer in limitation period for meat trays. and you are already a cosponsor i'm sure that i have you supported when we get to the full board numbers of the board of supervisors will consider this legislation as well. --- at this time i would like to call the director of the department debbie rafael. >> chair peskin: good morning ms. rafael, the floor is yours. >> what you have before you which was so beautifully described is indeed good public policy. and as you said, there were many people who put their time

and effort into this. i want to call out to individuals in particular. the first is connor johnson -- who walks in just now -- >> chair peskin: he was waiting to hear his name. >> -- to russel long of sustaninable san francisco for his advocacy and leadership in initiating this proposal. we support this proposal for six reasons. --- number one, polystyrene foam creates a unique problem in the environment. it is like an floatable, blows out from our bins and trucks, race into small pieces and those pieces get ingested by marine life and goes up the food chain. --- second it is incredibly impractical to recycle. is less than 1% at this point and there

is no market whatsoever for polystyrene foam that is contaminated with food. there are two places right now or you can physically recycle the material. one at ups stores with the peanuts; the second is a small location in (unintelligible) where you can bring your foam that it is economically unfeasible to accumulate and smash and actually ship this material in any meaningful way. number two it is impractical to recycle. --- number three it is not necessary. there are alternatives. in fact supervisor peskin, your ordinance showed that restaurants have been complying with that ordinance for years and finding alternatives. there are alternatives to packaging whether cornstarch, foam, accordion cardboards --

we have seen great alternatives. --- fourth -- we've seen it in 2007 and across the country -- good public policies like this. a supervisor reed said, there is tremendous compliance with the food were so there's no reason to think that that innovation will not happen this time. ---fifth reason. this is long overdue. this is good public policy because it makes a consistent plan field.it makes sense to ban the peanuts, the beach toys, the nautical devices, these products are going to have an exposure and get into

our waterways. there are better alternatives. --- the sixth reason is that this is a flexible process. we will provide a waiver for cold temperature medical shipping; there is a robust process where i have the authority to sign those waivers and those waivers can be in effect for up to three years. --- we are secure to help. we believe in this ordinance and we are thrilled the collaborative nature of the way it has been put before you. we are here to identify the acceptable compostable and recyclable alternatives. i want to also thank our commission on the environment for sharing this and passing this resolution, the chamber of commerce, the small business commission and individual companies like walgreens who have been with us all the way to make sure that this is a practical, legally defensible

meaningful piece of public policy. --- thank you for this opportunity to support and to work with you. >> chair peskin: obviously i am cosponsor of this and it builds on that piece of legislation which other weight was not controversial within the city. anybody thought it was radical until we told them that we were the 154th city in the us to adopt it, and then they realized it was not such leading edge. berkeley led the way. i am delighted that the chamber of commerce is on board, the small business commission, our friends at (unintelligible) and good work president reed. >> thank you. >> chair peskin: other members of the public would like to testify on item number 2?

mr. long? i have speaker cards. >> supervisor breed, supervisor peskin. thank you so much for entertaining this ordinance. i spent much of my real life as a professional serial or racing sailboats all around oceans of the world and i can tell you i still sail around the world. the differences between then and now are profound. styrofoam is everywhere. it's covered all of our oceans, beaches, you can find it in any square-mile in any part of the world. so thank you for helping us to reduce that. --- i wanted point out that we do have these green foam alternatives as debbie

mentioned. their companies today such as starch tech (sounds like), epi, eco fill, dyna pack (sounds like), -- these are terrific alternatives. we are going to continue to see more of these coming into the market in the future. --- further evidence, dell computer is already using some of these foams for their large computer servers. and ikea announced last year that they will discontinue the use of polystyrene foam. --- san francisco has been a leader on this and will continue to be a leader and we will see a great deal of change in the future. >> chair peskin: thank you for your work. mr. lazarus (sounds like). >> good morning supervisors, jim lazarus san francisco chamber of commerce.

we have a robust process of outreach working with a variety of businesses. the chamber did its best to reach out throughout the business community where we thought we were identifying the attention of businesses that would be impacted. we think back to your legislation, working very hard with the restaurant industry and retail grocers using the product in their food service areas and really as you said got almost 100% compliance. --- we are a special location with water on three sides. we all have that cloth bag with us at the office or back of the

car. we look forward to the amendment that supervisor reed included, and looking for a way that businesses can comply in a timely way and ways where exceptions are required. we appreciate that. our businesses will be working with you to see that this is implement it. thank you very much. >> chair peskin: and i may add that the real success of the program a decade ago is that we achieved that compliance without ever issuing a fine. we issued a few warnings, but that goes back to the days of jerry leventhal -- very few she says. that was a sign of god from the director of the environment. next speaker. >> good morning. my name is don callan (sounds

like) regional sales manager with ach foam technologies. i'm here from sacramento in opposition to the san francisco ban. i'm here about the shipping/transport packaging portion. --- in spite of the evidence to the contrary, the legislatures attempt is based on false and misleading permission . the following references from federal and state agencies are in stark disagreement with the city's interpretation. --- for example on a recent interview on the prop 65 listing, sam (unintelligible), deputy director for external affairs fairly stated that the does not cover polystyrene. --- according to the us department (unintelligible) -- certainly

styrene is not an issue. usepa cites research in canada as (unintelligible). polystyrene however has not been classified. in a 2015 edition of scientific marine, ingestion by ocean animals and humans is not been documented. (unintelligible) -- negate any concern that the entire food chain would be threatened. --- the idea that the food chain threatened ignores that there is (unintelligible). --- in closing we requested the city rejected proposition and the polystyrene ban proposal.

we request that the references on litter and public health be removed. >> my name is rene furough (sounds like) -- in opposition. the draft ordinance recommends amending the environment code to prohibit the sale of food service for other specify products including packing material that are made from polystyrene more nonrecyclable. this language leaves room for interpretation as polystyrene is the only material specified by name but by definition many other materials are nonrecyclable and noncompostable. ---(unintelligible) in -- with a 34% national recycling rate,

polystyrene is deemed nonrecyclable only by san francisco's language. expanded polypropylene, polyethylene -- ethylene vinyl acetate, engineering plastic firm and stretch wrap, bubblewrap. eps is used in a vast number of applications. (unintelligible). --- has the city properly evaluated the availability of substitutions for eps foam? from an environmental perspective this is a formula for disaster especially when packaging material choices

that do not meet standardized performance of petitions can lead to increased, not decreased, environmental impact. environmental improvements should not be based on assumptions. --- finally we ask that this ordinance be given closer scrutiny and encourage you to vote against it and you cannot justify environmental superiority of alternative packaging choices. >> chair peskin: next speaker please. >> my name is todd sutton, an environmental materials management consultant. i'm here representing morris recycling associates in sonoma. contrary to public belief, eps is recyclable. cardboard is selling under five cents a pound, newsprint

under three cents a pounds. there are thirteen buyers for plastic. (unintelligible) shows 10 drop off locations in the area, 2 in san francisco. --- lifecycle study shows a different story. the process energy for eps reduction is lower than paper-based materials. eps also scores lower for paper and many other materials intensive greenhouse gas emissions, acidification and (unintelligible). --- a report prepared by the oregon department of environmental quality and the us epa awkwardly titled lifecycle

inventory of packaging shipment in mail-order examines the difference between recycle content and energy use. the finding shows that eps content does not guarantee lower impact (unintelligible). (unintelligible). --- finally, -- (beep). thank you for your time. >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning my name is betsy steiner (sounds like) with the eps industry alliance. --- we are mostly opposed singularly to any type of a ban on transport packaging. that would include some of the

materials that you have given exceptions for. i participated in the stakeholders meeting in february and we appreciate that. we think that there's a lot of information that has not been looked at and does not apply to food service which is used in isolated fashion. these are packaging in global shipments and difficult for manufacturers to change their materials overnight. --- in addition we are concerned that a lot of information in the preamble has been misinterpreted not intentionally. for example the newer report from the san francisco estuary is cited as saying 8% in the wast water and storm water is foam. if you look at the study it refers to cigarette butts and (unintelligible), not just polystyrene. this across the board in every piece of information that you

cited. i have done extensive research to validate whether it is correctly transposed into the ordinance and i will tell you that this information needs to be looked at very closely again we ask you to please do that. i'm concerned that there is little industry effort to change your mind and the city of san francisco has excellent intentions to protect environment. --- polystyrene is not always a good fit but the lifecycle analysis justifies its use as a packaging when it includes glass, lighting fixtures, we already convince you of the value in medical shipments and it goes on from there. we cannot explain to you in 2-3 minutes everything this product does and the value that it contributes to delivering product safely to society. will be happy to do that if given the opportunity at some

juncture everything that we have viable information that will help you make the best decision for san francisco. >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is eva holden (sounds like), volunteer for (unintelligible). both organizations support and expand the ban on polystyrene foam san francisco. research has found that polystyrene is one of the top products found on beaches in california, number two. (unintelligible) have organized beach cleanups and had been shocked at tiny particles found in cleanups. if these materials are not available for purchase will see a decline in beach pollution as we did with the first version of the ban.

i walk along the beach every morning and i have taken photographs along the shoreline which i would like to share with you. >> chair peskin: you can put them on the projector next to you if you like. >> this is a picture of the shoreline in the morning when a ticket walking you see a lot of tiny pieces of styrofoam. this is another picture of the inside of the bucket at one of our beach cleanups which shows many different forms of styrofoam pollution. --- as a volunteer representing (unintelligible) and an advocate for the ocean are urged to move forward with the expanded ban. thank you. >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning chair peskin and president breed. my name is marion gordon (sounds like) (unintelligible)

which has approximately (unintelligible) members. i would like to thank -- recent research shows that polystyrene foam and comprises 8% of the plastic in san francisco bay, lower than (unintelligible) when foam constituted 71% in los angeles and lower san gabriel. i believe it is due to early measures. this measure proposes to close the gap. this is important for two reasons. first, plastic debris accumulate pollutants in seawater like pcp, and 64 species of fish in grocery stores in california have been

found to contain plastic in their stomachs. --- pcp and other chemicals of transferred to fish tissue so it is contaminating the human and wildlife food chain. in april the state listed styrene is a known human carcinogen in prop 65. --- a recent macarthur foundation report states that by 2050 (unintelligible) -- highlights continued action by the board. >> chair peskin: thank you. i may add that on tuesday i was swimming on the day and swam through a whole bunch of polystyrene foam. not real fun. >> thank you. my name is caitlin o'brien (sounds like) speaking on behalf of brian baird (sounds

like) director of the (unintelligible) at bay institute. bay dot org is a water conservation organization. we know firsthand that (unintelligible) -- affecting wildlife and ultimately ourselves. we believe the best solution is moving towards a world in which recovery and recycling a part of the initial product design of all materials. we know this is a long-term strategy. --- ordinance like this is a step in the good direction. it creates a sustainable future for all of us. >> chair peskin: give brian my regards. i worked with him back in the

days. >> thank you for this ordinance. polystyrene found in the ocean changes the eating behavior of the fish and the composition of their bodies according to a new study. it studied perch larvae; larvae chose to eat polystyrene particles rather than (unintelligible), the creatures' food source. they were smaller and less active than fish living in

average concentrations than micro plastic articles. --- styrofoam is taken up in the oceanic food chain; is fish are consuming micro plastic in the form of polystyrene as fish eaters we are taking in polystyrene in our bodies. about 250 chemical contaminants are found in our bodies that according to (unintelligible) and others. thanks again. >> chair peskin: would you like to identify yourself for the record. you don't have to. >> joe morably (sounds like). >> chair peskin: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning supervisors paul justy (sounds like) on behalf of ecology. i'm here to support the styrofoam ban.

i want to go into (unintelligible) from an operational point. we run one of the drop-offs in san francisco and folks can bring the styrofoam to us to be recycled. we have two choices: collect it and transport it to a recycling facility which requires hundreds of dollars to transport maybe a few hundred pounds of styrofoam where it will be densified down to 80%. what we do on site is densify itslef. it has to be cleaned, stored and kept clean and dry. with that process, 5 fays a week, we make about one truckload a year.

the cost per pound to recycle is not sustainable. for that reason we support the ban. thank you. >> chair peskin: are there any other members in the public who would like to testify in item 2? none. we have a motion by supervisor breed with a number of amendments and we will take those without objection. any final words? >> i want to thank everybody for coming out. oftentimes when you try to craft good legislation you are not always go to get 100 support. it takes you back when (unintelligible) after the 1906 earthquake. it was not a popular project; it was expensive. but people are thinking ahead knowing that they may not be around to reap the benefits. they took a chance and now we have (unintelligible) --

arguably some of the best water in the world. --- oftentimes with the environment we have to think forward. we have to think about making sure that we do things like clean power and the kinds of things that will protect our future. sometimes they can be costly. sometimes it is frustrating for businesses. but i do think that this legislation strikes a fair balance in trying to accommodate small businesses and trying to work together in order to move forward in the right direction. it's long overdue and we are at that point where it is time to do so. --- i want to thank debbie rafael for helping us to structure this good legislation. her office will be the enforcement arm. but more importantly, our goal is not to create a significant challenge in trying to implement this legislation which is why we added additional layers

that will give us the time in order to make sure that we work with businesses in order to implement it. --- we realize that not everything -- not every company will be able to comply for various reasons and we are open to trying to resolve this issue. in interim we want compliance and we want to work with folks to get to that point and we don't want excuses for why anyone can't comply the more importantly how can we work with you to make sure that there are better alternatives and it is not so problematic that your company can't increment it. that is my goal and i want to thank everyone for being here today. i see regina (unintelligible) who is here from the small business commission. thank you for your support and thank you jim lazarus for working with us to bring a resolution with the chamber, the san francisco chamber of commerce and all of the environmentalists.

i appreciate it because this is really great groundbreaking legislation. it is something important. it is time for us to move it forward. thank you all so much for being here. --- with that i would like to move this forward to the full board as amended with positive recommendation. >> chair peskin: without objection that will be without objection that will be the order. resolution selecting macias, gini & o'connell, llp, as independent auditors for the controller's office and the separately audited departments of the city, for an amount not to exceed $9,388,686

next item. >> i would like to present the macias, gini & o'connel contract for approval. to select an independent auditor. macias was selected in 2016 after a competitive process where mgo had the highest score in several auditing areas. including -- -- and other funds. --- the mgo contract is a multiyear

contract, four year with an option to extend another three years. the cost is a proximately 9 million dollars. i have with me carmen lefrank the auditing manager (sounds like). >> chair peskin: we know mgo has worked for us for many years and they have done a great job. doing need to hear from ms. frank? no. are their representatives fro macias gini here? i think there are folks from out of town. seeing none, i will close of the comment and send this to the full board with recommendation.

looking forward to work with you for the next four years and maybe three after that. --- because supervisor yee is not here and supevisor breed has some tasks we are going to recess for exactly 10 minutes. (recess)>> there is a small

premium change. -- our understanding is that these intial rms are also required. to meet the standard of care the hospital wants to provide. that's a a minor dispute we

continue to have with our esteemed controller. that's the 21.3 million. --- (unintelligible) registered nurses. they will see the same increases negotiated for the registered nurses. there is a provision in our -- >> chair peskin: even though the rn's only negotiated one year. you have to meet years 2 and 3. >> exactly. although our card it was not open we do have a provision in the doctors contract, the uapd, provides minimum differential

between the nurse practitioners and clinical specialists and the physicins. we have an increased in registered nurses it drives physicians pay as well. >> chair peskin:are there members in the public that would like to comment. seeing none, we will send this to the full commission. madam clerk please read item number 9. on behalf

of the department of public health. >> i am michelle (unintelligible). it is important that this one of the next and get done this year. >> chair peskin: budget finishes this month. >> this is a walgreen contract. it requires board of supervisor hearing because by charter it exceeds (unintelligible). requests proposal process. there was a collective winner, the term was 5 years with the possibility to expand for 5 more years. i'm going to turn this over to david woods, director of the

pharmacy services and he can explain our program and why we are changing it. >> chair peskin: mr. woods. >> good afternoon and dave woods, chief pharmacy officer for the san francisco health network. the program requires drug benefactors to provide deeply discounted medication to covered entities which take care of a disproportionate share of low-income persons which we have within the sfl network. --- this expense the city's 340b program by adding more pharmacies to this contract with walgreens. it would improve access to many pharmaceuticals for many of our patients. i would be happy to answer any questions. >> supervisor breed: first of all i think walgreens for basically implementing a

drug -- they are not here today -- >> not here today. >> supervisor breed: -- for implementing a (unintelligible) across the country, the first time the country has taken this initiative. we passed a drug takeback legislation and is important for me that as we enter into contracts with individuals for services of this nature that we have as many locations as it possibly can. we have a number of pharmacies besides walgreens that participate in the program and some of the hospitals are beginning to implement drug takeback location at their pharmacies. --- convenience is important to me. convenience is what makes the difference. part of what is important is when we

enter into a contract for this particular purpose that we go also above and beyond and look at asking a company like walgreens to potentially look at adding additional locations and i realized again -- i commend them for taking this a step further in providing locations throughout the united states. here in san francisco i want to make sure that there are even more locations and they do have limited locations here in the city and county of san francisco. --- my question is, is very requirement, an opportunity? are you able to make this request to add additional locations to accommodate customers? >> absolutely. right now the board of pharmacy -- they are ahead of the board of pharmacy regarding rules and regulations around takeback.

once we have approval from the board of pharmacy it will be much easier to enlist anticipation from pharmacies around the city and the state. our partnership with walgreens is a new one and i think that it is one that is really budding; we can clearly use this contract to get some leverage in some advantage of that partnership to do some of these novel programs that are important to the city. >> supervisor breed: that will be great. walgreens have the location in the castro and lumbar (sounds like) has that location. those are not easy to get to for everyone. in my district there's a place called charlie's market that takes back drugs. if there is a small location like that i can intimate the program i don't think that a larger company like walgreens

or some of the larger institutions that have pharmacies should not be problematic for them to do so. i definitely want to put that on your radar withholds that we can begin the process of moving in that direction sooner rather than later. >> absolutely. >> supervisor breed: thank you. >> chair peskin: are there any members from the public here to testify an item 10? seeing none (gavel) we will send it out to the full board with a recommendation. madam clerk please next item. >> clerk: item 10 >> michelle (unintelligible), department of public health. this is to extend the contract to dec. 31st, 2017, and adding

money, 9.6 million. this is the second time the contract has come before you. it came in 2010 and you approved it. the service is to provide methadone delivery and vans in different community locations. we are asking for this extension to allow us time to complete an rfp process that we are organizing now. the substance abuse system or the city had applied for an 1115b waiver. as a result of that we are reevaluating the entire substance abuse system to enable us to deliver drug health certified services. if you have any questions i'm

happy to answer. it's not terribly different than it has been all along. >> chair peskin: i have one question. why did the department not come before the board late last year instead in the middle of 2015 insofar it technically expired on dec. 31st 2015. >> excellent question. it got lost in the scuffle. we brought several contracts on dec. 31st. a got lost in the shuffle. someone left. we are pulling it together now which is why we really appreciate it if you can put it on this calendar before the year ends. >> chair peskin: just so you know, whenever i see that word "retroactive"

it raises a red flag for me. to the extent that we can minimize that going forward that would be great. are there any members and the public who would like to testify on number 11? seeing none, will close public comment. (gavel) sorry, item 10. seeing no objection will forward this to the full board with full recommendation as a committee report. --- madam clerk next item please. >> clerk: item 11 is a resolution retroactively authorizing the department of public works to accept and expand a grant up to $200,000 from the san francisco bay area rapid transit. >> the morning my name is rachel alons (sounds like) transportation analyst with san

francisco public works. this resolution provides a pitstop public toilet program. the grant will be matched by funds from public works operating budget. --- in july 2014, public works launched a public pitstop public toilet program. since then the program has expanded to other neighborhoods across the city. the program now includes 13 locations for both portable toilet and semipermanent jc (unintelligible) location. the benefits of staff voted it human dignity for personal relief and work opportunities for individuals to staff and

locations. public works entered into an agreement with the nonprofit agency (unintelligible). after that we worked on executing an agreement with bart for the funding. i'm happy to respond to questions and i enjoyed today by program staff. >> supervisor breed: i am really excited about this pitstop program. i'm also appreciative that the department of public works has taken the extra step of going out and finding other resources that can help provide support for this program. what is frustrating for me as someone who manages -- our pitstop just got to our haden community -- we have so many visitors who come to our city and we don't have a system for our public restrooms, for access for people to use the restrooms.

also sadly for people who live on the streets. --- when you look at the number of calls that we get to clean up some unsightly things -- people have to conduct business somehow and it is important that we provide some sort of public toilet system that makes sense, that isn't abused and this is a great way to do it. it's also a great way to people to work. flushes have gone up by 400%. it's good to make for a cleaner city and we need to look at making sure that we modeled

this program where it stated. it started in the tenderloin and it has been successful there and i appreciate the department of public works for its leadership. i look forward to seeing more pit stops and more outside funding for this support as well. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> chair peskin: i concur with supervisor breed's words. other any other members in the public who would like to testify? seeing none (gavel) we will forward this to the full board as a committee report for consideration on june 21st. --- can you please read the next item. >> clerk: item 12 hearing on below market

rate housing policies. >> chair peskin: i have not heard that this has been continued. i do not see the sponsor of this item so subject to public comment. is there any public comment? seeing none we will close public comment (gavel) and continue this item at the call of the chair without objection. --- madam clerk would you please deal with the next items? >> clerk: items 13-20 of theirs ordinances and resolutions authorizing settlement of several lawsuits. >> chair peskin: i understand that there are individuals who want to testify on one or more of these items. one of these individuals has contacted my office and i would like to provide an extra

amount of time. you have up to five minutes. >> good morning president breed, supervisor chair pesking. my name is carter zen (sounds like). i am an attorney. i had the privilege and honor of representing david zeller (sounds like) -- and events related to his paralysis. david zelle was born in 1957 in indiana. grew up in a broken home, his mother was an alcoholic and often had to live with his nephew. his nephew is here today. --- after graduating from (unintelligible) -- on march 14, 2012, he woke up with pain

and weakness in his legs and went to san francisco general hospital. first-year residents who are on a month-long rotation missed a lot of symptoms. during the transfer from the gurney to the mri table the tech shoved him. david asked don't you need help? the trauma of that process forced this material into the spinal canal. from that moment david zeller was a paraplegic. --- spent six months (unintelligible) -- the second he got out he tried to kill himself with pills and went to general. he was released and tried to kill himself again

that night. --- david eventually hired me. during two years of intense litigation we fought for his rights. he got a job. he has something to look forward to. on sept. 30, 2013 we settle the case with ccsf, for 1.5 million, less than it should have been but david thought it was fair and just accepted a settlement. --- for reasons beyond my the deputy city attorney to late four months promoting that settlement towards approval. finally on february 2, 2016, the health commission approve the settlement and i assume --

or the city attorney recommended that they do. after that only one thing changed, david's health declined precipitously. we believe it is probably related to multi-factors including total management of his medication under the supervision of a health practitioner employed by the county. on march 14, 2015 david hung himself. he's not with us anymore. i notified the city attorney and i received an e-mail telling me that probably the board of supervisors would not approve this settlement.

--- i have lived in san francisco my whole life. i know your records and what you have done to make this a great place. what i am asking now is to do the right thing. legally the right things to are the settlement. i gave you case citations that you can look up. there is a good faith requirement that this approval process be conducted in good faith. it is true that it may not be able to bind writing a $900,000 check without your approval (unintelligible). waiting four months is not good faith. we had a trial date set for

2016 which we took off in good faith. i had a living, smiling client. because we waited and he is not dead they are trying to (unintelligible). it's not the right thing to do. --- david's heir is here today. he is here and wants to take some of this money and create a foundation in david's name. this process is wrong, it's not what you guys are about. >> chair peskin: thank you testimony counselor. are there other members of the public would like to testify? >> there are. >> chair peskin: please come forward. >> good morning president breed

and supervisor chair peskin. my name is mike mcgowan (sounds like) a nephew of david zeller, and also the minis administrator of his estate. he was close to me and we were only three years apart. we grew up as brothers. --- our family was plagued with mental illness and alcoholism. a very early age, around the age of 17, our family was separated and torn apart. for the last 38 years i do not even know it david existed anymore. i had not heard anything of him.

i had no idea where this guy was. --- the revelation of finding out about him living here and the wonderful life he had an horrible and shameful circumstances leading up to his death have overwhelming with emotions that a been almost too much to bear. i've had to deal with overwhelming illness, guilt, frustration and fear from all this. several times over the years i lived in the bay area not knowing my uncle was here and i could've been here to help him. i had feelings of why me and why my finding out about my uncle this way. --- it's not mere coincidence. there has to be a way to make something positive of all of it so i am leaning with humbleness of heart, i appeal to you to approve the settlement that my uncle david zeller was seeking so that i can take care of him in some

small way now by contributing to indiana university a scholarship donation of some form. thank you. >> chair peskin: any other speakers? go ahead sir. >> my name is andy carson. i was a personal friend of david zeller. that you for giving me a moment to speak on his behalf. i knew him for about 10 years professionally as a cab driver. i became a close friend of his for the last couple of years after he sustained an injury. i'm here to speak in his behalf to tell you all that he was an inspiring person, intelligent and compassionate human being. --- how he dealt with the hand he was given really gave me a lot of hope. i drew a lot of strength from

him, especially in the very beginning as he was going through the worst.the transition of being a reasonably healthy person to not being able to move from here down. he was ready to really move forward with his life. i look forward very much to having a relationship with this person cast the weight off of this settlement. i wanted to seem to get better in all of this. --- in the last few months of his life i watched his demeanor markedly change. i think it was largely due to the medications he was experiencing. i am not here for any kind of personal gain. i don't stand to gain in any way from this dispute settlement. i'm here to ask you

to see this thing through. it's the right thing to do. the family should receive this money to do some good with it, so that something positive can come from it, from an otherwise ankle and negative experience. that's all i wanted to say. >> chair peskin: thank you sir. neck speaker please. >> >> >> i'm ky rory (sounds like). first of all thank you both for your public service. i know it takes a great deal of your time and talents away from something else you could be doing. --- i knew david both professionally and as a client for many years.

he was a cab driver for luxor cab san francisco. over the many years of his driving i never received one complaint. i was a supervisor and ran the day shift in lexor. he was a fine fellow, had a good sense of humor, a genuine human being concern about others even when he was debilitated and in a wheelchair he still tried to figure out ways to help out. --- he took a job at the public library trying to help homeless people to connect with services. he was only able to do it part-time because of his disability. he had to quit after a certain amount of time because he started developing carpal tunnel from using his

wheelchair too much. --- even in his disability he was a contributor. he did under terrible circumstances of withdrawal and did not receive proper treament. the delays contributed to his demise. b circumstance--- our world is not a better place because of the demise. >> my name is andrew velasquez.

one of his good friends asked me to come and say a statement on his behalf. --- i've known david zeller for 30 years, and met in college. he was intelligent, kind and honest. he loved getting in san francisco and was saddened by how the city has changed in the last few years. he used to go mountain biking enhancements. (unintelligible) when he call me after his accident he was devastated. he went from being someone who was completely self-sufficient to someone who was incontinent, impotent and paralyzed. i cannot imagine going through what he went through. i feel the city failed him. he walked into general hospital able-bodied and came out any wheelchair.

he negotiated a settlement (unintelligible) -- i think he'd took pride in his hard work. he had pulled together document, read case files and prepared for his deposition. it occupied two years of his life and gave him purpose. soon after the settlement the doctors decided to take him off his medication and took a turn for the worse. he became paranoid. he was convinced he would be evicted and homeless and you he could not survive in the street. he had poor credit and thought no one would rent for him. i told him i would cosign for him. i told him not to worry. he took his life following week. --- because he's no longer here to express himself i'm here to speak for him. he cared about my. we had been through a lot together and helped me when i

needed it most. i cannot speak about the legal aspects but it seems like it's the right thing to follow through. please do not hesitate to contact me should you need. i apologize because i had to take care of my children today. >> my name is -- i was asked to read a statement from judy singer, cousin of david's. -- after she graduated from indiana university he was drawn to the san francisco art community and decided to make the liberal city as his own. he was regarded by his colleagues and peers as an exceptional individual. he was the most gentle

individual and i love them and will grieve over him for many years. to rescind the money to his heir would be unconscionable. i personally did not know david for many years as well as other people did were making statements that he had a magnetic personality and a good sense the strength of character immediately. seeing how san francisco general hospital grossly mishandled his medical care, and the causal role it played in causing him to take his life is extremely tragic. this is why i'm asking you to see the settlement through. it is not right to take away

what david was working for for three long years. >> chair peskin: seeing no other members from the public will close public comm (off mic) >> >> (background conversations)

>> we're now back in open session. >> deputy city attorney john givner. (sounds like). the committee voted 2-0 -- >> chair peskin: madam clerk more business? motion not to disclose is adopted. is there any more business before this body? we are adjourned.hour.

>> good morning, everyone and welcome to the people's palace and i'm here this morning to announce yet another milestone in our city's commitment to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by and people will work this fourth of july weekend